Lord of Annihilation

"Lucius?" 

"Yes?"

"Who's controlling the ship?" Olivia nervously asked.

Since take-off a few minutes ago, the shaking and trembling of the spaceship had increased in intensity, rather than gradually subsiding. In fact, the shaking had gotten so bad that Olivia, who was strapped into a seat, was starting to get dizzy.

Hearing her words filled with nervousness, Lucius causally replied.

"It's Ka'lor'ah. It seems she's been studying up these past two weeks, and wanted to pilot the ship." 

"Is that fine?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Lucius replied. "As long as she doesn't crash it into anything, it'll be fine." 

"Moving on…" Lucius stared at Olivia with utmost seriousness. 

His unblinking black eyes gazed into Olivia's violet eyes, causing the latter to unconsciously stiffen. She perked up her ears and carefully listened to what Lucius had to say.

"Starting today, your training under my teaching begins. It will last until you reach a point where I'm satisfied with your strength."

"I will unreservedly pass on everything that I know onto you, and you will untiringly learn. During this period, you will not question, complain, or concede defeat." 

Holding up his hands, Lucius stretched two of his fingers and counted.

"I expect two things from you; Clarity and Perfection."

"During my lessons, you will memorize my words, actions, and intents with absolute clarity. Failure to do so will only slow you down and hinder your progress."

"In regards to perfection, it's self-explanatory. Everything that you learn from me will be learned with perfection and nothing less. If a lesson isn't perfectly learned, then you will practice it till perfection before moving onto the next lesson."

"The topics you will learn from me range from; Combat Techniques, Battle Knowledge, Survival and Tracking, and Anatomy. Some minor lessons unrelated to these topics might be taught when and as required."

"The lessons with Ka'lor'ah will also continue, although mine will take priority. Breaks, rests, and sleep will be a luxury starting today. So, learn to regulate your soul power and conserve your energy."

"At the end of each lesson, you will take on a test. Pass the test, and we can move on to the next lesson. However, if you fail it…let's just say that there would not be any point in the next lesson."

"Do you have any questions?" 

Lucius stared at Olivia only to see that the latter had a troubled expression on her face. He tilted his head in confusion, then suddenly realized after a few seconds.

"Questions related to the lessons can be asked. Anything else will be ignored."

Heaving a sigh of relief, Olivia faced Lucius seriously and asked her first question.

"Combat Technique and Battle Knowledge are fine, but why is Survival and Tracking a subject? Also, shouldn't Anatomy be taught be Ka'lor'ah…it does seem technical in nature."

Anatomy, defined as the study of bodily structures of living organisms, seemed like a technical subject to Olivia, hence her question. Apart from that…why were Survival and Tracking included in a major subject? 

Wasn't it something like that, primarily for hunters?

Hearing her question, Lucius nonchalantly replied.

"Survival and Tracking is an essential field of knowledge. One that you'll desperately require in the future. I suggest paying careful attention to those lessons, lest something…unfortunate happens."

"As for anatomy--"Lucius' speech was suddenly interrupted as the hatch to the Common Room was opened and Ka'lor'ah strutted in.

"There should be none living in this Universe, who's more knowledgeable in Anatomy than this guy here," Ka'lor'ah announced. "Sorry, couldn't help but overhear your words."

Ka'lor'ah flew over to Lucius' head and sat atop it. 

"That sums it up."Lucius nodded in reply, confidence apparent in his words.

Lucius was not all-knowing. He was nowhere near good at schemes, plots, or strategies. Thinking a lot before acting was just not his style.

But that did not mean that Lucius was dumb. He was more than well-versed in certain fields such as combat or hunting, to the point where he could be referred to as a genius.

And one of those fields was Anatomy. 

Having reached Stage 7 of [Killer] in his previous life, Lucius had killed 'at least' one of every single species that existed within the Universe. 

A requirement for ascendance into Stage 7 of the [Killer] path was to have a thorough understanding of every living creature. Its structure, its habits, its weakness, etc.

Ergo, Anatomy.

"Done flying the ship?" Lucius asked the tiny-bodied being sitting on the top of his head.

