Codename: Freedom - Book 5 - Chapter 23

I came face to face with my hard limitations those first few days of our training. I was not Aeneus Raptis, and neither did I have rank D psionics. In free fall, there was a speed I could pull out of. Anything more than that was impossible. Once I learned to make myself as aerodynamic as possible, I could reach terminal velocity, or 120 miles per hour, in less than a quarter mile. Going beyond that was quite possible. Controlling exactly how fast I was going was tricky. When Mel and I had practiced this before by launching ourselves into the air, we were dealing with much lower heights and even if we used push to speed up, it still couldn’t compare.

Even as I tried to mimic a fighter jet or a bird, nose diving to pull up only to soar across the ground wasn’t my only course of action. Slowing myself with a constant wind walk and push against the surrounding walls was something I adjusted to quickly. This way I could at least land some of my failed attempts.

Ascending from the ground was another skill entirely. At the widest, the walls were as wide as four lanes of traffic. I had to bound from side to side as I made my way toward the top. At their narrowest, they were half that. From the middle of the tunnel I could feel resistance on each side. It just wasn’t quite enough. Ascending in the narrower part of the tunnel was much quicker, however.

Of course, I’d already worked on these skills at the most basic level through combat parkour. So conceptually, I wasn’t completely out of my depths. I was just so much slower than Krato. When I wasn’t dying that was.

Let’s say I mastered the basics. There was still a serious issue I had to contend with. I might be able to dart around the outer layers of the arena like nobody else, but what if one of the top battalions sends out a squad stacked with rank D combatants?

As far as I saw it, best case scenario would lead us to capturing our flag and us getting an extra point because I was able to defeat more Manticores than anyone else. Then we’d be sitting at two points. I was under no illusion that it would be enough to win.

It was something that Krato said that convinced me I should keep going. Mobility unlocked variables. Opportunities that no other battalion would have. I just needed to be ready when the opportunities revealed themselves.

Only a few days into this special training, I dove for what had to be the hundredth time that day. I had enough of a feel for it to know that I wasn’t going to make it. Instead of trying to force the maneuver. I threw everything into slowing myself down. Once I was close enough, the resistance from the ground was extra jarring, but I was alive.

At any moment Krato was going to blast me from my blind spot, so I used a psionic push to hover just to show him I wasn’t stopping. “Wait,” I cried, frantically trying to take my ballistic suit off. It didn’t offer a lot of resistance, but I needed every advantage I could get. At least while I was still figuring this out.

His voice sounded from behind me. “It took you long enough.”

I ground my teeth. The moment it seemed like he was being extra forthcoming, here he is proving that his training philosophy of figure-it-out-for-yourself really hasn’t changed.

He did offer some extra detail. “You’re training skills that no one with rank E psionics has any business performing. What makes you think you can afford any resistance?”

“Looks like I’ll be going into the next event wearing nothing but boxer briefs.”

I received a nice psionic push from behind for voicing my complaint. It sent me forward ten feet before I corrected my balance while hovering. His early training had made it where I almost never lost control.

“Keep your complaints to yourself, néos. You will not face the enemy as you are. Unless you focused your psionics internally or shielded yourself, you don’t have the ability to regulate your body’s temperature for an extended period in the air.”

“Then what?” I asked.

“A leather skinsuit should help you retain heat without restricting your psionics while also allowing you to better feel your environment.”

“So no body armor?”

“Do you want protection in case you make a mistake, or control?”

“One moment,” Destiny’s voice rang in my ear.

A moment later, I was covered in a dark grey skinsuit from ankle to neck and full sleeves. As for shoes, I was barefoot until something resembling a sock as much as a shoe appeared on my foot.

“Made out of the same leather. They don’t have much support, but they should keep your feet from getting torn up in case of a sharp rock or something pointy.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled under my breath.

I heard Krato grunt with approval. “This color matches the stone.”

Destiny appeared in the top corner of my vision and winked before she flashed away.

“Now, return to the top and go again.”

At his command, I propelled myself toward the wall and used it to push myself even higher toward the opposite one. Out of necessity I’d stopped solely using push through my hands and feet. I’d done this to a limited sense when pushing out my psionics to get a feel for the surrounding area. That was like a form of echolocation except with energy. It had been a very limited version of what I did now.

Psionic energy pushed its way out of my feet, legs, and even hips. I didn’t even use the same intensity of push from every part of my body. I could vary it at will, which was quite complicated if I stopped to think about it. Doing it was much more organic even if I had a long way to go to master it.

The first thing I noticed on my ascent was how much I was over correcting because I now lacked the resistance from before. It wasn’t even a lot of resistance as a percentage, but it was like working with your bare hands and doing the same job with gloves. Even if the gloves fit well, there was a level of coordination and sensitivity that they took away. That’s exactly what it felt like. I’d been trying to tie knots with gloves on and kept getting my fingers stuck in the rope.

