63 Training

Dane had forgotten the darkness that came when one lost all their senses at the same time. After the momentary shock, he activated his Spiritual Sense to feel his way around. With glee, he realized that his sensory field had grown to a radius of 5 meters all around him. He could form a mental image of everything around him.

Of course, none of the humans noticed anything off and they just kept walking. This was their triumphant return. The confirmation that everything they had grown up hearing about was an underestimation of the treasure they had uncovered. Even Kedan felt Dane had spared no expenses.

The man, or in this case, the spirit himself was busy levitating his way up a mountain. He had no clear goal but at the moment he needed to distance himself from others and learn about his newfound body.

Dane especially wanted to see if he could influence the world around him, the physical world, from the metaphysical, or whatever he was. Finally, at the top of the cliff, Dane began channeling his power.

He didn't know what to do. A soul provided the outlets of power while the spirit acted as the medium. Power itself was in the spirit, but the pathways were defined by the soul. Or so Dane thought. Something had changed Dane's mind, his first possession.

When Dane had made contact with the bird, he'd felt the power in his spirit surging forth and follow a 'path'. Everything he knew about power and manipulation, all the dissertations and publications all said one thing, the pathways of power were in the soul. So how could he do such a thing as Possession in the first place?

Dane's answer to this was that somehow, his soul and spirit had been merged, or this piece of his remnant soul was now recognized as part of his spirit. If this was the case, then this meant that he could also affect the world itself, not just other spirits.

The moment this thought had entered his mind, Dane couldn't help marveling at the possibilities. As someone who was accustomed to leaving behind his main body, he was clear on how to make the best out of what one had. Dane now was sure that his new 'body', was extremely powerful as it was.

The act of Possession was akin to stealing one's body and taking it for a ride. It could help penetrate the tightest of defenses without the defenders knowing they were invaded. Not only that, Dane could use the abilities of those he possessed against them or their family. Now to think that he could use his abilities outside of Possession, why wouldn't he be excited?

Focusing on a space ahead of him, he channeled his power. This time, something different happened. Instead of feeling, he could now see it in his mind. The flow of power as it moved through him.

Dane had studied Pathways before, but never really seen them. They were the same way a computer scientist would study cyberspace but never actually see it. It was virtual but very much real at the same time. Now, with Spiritual Sense, he could see them clearly, and oh was it enlightening.

Think of power as Qi. This was contained within one's Spirit, therefore the Spirit determined the output. The soul governed how this power could be made use of. It governed its application. How it would move and where it would go. Energy flowed through the Pathways and was released through the acupoints.

Dane could follow it's movements to where he had aimed the power. The lines and pathways were evident to him as he tried to open a spatial dimension.

Even more than that, Dane could now see part of the other dimension that had been opened. It had no space, nothing in it, just some vast emptiness. Void space, the weakest kind of dimension but also the best to initiate if you looking to do a long term project.

So this was the benefit of being a spirit? Completely overpowered! Dane couldn't help but gasp. How was this even possible? If one could see the movement of magic and application of power, then wouldn't they not only have time to prepare since he could even see energy in the individual.

One of Dane's biggest advantage was that though he was barely a Grade F+ Spirit, he had the mind of a Grade B Super. In addition, he had lived for countless years and he had access to all his abilities. He may not have access to all his powers, but his knowledge was intact. He knew how much he could and the limits of his power.

Thinking up to this point, Dane felt that if spirits had a mouth, he'd be laughing. Time to see what this baby can do!

Dane's primary element was Space, but he also had control over Rock, Fire, Water, and Thunder, part of his draconian heritage. Any other power he'd had previously couldn't be used at this level. He was far too weak, but at least had the elements, and that's all he needed for now.

Casting one of his strongest spells, Dane combined the earth element with the space element. The space element was readily available everywhere in the universe. Given they were in a natural planet made up of the Rock element, then it too was readily available.

Dane first shaped the Space element into a barrier or a container. The same way he did when creating spatial weapons. This was done by reshaping the space element to form strong bonds that were unbreakable. He made the space element to form a humanoid shape about 1 meter tall.

He then absorbed soil particles from the ground, acting as meat for his spatial endoskeleton. Pleased with his creation, he had his spirit occupy this golem. He excitedly played around with his new body. He tried to feel his level of control over elements.

An idea flashed in his mind suddenly. He realized that he could use his mastery over the element as some sensory input, giving him real world data, not just what he saw using Spiritual Sense.

Following through, he started to translate the vibrations picked up by body to sound. It wasn't very easy, but he wasn't a bona fide galactic genius for nothing.

