The seasons had cycled through, painting the Blackwood region in hues of green, gold, and now, the crisp, stark whites of approaching winter. A few more months had passed, bringing Elias closer to his fourth birthday, and with each passing day, his mastery over Flow deepened. His Spirit-Domain was a vast, tranquil universe, that was now fully under his control with not a single bit of Flow leaking like what happened when Miss Gable brought his his laundry a while back, a testament to his refined 'Flow Circulation'. He could navigate the ambient hum of the world with ease, his 'Flow Perception' now sharp enough to distinguish the subtle signatures of life, and he had now learned. He had progressed with 'Flow Reinforcement' of his body. He had also learned 'Flow Suppression' and so far that was the technique he was most well versed in even surprising Aina with his level of mastery. He could mask his presence with the ambient Flow around him and when coupled with 'Flow Circulation' could become practically invisible.
Aina observed his progress with a quiet, almost imperceptible satisfaction, her relentless drills forging his abilities with an unyielding precision.
Yet, despite his advancements, Elias felt a constant, restless urge. His Flow, that boundless estuary within him, was immense, far beyond what his current three-year-old body could comfortably accommodate or fully utilize. He didn't feel a need to vent it, not precisely. Instead, he felt a profound, almost scientific curiosity, a desperate need to 'test its limits and implications'. He knew his physical vessel was too weak, too fragile, to channel its full might at this stage but there had to be other ways to express his power.
This led him to develop a secret technique, one he practiced in the dead of night within the sanctuary of his Spirit-Domain, and then, cautiously, in the physical world. He called it 'Flow Construct'. It wasn't about simply releasing bursts of energy as he had been doing, but about shaping his Flow into tangible forms,an outward . He focused on manifesting Flow directly from his Spirit-Domain, willing it to coalesce, to take on a physical shape using Flow Reinforcement as the basis for this technique.
His initial attempts were failures but after revising his approach he reached a rudimentary stage. He could only make small, translucent constructs. Shimmering knives that flickered like heat haze, sharp spikes that seemed to be carved from solidified moonlight, and a grotesque, spiky knuckleduster that pulsed with a faint, internal glow. They weren't solid, not truly. They were ephemeral, translucent, and incredibly fragile, capable of being used at most twice within a period of five minutes before dissipating back into the black ocean below. Elias would look at these constructs with dissatisfaction.
They weren't lethal weapons, more like blunt force prods or sharp, temporary extensions of his will. It wasn't impressive by any standard, certainly not by Aina's, but for Elias, it was a monumental personal development, a tangible step towards understanding the true potential of his infinite Flow.
'And how to use it against Deus.'
One crisp morning, Aina introduced a new lesson, one that resonated eerily with his secret experiments.
"Today, Elias," she announced, her voice flat, as she placed a simple, slender wooden stick on the training room table, "we will learn 'Flow Infusion', to charge up mundane objects with Flow. To strengthen them, to enhance their inherent abilities."
Elias felt a prickle of anticipation. This was the external application he had been craving, a way to make his Flow interact with the physical world in a controlled manner. He was also working out how to combine it with Flow Reinforcement to complete his Constructs.
Aina's warnings were stern though, delivered with her usual unyielding precision. "Too much Flow, Elias, and the object will break apart, its structure unable to contain the energy. It will shatter into dust, its essence consumed by the very power you seek to impart." Her gaze was sharp, emphasizing precision.
"Too little, and the Flow will simply dissipate, leaving the object inert, a wasted effort. It will be like trying to fill a sieve with water; the energy will pass through without taking hold."
Elias took the wooden stick. It was light, smooth beneath his fingers. He closed his eyes, drawing Flow from his Spirit-Domain, channeling it into the stick. He tried to find the perfect balance, the precise amount of energy, the delicate touch Aina always emphasized. He focused and pushed, willing the Flow to coalesce within the wood, to become one with its fibers. But...
He pushed too hard.
There was a loud, internal crack. The stick, instead of strengthening, began to vibrate violently. Then, with a sudden, sharp snap, it broke apart in his hands, splintering into several jagged pieces.
Then, slowly, impossibly, from the jagged edges of the broken stick, tiny, vibrant green shoots began to emerge. They unfurled with astonishing speed, thickening into delicate stems, which then burst into a riot of tiny, perfect flowers – crimson, sapphire, and gold – blooming in a silent, impossible explosion of life. The broken pieces of wood were now miniature, vibrant bouquets, pulsating with an unnatural, yet beautiful, vitality.
Elias flinched, opening his eyes, expecting Aina's immediate, sharp rebuke. But her usual stern expression had vanished, replaced by a look of utter, profound stunned silence. Her eyes, usually so keen and unreadable, were wide, fixed on the broken pieces of the stick in his hands.
For a long moment, they both stared. The splintered wood lay in his palms, inert, useless.
Elias's mind reeled. He had never seen anything like it. It was a complete defiance of everything he knew about Flow so far.
His quick thinking, honed by months of dodging Aina's scrutiny, kicked in. No one knew he was a transmigrator. No one knew his Flow was infinite, or that it could do this. This was an anomaly beyond anything Aina had ever explained.
He immediately slumped, his head lolling to the side, his breathing becoming shallow and ragged. He let the Flow within him become chaotic and fade a little, a deliberate act of disarray. He forced a weak, gasping sound.
"Big sis… I… I think I… overdid it. Used… too much… energy…" He squeezed his eyes shut, feigning utter exhaustion, as if the effort had drained him completely.
Aina snapped out of her stunned silence, her expression quickly returning to its usual sternness, though a faint, lingering awe remained in her eyes as she glanced at the sprouting stick and concern as she observed Elias' act. She knelt beside him, her hand touching his forehead, checking for fever. Her Flow senses, sharp as they were, detected the chaotic, depleted state of his internal energy.
"Elias! You fool!" she scolded flicking his forehead, her voice sharp, but with an underlying current of concern.
"You have done exactly what I told you not to do! You over-infused it! Such recklessness!" She didn't understand the sprouting, but her logical mind quickly attributed it to an immense, unrefined Flow pool.
'His Flow is truly vast. To cause such a bizarre reaction… it must be the sheer quantity, uncontrolled.'
She saw the anomaly, but explained it away within her existing framework of Flow and power, completely missing the true, underlying nature of his uniqueness.
'I need to train him more.'
Elias sighed internally , a wave of immense relief washing over him. He had fooled her. He had successfully hidden the true nature of his power, the bizarre, life-giving anomaly that had just occurred. He endured her scolding, pretending to be on the verge of collapse while maintaining an innocent facade, while his mind raced, buzzing with a new, profound mystery. He had discovered something truly unique about his Flow, something that went beyond mere energy manipulation. And Aina, for all her sharp senses and vast knowledge, was utterly blind to it.