Once I reached the top, I landed just long enough to throw myself upward to give me a little more room to work with. With my arms tucked to the sides of my body, and feet together, I dove headfirst into the canyon tunnel. I didn’t need my hands or body position to correct my trajectory. A psionic nudge was all it took.

I didn’t even have to wait until I was changing the angle of my dive to feel the difference. And once I reached that critical point that I had to start pulling up, I knew this changed everything. It’s like I’d been walking around in a dark room with sunglasses on and kept blaming my walking ability as for why I was running into things. It was the feedback.

I corrected my speed while adjusting my thrust. There was no need to overthink it. It was as Krato said. Control. I’d fallen enough times that I knew approximately what I needed. Only now could I sense my surroundings well enough to make it happen.

Not only did I pull up in time, but I had some say in how close to the ground I’d come. It wasn’t the first time I’d succeeded. However, it was the first time I felt like I had enough control to enjoy it.

Soaring a few yards over the ground, I pushed just enough to keep myself at a steady altitude while continuing to propel me forward.

I was flying. Not in some plane or shuttle. Using the power laden inside me, I flew over the surface of the ground as a bird might. It was thrilling and surreal at the same time.

The moment I started enjoying it, an alien appeared in front of me. It happened so quickly all that I had time to do was react.

I pushed myself to the side. At the speed I was going, it took an extreme amount of force to change my trajectory fast enough. The moment I did, I knew I’d overcorrected. Slamming into the wall, my body shattered.

Respawn.

Rolling my neck even if any stiffness was just in my head, I took that moment to check my psionics.

Psionic Status

Psionic Level: Rank E

Psionic Energy: 3.9 million (Units)

Psionic Power: 369 (Maximum energy use per second)

Psionic Recovery Rate: 11.4 (Units of Psionic Energy recovered per second)

It’s not like it had changed much since I’d last seen it an hour ago. My Psionic Power had only risen a couple points in the last couple of weeks. If I could reach 380 by the event, I’d be happy. My recovery rate was advancing a little faster if you considered tenths of a point as progress. 10.9 to 11.4 wasn’t too bad between now and just before the Gathering of Guilds.

My total Psionic Energy was a different story. Before I’d started this new training with Krato I’d had 3 million (Units) just a few days before. It had almost increased by a third. I had a reason I knew why. I was being forced to use far more energy with my push ability from a larger surface area than ever before. Psionic Power was more like Volts as a measurement than Amps. It was the maximum force I could exert. The pressure in a hose. I could add more hoes to expel even more water, or energy in my case.

There were a few distinctions that made it a little more complex than that. I could store energy in my body, increasing the pressure, but I could also only release it at my Psionic Power level even if the internal pressure seemed higher.

Suffice it to say, this training was doing me a lot of good. I didn’t have unlimited energy, but it wasn’t something I had to worry about as often as I used to. That wasn’t exactly a surprise. I’d take every small victory I could get though.

***

As much as Krato wanted me to spend every waking moment off the ground, that didn’t mean I would be spending all of my time in simulation with him finding new, inventive ways to kill me. I had to oversee my replacement with the rank D hunter’s squad. Kline was the same. It was decided that Prodos’ Left Hand would be of best use with his men. Another one of his polearm experts took his place.

We didn’t just limit their training to rank D users. There wasn’t a moment we weren’t training in a simulated version of the arena that would be used in the next event. We spent time as a group and separately studying every nick and cranny. The tops of the walls of the second layer would be especially troublesome. If you didn’t try to place men up there, then other battalions could gain a deadly advantage over you quickly. Knowing this, every battalion would be fighting to get men in position, which would make it highly contested.

Mel and I were still meeting during the Combat Development Team, but his training with his new trainer had changed his focus entirely. I understood it since the man training him was a Founder. At the same time, the man didn’t have the training and experience of the Ekseliksi.

Covering himself with shielding energy from head to toe, Mel asked me to cast a bolt at him.

I did as he asked, striking him in the stomach. It wasn’t surprising that he tanked it with his psionic shielding. His Psionic Power was already at 397. He’d reach rank D in a matter of weeks if not days.

“No, hit me in the head,” he requested.

“Did Kline’s headbutt technique make you jealous?” I teased.

He smirked, and I let him have it.

When the energy washed over him and didn’t even seem to leave a tingle, I tilted my head to the side. “Nothing?”

“It’s not that.” He shook his head. “There’s a reason my talent with bolt casting hasn’t translated over to its opposite Push like it does with so many others. It’s because I don’t have a talent with casting.”

Lifting my brow, I chuckled. “Oh?”

“My talent is with compressing psionic energy. It’s most obvious with casting, but I can apply it to anything. Well, not exactly anything. Because my psionic shield is covering my entire body, it’s spread too thin to make a large impact, but what I can do is compress the energy inside me while channeling it to my shield.”

I rubbed at my chin in confusion. Victoria had never said Mel’s overcharging ability wasn’t actually overcharging. At least not directly. “Then that means what, you can strengthen your internal walls and use shielding at the same time?”

