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"Pardon my ignorance Sifu, but I thought you had previously indicated that you wouldn't be able to teach the celestial styles to the others, I assumed there was something of the universe that being a verser broke through that would otherwise restrict it.

But, if it's possible, we should consider it. Do you know what the bad side effects might be?"

Then to Leona, "Leona, you know you have my full support in this matter. I will do all that I can, and follow your decision fully on this matter."

My hope is just to help ask the questions that will give enough information on the costs associated with this path. If Leona decides they are worth paying, I'll help in what ways I can.

His ears droop
"There is a reason I hesitate to even suggest it now. The Process of learning Celestial Martial Arts was Arduous even for the Children of the Dragons. Long Ago, Most mortals would be burnt up in the attempt. Now... It is still very dangerous. You could burn out your ability to use magic. Or The process could change you so that you are not human anymore. Or the concentrated solar essence of the style could react badly to the vampiric blood, possibly killing her. Honestly, Ascension into a spirit is probably the best you can hope for.
Glantri can learn it with no adverse side effects because of his nature as a verser.
Leona on the other hand has the potential to learn it. Due to her affinity with sunlight and spiritual power. I'll leave the decision to you Leona.
 

Leona considers for a moment. Then Nods.
"I will try to learn it. Sifu. What Must I do?"

"First, You two shall meditate on the nature of perfection and the Sun"

Leona sit's down in a lotus position to get ready.

I respect Leona's decision, though find myself worried on her behalf. I set myself to the task of learning however, and push emotion from my mind.

I follow Leona's lead and sit in a lotus position to contemplate the nature of perfection.

I close my eyes and focus my thoughts inwards, on the sun in my soul and it's majesty. Of the churning of elements, cascading in harmony with one another under the guiding light of the sun. I meditate on that vision and wait for what comes next.

You meditate on the nature of Perfection and the Harmonious world growing in your soul and the sun shining within.

As you meditate you feel something odd from Leona.
You See that for a bit she glows with sunlight and black smoke emerges from her body. then She glows with the unlight of darkness. Before flashing again to sunlight with more black smoke. She then falls backwards and lays on the ground.

I continue focusing on my inner light, and extending my aura to reinforce Leona's efforts if she decides she needs them. I am cognizant of the fact that Sifu has said this is a very difficult art to learn, so I don't exert my aura but rather leave it open to be pulled on if need be.

I'm glad to see that Leona flashed to sunlight before falling back though, in my mind it's a good sign and she just needs to rest before continuing on.

She Forces herself back up and continues with the Meditation. Again she flashes with sunlight and burns herself with the solar essence and then flashes with darkness. Sifu appears before her and puts his hand on her forehead and then particles of green light swirl around her. He withdraws his hand.
"At least that still works on you... Don't force it with channeling essence. Just meditate for now. Please don't be so reckless. You must have felt the essence burning you to channel it like that."

His ears are drooping and he looks worried for Leona.
Leona seems...Not quite as ashamed as you would expect. She seems more determined than anything else.

She just meditates this time. After about an hour Kyotsu comes and asks both of you.
"Ok. What does the Sun and Perfection mean to you?"

"The sun represents the purity of energy and purpose. A power that reflects the nature of the world and allows for life to flourish. Perfection is balance and harmony. Perfection requires not one skill but all skills. It is a journey, not a destination, and the journey of perfection and learning must never stop."

I then bow my head respectfully to Kyotsu.

Kyotsu nods to you and then turns to Leona. She gathers her thoughts for a moment and then speaks.

"I hadn't really though about what Sun magic means before today. I always had it with me before. Before The Sun was power. Power with an opinion on how it is used. Before my nature Aligned with the sun. I didn't have to think about it. Now the Sun's light is trying to purify me and destroy the Darkness within the Vampiric blood. I still have my essence and I feel that it is still aligned with the Sun. But trying to use my old magic or consciously express is solar nature burns me. It Was Life, Purity, Warmth, Light and the Drive to reach towards perfection to me. Perfection is harder to define. We humans can approach it but never achieve  it. There is always a way to do it better, more efficiently or more precisely. Solar magic allows you to bypass this somewhat by emulating the Sun in his perfection. But since we are only human we are still a long way off from actual perfection."

With that, Kyotsu Smiles to both of you.
"Good job both of you. That will do for now.

In general Magnus would Agree with you Mike. Such that he has a soul that embodies the Concept of Striving for Perfection and Striving to reach your full potential. But she also embodies the fact that is an ever distant goal.

