dev 2 - technique hook

At last, the peace of the wilderness.

In those dark times, there aren't that many things that can relieve his soul, but.. perhaps this might be one of them. While he remarked that the practice on animals of all sorts might not be the best option, there was always a hook into technique - a hook that he would require in order to advance.

Only then he should settle for human bodies. But for now..

When he takes Midas as far as he can into the wilderness, he briefly turns to the redheaded chosen-brother; it's fairly clear that they've come here for practice of Biomancy, but he chooses to elaborate anyhow.

"I've come here to observe how exactly you manipulate the blood vessels."

"I'll need you to take on any animal, or bird, it doesn't matter - then affect it's body. I intend to study the effects it has on mana circuits, and then try to replicate it through direct effect against these circuits."

It should sound simple enough, but it's not. It brought about a lot of complications that many couldn't even dream of, but that doesn't deter Nerin.

"Also--"

"What is it that you wanted to speak about?"
(Nerin)

Oh, seems like there's finally use for it outside of killing. It was risky to do with his injuries, but for the most part he had recovered. Though he gets a paranoid chill in his neck as he begins to look around their surroundings for a few seconds before turning back to Nerin.

"Uh, we'll speak about my stuff after we do what needs to be done for your progress." he says, pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Okay, so I've taken interest in literature lately, anything I could get my hands on. No doubt y'all learned this in cadet course or whatever. Basically, how I managed to gain control over blood vessels and liquids initially was pretty different from others. The way I perform magic is something called cognitive magic, where I manually control my manaflow, it relies mostly on willpower." he stops again, hoping he gave a coherent explanation, he'd hunt for Nerin's gaze before continuing.

"Now that that's out of the way, what do you want me to do to the animal exactly?"
(Midas)

At the remark about cognitive casting, he merely responded to that with a nod; it is indeed something that Nerin was aware about, and in truth, he was actually fairly advanced in magic - more than anyone could initially suspect him to. His training never truly stopped, and where others may think that Nerin could be slacking..

They would be very, very wrong.

"Yes, quite so. I'm actually very used to cognitive casting, and most of my way of casting happens exactly that way- especially when it comes to manipulating bones in someone's body, or my own. One mistake could cost me everything."

Another thought in which he had to ponder. What exactly he would need Midas to do, anyway?

"I'd need you to manipulate the blood vessels and fluids in any animal that we can find. We could probably catch one sufficiently quick - and then I want to observe the full process as you steer the blood within their body."

"The reason I need it is because I have to acknowledge how exactly mana circuits are altered in accordance to the magic affecting their body, and then learn how to utilize these mana circuits on my own."

It sounds reasonable enough, right? A different technique that he'd learn altogether.

"Think you can do that?"
(Nerin)

Fair enough.

"Yeah, should be able to. I just have to warn you before hand, a month or so ago I hurt myself pretty badly while experimenting, and an animal shouldn't be much trouble, but in the off-chance I pass out, just help me up." he says before turning away, trying to locate an inhabitant of the forest that surrounded them.

A few minutes go by; eventually, a hare jumps out from some of the bushy vegetation, hopping around the nearby area, most likely searching for food. Poor sod, it just wasn't your lucky day.

For a very brief moment, Midas closes his eyes, focusing in on his mana circuit. He begins contorting the flow through his arms, directing it towards the furry creature. His eyes flash open as he suddenly extends both of his arms outwards with open palms, getting a firm hold among blood vessels in the extremities of the animal. As his mana begins to spread throughout it, Midas would slowly curl his fingers in, eventually grabbing ahold of all the blood vessels in the hare's body, giving Midas control over it's central nervous system.

He exerts his force over it, visualizing every command to aid him in precise movements, leading the rabbit to hop over towards the duo, albeit in a very unnatural way.

"Think I've got a handle on it for now, do your bidding, it's a bit unsettling." he says in a low tone, clearly applying his focus towards the task at hand.
(Midas)

It's good that he had allies to help him with such thing. If anything, it would be a very useful lesson for him, to know how the rest of the body- namely the flesh rather than bone- is affected by such thing. After all, bodies tend to be mostly compromised of liquids, held together by the flesh that binds it.. and now, he's had the chance to inspect it closer.

"Thank you. And if anything happens, I'll make sure you get home safely, don't worry."

Of course he wouldn't just leave him behind like that. When he notices the hare hop out like that, his eyes squints once, intending to glance once at Midas- as if gesturing him to proceed; but before he knew it, Midas was already onto that, grasping the poor animal to be steered closer to them.

"Hrm.."

