Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 41

Developing an offensive layered skill really wasn’t as difficult as it sounded. The difficult I found was creating one that was more powerful than a bolt or enhanced weapon attack. Not only did most of the things I tired not reach this requirement, but often they weren’t even on the same level. In other words, they were weaker.

I’d tried enhancing my place with Akonizo, then forcing the energy out of my weapon with a Voli bolt. Besides for a few of my first explosive experiments, as long as I released control of the enhancing energy, Voli did indeed propel it from my weapon. The biggest problem was that Akonizo dissipated quickly after leaving the weapon it was bolstering. I would’ve had to be within a few yards to make the move worth wild. The closer I was, the more damage. Of course, if I was that close, why not just use Akonizo to enhance my weapon instead of layering Voli with it at all? The exception to this would be if I used my bare hands.

One day during our Combat Development Team meeting, Kline and Mel were helping me work through it.

“Blade energy has an advantage, though,” Mel insisted. “Because you can enhance such a large surface area, when you cast it from your blade it is a much larger attack even if using your bare hands, it more concentrated because it lacks weapon resistance.”

What he said was true. We couldn’t deny it.

“You’ve tried the same thing with push?” Kline asked.

“Only a couple times. It takes longer to switch from enhance to push than it does from enhance to bolt casting. It seems slightly more powerful though.”

Seeing the way they were both expectantly looking at me, I decided to humor them.

I’d used a cheap sword to practice up for most of my experiments since my first few tries included my bolt crashing into enhance instead of pushing it from my weapon. It had been painful. For this demonstration though, I toss the sword, mule caught it, and I got into a loose boxer’s stance.

Playing over in my mind what I needed to do a few times, I cycled only the beginning of each technique being layered. After I thought I had the timing down, I covered my fist in red rank G energy. Punching out with a simple right cross, energy surged from my core to my arm and rushed toward my fist. My last hold on the enhanced energy covering my knuckles disappeared. Push exploded outward and the enhancing energy flew. Its brightness dimmed quickly, and by the time it was three yards out it had disappeared entirely.

“That gave you an extra yard,” Kline said clawing at his beard.

“Does it lose damage because you’re not casting it with bolt type energy though?” Mel reflected.

“Mmmm. Good point. Let’s find out.”

And so our journey into the complexities of skill layering had begun.

During meditation, I started varying my psionic scales with an emphasis on switching from Akonizo and Othisi. I had a few ideas of how to add additional layers to the technique to improve its damage output, but I needed to master the basics first.

***

As I was getting ready to fight tonight’s first manticore in the training sim, I received a warning that someone was about to port in.

Peter appeared in green on black ballistic garb. He’d ported in with his headset still showing even though it wasn’t necessary in this space.

I watched as he interacted with a few menus and waited to not interrupt him.

Finishing, he quickly found me and gave me a small grin before turning to Destiny in her human form. “You’ve done a good job isolating this space to block all outside interference.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Hinson,” she responded.

Seeing his semi-forced smile not leave his mouth, I became uneasy.

“It’s good to see you, Peter,” I said with a friendly enough tone, but still had to ask. “Is there a problem?”

“No. No problems. I wanted to inform you both that the military’s full Ekseliksi archives are now open to you. Only the most sensitive information is being held back. The number of combat related files have more than tripled, but it’s the information on Ekseliksi culture that I think you’ll find the most useful. Specifically, information on the Teleios, Kratos, the Vasileia, or royalty, and the Epithumia. The Ekseliksi don’t make use of media in the same way Earth does, so don’t expect it to be exhaustive. Also, there is no information regarding Victoria or her existence.”

My imagination was already racing in countless directions. “Lax must have done an incredible job if he was able to scrub her from the entire military database.”

“That’s not why,” he said wistfully. “Victoria isn’t the only daughter of the Epithumia. Her eldest sister is seated as heir. She sits in reserve in case something happens to the eldest. Because of this, she has remained hidden—even from her own people. She actually has three other sisters, but they are already married to other royal houses, so she is considered the second sister. After she marries, another sister will take her place as second. When we left, her replacement hadn’t been born yet, which will delay Victoria’s required marriage by several years. That is why her mother dared to send her.”

“Delayed by how many years?”

“A decade at, the least. If something is found wrong with the youngest sister as she develops, then it may be even longer. However, its flaws in character and the desire to learn they are watching for. As you already know, the Epithumia’s house is without genetic flaws.”

