Skin Deep (Open)

[Wei]

Wei chuckled a bit a the young maiden's words. She thought he would just leave her to shuffle back to the city after risking his life and walking her back to his horse. Either she was clueless or logic did not work the way he thought it did. The second one was probably right. Since this entire adventure started Wei has been dumbfounded by this women. She should have taken the opportunity to hide on the house, she should be thankful about having her arm medicated, and she should not be out here doing whatever she was doing to zombies. Clearly he was overestimating how common common sense was.

"Look I did not risk my life and help you to get here just to leave you behind", spoke Wei as he helped the maiden up onto the horse. It was a days journey back to Wasap and Wei wanted to be as far away from this place as possible. He prayed the monsters did not catch there sent. With China weighed down with two people outrunning the beast was probably not going to be a option. Though now that he thought about it it was probably going to take more than a day to get back to Wasap. It took him a day to get here by himself, double mounted it was probably going to take twice as long. "Great", spoke Wei as he climbed up onto the horse. He did not trust the maiden to direct his steed, mainly he did not want her riding off to do something crazy. Instead he let her take the position behind him. It was better that way. "Grab onto me or the saddle if you don't want to fall off", spoke the Boy as he sent his horse into a gallop, but China was going to need all the strength that she had.

[Lydia]

"Look I did not risk my life and help you to get here just to leave you behind."

"Aww, that's sweet. I'm glad. Had you left me behind, I probably would have held a grudge against you for life."

The pupil balanced on the horse and then wrapped her arms around Wei's midsection, leaning herself onto his back and then resting her head on his shoulder as the horse shot off down the road, running to the 'promised land' of Wasap. Honestly, any sort of civilization would be appreciated - she felt tired, worn, hungry, and there were the telltale signs of a blinding headache on the way.

What on earth had prompted her to try that last move? It was undoubtedly one of her riskier experiments, but it was worth it. She'd discovered some interesting facts about her magic and about the zombies. It was truly wonderful, the knowledge - but the cost was painful.

"Still, the fact is, if the power sent to the head, then the energy that amasses overwhelms the cognitive center, and the brain quite literally melts. It overheats, as if it were a lamp allowed to burn too hot. So that means that they possess less resistance to manipulation than an uninfected human, but more brute physical power, and no sort of pain response. The question is now how one goes about obtaining the benefits of such a state without the costs."

The young woman had been mumbling to herself for a while, thinking over the possibilities as she rested herself on Wei. What an interesting idea.

[Wei]

"Wait so you are telling me you made the zombie die like popcorn", spoke Wei. It was not hard to hear her since she was leaning onto him. Plus most of his attention had turned toward her direction. Sure he kept his eyes where his horse was going, but having a young girl wrapped around you and leaning your head on your shoulder was quite distracting. Especially for Wei, who had spent little time around females his age. Most of the time he was hanging out in public places listening in on peoples conversation or getting a little practice time in with his axe. Both of them placed him in a solitary potion. Though he did not mind.

"Well as a side note if you were trying to get the pain resistance and strength then you should probably study martial arts. I heard some rumors about monks in the high mountains that are capable of walking on fire and breaking boards with there bare hands. From the conversation I overheard it had something to do with a mental state or miniature hypnosis. As a matter of facts", spoke Wei as he rose his right hand up and began to rub on his chin. "If I remember correctly the berserk from the Ilses were also said to be able to turn there ability to feel pain off. They will send themselves into a raging fury and draw out the full strength of there body. The amount of power there axes can draw out was said to be fighting. From what I understand our bodies do not use the full power of our muscles. So taking that into account the undead probably just don't hold back when they attack like a living person does. So I don't think you will be able to simply copy that with magic, but hell what do I know. I am just a woodcutter."

[Lydia]

"Popcorn...? Oh, that. Well, erm..."

Lydia had not expected the young man to be listening to her ramblings. She felt a little bit self-conscious, but swallowed, breathing deeply to collect herself and then beginning to speak once more.

"Not exactly. Essentially, the energy of Nether magic targets the victim's life force. While Anima magic uses nature to harm the body proper, and Light magic harnesses convictions to destroy the soul, Nether magic focuses on the life-force of the victim. We sacrifice a little of our own, which of course will replenish itself at a slow rate, to blast away our foe's. So I simply took from what was nearly nonexistent, and the vacuum of space that resulted overwhelmed the thing's brain."

The red-haired lad continued to speak, mentioning martial arts, the famed Berserkers of the Western Isles, and muscles. How... masculine.

"I'll have to... look into that. I just wonder if it's a mental state, or if there's some sort of physical component. And more importantly, can I reversibly induce that state on myself? If I want to let forth extreme power, can I remove the limits that my body creates, like you said? Can I achieve that power? That's what I want to know. If I could craft a chemical that would allow us to temporarily gain those benefits, that would be a tremendous advance for science. I wonder..."

The young woman continued muttering to herself, thinking about all the possibilities. If she could manage to uncover the secrets of that power, she'd make great strides.

[Wei]

Wei wondered if all mages where like that or was it the ones that studied dark magic. Still it was nice to meet a girl around his age. The only women Wei really talked to where the older women who lived around his house in his hometown and his cousins. Most of there where four to eight years older than he was. That seemed to be Wei's critical flaw if he thought about it. He was so focus on trying to reach his life goals that he spent very little time around the opposite sex. If that continued people would probably start spreading rumors about him. Still that was a thought for another day. Wei needed to keep his eye on the path and prey they don't run into any monsters out here. His horse could not truly outrun anything double mounted as it is.

"I wounder where they come from" spoke Wei to himself as he thought on the monster threat. The creatures that hunt the land seem to have come out of nowhere according to all the records he read. After Ostia fell and burned they just appeared. It made Wei wounder if that city had some kind of holy pact connected to it or if there was some kind of sacred item that was destroyed that released the plague upon the world. If anything mages should be studying that with all of there brain smarts and understanding of magic. So in that light the young maiden he was helping was moving in the right direction. Wei would need to complement her once they reached a safe city. "Alright pick up the speed", shouted Wei as he hit the reigns of his horse and sent it into a gallop.

[Thread End]