Chapter 34: Force

Leonel gazed at Aina for a moment and then nodded. He didn't say anymore words, nor did he try to comfort her. He somehow felt that was exactly what he shouldn't do in this situation.

Instead, after his nod, he turned back to his little booklet, allowing the sound of the carriage wheels pulling through dirt and gravel to fill the air again.

'Call of the Wind. This technique taps into the Forces of Wind that impede your strikes, taking them in as friends and having them come to your aid.

'Forces are the fundamental energies of the universe. Third Dimensional worlds identify these Forces as Gravity, Electromagnetism, Strong Force and Weak Force. They are in fact correct about these four, however, they are oversimplified.

'Every fundamental Force has a particle attached to their existence which is responsible for their strength. Electromagnetic Force is tied to photons. Strong Force is attached to gluons. Weak Force is attached to bosons. And, Gravity is tied to gravitons.

'The manipulation of these particles is where the cultivation of Force comes from if it were to be described in the simplest terms possible.'

Leonel re-read this introduction for the dozenth time, as though trying to find something he had missed before.

As far as he knew, gravitons were the last of the particles to be found and hadn't been until extremely recently. Not even a decade before his birth, if he recalled correctly…

'The use of these four particles, their subspecies, and their unique combinations, are responsible for every sort of Force that Force Wielders use.

'The higher the Dimension, the more complex these particles become, the more variations of them exist, and the more difficult they become to control. But, there is one thing that must always be remembered:

'The Art of Force Wielding is a calculated science. Should you take it as a game for fun or entertainment to screw around, you will die.'

Leonel took this warning very seriously. His actions on the battlefield that day had been extremely dangerous. Recklessly manipulating a Force technique like that was practically asking for death.

To top this off, he had even been using the technique without even opening the book. Had he not had the talent, and had [Call of the Wind] not been manipulating some of the weakest Force particles, he most definitely would have caused irreparable harm to himself.

Settling his heart, Leonel organized his thoughts once more.

The first and most important thing he learned was that 'Spirit' and 'Force' were not the same thing. He had already vaguely grasped this when he noticed that activating his Force pushed his spirit up by 0.1. But now, he was absolutely certain.

Spirit was related to the senses, the so-called Inner Sight. The higher one's spirit, the easier it was to control and manipulate Force. But, high spirit didn't necessarily mean that you had a lot of Force to wield.

The reason Leonel's spirit had ticked up wasn't because Force could give you more spirit. The true reason was because of the location of his Force Node. Because it was in his brain, its activation supplied more strength to his mind, thus increasing his spirit.

As a result…

[Leonel Morales]

[Strength: 0.92; Speed: 0.85 (+0.1); Agility: 0.95 (+0.1); Coordination: 1.01; Stamina: 0.90 (+0.05); Reactions: 1.01; Spirit: 0.30; Force: 0.20]

For now, Leonel adjusted his Force stat to 1.00. He didn't have anyone but Aina to measure himself up against. So, he simply arbitrarily picked the number that made the most sense to him. This way, he should reach 1.00 when he lit his ninth Force Node.

As for his other stats, they were like this when he woke up. He didn't know if it was because of his Lineage Factor, or if it was because of his dad's concoction, but either way, their increasing was good news for him.

This aside, the second thing Leonel learned was that the Force Nodal energy in his brain stem and the Forces [Call of the Wind] spoke of weren't exactly the same either.

The energy Leonel absorbed through [Dimensional Cleanse] was an amalgamation of all Forces. If Leonel had to attach a name to it, he would call it Potential Energy. It was unused Force that had the potential to effect change.

However, the Force [Call of the Wind] spoke of could be called Kinetic Energy. It was energy that was actively releasing its potential in order to create the change its controller desired.

Techniques like [Call of the Wind] were the catalyst needed to turn Potential Force into Kinetic Force.

The third thing that Leonel learned was that there was a second way to accomplish this very task. When he 'activated' the Force in his Nodes, resulting in his stats going up, what he was essentially doing was metabolizing the Force in his body to increase his strength. This was a natural ability all those with Force Nodes had. Though, those with a certain level of talent had greater efficiency than others in this conversion.

Coming to this point, one can then understand why Leonel's actions had been so dangerous… He was essentially converting Potential Force into Kinetic Force using an unverified method. That was like building a nuclear power plant without the proper safety measures. And… building that power plant in your brain stem…

If that wasn't an act of suicide, Leonel didn't know what was.

It took Leonel quite a while to stop his cold sweat so that he could focus his everything on how [Call of the Wind] actually worked.

'Break it down into a science…'

Leonel knew that as he evolved toward higher Dimensions, he would have to relearn the fundamental knowledge he had in some cases. However, when it came to Black level techniques that still resided within the Third to Fourth Dimensions, the knowledge he did have was robust enough.

'… Wind resistance is a matter of friction. If framed like this, I can think of multiple ways a technique that mitigates it can work… You could use Force to make a projectile more aerodynamic… you could use Force to loose the strong and weak Forces between atoms to reduce their drag… you could use Force to create a vacuum in the line of trajectory…'

Leonel listed ideas for what must have been hours, he even became completely lost in his thoughts, forgetting that he had a technique that would give him a method right before him. Plus, many of the ideas he thought of were well beyond his reach with his current proficiency and amount of Force.

[Call of the Wind] actually managed to function differently than all the several dozen ideas Leonel thought of, and also gave him a glimpse of what was considered complex and simple in the world of Force Science.

'… Using Electromagnetic Force to magnetize air particles… forming those particles into a point… Almost like the heavy steel tip of a javelin, except this spear tip is far more complex…'

There were a few principles at work. One was aerodynamics, the other was drag reduction, and the last was magnetism. However, despite all of this, there was a beautiful simplicity to it all because it all worked on one mechanism.

'In the future, I have to not only think of ideas that work, but also ideas that use the path of least resistance…'

The more he studied [Call of the Wind], the more beautiful he felt it was and the more apropos he realized the name really was.

On the third day, Leonel stood, opening the door of the rumbling carriage.

Aina looked up to see him holding his spear at the moving doorway, but said nothing to disturb.

Leonel stood at the doorway blankly for a moment. Around him, there were escorts of knights and warriors all around. But, his eyes were entirely focused on the border of forest beyond them. It was just about ten meters away.

As fast as lightning, Leonel's static stance shifted. He lowered his hips, brandished his spear, and pierced forward toward empty air.

The Frenchmen who could see what was happening opened their eyes wide, shocked by Leonel's actions. But in the next moment, something even more shocking occurred.

At the edge of the forest, a thick ancient tree suddenly had its trunk cleanly pierced through. It was done so sharply that it sounded no different from the dull thump of an arrow embedding into wood.