Chapter 291: What is basic control?
'I'm closer to achieving basic control over my space element than my Phoenix Flames? What?'
Alex was confused by the system's sudden interruption to give him a hint.
'But I use my Phoenix Flames far more often than I do my teleportation?'
'Is it because my Phoenix Flames are of a higher class than the space element?'
But he quickly caught on.
It clicked in his mind that his Phoenix Flames were obviously abnormal, considering they originated from a Divine class lifeform, whereas even an Ordinary class lifeform could wield his Inferior Teleportation.
Though, it probably also factored in his Affinities as well.
Alex's affinity for the Space element was abysmal, at best.
While his affinity for the Fire element was actually quite high.
But of course, that begged the question, why was his progress higher with the Space element then?
'So I'm guessing my Phoenix Flames are classed as an entirely different element to the Flame element then? And it's not just another category of it?'
This was only one half of the answer though.
Another factor to consider was the rank of the talents involved with the element.
His Phoenix Flames were S+ ranked, while his Inferior Teleportation had been stagnated at C- rank for a long while now.
He suspected that without some sort of external push or stimulus, it wouldn't rise in rank ever again.
'But doesn't my Inferior teleportation talent also come from a Divine class being?'
This was what stumped Alex.
Why was his Phoenix Flames talent of a higher class when his Inferior teleportation also came from a Divine class beast.
He received no answer from the system on this, so he would just have to sit on the question for now.
It would make sense, with how the system does things, that the higher ranked something is, the harder it will be to master it, but would also be more rewarding if the higher ranked thing was mastered.
Alex gradually put the pieces together, which led him down another path.
'...wait, does my Spatial Perception count as usage of the Space element?'
[Bingo.]
This time, he received another answer from the system.
Alex had no clue whether other awakened received such personal help from the system whenever they were stuck or confused, but he had already accepted it as normal, for himself at least.
The system had been playing tricks on him ever since he had first become an awakened.
Alex understood from that moment why he was close to the so called 'basic control' over the space element.
His almost constant use of his Spatial Perception, in all different scenarios.
While he may not have put his Inferior Teleportation to as much use as he'd have liked, he had put the added bonus of his Spatial Perception to extremely good use ever since he had obtained it.
'So what does control over my Spatial Perception entail then?'
Pushing all of his previous thoughts aside, Alex decided to focus on the one thing that was actually useful to him at that moment.
And that was making use of the hint that the System had given him.
He activated his Spatial Perception at that moment, with his range now extending all the way to a 800 metre radius.
'Do I have to keep increasing the range of it until it reaches a threshold or something?'
His first idea was that his range wasn't big enough yet, but that wouldn't make sense when talking about 'control'.
Since, he wouldn't really have more control over his spatial perception with a further increase in its range.
It wasn't like anything about his control over it had changed ever since his pitiful 3 metre radius that he started with at F- rank.
'What if I try to condense perception then?'
A wild idea sprung into Alex's mind, after discarding any attempts to increase his radius even further.
It would extend naturally anyway, like it had been doing already, so he wouldn't really be losing anything by diverting his attention away from it.
'Yeah… maybe that's a step in the right direction!'
Alex thought it over, and it seemed like a reasonable assumption to him.
He was able to perceive nearly everything within the range of his perception, but to what degree?
Was he able to perceive even microscopic entities?
What about things at the atomic level?
What about even further beyond that?
More and more wild ideas kept on popping into his head, and he decided to try it out.
Instead of spreading his attention out across his entire range of perception, like he usually does, he focused it all at one spot in his ship.
It took a lot of brain power to take in all that information of every movement, every crease and edge of every object within his perception, but what if he took his attention away from that, freeing up a large amount of his brain power, and instead redirected it all at one point?
Would that make any difference?
'I guess I'll see…'
The spot he chose to focus on in his ship was the flight controls in front of him.
They were only about the size of his hands, which was much, much smaller than his entire 800 metre radius that he was used to.
'Let's see here…'
He willed his focus to zoom in on the joystick.
He could see it in much more detail now.
But it wasn't enough.
He willed his focus to zoom in even more. Find joy at m-vl_em|p,yr
Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead and across his back.
But he could just start to make out the minute textures of the joystick.
If his normal, every day perception was a 1x magnification, he was currently mentally viewing the joystick at a 25x magnification.
It wasn't anywhere near microscopic, but it was still far beyond anything he could have achieved before.
'But nothing's happened…'
Alex took a deep breath as he released his spatial perception, relieving the tension his brain was under with all that processing power focused on such a small point.
'Was I too hasty?'
'Is this not the route to go?'
'Perhaps this is the route I should explore, but not at the moment…'
'Maybe I was getting too ahead of myself, this stuff might still be too advanced for me to focus on right now…'
'Spatial perception… teleportation… space element… how am I supposed to achieve basic control then?'
'Wait… have I ever tried to combine my spatial perception and my teleportation?'
A new idea popped into Alex's head.
One that seemed much more simple than his previous one.