NOVEL FROG Chapter 139: Training – The future of Telekinesis!
Morning, 14th day
Rocky shores of the Dragonmont Volcano
Kai had had a busy week.
To keep Selene in the best of her state had become his priority in the last few days.
The raw heat of the lava had been troubling her despite her searching for the egg in her Intangible form, he had found out. It was a weakness he had expected but not tested, what with her having a combination of ghost and ice-type powers. He could see the obvious, but equally grave and perplexing, effect on her white dragon-like scales that would glow white-red, like hot iron, after every excursion into the depths of the volcano.
Selene was extraordinarily vulnerable against heat, Kai had concluded; and by extrapolation, against anything related to fire and its infinite forms.
So most of his time had gone into hunting fish for himself and Selene. She had eaten not one of his catches without severely and dismissively hissing at him, though.
I must hunt by myself, she had grumbled every time, swallowing the fish whole. I must always.
Kai couldn't have that. It had been already becoming a task more than he could chew with Selene's every tired and burned return. He couldn't afford her idling in the seawater, slithering, and chasing after some fish, a case in which he could outmatch her easily in his Golduck form.
All this had made him realize one thing which demanded no refusal and objection.
He must have a mobile lab on him. All the time.
Moving on with the decision, he had concentrated his efforts on his Abilities.
Golduck-Kai was sitting over the same boulder, but now his hair looked rough, and there was a darker tinge to his blue skin. His eyes were closed, his pupils fluttering under the eyelids as if he was having some terrible nightmare. The gem on his forehead kept pulsating with red flashes.
Several sharp-edged pebbles were hovering around him in a 10-meter radius. Sometimes they were revolving clockwise, sometimes they halted before resuming their revolution in the opposite direction. A few of them halted longer than the others as if they were trying to cling in the same direction of a clockwise revolution but ultimately failed.
With no one to guide him, Kai had devised a plan to increase his Telekinesis Proficiency with his own methods. Using the knowledge he had attained, and the methods of cultivation, from his previous life, Kai decided to work on his Telekinesis with the phases of elements as the basis.
In the Elementary phase, he would work on controlling solid matter, with the size, shape, and weight increasing with the Proficiency. Not only these, but he must also control the coordinates and motions precisely. For example, right now, Kai was working on keeping the pebbles still at their places while simultaneously revolving them on their axis. Where he did fail, though, was rotating some clockwise and rest anticlockwise.
Kai believed when the time came he could do this effortlessly, he would already be nearing the Advance level of this Ability.
Similarly, in the Advance phase, he would work on controlling the liquid matter.
The Master phase would be the most difficult, he knew. Not only because it was Master, but also because he would need to control the air itself.
Still, Kai rather have the variable decided by him, than remain unknown to them.
The oval gem on his forehead let out a brilliant flash, then.
Kai, who was still seated on the boulder, lifted, hovering a few inches in the air. It differed from the moment in the Pokemon Random World when he had pushed against many solid surfaces to balance himself midair using Telekinesis. Here, he had only the ground to work with, pushing and stretching his command over the Ability to the limits.
Kai gritted his teeth, pushing the ground in a conical volume to balance himself.
Suddenly, a few pebbles jolted as his control loosened. With small thuds, the pebbles fell one by one.
Kai fell with them. My fucking head… he cursed, clutching his head with both hands. It felt like someone was hammering it from both inside and outside, while simultaneously stabbing it with needles, swords, and screws.
…
[
Elementary Telekinesis: Proficiency 45% (+5%)
]
…
Kai had been tortured before, but this was something else entirely.
For physical pain, he could rely on his experience and Pain Factor to bite it down. The pain stemming from using the Telekinesis seeped into his very soul.
As he fought through the pain, Kai accidentally touched the red gem.
Huh? Was it his imagination? Or the gem felt bigger than it had been before?
Before Kai could ruminate over it more, a painful, yet thrilled, hissing sound enraptured his attention out of the blue, overpowering the loud crashing of the waves down on the rocky beach.
-Selene?!- The hiss exploded out of his mouth.
He stood up so fast that he almost lost his footing, and darkness covered his eyes momentarily.
When vision graced itself to his eyes, Kai saw a black, charred, 6 ft-long figure slithering towards him.
Its burned scales looked ashy black, and he could see a red hue of lava stuck under the scales, which he guessed were scales because he couldn't distinguish them from the figure anymore. In the middle of the figure, there was a huge bulge as if someone had stuffed a big rock down its throat.
The figure flicked out a forked tongue and tasted the scent of blood, and Kai flashed in the figure's direction, taking out an HP capsule.
-What happened to you, Selene?- Kai hissed, pushing the capsule down her throat.
-What happened to you, master?- Selene hissed, lingering on the brink of death.
The same nature of their questions threw them off guard, and Kai couldn't help but let out a smile, as a red shine engulfed Selene, healing her instantly.
-I was just having fun,- Kai told her, his gaze fumbling around the bulge in her stomach.
-I had to materialize into my actual form to swallow the egg,- Selene hissed back, explaining the cause of her fatal injuries.
So she was within the lava for a few moments, Kai thought incredulously. Does that mean… she even swallowed a bit of lava?! How is she still alive?!
To Kai's surprise, Selene complained about nothing. Instead, she cursed, taking deep breaths.
-One day, master,- she hissed murderously. -One day I would come back and blast this island from the face of the earth. Humph!-
Kai let her go through the changes in her personality calmly.
He could find no other reason for her to act so. He already had an idea, but being a scientist, he had made no solid conclusion without rigorous assessments. It did seem plain enough to him, though.
There wasn't one Selene in her body anymore, but three, Kai had concluded.
Any more conclusions and findings would need countless experiments and time. All of which have to wait for him to have the luxury of indulging himself in something other than his mission.
Suddenly, her entire body let out a crackling noise, and Kai's eyes widened. He was wondering why the HP capsule hadn't healed her charred external shell when Selene wriggled her way out of it.
A pure white serpent slithered out, its white scales rattling, shining like freshly found pearls.
Shedding?! Kai exclaimed.
