The abilities are useful, but for a rank one, I had always imagined more.
Without the creature as a vessel, he didn't immediately get the innate knowledge of how to control his magic.
It took him nearly twenty minutes of trial.
Hadrian sat cross legged as he observed Alia Hadrian, with her eyes closed, practice their new abilities.
For a moment, he got lost in Alia Hadrian's pretty face and his heart tightened remembering her mother.
Shaking his head, he focused back into his channels. It felt like his blood was boiling as a sea of flames rushed to every inch of his body from his core.
Alia Hadrian sent out a controlled wave of heat. This time, it did not affect Hadrian.
As the source of the magic, Alia is not affected. Since all my vessels are one, I suppose they can all share the same benefit if I choose not to.
How he chose this was the vessels connected to that soul core's channels at the time.
If Hadrian let go of the magic essence running through him and left it all to Alia, he would be affected the same way the creature had affected him.
Nodding, Hadrian shifted the flow of magic in his channels. Controlling the heat wave, a mirage was formed. Alia Hadrian was still visible but the optical illusion could cause a momentary lapse in judgement.
The wind blew on the grass and tall thick trees making their leaves sing in chorus.
The stone he sat got hot, heated up by the heatwave.
Scanning with her eyes, up to a distance of about twenty metres, Alia Hadrian could see blurry heat forms of creatures.
Some were large, up to three metres tall, some were smaller than his hand, scurrying on the ground.
This altered vision blurred his real life vision and all he could see was the heat vision on a grey blurry background.
Shifting the flow of magic in her channels once more, Alia Hadrian let out a steamy breath that created a dense misty cover for them that spread out to a little over the distance of her heat vision.
Hadrian uncrossed his legs and shuffled up, walking up to Alia. He was a head taller than his Alia vessel. He grabbed her palm and cut the flow of the magical essence in his channels.
Alia's skin became scorching hot to him, burning his fingers and leaving blisters.
I can do all this but no flame control yet.
Hadrian let go of Alia's iron hot palm.
All these abilities seem heat based. So, in its technique, the creature only had control over one element?
He stopped using all his abilities since they were consuming essence. As the dense mist dissipated, his eyes locked contact with the Alia vessel.
Looking back at himself through Alia Hadrian's eyes, he'd still not gotten used to his feminine like but still boyish face.
I need to go deal with the cohort. But I have to be careful. And most importantly, I need vessels.
…
"What did you do?" The cohort members held up the member who the fragment had dissipated when he held it.
"Stop!" The bearded leader demanded. "It's gone." He garnered the cohort's attention. "We need to find another Krita or Wildling."
"We were lucky." The broad forehead woman proclaimed, "the mages have hunted most of them around these parts."
"Ay." The short brown haired man cut in, "and they control where we can hunt. Sigh, there was a time people would complain about kritas overrunning everywhere. Maybe we should also join the southern campaigns."
Another member spoke after a long moment passed in silence. "if we absorb enough essence and trigger an awakening…. " she mused, "well get the same respect. This whole hunt can't have been a waste."
"We are down to ten.... " the broad forehead woman reasoned, "and he's useless," she gestured to the member whom Hadrian had bent their knee backwards.
"We were down to twelve before leaving." The bearded man said, "a few hours rest, then we move further south east."
"We've already pushed further than the other Cohorts into this direction." Another female member argued, "we should go back west."
"We benefit from taking risks." The bearded leader shut her down.
…
Hadrian called back hawk and horse Hadrian to help search for vessels.
Now that he had a vessel the rank of a mage, taking over basic lifeforms was easier.
He took over some of the small forest creatures but substituted them to fill his vessels' hunger and replenish their essence and energy.
Horse Hadrian is eating a lot.
The air was filled with the sharp scent of crushed mint and metal. In the distance, a bird's call echoed, sounding just like a crystal chime.
The tall trees creaked around him and there was a constant low reverberating sound in his ear.
