Kyle stretched his muscles a bit and did some practice swings with his hammer.
Then, he went over the new techniques he had created.
Well, technically speaking, they were farts not techniques anymore.
After all, they were essentially half-Spells, half-techniques.
They could be used instantaneously like techniques, but were more like Spells.
Pull, Transformation, Injection, Shaping, Firing.
Normal techniques only had the Pull and Transformation steps. The Firing step only existed when techniques were used in one instant, but those were in the minority.
For example, Kyle's Boost was a technique that used the Firing step since it unleashed all its power in one instant.
Meanwhile, Pilebunker, Fire Trail, Air Current, Fire Cloak, and Wind Dash were all continuous techniques, which meant the effect kept going as long as Ether was fed into them.
The Injection and Shaping steps were usually replaced by simply infusing a weapon or a body part with a technique.
If one wanted to argue, one could say techniques also included the Injection and Shaping steps. After all, a weapon had to be injected with the Ether, and the Ether had to be shaped.
Yet, arguing like that was akin to arguing that a wooden cart was a car.
The complexity was on a different level.
Spells had to be shaped outside the body, which was why the Injection step usually used a crystal on the end of a staff as a medium.
And why were Sorcerers doing that?
Because the Shaping step was too complex.
Metaphorically speaking, the Sorcerers needed to build a complex machine with every Spell.
If they built the Spell inside their bodies, it would be like building the machine while carrying it in their hands.
It was far easier to build when it rested on a workbench in front of them.
But was that true for Kyle?
No.
The reason why it wasn't an issue for Kyle was that he had an improved Soul.
Sorcerers did not have that.
Returning to the metaphor, having an improved Soul was akin to being able to let the machine levitate in front of oneself.
Shaping a Spell was even easier this way.
So, how exactly did Kyle's new creation work?
First, he converted his own Ether into the necessary Elemental Ether.
Then, he pulled it out and infused it into the component he wanted to improve. For example, the pick of his hammer.
After that, he shaped and refined the Ether to achieve the desired effect.
However, there was a big issue.
Power. Simply activating the new creation in an instant would result in a technique that was about 30% stronger than other techniques.
That was pretty good already, but a simple 30%-increase was nothing when compared to a Spell's power.
Yet, making it stronger required a more complex Shaping step, which needed more time.
And even worse, while the creation was in the Shaping step, it wouldn't unleash any power.
Without a finished Shaping step, the component would just have Elemental Ether on it without any finesse.
It was like having armor made of liquid metal. It wouldn't block much before it solidified.
This was the problem that took Kyle the longest to fix, and he still wasn't happy with his result.
But, for now, it would do.
He created levels.
Almost every single one of his creations could be launched in an instant so that he could use them at a moment's notice.
However, if he saw that he had some time, he could essentially dismantle the technique and continue the Shaping step from where he had stopped.
Reaching the next level would need a bit more time, but not a lot.
Yet, just reaching the second level already improved the power from an additional 30% to 70%.
Most of Kyle's new creations had three levels, and reaching the third level would always take a bit of time.
But if Kyle managed to reach level three, the power output would reach three times the power output of a technique.
Usually, Spells were about four times as powerful as techniques, but they needed a bunch of chanting and a long time.
Chanting was generally used to generate additional Ether manipulation from the environment via human instincts.
When a person said something, their Ether moved in a particular way.
By saying very specific phrases, one could use one's instinctual Ether manipulation to aid in shaping a Spell.
Naturally, Kyle wouldn't do that.
He didn't have time to recite fancy phrases while swinging his hammer.
In summary, Kyle could launch more powerful versions of techniques at different levels of effectiveness, depending on the time used and Ether.
Kyle hadn't been sure what to call this new creation of his, but Theodor had come up with a good name.
It was kind of like a technique, but not the same.
Roughly speaking, it was just a different method of using a technique.
And that's what Kyle used as a name.
Method.
After Kyle warmed up, he looked at his target.
The Eater of Mountains.
"That's a turtle, right?" Kyle asked. "No," the Vice-Guild Leader answered.
Kyle blinked a couple of times in surprise before looking at his target again.
A big shell that looked like a mountain.
'Sure as hell looks like a turtle, but sure,' Kyle thought. 'Guess my opponent's appearance will be a surprise.'
The next moment, Kyle stopped moving.
Suddenly, a warping and violent flame came out from behind Kyle.
BOOOOM!
The Vice-Guild Leader watched the ground beside him explode as Kyle suddenly shot forward.
As Kyle exploded forward, he left a streak of warping fire behind.
This was one of Kyle's new Methods.
Ignition.
Since Kyle had time to prepare, he had immediately launched it at the maximum level.
Kyle shot towards his target at insane speeds.
In fact, he actually managed to reach speeds just a bit above Earth's speed of sound.
And the best part of all was that this was not an instantaneous Method.
It was a continuous one.
This meant that Kyle could keep this speed up as long as he didn't stop.
The Method would keep going as long as he didn't deactivate it.
It was not just a one-time speed increase.
In less than a second, Kyle reached his target.
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