A New Star Chapter 9

The next thing I tried was manipulating time, as that seemed like the thing least likely of all to cause some kind of damage. Even the dark would likely have the capacity to destroy, and I had already grabbed someone with it and slammed them about, so time was next. I tried to make the time I experienced accelerate without effecting anything else around me. At first, it felt like basically nothing happened, but after a second I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye. Looking over, I could see the tongues of flame dancing on that log moving at a rather slow pace. It was as if I was in my last life, watching a video playing at three-quarter speed. Not a huge difference overall, and I certainly wasn't going to be making time stand still any time soon, but it was interesting that I had sped myself up by even that much. Likely, my very high compatibility helped a lot, making all four of my affinities currently act as if they were B-grade even though all four were still A-grade. 

Letting go of the power of time after another few seconds, I called upon the dark, willing myself to fade into shadow. The area where I was sitting was enveloped in a large, dark cloud, and I could both tell that that was happening as well as see through it perfectly. My powered gave me insight into darkness, something I hadn't really paid much mind to so far, but now I could tell just how strong that connection was, as it was made even more obvious when I had a dark area I had created myself present in the same vicinity. I noted that, though I hadn't really been able to tell before, when I called upon the dark, I was able to see through all darkness much better. I could look out the window and clearly see the things outside, including some distant trees, as if it was early dusk and not early night. 

I let the power lapse, still a bit surprised at how easily I could grasp and release the various external arts, or rather, affinities, as they were called here. I suspected that part of it was that I was used to manipulating some energy from my previous life, but a more concrete reason would be my very high compatibilities. It was as if every element or affinity type was eager to answer my call, not requiring me to actually exert myself to draw on their powers. I experimented with fire a bit more, having a flame dance around my fingers in a little swirl, condensing a small flame into the shape of a small bird, though it was rather crude, before making it fly in between my spread fingers. 

I dismissed the flame and pondered for a couple minutes, sensing my affinities while also thinking about how best to train them. I was sure there would be more than one effective method, and I had read a small bit about that in the library, but I would need to find what worked best. Different affinities had different methods that worked better, and it also depended, to a degree, upon the person. A person who was calm and rational would have some different levels of success in training flame using different methods than someone who was naturally cholic and temperamental. I decided to try a little something, looking at the log that was well-burning in the fireplace, and focused on creating a line of flame in the air above it. It was rather marvelous that I was able to summon the flame anywhere, though I was severely limited in range.  

Even from where I sat in the chair next to the fire place was taxing my current range, but I ignored the strain. I allowed the flame to fall onto the log, starting to increase the intensity of the fire there. That was an interesting effect, considering I wasn't currently pumping in any extra power, just letting a bit of fire mana sit on the piece of wood. I filed that away and focused up, suddenly pumping a huge amount of mana into the line of flame, or what was a huge amount for the current me, watching in fascination as the log blazed with vigor. I burnt it so quickly, in fact, that in just a few seconds, there was little more than smoldering ash in the center of the fireplace, a handful of embers the only indication that a large chunk of wood had just been burning there. 

Fourth Affinity upgraded.  

Affinity: Flame  

Grade: B  

Compatibility: 100%  

Apparently, whatever little system tracked the affinities kept track of their order of unlock, so my flame affinity was currently the fourth. I was at once both surprised and yet, totally accepting of such a rapid improvement. I was not rash, but took time, as soon as I saw the notification, to study what was happening and what it felt like. I felt and saw the energy gathering in my mind space, some kind of powerful mana surging in and filling the flame sphere, increasing both its size and luminosity. Nothing else happened for a time, and I eventually came to realize that that was all the transition between grade A and grade B entailed. 

I didn't hastily rush into action after that, but took a little time to ponder what my next steps would be. It looked like I would have to return to the library sooner rather than later, but I had expected I would need to do at least a bit more researching when I started training. If upgrading my flame affinity had been so easy, I made an assumption about how easy it would be to upgrade my other affinities. But I would be empirical about this, gauging exactly how much time, effort, and mana it took to perform an upgrade to my affinities. 

I had an estimate of how much mana (and it still felt weird referring to it as such and not qi) I needed to push my new flame affinity to grade B. I figured I would use another affinity I had not used much to test: Time. I hadn't used that affinity basically at all since I had unlocked it, apart from my very brief use earlier, so it would be a good gauge, especially if it took less mana to upgrade the grade than flame. I stood from the comfortable armchair and stepped into the center of the seating area, holding my arms out and focusing on my affinity. I was only trying to alter the flow of time for myself and, at this point, I wasn't even creating what might be thought of as a bubble around myself, but simply influencing my body. I was only focusing on the amount of mana I was using, thinking regretfully that I didn't have any kind of clock in my suite by which I could keep track of how much I was altering time. 

Third Affinity upgraded.  

Affinity: Time  

Grade: B  

Compatibility: 125%  

Well, that didn't really take too long. I had only been focusing on adjusting the flow of time around myself for what felt like a few minutes, but, again, the lack of clock made figuring out just how long a bit difficult. The more important part was the amount of mana I used to push the affinity to the next grade, and it did seem that I had accomplished the feat with about twenty percent less mana consumption. It wasn't a guaranteed thing, but I was rather confident in my analysis of the amount of mana used to raise my affinity grades. Of course, such free and easy things wouldn't last, as I already knew that pushing from grade B to grade C would be far more difficult and require more than merely using a few simple tricks. 