"Yeah, I had my fun for now. It's on autopilot with the destination set. We will reach there in about three weeks." Ka'lor'ah replied.

Nodding his head, Lucius then looked towards Olivia and began his first lesson as a teacher. A position that he had never thought to find himself in.

"Question, what is the difference between a Stage 1 existence and a Stage 2 existence?"

Realizing that her lessons had begun, Olivia immediately grew serious. She carefully listened to the questioned and pondered hard on it. 

A few dozen seconds later, she hesitantly answered.

"…the amount of soul power?" Just as she had finished answering, Olivia felt a small object hit her on her forehead.

"Ouch!" She yelped in pain and felt a small coin-sized black-colored pebble fall on the ground and vanish into the air.

Looking up, she saw Lucius looking at her with narrowed eyes and heard him coldly speak.

"I forgot to mention, incorrectly answering or failing during any of the lessons will result in punishments." 

Hearing that, Olivia quickly realized. Lucius had flicked that pebble onto her forehead as punishment.

'It really hurts. Where did he get that pebble from?' Olivia rubbed her forehead and looked towards Lucius who was still awaiting an answer. 

'No wait, actually, why did that pebble suddenly disappear? Something that solid cannot simply vanish unless it's—" her eyes suddenly narrowed, as a possibility flashed across her mind.

'Was that pebble made out of soul power? Did Lucius materialize that pebble? How? Wasn't soul power supposed to be formless?'

Olivia raised her palm and focused her soul power into two strands atop her fingertips. She then focused her complete attention on her palm and tried to force the two strands of soul power to combine and assume a material shape.

The two stands fiercely trembled, as Olivia found it increasingly hard to control its energy flow. Without giving up, she continued to focus her efforts, and slowly, the two strands started to inch closer together. 

When the two strands were about a centimeter away from each other, Olivia suddenly felt herself lose control of the two energies and the strands vanished.

'It's impossible.' Olivia shook her head. Towards the end, Olivia felt like pushing a thousand-ton proverbial boulder. The strands simply refused to move together.

Just as she was about to guess Lucius again, her movements stopped. 

'Wait a second, isn't blade energy technically a form of materialized soul power? Same with the shield formed with soul power? The only difference here is that I use a specific channeling technique to use them.'

'Going by that…' 

Unknowingly Olivia entered a state of deliberation and started to try out her thoughts.

Looking at the purple-clothe woman seriously experiment with her soul power, Lucius unconsciously nodded his head.

'Not bad. She quickly realized the hint.'

The main difference between a Stage 1 and a Stage 2 did not lie in the quantity of their soul power, but their ability to freely control and materialize their soul power outside of their own bodies.

At Stage 1, one was limited to channel their soul power within fixed vessels (bodies, special artifacts, etc). However, upon reaching Stage 2 they would be able to bring out the raw soul power and flood the world surrounding them.

To use your soul power and take control of your surroundings.

This was the intricate difference and also the concept behind the Field and the core power of a Stage 2 being!

Seeing that Olivia was working hard on figuring it out herself, Lucius did not intervene and let her continue. 

'Hey, Lucius? How long do you think it will take her to figure it out?' Ka'lor'ah's question was heard within his mind.

'The answer...A few hours. The process...a few weeks, if I point her in the right direction.' Lucius answered.

While Lucius made the process look effortless, it was anything but that. In fact, actively controlling the amount of soul power required to create a Field, was even harder than ascending to Stage 3.

However, having a Field would make the process of creating a Domain much easier, and even increase its strength. After all, having the strength and knowing how to properly wield it were two completely different things.

'How long did it take you to figure this out?' Ka'lor'ah curiously asked. It was one of those things which she didn't know about him.

Thinking for a few seconds, Lucius recalled his earlier memories and answered.

'Almost 23 years, I think. I had no one to help me, so I had to figure it out from trial and error.'

'The fact that you managed to figure it out all by yourself is already amazing.' Ka'lor'ah praised. 

'Enough about that. She's already starting to go down the wrong path.' Lucius replied, readying his hands to flick another pebble towards Olivia's head.

A slight snap of his fingers and...

Thud!

"Ouch!" 

The cycle restarted once again.