[NINJA - DISCUSSION RP] The Art of Seirei-Mahou

[Vyt: Down, but Not Out]

Vyt kept his eyes closed the whole time. He thought that if he relied on his sight alone, he would not be able to fully realize the existence of the spiritual realm. Many times in his life had he stopped himself from asking too much for his sight, and that helped him meditate.

Vyt could feel a weak invisible force acting on his body. He felt it was "invisible" because it was like a push that went through his physical stature.

"There. I believe you are now fully attuned. While you likely will not be able to form a bridge yourself for a while, you will be able to see this Realm as you do now even while not in it. This is the first step. It is time to close the bridge, and begin practicing the particular techniques that you wish to be most familiar with."

Another silent moment made its way between him and Shoichi. When Vyt felt the force around him weaken and disappear, he opened his eyes. They were back inside the temple. The catboy could even feel his animal side being back to its wild adventurous state.

"So, Vyt, tell me... what of this art has caught your interest the most?"

Vyt was mum for a second or two. He knew what to say, but he was worried about Shoichi's reaction.

"... I wish to know more about being able to communicate with the dead, and accessing the various 'afterlife' planes," Vyt quickly let out. The image of his dead father appeared on his mind when he said that.

[dyandros]

Shoichi nodded deeply, pondering for a moment how to best approach this.

"Beyond the three areas of skill I have spoken of thus far - those being restoration, enchantment and conjuration - there is the matter of summoning. It is with this skill that we form bridges to the spirit Realm and either bring it here, or go to it there - or both at the same time. It requires a finely tuned, active control the entire time you use it, and so is usually learned after at least one of the first three has been summarily mastered."

"Still, I can explain it further. As I have said, the spirit Realm and the physical Realm exist side by side, with no distance between them, but do not normally touch in and of themselves. All living creatures are in fact composite entities of a physical and spiritual side - you could, therefore say we are all multiplanar beings."

"When you use one of the three basic arts, you manipulate the spiritual Realm in a certain fashion and thereby force the physical Realm to likewise react. You see a silver glow when you do this as as, I suppose, a minor bridging effect that is a function of anything you might do. The summoning art however focuses entirely on bridging, and essentially forces the two Realms to become one temporarily and gives you options that normally would not exist."

"To contact the dead... well, it's really very simple. You form a bridge upon yourself so that you can exist fully in the spiritual Realm, and then you find a location in it where it connects to an afterlife, presumably the one that is where the entity you want to contact resides. You see, when something dies, it usually stays in the spiritual Realm here very briefly - usually, there are exceptions - before being drawn to the afterlife that it is connected to, wherever that may be. If you know where that is, you can find such a place of connection and call across it to the other side. In doing this, the entity you are trying to contact may call back, and if they do, you can bring them back into the spiritual Realm - your presence and attention gives them an anchor that they simply move towards. There are various ways of contacting the dead; mostly traditional rituals, and most can be done in the physical Realm if you so choose, although I believe they are more successful in the spiritual. Also, certain entities, such as ancestor spirits, may already have been watching you and will know precisely what you are doing in the first place. No matter how you do it, once the entity is back in the spiritual Realm, you can talk with it for as long as it stays there, and it may well stay for quite some time. You have no way of forcing it to go back, although frequently they are pulled back for one reason or another. Occasionally, they do not go back at all and find a way to bind themselves to something closer to our Realm." Shoichi seems to be distracted by something as he says this, but continues regardless.

"I suspect you may be interested in another facet of this, which would be raising the dead." Shoichi breathed out slowly, considering what it is that he was about to say. "Depending on the circumstances, it can be difficult or very easy. Primarily, you must be concerned with the body. You have to repair it so that it will function, and if the body is badly damaged, decomposed or aged you will have a serious challenge on your hands; even the most adept at Restoration can take weeks if not months to reconstruct a body from something long dead. If, however, you can do this, and the soul of the entity is nearby, it can usually re-enter its body without any issue, provided it wishes to, and most do."

"It is very important... to make sure that the spirit that is nearby is who and what you believe it is. Further, make sure there is no *other* spirit nearby that might take advantage of the situation first! Remember, this is not magic; we can only deal in what we can touch, in what we can craft. With care, you can accomplish miracles, but it is essential to make sure you understand your situation."

Shoichi eyes Vyt carefully for a moment. "If this is something you wish to aspire towards... and you wouldn't be the first, you will need to seriously consider training in the Restorative way. Training in the other two is benefical as well, if only because it all makes your will stronger, but you are going to need skill in Restoration."

"If on the other hand you wish to simply talk to the dead, mastering any of the three skills should get you to the point you can undertake training in summoning. This is not to say that Restoration is a poor choice - being able to heal yourself expertly is amazingly useful, and I have seen more than a few all but halt their aging - but I have also seen Enhancement masters strike through stone pillars with the merest of motions and Conjuration masters rain showers of crafted spikes down on their foes, felling a dozen at a time. Make no mistake... magic or not, this art is very powerful - and the the choice is yours to make."

Shoichi peers off to the side of the dojo, wondering if PFA had anything to say as well.

[Shoichi Kobayashi]

Shoichi stood up and straightened his robe, tying the belt firmly. He then picked up a bokken from the weapons rack on the west wall and took a thick log from the woodpile, setting it on a practice block.

Shoichi eyed Vyt and PFA for a moment. "What do you think will happen if I strike this log with this bokken?" Turning his attention back to the log, he struck it with all of his might. The bokken splintered with a loud cracking sound, doing almost no damage to the log whatsoever. He then tossed it into the pile of broken equipment outside the main door to the dojo.

Walking back over to the weapons rack, Shoichi picked up an identical bokken and walked back over to the log. "This time, however, I will craft an enhancement on the weapon, forming an edge on it that no steel blade could ever hope to match." A moment later the bokken was enveloped in the familiar silvery tendrils and with a blindingly fast strike Shoichi brought the bokken down cleanly across the log... and right through it, its motion stopped only when he pulled his hand back. The bokken itself looked undamaged, although the silvery tendrils had vanished upon striking.

"Such is the art of enhancement - very popular with those who prefer swordplay over thrown attacks. It allows one to make attacks that can slice through most substances and to use any weapon - even your own body - to do so. One must keep in mind however that such enhancements tend to disperse upon use and must be recreated before they can be used again. This can become draining, so a wise practicioner of the art will use it strategically, keeping their opponent off guard... presuming that they know you are there in the first place. I probably don't need to tell you how helpful this can be with surprise attacks." Shoichi grinned at that, a knowing look that left little to the imagination.

"It can be used defensively as well, however. You can likewise enhance any substance to withstand an otherwise mortal blow - in this way cloth can stop steel, although again, only once before needing to be enhanced again. It also bears mentioning that such an enhanced armor will stop a similarly enhanced blade." Shoichi seemed distracted for a moment as he said this, but quickly tilted his head towards his onlookers.

"So, what do you think of enhancement?"