Varian browsed the Space path specialization classes. Since all students were Level 2, most classes gave some basic introduction of level 1 and started from Level 2.
Only one had an elaborate explanation of Level 1.
Syliva. Level 7 Space Awakener. She had blue hair and a sunny face.
He felt like he saw someone similar to her, but couldn't remember.
The hologram popped up, and the class started.
"Let's start from the macro." She said.
"All Divine Paths are balanced. There is no one strong divine path. It's all based on application." Her voice slowly turned solemn.
"There is a general myth that space and time are the strongest. It is false. I've seen many buy into this lie and neglect honing their skills, only to end up dead in the most unexpected ways."
Varian was a bit shaken. He did believe that Space path was stronger than Body Path.
"When a person awakens in space path, they start connecting to the space. The deeper you are connected to the space, the more control you have over it."
Varian channeled his space power and felt this "bond".
"The first skill you have over space is not teleportation. It's space binding." She snapped her fingers and a few hologram videos popped up.
A man touched a river. The water flow around the area of his contact stopped. Then he just raised his hand and channeled his space power. The fierce blowing wind stopped.
In either case, the space solidified, making the movement of matter in it impossible.
"Space is not a fixed structure. It can be strengthened and weakened. Space binding is the strengthening part." She said and proceeded to explain the various benefits of it.
Then she proceeded to another skill that Varian didn't study much. Teleportation.
"Teleportation is the least understood skill for early awakeners." She stated.
"Do you ever wonder why you just teleport from one place to another? And when you do, there is a feeling of being pulled and pushed." Sylivia squinted her eyes.
'Isn't that how teleportation works in all fiction?' Varian wondered.
"This is no fiction. All Divine Paths are based on the universal laws. So is space." She clicked on her comm, and a video hologram filled the room.
There was a large black sphere, and inside it was a smaller sphere. She pointed to the larger sphere.
"We're living in the larger sphere. Or on its surface, at least. This is called outer space."
'Eh? Wait, what?!' Varian wondered.
Then she pointed to the smaller sphere present inside the larger sphere and said "This is the inner space."
Varian was hearing this term for the second time. The first was during the written test.
"There are levels to space. Like an onion. We're living in the outermost." She explained.
A rough analogy was living on earth's surface and living underground. These two were both part of earth. But were different sections. One can't go underground without digging, and one can't go into inner space without space powers.
She tapped the comm again. "This is what happens when you teleport."
The hologram video changed to a man saying, "I'll teleport and then I'll show you how it works."
He channeled his space power and then appeared a few hundred meters away.
'Damn this guy is good.' Varian thought. He could only a teleport a dozen meters at most.
The space awakener appeared again and this time, he held a special 360 degree camera.
He channeled his space power and muttered, "Keep your eyes open. It's only for one second."
Then the view shifted.
The man appeared in a deep, dark space. It was eerily quiet. Before Varian could see what happened, he appeared in the normal world, a few hundred meters away from his original position.
Syliva chuckled and said, "This whole thing took less than a second." Then she proceeded to slow down the video part during teleportation.
The real world blurred, and slowly, the man was pulled into the dark space. After coming to the dark space, he adjusted his position by a few meters by simply walking of sorts.
Then the next moment, the dark space blurred, and he appeared in the real world.
Sylivia smiled and explained "The dark space he entered is the gap between Outer space and Inner space. You can say it is the void between the bigger sphere and smaller sphere.
To put it plainly, one step you make in this gap will be equal to many steps on the outer space or our world.
But you can't do this forever, since this gap will push everything out. You only got a few moments to do this and beginners do this subconsciously.
So you level 1s enter this space, stay for a very, very short duration during which you move and are pushed out into outer space aka real world. That's teleportation mechanics."
'Wow!' Varian was baffled. He never thought there was so much subject behind teleportation.
He also finally understood why he felt like he was being pushed and pulled during teleportation.
"Now you might be wondering, how do level 1s control their teleportation?"
Varian nodded.
"Our five senses are incapable of sensing space. We only see, touch, hear, taste, and smell. There is no 'space'. So you adapt to space and develop another sense. 'Space sense'. It allows you to sense the surrounding space. It will be your sixth sense. This space sense will guide you and your body will instinctively follow it to adjust your movements in teleportation."
"No wonder!" Varian clicked his tongue.
Space sense was a real thing. He developed a preliminary version where he could estimate the distance of something from him by simply 'feeling' the space. But it was still not mature.
"Developing space sense needs time. To accelerate the training, you can try shutting down your other senses and focus on feeling the space." She advised.
"After your develop space sense, you can control where you can teleport to. This is the single most important change and another great power is…" she paused and chuckled, "You can do space binding without contact."
Varian's eyes widened. He recalled Knox freezing the space of the entire auditorium in the morning.
If he could freeze the space around his opponent even for a moment without contact, that'd be a crazy edge in battle.
He could block his opponents' attack, slow them down, lock them in solid space without ever being in contact.
Stack this with his Body Awakener powers, his combat power would skyrocket.
'Damn! I can even fight Level 3s with the combination of paths, right?' He wondered.
The class was nearing completion, and Varian was about to close.
"There is one more way to increase your space sense." She mentioned.
"Acquire spacorts. Spacorts are pieces of material ejected from the inner space. They hold very little space power to be useful in teleportation formations." She looked at her students and explained.
"This is helpful to the Level 1s in your family. Give them spacorts. Then let them pour their space power into it. It will affect the space around the awakener for a short period. Use this chance to enhance your space sense by shutting off all senses."
'So she was doing this for the members of students' family to advance quickly. She's kind.'
Sylivia ended the class and looked at them apologetically. "My next three classes will be cancelled. I have to attend my son's award ceremony in Pluto. Another professor will take up my place for the time being."
The students sulked, but that was all they could do.
'She's much better than Knox. I will thank her personally one day.' Varian closed the class and inadvertently glanced at the date of recording.
33rd Septe, 516. Three days before Pluto war.
'She's gone.' Varian sighed in melancholy.
It was strange. He was beginning to feel more empathetic to losses of others. He sympathized with Seth's loss. Now he felt the same for this new teacher he'd never meet. Was it because he was trying to empathize with himself in hopes that he could forgive himself one day? He didn't know.
He cheered himself up and called the system interface.
[Space Path Level 1: 70/100]
'I don't want to wait. I'll need to get spacorts and breakthrough. I will have more probability of surviving the missions if I breakthrough into level 2 Space.'
He checked his comm for spaceort sources. After a few minutes, his eyes lit up, and he said:
"It's you!"