It's at that point when he notices how unnaturally the hare moves, he approaches closer to inspect it. Steadily lowering himself down, his hand reached to carefully poke and prod at its fur, eyes steadily narrowing at what he sees. How peculiar that something so alive can be made so.. robotic in its movements, how it can be manipulated as if it were a toy.

Truly, the power over living organisms is a terrifying one.

"Hold it still for a little more."

At that point, Nerin's own mana steadily surges it, the cognitive casting being made use of for the sake of precision to guide it through; this mana becomes another force in the hare's body, made to contort and steadily alter it, evoking the subtlest of ripples within.

Clearly, there's some disturbance that grows.

Yet, the origin of Nerin's magic isn't the same; it stems from the bone, and then steadily extends further on, until it covers the rest of the body. Like a 'virus', Nerin's mana spreads throughout - it's clear that he's learning how to affect the flesh, using the bone as a basis, and yet..

"For how long are you usually able to hold them?"
(Nerin)

His body, more specifically his hands would often twitch, with his facial expression pretty twisted, he peeks at Nerin for a brief second before speaking.

"It's-.. really hard. Small creatures I can hold for a while depending-.. on the degree of control. Right now I'm trying to regulate all of its bodily-.. functions-.. for the most part, if I lose focus it could die for a variety of reasons-.." he pauses, wrestling with himself on the inside before moving on.

"Controlling it like this is REALLY fucked up, it'll probably die when we're done, I don't know its anatomy well enough to exert my force over it correctly, so I'm trying my best here." he says before falling silent, opting to focus in on the task to avoid premature death.
(Midas)

Nerin's lips idly pursed in thought. So he was regulating its body functions..? To an extent, he figured that this might be the answer to how he could exert control over the living bodies like that, and he steadily nodded.

"I see. Then maybe.."

Another pulse of mana. This time, it's steadily intended to shape the flesh of the hare that was bound under control of Midas, the mana circuits that every single living being has affected entirely different. While he doesn't know blood magic, and he cannot just intervene directly.. it's something entirely different.

Something that results out of the effect laid on the mana circuits.

At that point, Midas could feel the hare slowly rising out of his control- it's not to say that the hare is back to normal, not at all - it's like there's another force carefully and steadily influencing the body, using the bone's mana circuitry as the basis, and then extending control from out there.

Like a force that steadily takes over the body, with the bone used as basis for it.

"Tell me.. are you feeling any difference right now?"

He should.. for with every moment, it feels like the hare is steadily slipping out of his grasp- where he may still hold degree of control, he does so less and less, almost like it could break out any moment..

That force being of another magi.

"Do you feel anything as you try to keep it down?"
(Nerin)

Midas brings both of his hands to his sides with palms facing up, the feeling he's experiencing identical to that of standing on a ledge of a skyscraper, leaning forward is giving up control and going off into sweet nothingness, yet forcing yourself back off the ledge a more mental battle, as if pushing against gravity itself. He would be currently walking a thinly veiled line between the two sides, like playing a balancing act on a tightrope.

"Y-yeah, it's slipping away." he says, as he begins to feel the pull of gravity, practically asking him to release control and leap off, though for the time being he'd push with as much force as he could muster, the raw output limited by the degree of control he's forcing out, not wanting to allow the hare to suffer too greatly, at least for now.

"What do you want me to do?"
(Midas)

Perhaps it's the raw power that Nerin possessed, or the constant mastery and improvement to what he's worked on, but.. it certainly feels difficult to actually resist him so. If anything, as the time passes, it feels nigh impossible to keep resisting, tempting Midas to no longer exert himself and simply let go.

"Nothing."

"Observe."

It's at that point the hook to his own Biomancy technique, which is the basis of bones and the extending line of magical circuits, was used to invade the rest of the body; by extension, due to effect stretching to the mana circuits, it would affect the body as a whole - shaping it out of Midas' control, prompting his attempts to keep it down much more difficult.

Until.. the blood vessels simply stretch and struggle out of his grasp, much with the rest of the flesh to his surprise.

At that point, the hare seems to simply brush itself off, its nose wrinkling a bit at the odd experience it's been put through; the animal looks about for a moment, and when the control is finally released.. it simply runs off - back to the forests, back to the wilds, seemingly unharmed.

Steadily, Nerin turns to Midas.

"I'm thankful that you showed me."

"My intent was to parse through effects bodily magic has on mana circuits; essentially, I reversed it, and made alterations to the body through mana circuits."

"I know Bone magic, so the mana circuits of the skeletal structure were my 'base' to get started, so to say."

A brief explanation given to his brother- perhaps, he could even interest himself in the Biomancy sometime in the future. After all, blood and flesh are also basis to the body.. and the rest could no doubt be affected.

"I think I have what I need now."
(Nerin)