Complex but Worth It
Suly came to pick me up early in the morning. The project was finally beginning. Once we arrived inside the tunnel, I noticed glowing orbs already illuminating the whole underground area. "Don't be too overwhelmed when we show you the plans", Suly said before we entered the room. "Plans?", I asked, confused. "Did you think we'd do it from our memory? Of course we need plans, but they aren't your usual plans. These are Formation plans, not constructional ones. You'll see in a moment", she added.
The others were already inside the room when we arrived, and indeed there were loads of plans attached everywhere inside the room. "Go ahead, just make sure not to look at them for too long, hehe. You can get a headache from the complexity", Suly said. She wasn't wrong, the Formations were nothing of the sort I ever witnessed. There wasn't a single Formation that used only one Element. Moreover, not a single Formation was without links and layers.
'This diagram alone has four interconnected Formations, and even those are layered on top of each other… I have no clue what this Formation does… I only recognise about half of these Runes… How can they even create that?', I asked myself. "Anna, come here for a moment", aunt Alicia called me over.
"This is Rowan, and he will be your teacher in a way. Don't try to do anything on your own, since this is too complicated for you at this stage. Take notes of what Rowan is doing, and practice that outside this room… One more thing. You are to burn all your notes and practice materials. None of this knowledge is allowed outside, do you understand?", she asked. "Yes, I'll make sure to destroy my notes… Nice to meet you master Rowan", I replied while greeting him.
Master Rowan nodded his head, but didn't say much. He seemed rather stiff, but he'd be my teacher. "Don't shower him with too many questions, alright? We have work to do, and this project will take us a long time", my aunt added. "Sure, I'll just watch quietly for now", I agreed. With that sorted out, she told everyone their tasks and the project began.
Each Lizard was responsible for one of these diagrams or Formations. There were eight Grey Lizards who came for that project. All of them were considered masters of Formations, except Suly. She was really close to mastery though, therefore this was an opportunity for her as well. She of course received the easiest Formations available, while Rowan and me focused on something a bit more intricate.
I was a bit afraid to ask questions, but Rowan was nice enough to explain a few things by himself. "This Formation is used for collecting Elements. To be precise, it collects Earth and Wind Elements. All these Formations utilise the Wind Element, because that is the main Element used in the process of transporting things… That's a bit simplified explanation, since the Formations we designed accomplish much more than collecting Elements. I'll explain that when we get to that point".
"I see, but why would we need Earth Element?", I asked. "No, this Formations deals with Earth Element, we need all four basic Elements for this to work. Now, let me show you how the Formations are overlaid and linked", he replied, then began his work. His pace was really slow. Each Rune he placed on the Obsidian wall took a lot of time. The Runes were of a specific size too, and very well defined. I could clearly see a perfectly shaped Rune created from his energy.
Master Rowan later explained why this took so much time. Even as masters in Formations, they had limited amounts of energy. A single Rune compressed to such a state, already took a sizable chunk from his whole pool. Moreover, these Runes were indeed compressed. They had to be compressed in order to handle such huge strains the Formation would place them under.
From his estimates, that single Formation he was working on, would take him about two to three weeks. There were eight Lizards in the cave, but we required twenty of such Formations, placed all around the cave. This step alone would take about two months of time.
That didn't mean I learned nothing at all. The advanced method of utilising Formations, was actually compression of energy. Moreover, they used different Elements to achieve different results. Even something as simple as a collecting Formation, was scaled and extended to such complexity, I wouldn't know where to start.
The first day was really interesting, but I had to practice all that in the meantime. My mother fortunately didn't shove Dante onto me. She had much more time at that stage, and my father did all the running together with Frosty. That also meant I couldn't study the Hal Wshtar, because there was simply no time for that.
Dawn on the other hand, helped out as much as she could. She took care of the wolves, but it was mostly just brushing, letting them out for exercise or hunting, then letting them back inside the house. Leran was happy to help with that as well, especially since he wanted to get a baby wolf. This was a good opportunity for him to learn how to take care of a wolf.
