Zhongli hadn't seemed to take much notice to the unwavering commitment that Merlin appeared to have in the complacency of the tragedy he suffered from a bygone age. It was strangely something that the Nomad somewhat identified with, at least to some extent. Yet he had said his piece as he had wanted to; it was entirely up to Merlin, and of no consequence to Zhongli however he chose to take what was spoken. Instead, he was focused now on the training at hand, meant to resume as soon as the Mage determined what the next best course was.
The world began to warp upon itself. It was a strange sensation, something that Zhongli had never experienced the likes of, yet somehow it reminded him of something.. like, the sensation of waking from a dream..? The feeling of being struck back into ones own body, as though having just lived a different life mere moments ago; a different perspective of reality, only to find that he was somewhere else entirely in an instant. The forest terrain that had replaced the tower of stone that they had previously inhabited was a pleasant change of pace. Though it took him only a moment to collect his surroundings, Zhongli was still hesitant a moment longer before he was willing to take his first step freely, without reservations, following shortly after Merlin had done so himself. He took in the lushness of the tree's freshly budded leaves, the crisp crackle of every step he'd take as twigs, wet leaves, and softened soil shaped to each of his steps. He took a single, deep breath, relishing the moment before his attention was drawn to the creation that Merlin had prepared, instructing him of what he was meant to do. Zhongli lifted a curious brow, a hand moving to caress lightly at his own chin in a pensive manner. "Am I to infuse this.. "artistical recreation" with my Prana as one does with chakra, intended to influence another's mind or body?" Though Zhongli had posed the question, he didn't wait a moment for the answer before stirring the Prana around himself once more. While he has only done so the one time thus far, this second instance seemed to come far more naturally; he was eager to test the limitations of Prana and the steadiness of it's conjuring with minimal gestures and effort in general. All he had to do was focus upon the familiar sensation that coursed through his veins, imagining it's connection to The Throne in order to pull it forward with ease, as though it were second nature. He proceeded to envelop the wooden creation with the glimmering gale of gold Prana, gradually working it into something of a cocoon surrounding the cutout that gradually tightened inward more and more. It steadily began the deconstructive process of converting the object into Prana, of which was necessary for the result of it's transition to The Throne. This was all the familiar part, of course. The tricky part would be figuring out how he was meant to pull it back here, in one piece...
Once the wooden structure was gone, Zhongli's conjured Prana had too dispersed with it. He now idled a moment, contemplating what the process was meant to be, exactly, in order to bring the structure back from the other side. He had done so himself, many times in fact, when traveling to and from The Throne himself. Yet it was always so seamless; it required little more than a simple thought at times, as though beckoning The Throne from wherever he might have been in the world, to which it would respond to his call by bringing him there itself. Perhaps that was the trick itself. The Throne could be seen as a scroll is to a sealing technique; it is the vessel, but it the source for which the target remains sealed. The true bindings are the user's own chakra; or in this case, Prana. Closing his eyes, Zhongli recalled the appearance of the wooden structure that Merlin had made down to the most minute detail. Every crack and grain that shaped the wood, each flake of dry color dye that filled in the poorly recreated adaptation of someone Zhongli had no particular familiarity to, yet.. Lifting a hand out in front of him, Zhongli began the process of harnessing further Prana, yet this time, his focus was fixed upon the image in his mind, which served as an anchor that directed the link he now shared with The Throne in the moment of his call for Prana to tie directly to the wooden object itself; the same Prana he had used to pull it there, he would use to bring it back. After a brief moment, the same cocoon of golden Prana appeared once more, flowing steadily in the exact same place as before. The Prana seemed different in it's objective this time, however. Rather than simply idling in place for any moment in time, it instead squirmed, folded upon itself and molded into a shape before dispersing to reveal the wooden structure in all it's "glory"..
Zhongli shifted his attention toward the Mage, pulling his hand toward himself as he lifted his other to begin massaging lightly at his palm, as though working out a tender muscle. "Hmm.. I cannot be certain if I truly returned the same object, or if I merely recreated it's likeness with my Prana. How does one tell?"
Zhongli had done exactly as he was told, and without any error or misstep. It was a promising sign. With the return of the effigy of Solomon to the field, Merlin clapped his hands gently, a look of delight on his face "Excellent! You're quite the guy, Zhongli-kun." Walking over to the comical construct, he patted the plank's shoulder, giving his next instructions to the Surgebinder "Now, do that again. But this time, I want you to isolate the chakra inside this construct and return it to your body from the Throne." With that, Merlin would wait, anticipating success based on Zhongli's current performance.
You've learned the Conquest of Alexander application for this technique. There's not much to say because the description is fairly clear on its capabilities, but do ask questions if you have any. And just to be clear, you're performing the Domination of Vlad in your next post.
