Abilities and Physiques

Different abilities could be placed in different grades based on what type they were and how much could be achieved with them.

Some abilities were subcategories of another ability while a better ability may have been an evolved version that was far more powerful and versatile.

Some abilities drained a lot more power from their user or had possible side effects.

One example would be abilities that manipulated the users blood which could cause them to experience severe blood loss whenever they made use of it.

Not all abilities were perfect and some came with various costs or drawbacks at times.

There was a higher grade of ability that came in different forms that appeared on some humans and those were categorised as special physiques.

Some physiques granted the user far better talent than others, greater physical capabilities than most humans and other possible physiques that set them apart from other humans and Balancers.

Some physiques could not be so easily understood and they could be shown to be compatible with a certain path of spells and they could show off different abilities all at once.

Special physiques were a higher grade of abilities in a way which were made up to form one ability which was made from several paths of a subcategory that were compatible with each other in that form.

The Skin Walker ability had that kind of potential and that much usage due to how it could be used to perform more than one simple ability.

The ability to shape shift was not the only power that had been possible for Ash to make use of after she had gained the physique of a Skin Walker.

Not only did she change her shape but Ash was able to manipulate her voice to sound like others so it did not just mimic or steal the appearance of others.

Skin Walkers were known as tricksters and shape shifters so being able to change their form and their voice was what was to be expected.

They were believed to be connected greatly to the Black Shaman path or what was known as the Balance Breaker pathway so they had far more of a connection and talent towards spells that were recorded in the book that Ash had been studying.

The possibilities or potential of the Skin Walker physique or ability may not have been as simple as it looked on the surface and its full potential may not have been possible to reach until Ash had a much greater level of power of her own.

There were limitations to who she could mimic and for how long she could do it due to how low her own energy was.

Blending in with other people in another form would not be possible for a longer time so during the time that she had just gained her new ability, it was not that big of a use to her.

Ash could transform into another human form and mimic their voice but that would only be able to be maintained for up to five minutes to ten minutes at the maximum.

The Life Energy gained from the ritual was only enough to allow the transformation to last that long and it would only be further reduced when Ash was using spells too.

Her current grade of Balancer was barely at the stage to qualify as a useful Watcher and if she had been known to be able to see spirits then her only possible tasks that could be performed would be to use her sight to monitor her surroundings for spirit activity.

She was at the very bottom but to survive, Ash needed to climb up towards the top as fast as possible.

There were no special materials, no teachers to guide her and no weapons that could aid her.

The only things that could possibly be obtained with the money that she had was the wood since it was fairly common.

It could be used to keep out or seal spirits but that was only limited to low grade spirits.

The ash could be scattered around a building to keep spirits from entering or to lock them inside but humans could just as easily cross that barrier that had been created.

Just by stepping through that barrier, they would be exposed to the dangers on either side and could possibly disrupt the barrier to create an opening for the spirit to cross it.

It meant that during her time spent going back to her home and practicing her use of the little Life Energy that she had, Ash had been able to see the spirits that had been floating or wandering around her.

Low grade spirits were unable to interact with or harm humans but they still had the ability to phase through things like a ghost but that would be lost once they gained a more physical form.

Harmless spirits had been able to pass through the walls in her own home so it had proven to be a little of a distraction to her own studies but that only helped her to practice further.

In the future, there would be times where there would be distractions all around her when she was casting spells or was dealing with spirits so she could not let those distractions affect her.

In front of her was a small bowl of ash and she had took a small hand full of it, Ash started chanting the same spell that she had practiced many times and had kept her other hand performing a sign.

The tiny spirits that were floating around the room around her varied in shape and size but most of them were only the size of a golf ball.

They were like orbs of energy or light that was gathered together and had yet to take on a form yet.

If they came into contact with a human then most would believe that they would just break apart with just a single flick of a finger but Balancers knew that Life Energy was needed to harm them.

Without Life Energy or other things that could harm them, they would remain as they were and would continue to grow.

The Life Energy within the body of Ash was being channelled from within her as it had travelled from her core up towards her arm that was performing the hand sign.

The hand that held the ash had opened flat in front of the other hand that performed the hand sign.

There was a faint flicker of a silver-white ghostly glow within the light blue eyes of Ash as the spell had reached its completion.

The Life Energy had drained from her body at a rapid rate and travelled towards the ash that was in her hand then had settled within and around it.

The light blue eyes of Ash had continued to glow with a faint ghostly light while her face had remained expressionless, her hand holding the ash had thrown it up into the air all of a sudden and it had broke apart in the air.

The ash had travelled in different directions towards each corner and wall of the room she was within, anything that had obstructed it had been pushed back by it.

The tiny orbs that were the spirits were forced back without being able to resist that much before they had been pushed towards the wall.

Their bodies were pushed against the wall and slowly phased through it then the ash that had hit the walls had fallen down neatly arranged in a line that travelled around the edges of the room.

Ash looked towards the room that was free from spirits and felt that she had lost a lot of energy so she let out a sigh. 'Just one spell is already so tiring but finally I have been able to perform just one spell. More of this and I should be able to get a better feel for channelling my Life Energy.'

While Ash had been successful in using her first spell which was a warding type of spell, in another location there was an investigation that had been conducted into the fire and deaths of the family she murdered.

There were no signs or evidence left behind for anyone to let people think that it was a supernatural related death so it was put down as an ordinary unsolved murder case.

The fire had destroyed all other possible connections to the supernatural and it had looked like the family were most likely murdered before being burned along with the house.

There were some similarities to the case that was in another city so they could have found some leads if they chased down those leads but there was something that had prevented that.

The cases back in the city that were related to Azra Dash or her previous fake identity had already been closed to prevent the media investigating the mental institution further.

Even if there were some points that were similar, since the case in the other city was already closed and the culprits were already captured or dead, there was no way for others to suspect that there was another person that could have committed those crimes and then went on to do the same later in another location.

Unless Ash suddenly got careless or confessed to the crime herself, it was not that likely that she would be caught for what she had done when she had already been able to get away safely and hide out within the village that she was staying within.