A tight grin formed even as he tried to resist it.

“Kline isn’t going to be happy,” I said, grinning.

“Actually, I asked Dr. McManus about him. What Kline’s done to strengthen his internal walls to such a level is something that would’ve normally caused a build up of brain damage overtime, but because of our Cubes, he’s forcibly developed his own version of overcharging except with internal energy. He should be suffering from serious brain trauma. Instead, he’s inadvertently created one of the best defensive abilities on record.”

I started laughing, and once I did, I couldn’t stop. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

He nodded along with me. “Even though I’m able to use walls and shielding together which has its own advantages, his ability has some that I don’t. His biggest disadvantage is that it makes him slower than even the average person using walls.”

“So he’s a slow-moving tank?”

Mel shrugged. “Yeah, but if he can get ahold of someone, it also gives him a level of rigidity and strength that’s abnormal.”

I shook my head, having trouble believing his hardheadedness had earned him such benefits. “Good for him,” I said sincerely.

“Could you do me a favor?”

“Just name it.”

“Try to break through my defenses and don’t hold back. You’re the only one fast enough to compare with a rank D user. And your fist technique is strong enough to cause serious damage.”

I shrugged. “Sure. But you can’t just rely on defense. You need mobility.”

“That’s the tricky part. If I reach rank D in time—"

“When,” I corrected him.

“When. I want to blend every psionic ability I have access to. Not just improve a new technique.” He straightened as much as he could. “I’ve relied upon you to help me break out of my own head time and again. I’ll be relying upon you this one more time, but I intend on being ready. I’m the reason Victoria is hesitant to let you go after the manticores.”

“What? That’s not true.” I started to scoff when he interrupted me.

“Yes, it is. Not directly, but you’re the only one that can hold their own on the battlefield. There’s a difference between leading a company of casters and doing what you do. Some good talent is doing me when I can’t even keep up. Help me figure out the limits of this technique and I’ll do the rest.”

“I can’t say no to that.”

He grinned. “When I say don’t hold back, I mean it, Lucius. I want you to use your Dragonslayer technique and even Falling Spear.”

A villainous smirk pulled at my face. “Well, I’ve been needing to test something.”

Give Destiny a few commands under my breath, the part of the event grounds we were at changed.

Mel glanced around to find us in the tunnel of the first layer. He cocked his brow in question.

“Just give me a second to get into position,” I called. “Be ready.”

“Okay…”

Kicking off the ground, I psionically bounded toward the wall and then the next as I headed to the top.

***

“It takes him about thirty seconds if he doesn’t get a running start at it,” Destiny informed him over his headset.

Mel watched his friend go. “He’s going all the way up? That’s what he’s been working on?”

“Yes.”

“Is he crazy?”

“Uncompromising with himself? Yes. Crazy? Things might be a lot easier if he was.”

Cringing, he replied, “Sorry. I didn’t mean that literally.”

“I know. Get ready. Have your AI follow his movements. It can be difficult to see him with the color of his skinsuit.”

“Uh.” He did just that. They had practiced defense against divebombing Ekseliksi. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen something like this, except… “He’s carrying a spear, now, isn’t he?”

“Yup.”

Mel’s first instinct was to run, but that’s not why he was here. Holding up his left arm, a pshield was placed in his hand. Lowering himself and planting one foot in front of the other, he flooded his body with energy while compressing it. His internal walls snapped into place, but he didn’t stop there. He continued to compress as he pushed some of the slow-moving energy out. His psionic shield took its place over his entire body as well as covering his round shield.

From such a height, he knew Lucius had to be moving faster than in their Falling Spear practice, but this…

“How fast is he going?”

“180 to 190 miles per hour.”

“He’s still perfecting his form.”

“Uh.”

Lucius hadn’t started directly above him, but maybe a hundred yards in front. As the man neared, his speed became obvious. Mel almost thought he was going too fast, but then he swooped above the ground right at him.

Lowering his stance as much as he could, Mel braced for what would likely kill him through sheer force even if somehow his psionic shield survived.

He flinched, closing his eyes as his friend neared. Biting his tongue, he forced his eyes open. He’d asked for this.

As soon as Lucius arrived, he was already gone. The impact… never came. Even through his psionic shield he’d felt the psionically bolstered spear soar just wide of his shield.

He heard a shout of protest flight off with his friend.

“And he missed,” Destiny chimed.

She found it funny, but Mel spun to look for the spear that had been aimed at him. He saw the trench that had been etched in the ground starting a dozen yards away. But then his AI drew the length of the trench, and his eyes went wide. Then it highlighted where it thought the spear had ended up over fifty yards away and more than a yard deep. The dirt was packed, but it wasn’t that solid. Still, he’d just tried to block that.

Lucius speed hovered back thirty seconds later to apologize. “It’s the first time I’ve tried it at that speed. Should I go again?”

“Yeah…” Mel said, not exactly confident he was making the right decision.