Aimless Ascension

"Even though most of them don't involve Qi, it is the initial training splitting your mind to multitask stuff."

Xiaolin blinked. Even though she knew it was for her own good, she felt cheated somehow.

For about a whole week, Gale had made her do irrelevant errands, solving all sorts of puzzles and maths. She thought most of them to amuse themselves. Gale finally gave her the green light to practise Qi through physical arts after her injury, but he would always put her through all sorts of problems when she was cycling Qi at her normal speed.

"Of course, you're barely a beginner in this," Gale reminded her. "So, now I'll teach you how to do it through visualising Qi. . ."

The theory behind it was simple. Visualise the first image in your head and concentrate on it completely. Get used to it for a few minutes, not hurry. Impatience is the first enemy of spirit arts. Just keep at it until you're at peace with it.

"Since we're doing target practice, visualise a small projectile. With about one sixteenth of your Qi.

Xiaolin nodded and closed her eyes, raising her palms in the air. Wisps of Qi flow out of her arms shortly, coalescing together to form the abstract shape of an arrowhead.

"Keep at it, you're doing good," Gale said. "I can see you're impatient. Lose that vibe, concentrate on that projectile only."

A couple of minutes later, Gale was satisfied with what Xiaolin came with the projectile. Although there were improvements that could be made there, he felt it was excellent for the first try.

He gave her the next impression. "Alright, now that you're calmer, open your eyes," Gale told her.

Xiaolin opened her eyes and inspected the transparent arrowhead between her palms.

"Now, imagine the whole thing again, but the same image," Gale said.

However, Xiaolin simply looked at him with her wide round eyes, as if lost her tongue.

"Don't think, do it," Gale urged her.

It wasn't as complicated as people think. Well, splitting into two images was easy. It became when the numbers shot higher into tens.

"No, don't create a second projectile," Gale told her, finding wisps of Qi emerging from her fingers to form another arrowhead. "Work with what you have in that projectile. More Qi always doesn't equal to more power."

"But. . . but," Xiaolin grew anxious. "I can't. It will destroy the other image."

"Now it will not. Work with the two images on top of one another. Make it an exact copy. When you're done, fuse the two images together."

Xiaolin worked with his instruction, though the signs of anxiety never left her face. Gale sensed thin tendrils of Qi, diving into two layers, then joining back in a more substantial form.

It worked, but the projectile was tremendously unstable. It would burst between her arms if her anxiety grew even a little more.

With a thought, Gale protected her, throwing a few strands of his Qi around her.

"Focus," Gale said. The problem was she was that the two images weren't nearly a copy of one another. And when she tried to fuse them together, the imperfect copy fumbled with the original image, making the whole thing unstable.

Of course, a little instability was good in Qi projectiles, as it would burst with more piercing power, but not to this degree. It would simply burst like a tiny bomb at this rate, losing most of its piercing power.

"Master," Xiaolin called.

Although she was about to ask for more, she just rushed her projectile to attack in her anxiety. She was intuitively aware it would burst within her hands in the next moment.

The projectile shot into motion towards the target. Unfortunately, it easily missed the target, as Xiaolin simply shot the projectile to get rid of it, not to hit the target. It burst in the middle of the targets, bursting into a pop of Qi.

Xiaolin sucked in a deep breath, looking at the pop she created.

"I failed," she grumbled.

"You did," Gale told her. "But your first attempt is better than most people."

Well, most people are incompetent, but the point was that, most practitioners weren't taught Concentration arts before they hit Silver Ranker, simply because of the threat of causing damage to the mind.

The Silver advancement put the mind through a qualitative change, improving it to some degree, decreasing the danger of practising this art.

But Gale wouldn't mention that to his disciple, considering she might get distraught, thinking it was impossible for her.

In honesty, Xiaolin did better than Gale hoped for her to come up with. Well, her mental fortitude helped. She just needed hours and days of practice to master this. Of course, he won't let her split into more parts, simply because she succeeded in splitting it into two.

There was a structural way to this. Master two, and then do three. And so on.

Xiaolin didn't stay dismayed for longer. She breathed evenly to shove aside her distress.

"Master, show me how you do it," Xiaolin asked of him.

"Okay, I'll do it slowly for you to examine it," Gale was easy to agree, "Watch it closely."

Gale pulled some diluted energy from the air to make his projectile visible to the naked eye. He formed an even thinner projectile than her.

"This is just the first image," Gale said and urged his mind to concentrate on it. He simply thought of a second image as his projectile grew smaller.

"Master, it grew smaller," Xiaolin almost shouted.

"That's the art behind it," Gale said. "I'm not drawing more, Qi, but making it more substantial."

Xiaolin nodded in understanding. "Master, how many images can you split your mind into?"

"Well, my highest had been in the 80s, but that's hard to do in normal circumstances," Gale said. "Most of your opponents won't give you time to concentrate your Qi. Most of the time, I'm ready with 16 and can make it double with a thought."

Xiaolin swallowed a breath.

"Sixteen is already enough to deal with most iron rankers," Gale told her as he split his mind to concentrate on it sixteen times.

And then he shot.