Of the Tower's Weapons
Diffusion Boundary.
It was something that was created by Winston by taking the relatively simple concept of Shinsu aggregation in higher concentration affecting the flow of shinsu in lower concentration.
Although the technicalities of the art were admittedly not easy to understand as it contained several cases as to what could occur, Winston created a little something for each of them. To not get too lost in the intricacies and provide the simplest explanation possible, the art was basically flow control inside the body mimicking the flow control outside of the body.
By simply branching out the shinsu through one's body and push out of it, one can mimic how a wave controller could control baangs. It led to the creation of a layer of shinsu on the outside of the skin, held together by strands of shinsu that extended inside the body and therefore, requiring no higher focus and mastery than the normal body reinforcement! One only had to maintain the small connection to the outside shinsu on the inside of their body, and the rest could inherently be controller!
Boom!
Shaaa!
Crash!
Explosive sounds and metal clashes rang out in the training hall as Zarhan and Amon dashed from one end to the other, one with a red spear in hand while the other had a short sword.
At one point in their clash, Zarhan had managed to grab his spear back from the ground and was now able to contend with Amon with full power again!
Clang!
Shing!
Clashes of metal and dense flares of red flashed as sparks flew off their weapons.
Amon stepped onto the metallic ground, and with that simple movement, the ethereal blue aura around his seemed to grow denser.
Boom!
Cracks spread across the floor as his body dashed out with increased velocity. Zarhan's eyes widened a bit seeing him dash straight at him.
Holding up his spear horizontally in front of him, he blocked a sword strike aimed right at his chest!
Clang!
Zarhan clicked his tongue and took a stance with his spear. Then, the aura around him also expanded to mimic Amon.
The concept of a Diffusion Boundary was simple. It used the shinsu's water properties, forming a layer around the user through which energy and force was dispersed and transferred. It was a concept inherently similar to the 'Diffusion Boundary' that cells of the human lungs had which allowed for exchange of gases.
In the same way, making use of the different properties of shinsu, it elevated the physical properties by drawing in the shinsu from the environment, increasing the physical capabilities of the user indefinitely. This was made possible because in aggregates of higher concentration like a standard baang, shinsu has an effect on aggregations of lower concentration, allowing the Diffusion layer to draw in the shinsu.
Zarhan and Amon clashed again, their clash sending shock waves through the air.
Their physical capabilities had already far surpassed anything they could achieve by themselves at this stage; appearing several times stronger than a traditional shinsu reinforcement!
Naturally, there were limits of control. The more shinsu that gets drawn in, the harder it is to maintain the Diffusion Boundary. But in the end, there was no other drawback. The increase in physical strength would not harm the body, as shinsu would compensate for the same.
Amon smiled at Zarhan and the Diffusion Boundary around him turned chaotic for a moment.
It somehow extended outwards, turning into several small droplets of water that shot out at blinding speeds!
Zarhan stepped back, instantly retreating a full hundred meters! Then the spear in his hand was spun around, deflecting the hundreds of water droplets that had been shot at him.
As the attack ended, Amon's shinsu aura stabilized, appearing notably thinner.
Zarhan couldn't help but smile at this and rushed straight at him!
Whoosh!
His spear preceded him in reaching the target. Amon tried to block the attack with his short sword, however...
Clang!
The short sword flew right into the air, as did the spear that was thrown. And then, a sudden force met his face as Zarhan's fist slammed right into it!
Bam!
Crash!
Amon flew back and crashed into the walls of the hall, his expression confused and flabbergasted.
He looked over at Zarhan with astonishment.
Seeing his expression, Zarhan gave a smug smile.
"You've surely grown a lot. But you're a couple of centuries behind to think of defeating me!" Zarhan yelled, flexing his right bicep.
Amon shook his head with a resigned sigh and a tug on his lips.
Then, he got off.
"You have to admit, I had you in trouble for a moment, didn't I, Mr. Zarhan?" He asked.
The man in question dodged and question and began to walk out of the hall.
"Let's get something to eat! Nothing like a good meal after winning!" And a boisterous laugh accompanied his comment.
Amon sighed again and followed behind him, shortly after picking up both of their weapons.
However, just as they left, on the small balconies of the second floor, an ethereal figure turned visible.
It was Winston Heath.
His eyes held a calculating glint as he contemplated while holding his chin.
Below him was nothing but a small disc of shinsu.
Amon is progressing faster than I expected. Then again, diffusion boundary is nothing short of an unfair tactic compared to anything else. He shook his head. The new shinsu art allowed for not only usage of baang like shinsu control and tremendous increase in physical capabilities, but it also accelerated the progress for future baang creation.
It could only be described as miraculous.
Winston smiled and got up from his seat, the shinsu disc below him vanishing into thin air.
Then, he snapped his fingers. And there he was gone in a burst of flames.
~~~
Winston walked back into his own personal room.
They had booked a hotel at the 13th floor, one of the best. After all, if they were going to stay here for a break, they could not stay in a lackluster place. Of course even if they weren't taking a break, they would still take the best hotels to stay. It was simply a matter of choice.
As he walked into the room, his eyes couldn't help but travel outside through the windows which were unimpeded by the slight drizzle that marred their surface.
A vast sea stretched out and scattered all around were various islands atop which towering builds stood to touch the sky. The clouds swaddled over the horizons as the afterglow of the evening and a bright golden body, the acolyte of light, the sun loomed halfway down the infinite blue, now stained with an orange hue, to welcome the black night.
Winston couldn't help but smile as he gazed right at the setting sun. For with his eyes, he could see the hidden object that took advantage of the bright light. It was a lighthouse that loomed in the scintillating light of the evening, surely something organized by the Tower's ruling parties to cull regulars in their infantile stages.