Leona. You are correct in your analysis of your essence and the problems with channeling with Vampiric blood. You are also correct about perfection here. Even in this fallen age, The Sun is still a good measure for how close to perfection something is. Because that is still a part of his nature.

Ok. Leona. I want you to enter Jade mountain form."

She looks surprised but obeys. Performing the short kata to enter Jade Mountain and becomes encased in a rock exoskeleton. Kyotsu smiles.

"It... Didn't hurt?"

"You are channeling your essence in emulation of the Jade Mountain. So it is not acting quite like Solar Essence at the moment. Therefore it is not reacting to the Blood in your system. Solar Hero will emulate the Heros of old. But more of their Perfection and Skill than the Purifying power of Solar Essence. It is still similar to solar essence so you might be able to acclimate to it... maybe."

I brighten at seeing Leona successfully enter Jade Mountain style.
"That is both excellent and brilliant to use a different form to shift the focus on the essence, giving the body time to adjust and realign itself! It reminds me of how a body's immune system has to be suppressed for any type of transplant. The body attacking what it's not used to could kill a person, but if introduced slowly the body adapts and accepts."

I smile, happy for my friend and glad that I'll be able to be there to help her journey. Otherwise, I wait on Kyotsu's instructions as I realize I was probably a little overly enthusiastic a moment ago after the point was meditation and contemplation...

Kyotsu is simply smiling
"Well one of the first things she needs to do to learn Celestial Martial Arts is to learn to perceive and manipulate essence in a new fundamental way..."

His ears and tails droop.
"Unfortunately this is difficult to come of with something new for you due to the versatility of Sun Child magic. I'm pretty sure that you can perceive and interact with Immaterial spirits. So that rules out the Children of the Dragons method... Although there is an even older set of charms. That might work
They are the Tiger and Bear set. They can make supernally aware of your surroundings and allow you to flow with the world to strike with precisely as much force as you want.

This usually takes a year of training and Meditation after learning these techniques to even start learning Celestial Martial Arts. Although...

Kyotsu seems to be thinking.
Leona also seems to be thinking.

”I have an idea that may help accelerate the adaptation, it’s based on something I’ve been contemplating for a while now. I think with enough preparation and meditation I may be able to exert my soulscape out into a sphere around us in the world. With reality supplanted with my soulscape, I could shift the rate time progresses, to allow those inside to train for a year in what appears to be a short time to the outside. I’m thinking something like the hyperbolic time chamber from Dragonball Z. Where one day outside the zone is a year of training inside.

But to do that, we would need to prepare significantly. Perhaps with my Furies help we could be a dome for it to be contained in, with murals depicting the various elements within me. Then I would meditate on the nature of the balance within me for a number of days equal to the number of furies within me, before I speak loudly each furies name, in the order that we bonded...

I think it could work. It would take us a week, maybe two, but that would pay off for itself quickly.”

Kyotsu considers your idea.

"Ah yes. That bit of media.
Magnus has tried to construct things like that before. He never quite figured out how to make them stable. They tend to collapse after a few days. It might be due to the nature of his power. Then again he never based it on his own soul.

Anyway,  Manifesting your soul in the physical world isn't a easy feat. Does your soul world naturally have a time differential between itself and the physical world?

"I've never focused on it, but I feel that the actions I've taken and distances I've traveled in my soulscape would take longer than any given night that I've been there. What I am quite confident about with it though is that it forms to my will. I think if I focused my will on structuring how time passes there, it would begin to structure itself to accommodate."

Kyotsu considers for a moment.

"If you are willing to change your soul permanently like that to accomplish this, I will help you. I just ask that you set it up well away from San Miguel.  This is very dangerous magic and I don't want to accidentally kill the Innocent. I would prefer a completely uninhabited world for experiments like this. But this is something we need.

You are wanting to prepare an area before you set this up in it. Similarly in nature to a Reality Marble. Yours should be more stable that Magnus's because of that. Any thoughts on where you would set it up? If you could claim a Nexus of Geomantic power it would make it much easier to maintain the magic."

"My Soul is constantly changing, it's my responsibility to myself, my furies, and the world to expand and grow it when possible. This is an opportunity to expand the area my furies can regularly interact with, aid a close friend and the world in the process, and grow my soul. I suppose that is a long way of saying, yes I am committed to this as I believe it's the right thing to do.

What about that tower where we defeated the wind aligned vampire? I believe it was mentioned it was a Nexus."

I sit and think for a few moments.