Regardless, I had a path, and also had information I still needed to gather, so I proceeded with my experiments. I manipulated gravity next, focusing on minimizing the effect of that force on my body. Grade A really was nothing special and, even with my very high compatibility, I wasn’t able to do anything like fly, but I was able to lessen the pull of the planet. I tested it a few times by lightly jumping and even pushing off the walls, gauging my ability to redirect my momentum while under my affinity's influence.  

I had to say, the effect wasn't entirely bad, helped a great deal by the fact that gravity was my greatest strength. If I were to compete against somebody with a gravity affinity that had a one hundred percent compatibility and was at the B grade, I doubt they would be able to overpower my affinity. That was just how strong it was to have a hundred and fifty percent compatibility; it overturned pre-conceived notions of how an affinity even worked. It didn't take much experimenting for me to receive the notification that I was looking for, returning to my chair to sit after it was complete.  

Second Affinity upgraded.  

Affinity: Gravity  

Grade: B  

Compatibility: 150%  

I suppose that only left one target to upgrade, though it wouldn't be particularly difficult. Rather than experiment in the same manner as I had just done with gravity, I decided on a method similar to flame. I wasn't basing the method I was using on anything other than a simple feeling, but I determined that this would be fine for now. I flooded the entire living room of my suite with darkness, filling the entire space with a dark power. Though many people would have a difficult time seeing their own hand in front of their face in my room right now, I could still perceive the outline and general characteristic of every object within the room. The notification took about the same amount of time as my time affinity took to upgrade. Amusing. 

First Affinity upgraded.  

Affinity: The Dark  

Grade: B  

Compatibility: 125%  

That was all four of my affinities upgraded. My body had not upgraded at this time, even despite all my training over the past number of days, but that was little surprise. I had done a quick scan of the library a number of days ago and hadn't found any material, as in, absolutely none at all that discussed anything higher than a tier three body. The resources that did discuss a tier three body also went into great, laborious detail in noting just how difficult such a tier of body was to increase in grade, which most authors used as a springboard to extoll the reader to put less focus on their body cultivation. Preposterous.  

I had already washed and was fully prepared to sleep, so I did just that, not bothering with any more testing or analysis on that night. I was awake the next morning before my maids arrived, though I let them bathe me as it was just easier to go along with them than push back. After my maids were satisfied that I was clean they attempted to dress me, as they often did, but I insisted on dressing how I liked, which often scandalized them. They insisted trousers and a tunic were not proper attire for a noble young lady, but I found fighting, let alone training, in a dress to be immensely tedious.  

I had breakfast that morning in the kitchen, eating quickly, finding the captain who was close to my father showing up to shadow me. It was rather unusual, but I suppose they still needed someone to watch over me, though his sour face and constant sighing was a bit distracting. Despite having lived over a thousand years, I had rarely seen a person look so put-upon, and considering I had overseen a multi-century, galaxy-wide war, that was certainly saying something. When I walked out to the training field, he moved to the side and engaged in a long conversation with a lieutenant, though from that lieutenant's face, it looked like he'd rather be scrubbing the toilets than listening to the captain. 

I underwent my conditioning, though I was already toning down how much I did compared to how much direct sword training I did. My muscles and body had been built up a little bit and I wasn't concerned about conditioning a whole lot more; I was more concerned with focusing on adapting to my body and rebuilding my familiarity with the sword. I worked until the early afternoon, wherein I took a break and went down to the kitchen to eat. I was just finishing my food when a page ran up to the dyspeptic captain and said something to him, after which point he stepped over to me. 

"Yes?" I asked calmly as I stood.  

"Your parents request your presence, young lady," the captain said. 

"Lead on, captain," I commanded, following behind him. 

He took the initiative, walking out of the servants' passages and down the main hallways on the first floor to my parents' office. He nodded to the guard on duty, getting a nod in response, before walking in with me in tow. I frowned slightly at the ease of access, once again wondering how anyone claimed that the estate's security was solid. I shook the thought off as the doors closed behind us, focusing on my parents, who were both in the room and working on paperwork. My eldest brother was absent today, but he had been traveling to the capital recently, wining and dining on our parents' dime there. It was at their behest, but I had a feeling that he was not establishing the kinds of connections they desired.  

"You called?" I said, pre-empting the captain.  

"We inquired about your glass," my father said, surprising me, as I had thought I would have to personally follow up on that at some point.  

"Excellent. And the result?" I asked. 

"There will be an initial set delivered tomorrow," he said, leaning back in his chair and rubbing the inner corners of his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand.  

"Excellent. Is there anything else I need know?" I said. 

Nobody replied for a moment as everyone in the room examined me. I calmly stared back, looking at each of them, seeing the captain and my mother's secretary both shift uncomfortably under my gaze. I was not really surprised by my mother's secretary, and the captain always seemed a bit jittery, and otherwise I saw my parents giving me appraising looks. 

"There's nothing at this time. Do you need anything more from us?" my father said. 

"I do not. I will be securing some materials myself and starting some basic processing. I will let you know if I need anything," I said, ending with a nod before turning on my heel and walking out of the office. The captain was poleaxed for a moment, scrabbling after a few seconds to catch up with me. I led him down the hallway and into the residential section, the captain stopping outside my door after making sure I entered my suite.

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