This was something seen on every floor until now. The lighthouses were hidden in all sorts of places, most of the time, there were multiple to cover the blindspots. And oh boy, did they have a gigantic view of the environment around them.
Although Winston was unsure of how it could manage to analyze such a wide area as it did, he was sure the lighthouse could not analyze everyone all the time. His intuition told him so.
And so, he stretched his body and calmly went to shower.
After about 10 minutes and a change of clothes, he was back on his bed, calmly staring at the ceiling.
Then, he got up and summoned the reel inventory. He took out the ignition needle, Cerulean Tide and enveloped it with spirituality.
Slowly but surely, the spirituality began to leak off the tip of the needle in waves and enveloped the room in a blockade of secrecy and concealment.
With that, Winston exhaled and sat cross legged onto the ground.
He closed his eyes and concentrated his spirit with cogitation. Then, lights began to appear around him.
At first, there were 2, then 3, 4 and 5. Slowly, the number increased to 6 and even 7! 7 baangs! By someone on the 13th floor! However, it didn't stop at that point.
Slowly, it increased and began to reach 8. The 8 baangs floated around him in a circle, slowly bobbing up and down in the air.
Then, a 10th light began to materialize and then even the 11th! But as it did, the 10th light began to dim considerably.
At that point, Winston opened his eyes and stared ahead at the 10 baangs.
10 is the current limit. The goal is to reach 12 before the 15th floor and before the next ascension. Winston thought with a nod. This was the main reason he had not been paying much attention to his own acting. The concept was that he would maximize his own shinsu capacities before trying to ascend to the next sequence. As he understood it, drinking a potion to get to the next sequence enhanced his current talents. It was something that could be understood as a collective multiplication.
Hence, it was the best decision to maximize his own potential before that! When Winston had been at Sequence 8, the maximum baangs he could make was 3. When he ascended, the number was instantly boosted to 7!
With a thought, the baangs were dispelled into thin air.
Then, Winston suddenly had a strange expression on his face. He opened up the reel inventory again and pulled out a variety of objects, each being completely random.
One was a bottle of essential oil, some chalk, candles and other strange trinkets.
He pulled then out and laid them onto the floor before him.
Then, he smiled.
I suppose I can make some more charms.
~~~
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Of the Tower's Weapons- by Ashul Edwardu.
Foreword:
Dear readers,
A long time ago, King Zahard came into the uncivilised Tower and taught the inhabitants civilisation and ruled over them. He had said, "This place is too boggy".
For us, who were born and raised inside the Tower, it is a statement that makes no sense. But for the people outside the Tower, the "Irregulars", it is something they know very well. Surprisingly, there's no shinsu in their world and something called "air" fills their world instead. They said that the Tower filled with shinsu is too boggy and uncomfortable for them.
I have never seen air, but I have found out some commonalities and differences between air and shinsu by interviewing the Irregulars.
First, the common point is that they both let beings breathe. And they both flow constantly. It is also identical that they are powerful enough to threaten others when they flow harshly.
Then the difference? The biggest difference is indeed the characteristics by the concentration. In shinsu's case, it's more like a gas when it's in low concentration and more like liquid when it's in high concentration. But it seems air is not liquefied even in high concentrations.
The second difference is the circulation. The circulation of shinsu is very fluent but there is no common law. (And the movements are all different by the Floors of the Tower.) But it is said that there are set laws in the circulation of air. (I want to study some more about the laws, but the research is slow because none of the Irregulars that I have met is knowledgeable enough about the laws of air.)
The third difference is consumption. Shinsu exists everywhere inside the Tower. So shinsu exists even in a room that is completely sealed. Shinsu does not flow in from somewhere else, but is rather created from the Tower. So, we can live in the sealed places. Air is not created from sealed places and if a being is locked inside a sealed room, the being will consume all of the air and die. (It seems very uncomfortable.)
You readers may not understand why I, who is not even a Wave Controller, am writing about shinsu on the front pages of a book about weapons. But it is because you are ignorant of the weapons of the Tower. Shinsu and the weapons of the Towers are interrelated. You cannot fully understand the weapons unless you understand shinsu.
All of the weapons we use are modelled after the weapons from the outside of the Tower, which Zahard and the 10 Family Heads brought in with them when they came inside the Tower. Their weapons were, of course, all made to suit air, not shinsu. (Even though some were used in a vacuum.) They had to develop and modify their weapons to suit the properties of shinsu. That's how the weapons we use were born. So it's essential to know about shinsu to understand the weapons of the Tower.
For this reason, there're going to be a lot of stories about shinsu in the following chapters and I request that readers place special emphasis on the relationship between the weapons and shinsu while reading.
Part 4: Baangs and Concentration (A short extract)
As per one of the research papers by Po Bidau Gustang and my own personal experiences, shinsu can sometimes concentrate itself into aggregations most often seen on the floors above 70.
Such aggregations can affect the general flow of shinsu in a lower concentration, leading to irregular phenomenon. An example of such is the higher aggregation attracting the shinsu around the atmosphere, drawing it closer and turning denser; eventually turning into a large whirlpool that sucks in all the shinsu around it.
This is also one of the processes that leads to the formation of suspendium, the main component of inventories and lighthouses.
In the opposite case, the shinsu flow reverses from the higher to the lower concentrations, siphoning off the aggregation and leading it back into equilibrium.
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A/N: I wanted to try and explain the Diffusion Boundary concept a bit more for the intellectuals out there seeking a better and more technical approach to it. Hence, the short extract from "Of the Tower's Weapons."
It was made personally by me. You might see more in the future.
Also, tell me your thoughts so far.
Cheers~~