9 It’s called ‘Wind Compression’

"A signature technique is foundational to Naturalists that go beyond the adept rank. Advanced Naturalists create them to surpass the limits of their arcana usage. Some cannot draw enough arcana. Some cannot draw arcana fast enough. Others simply find the limitations of their affinity be it speed, cost, or power and develop a way to rectify it."

~ Grand Councilwoman

Daimyon

Today's a different type of exciting. Class is over and that means the official start of my super training, as I've come to call it. Just the thought of it helped the day to race by. As instructed, Bones is waiting outside for me as I exit my last class.

"Have you been practicing your draw technique?" Truthfully, I haven't. I'm hoping my draw is developed enough for at least the combat basics.

"Not as much. Will I need my draw to be more advanced for combat?" He shakes his head.

"You don't just draw as much arcana as you can once and use it to fight an entire battle. That's totally unrealistic. You need to be able to draw arcana in an instant and release it to power your combat techniques. And that means drawing it and releasing it over and over and over again in fights." He continues his lecture until we arrive at the training field. "I'm going to teach you a special technique I created. It's called 'Wind Compression'. With it, you'll be able to concentrate wind arcana into tight pockets of space, causing it to explode with a marvelous force. You can use that force to increase your physical output as well as to create high-density blast attacks." Bones raises his hand and conjures a ball of wind arcana then closes his fist punching towards the ground in front of him, creating a massive crater. *gasp*

"Incredible! You didn't even touch the ground and it did that much damage?"

"Not just that. You can use that same force to make yourself move faster when attacking or evading a target." We separate, creating space between us as he shows me the basic movements. "Now, first you need to draw arcana. Then release it into the space between your hands, making sure to keep it tightly wound. This will take some control and a lot of practice."

Nodding, I begin drawing arcana slowly, placing my hands together to imitate his moves. The arcana between my slightly open palms circles around.

"I think I've gotten it so far! It's staying in between my palms." He turns away from me, and pushes his palms open to throw his compressed wind forward into the wall.

"Now all that's left is to release it in the direction you want it to go." Beginning to sweat I struggle to maintain the compression between my hands. This just got much more difficult. How do I release this without it exploding in my face? I take a deep breath and throw my hands as hard as I can forward, sending the compressed wind just far enough that it explodes without damaging me. I wipe the sweat from my forehead.

"That was close, but I think I got it."

"You think you've gotten it already, huh? Well then on to the next step. I will teach you my signature technique." Lifting his right hand up he aimed straight ahead. An intense mass of wind forms in his palm, it swirls, tightens and shrinks becoming a tightly packed sphere. Drawing more arcana, he generates a strong pressure between us. He releases it, the wind explodes into a beam, small ribbons of wind swirl out from his palm. His feet dig into the ground beneath him as the force of the technique seems to increase, the ground rips up creating a deep trench as the beam drills the reinforced wall of the training field cracking it. It barely holds against the sheer power. He turns back to me once it finally stops.

"This technique is called the Skywave Cannon. It is an extremely difficult technique to perform, there's not a single wind technique that you can learn in this academy that can match its power." He boasts. My eyes grow wide at the sight of it, my ears are wide open to hear more of his speech. "Using this technique will require a high degree of skill and control with arcana, not to mention a proficiency in wind compression. It should not be attempted until I say you're re--" He stops in complete shock as I raise my two hands to begin compressing as much wind arcana as I can hold before throwing my hand out. I yell "Skywave Cannon!" as I attempt the technique to no avail. Instead, the arcana explodes right in front of me, knocking me backwards a great deal. Bones shakes his head again.

"You can't expect to perform such a technique without even practicing wind compression. I said it was extremely difficult. Now then, get yourself up. I will teach you combat basics while we practice using wind compression in battle." This sounds like a solid two-step plan for training. He wasn't kidding when he said the pace would be accelerated. We began sparring, with his occasional tips throughout.

End ~