Chapter 1842: Full Circle (3)

Whoosh!

Making full use of the thoughts she had after that realization, Veradine began to modify the current Ether Gathering Technique, changing the path her ether took to a path that resembled more of the Basic Ether Gathering Technique.

At the same time, she began to apply the fused principle of the Triple Compression Ether Gathering Technique onto it, causing the ether to gradually increase in pressure and weight the further it went.

By the time it had returned to its starting point, the ether emanated a certain level of pressure, reaching a level that was only previously possible with the help of the Triple Compression Ether Gathering Technique.

However, unlike the Triple Compression Ether Gathering Technique, where reaching the end would mean dispelling the ether before starting all over again, Veradine proceeded to move the strengthened ether along the same path.

Although the speed at which it moved through her body was far slower than before, she could still sense the pressure and weight behind the ether continuing to increase.

Realizing this, she knew that she had finally found the element that she had been looking for.

Swoosh!

Wanting to see where the limits of the current technique lied, Veradine continued pushing the strengthened ether further and further, only for it to come to a grinding halt around halfway.

Though a part of her felt a bit disappointed that she wasn’t able to complete a second loop, she was still incredibly satisfied that she had finally created a technique that incorporated the true feedback loop that she sought.

’Unlike the three techniques or the Triple Compression Ether Gathering Technique, the movement of the ether itself is the anchor point.’

’Because of this anchor point, the instructions are closer to the Basic Ether Gathering Technique than the one I made. But with the help of the principle from the Triple Compression Ether Gathering Technique, its efficacy reaches a level far beyond any of the techniques I’ve created.’

’In fact, I get the feeling that the technique still hasn’t reached its limit yet,’ she thought, recalling the sensation she felt as the ether neared its second loop.

However, perhaps due to her low proficiency with the technique, or her low realm as a Sage, she was unable to see it to the end.

’Well, at least my goal of creating a brand new Ether Gathering Technique for myself is finally done.’

As those words echoed in her mind, Veradine went ahead and activated her newly created technique once again, wanting to familiarize herself with the movements.

Though, after having her ether run an entire loop around her body, she got the feeling that it would be to her disadvantage if she were to try and force the ether to loop around her body a second time.

Curious as to why she got that feeling, she went ahead and attempted to run two loops with her ether a number of times, only to run out of steam halfway almost every time.

But when she chose to trust her instinct and loop the ether around her body once, she began to feel a sense of completeness and harmony from it.

Running the ether around her body a few more times after that, Veradine eventually understood why she got that feeling.

’All things have a beginning and an end,’ she reminded herself. ’The two are separate in nature, yet singular in purpose.’

’The technique operates in this principle, which is why it gives me a feeling of completeness if I stopped the ether precisely at where it began.’

’On the other hand, forcing myself to complete a second loop without being able to do so goes against this principle.’

Checking to see if her train of thought was correct, she operated her ether a couple more times, one where she had it loop once and another where she tried to loop it a second time.

Unsurprisingly, the former gave her that feeling of completeness, prompting her to think that a complete loop was the technique in its ideal state.

As for the latter, Veradine felt a sense of incongruence the moment the ether stopped moving halfway.

On top of that, she felt that even though the pressure and weight behind the ether had increased while going for a second loop, the efficacy of technique had decreased in some way.

’Odd.’

Although she felt like there was more she could explore from the technique she had created, she decided to set that thought aside for the meantime.

After all, she had already spent the past 10 years getting to this point.

Well, around a year or two in total over the course of the past 10 years, but still.

’There’s plenty of time for me to explore what this technique still has to offer,’ she muttered to herself, opening her laptop to update herself on what was going on with her fellow colleagues.

At this point, only a few days remained before the three month vacation was over, prompting some of the more hardworking among them in the lab to start preparing for it.

Sending a couple of messages to inform those same people to prepare for their lab’s next article, Veradine soon closed the laptop as she asked herself a question.

"Now that I think about it... what name should I give this new technique?"

At the question, Veradine began to realize just how direct her naming sense was.

A good example of this was the Triple Compression Ether Gathering Technique, where the name came about because the technique compressed ether... three times.

On the other hand, her new technique compressed ether by having it circle around the entire body according to a certain principle.

"Circle Ether Gathering Technique, then?" she muttered, only to shake her head after realizing how stupid the name sounded. "No. It doesn’t encompass the compression part."

"...Should I even include the compression part in the name, though?"

Pondering over the final name for the technique for quite some time, Veradine eventually found herself recalling the phrase that allowed her to create the technique in the first place.

"All things have a beginning and an end."

"The two are separate in nature, yet singular in purpose."

"..."

"...Cycle."

The moment that word left her mouth, Veradine soon felt everything click in her head.

"Though I’ve yet to know how many of it is the limit, that doesn’t change the fact that the technique involves cycling the ether around the body in order to compress it."

"Since I can only do one cycle for now, I’ll call it the Full Cycle Ether Gathering Technique."

"But once I familiarize myself with the technique some more, perhaps I’d call it the Two Cycle Ether Gathering Technique or Three Cycle Ether Gathering Technique."

"Or even... the Infinite Cycle Ether Gathering Technique."

"..."

"...Well, who knows?"

"Maybe there’ll come a day where I find out there’s more to this technique than just the cycle."