“So I have ten years to be able to beat up her dad. How hard could it be?” I chuckled loudly to emphasis my sarcasm.

“The Teleios, no. Unless tragedy strikes and the heir is murdered, it will be one of the best of the Vasileia men that you’ll have to beat.”

My gaze narrowed. “How powerful are they, Peter?”

At first, he looked like he wasn’t going to tell me.

“Tell me. I think I’ve been kept in the dark long enough.”

He took pity on me. “Ekseliksi soldiers have rank E psionics with a few exceptions made for those who focus more on physical enhancements. Their superiors, the Krato, have rank D psionics. There are rare instances where some soldiers earn this status while having rank E psionics, but the ones that do it based on their psionic ability alone are even more scarce. This is considered the limit most Ekseliksi can reach in their hundreds of years of life—though our history is still young when compared to the annals of human history. It seems to be the limit of what the human body can handle. There are only so many genomes that have proven to be able to handle more without frying their own bodies—the Vasileia, or noble families.”

“The Vasileia have unlocked rank C psionics. The exceptions to this are so rare that you could learn all of their names one sitting. Most of them are honorary positions, and Vasileia in name only. Krato that could fight evenly with the Vasileia are legendary figurers. But even if they could defeat a Vasileia, it would only be the most feeble among them. There is a vast difference in power and combat ability between the weakest and strongest Vasileia, and Lucius, you would be facing the strongest.”

As I scratched at my chin, I wished not for the last time that I could grow out a beard like Kline, or even just a decent goatee. “Is the Teleios the strongest Vasileia then?”

“Yes, but at the same time they can’t even compare. The Teleios has reached rank B, if not rank A psionics. The only people would know for sure are the Vasileia that challenged him in the past and survived, which almost never happens. There are only a few other Vasileia that have unlocked rank B. They’re all in contention to be the next Teleios.”

When he saw my confusion, he continued. “To try and grasp how powerful rank C psionics are, look to your own training. You’ve recently been learning to use Othisi to hover off the ground. Technically, you could’ve done the same thing with rank F psionics, but with your rank E psionic power, you can make much more use of the technique. If you reach rank D, the possibilities open up even further. You have seen this in your fight and training with the Krato. But if you were to unlock rank C psionics, you’d no longer have to depend upon Othisi’s ability to repel you from the ground. You’d be able to create enough thrust that you could literally fly. Your Krato instructor can probably do this to a limited extent because he’s a specialist, but you should ask yourself why he doesn’t commonly use it.”

Imagining what he said wasn’t difficult, but trying to contrast my current psionics with the ability to fly left me lightheaded.

“You’ve actually seen rank C psionics in action, even if it was only briefly. The blue psionic bolt fired from the top of Fort Prodos that killed the Krato was exactly that.”

The deceptively older man left soon after that. I was still trying to get my head around being able to fire off psionic bolts that could one hit Krato. The true absurdity of my goal of being able to fight for Victoria’s hand in marriage had become clear to me for the first time.

I had ten years to progress two full ranks—one of which would destroy my body outright. Victoria and Peter had both said it was impossible before. I understood why they’d been so rigid. It was unreasonable to believe anything else.

I wasn’t interested in being reasonable anyway. There were a few things that he’d let slip, whether intentional or not, that left me with a sliver of hope. The first was that there had been Krato in the past that could fight with Vasileia. They were the Achilles of their people. Their best. He also mentioned their history was still young.

It had only been about three centuries since the Ekseliksi had formed and left Earth. I had no idea how they’d progressed so much so quickly, but psionics definitely had to be one of the reasons it was possible. Even then, they only had a few hundreds of years of history as reference. Whose to really say what’s possible?

There was only one way forward. Kline had warned me not to lift my eyes too high while trying to ascend so that I wouldn’t trip, but I was willing to bear with the bumps and bruises, so I dared to lift them even higher.

“Destiny, there’s a change of plans,” I said, trying to restructure things in my mind.

“Lucius, slow down a minute. I’ve been scanning the archives and found some things you need to see.”

“They can’t wait?”

“No. I don’t think they should.”

“Okay. We’ll start there. I suspect you know what I’m going to ask next. Look for all information in regard to the Vasileia and any combat data that might help improve training.”

“I will. Just watch these first.”