Hadrian heard all sorts of other sounds, from distant rasping howls, screeches and snorts to the skittering of the small furry and scaly creatures he turned to his vessel.
Turning his heat vision on and off he could spot them beneath the dead leaves and dense vegetation.
Coiled up in one such spot in front of him, a snake waited patiently. Hadrian peered into its essence sea.
No core.
A regular snake. Still, he called at its tendrils that rose to him. When they made contact, the snake shot up slithering to him as it made a sharp hissing sound.
When it did get to him, instead of biting with its venomous fangs, it slithered up Hadrian's right leg to his hip until it made it to his neck.
Hadrian wriggled in discomfort.
Snakes really are disgusting.
He made snake Hadrian stretch its mouth open exposing its long sharp fangs. Drops of venom formed.
Snakes aren't usually affected by their own venom. If I used it through another one of my vessels, would they also be immune?
He picked out one of his small furry vessels that he had not substituted to food yet.
Long sharp fangs formed in the mouse-like creature's mouth. Drops of venom, with a green tint to them, formed on the fangs.
Hadrian's lips twitched. As soon as the venom made contact with the creature's mouth, he felt irritation on its gums and lips.
The irritation rose gradually over the next thirty seconds until it was a burning sensation.
He loosened his control over the vessel to a mechanical control and watched as it became paralysed and eventually died.
Perhaps magic essence and natural abilities operate under different rules. Or I don't understand enough about snakes.
Snake Hadrian slithered down Hadrian's body and went and feasted on the dead mouse-like creature.
Well, it can still be useful. When archers shoot out arrows at a distant enemy, I doubt they expect to get them back.
Horse Hadrian galloped, stopping to the right of Hadrian. Hadrian and Alia Hadrian mounted the horse. Snake Hadrian slithered up the horse's hind leg.
The small wild lizards and creature Hadrians skittered forward, leading the way together with Hawk Hadrian.
Suddenly, Alia Hadrian's body heat spiked. This was a warning ability which wasn't something Hadrian could control.
All his eyes and heads darted, as they scanned using his heat vision. All these vessels at once ate up his essence, but the ability itself did not consume a lot of essence.
When his eyes went up one tree, Hadrian's hearts tightened and instinctual fear coursed through his vessels.
A still shape was on one of the tree branches, observing him.
His sight altered and his drumming heart was not helped when he saw its essence sea.
Two. Two cores.
Like it had sensed being seen. It sprung off the branch, almost too fast for Hadrian to see.
Hadrian and Alia Hadrian managed to leap off horse Hadrian at the last moment, dodging the impact. Horse Hadrian, however, was sliced into two. His guts and blood spluttered everywhere.
Hadrian immediately substituted the claws and fangs that he had let horse Hadrian "carry" onto Hadrian and Alia Hadrian.
Even when he switched to mechanical control over horse Hadrian, who was still not dead, the pain was still intense.
I have a few minutes to take everything I can.
He substituted the horses bones and hooves to layer on his own. And for the first time he tried something.
On the surface of his skin the horse's bones formed like pearl white carapace.
When it came to the muscles and flesh, he opted to rely on their essence state rather than accumulate too much density on his vessels.
The horse vessel, like his previous lost vessels, would exist in the phantom like state in that dull white space.
At the expense of his own essence, he could summon their imaginary strength onto his vessels.
But do I want to?
I don't intend to fight this thing. When the dust cleared up, he saw it for what it was. A corrupted version of a four armed red monkey.
His heart raced as those red pupil eyes peered into him.
It wasn't as big as the previous creature, in fact, Hadrian stood two heads taller than it. However, it exuded an aura of suppression.
Eye contact locked, Hadrian didn't see when he was hit, he found himself flying with his chest muscles aching from the strong impact.
Boom…. creak.
A tree trunk stopped him and he caused barks to break off.
Hadrian heaved, struggling to take in a breath. His bone carapace was shattered and fell off of him. Like a cut hand. His control over them disappeared.
His eyes widened in relaxation.
A…. A force technique Krita.