"I think it is most important that we tie every element into it, and that I have each fury assist me. It's as much their soul as mine anymore I think. After constructing the dome, I will begin infusing it with as many motes of each element as I can gather, until there are so many that the surface is constantly swirling with the eddying current of motes within. My furies can assist me with gathering these motes and attuning them to the dome, but the main element comes in when we define the dome. Each fury will take a section of the walls of the dome and forge it into their own image of their home in my soulscape. Meanwhile, I will craft a mural of a set of scales in the exact center, to represent the balance and harmony that we strive for. On the ceiling, I will craft an hourglass with beads of various elements inside. This will act as the focal point when we kick off the ritual by turning it over. It'll act as a timer to keep the projection of my soulscape in check. It will slowly drain to the bottom at the end of which my soulscape recedes inwards. One turn of the hourglass will be 1 day of time outside of the dome and 1 year of time inside. It will have a maximum of 3 turns at a given time, or 3 days/years worth of activity.

Once each of the furies has crafted their own area, and I have finished my projects, I will meditate on the area for a week, slowly collecting more and more motes. In the same time the dome should be self-sustaining on motes. At the end, I will recite each furies name, in the order they came to me, fly up to the hourglass and turn it to begin the process."

So unless Kyotsu objects, that's my overall plan. Whether Leona or Lita wish to be near or as far away as possible is their call. I can see reasons that they would want to be either.

Kyotsu states simply
"That is far too close to San Miguel. Plus it is aligned strongly to one element. Which will put your construction out of balance... I think I remember one that is more suited to what you are trying to do. It is a fair distance away. But... There has been a monster there drinking up the essence. So you will have to claim the site for yourself. I can take you there quickly if you like. It is going to be tough. And it moves quicker than you would expect from it."

Leona says
"As much as I would like to see this work of magic craft, I should probably drive the vampires out of San Miguel. I Still have the Martial arts that Kyotsu Sifu has taught us. And... And I am noticing some parallels between Sun and Dark magic.."

I nod, "You have a good point, two good points. I should let Lita know, I wouldn't want to worry her with just disappearing for however long this takes me. It won't take long, I can fly to town and back rather quickly."

Then to Leona "Do me a favor and play it safe, stay on the defensive and I can get this situated. We'll then have time to train and strike together. Would you like me to fly you back to town?"


With that, I'll head back to town (flying Leona there as well if she wants) and head off to find Lita:
"Lita, I have a project I need to work on. I'm going to try and manifest my soulscape into reality to allow me to control the flow of time in a defined area. I'm going to have to be gone for a few weeks while I prepare this, I've got to unseat a monster that's lapping up essence so that I can prepare the area, and then I intend to build a dome and attune it with my furies. If all goes according to plan, I'll be able to return within three weeks, but I didn't want you to worry." and I'll lean in and give her a kiss on the cheek "I know it's not a great time to be away, but I believe this is our best bet at having enough time to train and overcome the immortals. By devoting three weeks to this, we can rapidly recoup that time spent in the dome. And I'll finally be able to show you what my soul is like."

After that I'll fly back to Kyotsu, and after recharging to full motes, and equipping my artifacts (I'll be using Vadahf and the Bracers for an attuned mote cost of 9, leaving me 47 motes to draw on in combat)

OOC: The flying was a Furycrafting thing. Which doesn't work quite right here(Very few free furies to call on). You haven't done it yet in this world. You probably could with your mastery of wind magic. But it is going to be expensive with motes to maintain.

She Replies
"I will be careful. Don't worry about me... I haven't seen you truly fly. But That would be an interesting experiance"

I'll assume you fly since you can just rest and recover your motes.

Leona seems to enjoy the flight. you do note that her scarf seems almost wing like while you fly.

You find Lita
"That sounds amazing Michael. Are you sure you will be ok?. What are...?"

You kiss her and then she blushes deeply.
She says something incomprehensible then kisses you on your lips

She Says.
"You better be careful. I want to see you when you get back.

You return to Kyotsu. Fully charged and attuned to your selected Artifacts.
He asks
"Are you ready to go?"

Ah yes, I forgot. Magic flight it is then, recharging motes is fast enough and I need to get more magic exercise anyway.

To Lita I smile and say:
"I will do everything in my power to return, and trust me I'll find you when I get back.

After returning to Kyotsu and charging/attuning my selected elements I nod to Kyotsu,
"I'm ready."

Again Kyotsu picks you up and the runs with impossible speed. The land flash before your eyes. First Desert, then Forest and finally Mountainous. When he stops you find yourself in the valley between two mountains with a strange feeling cave before you going into one of the Mountains. The entrance to the cave is fairly big. At least 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide. You are not sure how long it goes like that into the Mountain.

Kyotsu asks
"Any questions before you go in?"