(Kanki: Ouchou no Kindachi) – Surge of Evocation: Dynasty of Kings
Type: Offensive/Defensive/Supplementary
Rank: D-S
Range: Short-Long
Chakra Cost: 10-40
Damage Points: N/A
Description: This technique encompasses the advanced applications of the Surge of Evocation. Unlike the Era of Gods, which manipulates raw Prana, this technique is used to bring techniques previously transported back onto the field. The two applications of this technique, Conquest and Domination, deal with returning entities within the Throne to the field; thus these two applications require previous absorptions to have already occurred.
Conquest of Alexander – Bastion of Achaemenid
Through this ability, the user will be able to return absorbed objects, techniques, and parts of the terrain to the field. They will be manifested on the field in the form of Prana before becoming corporeal and usable as tangible entities. Upon becoming corporeal, the transported entities will still possess all of the effects and properties they possessed prior to absorption; this is because the Throne places objects within it in a stasis-like state. Objects returned will continue to move with the same speed and momentum that they had. This creates the effect that appears almost as if time had stopped and then later resumed for them, a trait of the Throne. It can be summoned facing a different side and/or in a new location altogether, although it must be outside of five meters of the opponent unless the user is within short-range. Techniques returned through Conquest possess the same damage they did prior to absorption. The technique’s rank applied is directly proportional to the technique rank, size of matter, and complexity; this means returning an A-Rank boulder would require an A-Rank application of Conquest. The S-Rank version of this ability can be used once every four turns and no Prana in the user’s next turn. The Bastion of Achaemenid can only be used four times per battle.
Domination of Vlad – Tower of Yggdmillenia
Unlike Conquest, Domination involves concentrating on returning the chakra contained within objects or techniques to the user’s body. The user systematically isolates all of the chakra contained within a number of techniques they’ve sent to the Throne, even if only chakra is present (in the case of raw chakra techniques and similar abilities). It will then be teturned to the user’s body as Prana energy in order to seamlessly integrate into their chakra network, making it available for later use. The user can utilize this ability four times per battle and the maximum amount of chakra that can be returned with each use is capped at a maximum of 100 chakra points. This does not mean this ability will always return that amount, the value is always dictated by how many techniques the user has absorbed and how much chakra they contained. For example, absorbing 10 A-Rank techniques and integrating them with the user’s system will increase the user’s pool by a full 100 chakra per turn. Objects that Domination is applied to will no longer carry their damage value once used on; this is because the objects, while stored in the Throne, will become chakra-void and instead become classified as simple terrain usages when used with Conquest of Alexander. Naturally, this is only possible with matter-based techniques and not those composed of energy. Domination of Vlad is considered an S-Rank technique.
Rank: D-S
Range: Short-Long
Chakra Cost: 10-40
Damage Points: N/A
Description: This technique encompasses the advanced applications of the Surge of Evocation. Unlike the Era of Gods, which manipulates raw Prana, this technique is used to bring techniques previously transported back onto the field. The two applications of this technique, Conquest and Domination, deal with returning entities within the Throne to the field; thus these two applications require previous absorptions to have already occurred.
Conquest of Alexander – Bastion of Achaemenid
Through this ability, the user will be able to return absorbed objects, techniques, and parts of the terrain to the field. They will be manifested on the field in the form of Prana before becoming corporeal and usable as tangible entities. Upon becoming corporeal, the transported entities will still possess all of the effects and properties they possessed prior to absorption; this is because the Throne places objects within it in a stasis-like state. Objects returned will continue to move with the same speed and momentum that they had. This creates the effect that appears almost as if time had stopped and then later resumed for them, a trait of the Throne. It can be summoned facing a different side and/or in a new location altogether, although it must be outside of five meters of the opponent unless the user is within short-range. Techniques returned through Conquest possess the same damage they did prior to absorption. The technique’s rank applied is directly proportional to the technique rank, size of matter, and complexity; this means returning an A-Rank boulder would require an A-Rank application of Conquest. The S-Rank version of this ability can be used once every four turns and no Prana in the user’s next turn. The Bastion of Achaemenid can only be used four times per battle.
Domination of Vlad – Tower of Yggdmillenia
Unlike Conquest, Domination involves concentrating on returning the chakra contained within objects or techniques to the user’s body. The user systematically isolates all of the chakra contained within a number of techniques they’ve sent to the Throne, even if only chakra is present (in the case of raw chakra techniques and similar abilities). It will then be teturned to the user’s body as Prana energy in order to seamlessly integrate into their chakra network, making it available for later use. The user can utilize this ability four times per battle and the maximum amount of chakra that can be returned with each use is capped at a maximum of 100 chakra points. This does not mean this ability will always return that amount, the value is always dictated by how many techniques the user has absorbed and how much chakra they contained. For example, absorbing 10 A-Rank techniques and integrating them with the user’s system will increase the user’s pool by a full 100 chakra per turn. Objects that Domination is applied to will no longer carry their damage value once used on; this is because the objects, while stored in the Throne, will become chakra-void and instead become classified as simple terrain usages when used with Conquest of Alexander. Naturally, this is only possible with matter-based techniques and not those composed of energy. Domination of Vlad is considered an S-Rank technique.