Just like that, a few weeks went by. The few collecting Formations were completed, but about half of them still remained. Rowan told me more details about the Formations they were making at that stage. Before, he said these were collecting Formations, but that wasn't the only job. These Formations actually merged the two Elements they collected. The effects wouldn't be visible, since these Formations didn't produce any visual effect.
From what he explained, the two Elements would merge into one. The 'new' Element wasn't actually new, it was simply the Element of Wind and Earth compacted together. When I asked him what sort of effect would this produce, he gave me an example. "Wind is the fastest Element, at least of the ones we know about. Earth is the toughest Element, right? Now, I'm sure you'd assume that the results we acquire here, are the combinations of these two traits. That would be false".
"In reality, the Earth Element is used to compact the Wind Element to another stage, if you will. The wind doesn't lose its speed due to the earth. Instead, it gains durability… I'll give a simple diagram later. The Formation will be simple in nature, nothing complicated. Your job will be to replicate that Formations, and create a second one but with Wind Element only", he added.
"That would be great, I can compare the effects myself. Thank you", I replied. Rowan kept to his word, and gave me a diagram full of Runes at the end of the day. After a bit of deliberation, I realized what the Formation would be used for. 'This is a simple air slash Formation… I'll need something to place the Formation on… Actually, I need two things in order to compare them'.
I could use my sword and dagger, but I decided not to place any Formations on them for now. The new knowledge would open much wider doors for me in the future. I'd be able to place better Formations, and that's what I planned for my sword and dagger. 'I can always get some arrows or something. Dawn should have plenty of them', I figured.
"Hey, can I have two of your arrows?", I asked her. Dawn looked at me a bit confused, but handed me two arrows anyway. "Why do you need them?", "To place a Formation on something. I don't want to do it on my weapons, that's why I asked for some arrows", I explained. With that out of the way, I began my practice. Before placing anything on these arrows, I had to make sure my ability to draw the Formation was spot on.
Even though the Formation was of the basic type, the Runes used were overlaid. A few failed attempts later, I managed to create a proper Formation, albeit on a piece of paper. 'A few more tries and I should be able to place it on the arrow'. With that in mind, I worked through the evening.
'Alright, my ability to draw this Formation should suffice. I can move on to the next step'. The arrow, or any object for that matter, was harder to work with than a piece of paper. A piece of paper was flat and easy to draw on, things like weapons, jewellery or even statuettes were much harder. I took my time, and placed each Rune carefully. One by one, the Formation took shape, and didn't seem to have any problems.
The normal air slash Formation wasn't such an issue anymore. There were no multiple Elements to worry about, while the complexity itself was grades lower comparably. "You've been working on this for a while now. What exactly are you trying to make?", Dawn asked curiously. "I'm trying to compare two Formations of the same time. One of them is the basic air slash, but the other is improved. I promised not to reveal the details, but I can show you the results. Actually, I'm also curious about the results. Let's go outside, I'm done anyway", I replied.
Once we stepped outside, I chose to activate the normal air slash first. "Swoosh", with a swing of my hand, a slash of air left the arrow. It's speed wasn't bad at all, while its power was alright. "Now the main event, the modified air slash", I said before activating the Formation in my second arrow.
"Swoosh!", a visible arc of air left the arrow, but that wasn't all. The arrow actually cracked due to stress, while the slash of air flew at much, much further than before. I could swear it was a bit faster than the original one too. "Woah! That was much stronger… Are you sure the amount of energy you used was the same? You are not trying to pull my leg or something?", Dawn asked, surprised.
"No, the same amount of energy was used for both Formations. I'm also surprised by its strength. Though weak materials are a no go. These Formations require strong materials… The stronger the Formation, the tougher the material has to be", I said. "Can you make a few such arrows for me? Not with the air slash, but rather something more useful for an archer", she asked.
"Hehe, seriously? I'm quite busy at the moment, but alright. Once I learn more Formations with such effects, I can do a few arrows for you. Though, they will break after one use", I replied. "That is fine. I'm not planning to use them for practice or anything like that. I'd prefer to treat them more like a hidden card. Something that could be useful in a pinch", she explained. 'That's actually not a bad idea, especially since I'm fully aware how that feels', "Sure, you just have to wait a bit. It's not like you need them right now anyway", I replied.