Hard work bore fruits. He could 'hear' sounds of nature around him. It Worked! Only ...

"Aaahh!"

The sound was followed by a very loud band. Dane saw, using Spiritual Sense, a man enter his range and rush at his creation with a sword raised high. However, his attack made his angry expression turn into shock.

The sword hadn't even broken past Dane's spatial barrier. The soil formation underneath had been distorted somewhat, indicating the force had penetrated.

This made Dane consider next time to use rock particles, however, that was not what he was angry at. He was very annoyed at himself for making such a novice mistake, not the soil particles, but to try his art in an area he had not inspected. With a range of 5meters, just how exposed was he?

"Wait!" Sound of an elderly woman. The attacker halted, just as Dane dissolved the golem he had created, causing the soil particles to crumble.

Soon after, an elderly woman entered his range. From the look of things, she was quarreling the attacker, before she lay prostate on the ground. It should be known that Dane couldn't see anything more than silhouettes. If he looked closely enough, he'd be able to see expressions.

Seeing this unexpected development, Dane was curious, and as luck would have it, there was a bird on the elderly woman's shoulder. When she had laid down, the bird had flown off out of his range. However, being a domesticated bird, Dane was sure it couldn't have gone far. Talk about golden opportunity! He just had to find that damn bird.

He hovered around in circles widening his search parameters, and as he did, he realized that his actions had caused quite the commotion. There was already a crowd forming around the elderly woman, who had taken the time to steal the show.

Finally, he found it perched in some tree. He wasn't sure if that was the actual bird, but at that point he didn't care.

The poor bird didn't even see it coming. It didn't even know as it was being possessed. Dane hit the necessities first, eyes and ears. Finally he could see and hear what was happening. He was also now one of the woman's spectator.

"... Hear me!" Coincidentally, when Dane got the ears, those were the first words he heard as the woman exclaimed, as though she had come to an end of a chant.

'Alright, I hear you,' Dane laughed. Now that he could see her, he realized she had the look of a nature shaman. He had seen many of the type enough to recognize them.

"Tell us we who are humble what kind if spirit you are." The woman, still in her prostrated position continued. Dane wasn't sure whether she was a real shaman or just playing at one. This could be a very elaborate ruse, but one thing he was was a real spirit.

Dane was now fully integrated with the bird's spirit. He still hadn't exerted his will over the bird, nor did he not yet. He just suggested to the bird, and since neither of the other triarchies had any reason to refuse, the bird just...

"CAW!"

The woman had taken a dramatic pause, which was a huge gamble to those around her watching, and some had already started mocking her.

Any other time, a hawk cawing barely rouses a second look, unless you a chicken farmer and you have chicks. However, when one bird cawed, it managed to turn an entire crowd.

"CAW! CAW!" Once is never enough.

The woman squeezed her way through the crowd until she came under the tree he was on.

"Mighty Hawk Spirit, state your reason for coming!" She intoned!

"Oh please! Now just because some bird cawed means its a spirit?"

"Oh look, there's a humming bird over there, could it be that there is a 'mighty humming spirit' here too?"

It was some time in the afternoon going on towards evening. Some of those gathered were quite tipsy, and the jeering continued. Each comment followed by raucous laughter by many surrounding.

There were those that had the look of wariness as though they anticipated a terrible disaster. Others just had an amused look, nit part of the jeering crowd but clearly sharing similar opinions.

"Oh look, the bird is leaving!" Another exclaimed before bursting into laughter, as did his fellow companions. As these laughed, the woman, and many others, followed the bird with their eyes.

Could be it felt like flying, or it was disturbed by the humans. Or, it was what the old woman claimed it to be.

The laughter continued, the drunks and their party oblivious to the danger they were in. The leader, the first drunk that had jeered the woman was flanked on all sides by his supporters. The crowd had formed around him, those closest to him being the moat vocal.

Dane had realized his mistake before while flying. While he had taken the forms of hawk and eagles several times as doppelgangers or reshaped clones, he had never been or taken the form of the hafiti bird. He was not familiar with that body and how it gained flight, but with the hawk, he was invincible!

Flapping his wings at a sharp turn, Dane barrelled down towards the humans, and before they could react, the leader did not have eyes anymore. By now, Dane had gained full control over the bird, forcefully supplanting the bird's authority.

Claws faced unprotected skins, and none of the men's hands could do anything as the bird swopped in over and over again, reaping their eyeballs.

They quickly discarded and ran helter skelter screaming blood, some escaped Dane's claws. Many left bleeding and some without eyes.

As Dane turned to fly away, he shot a look at the old woman knowing he just gained a useful tool.