Spin, Part One

When Dai Mubai saw Jodio again, he found him sitting in a corner of the barbecue restaurant, enjoying dinner with Oscar and Ma Hongjun. Just a light meal tonight: sixty skewers of insanely spicy lamb, thirty skewers of mild lamb, a roast chicken, and grilled peppers, corn, cabbage, garlic, chives, and eggplant. Alas, Jodio didn't have much of an appetite today, so that would have to do.

"What if I told you I could make Oscar capable of fighting?" Jodio asked Ma Hongjun.

"Boss, every time I think about respecting you, you open your mouth."

"Hm? What did you just say?"

"Boss, your hearing things is getting worse. I didn't say anything." Ma Hongjun grinned.

"I'm serious, Oscar. I can give you a way to fight." Jodio picked up the round object on the table. He had only just gotten it from a blacksmith that morning. Well, it would do. It even looked a little like the one Gyro had used.

"A ball?" Oscar asked curiously.

"Right. A ball. Or rather, a Steel Ball."

Jodio gently turned his palm. The black Steel Ball immediately began spinning, accelerating until it blurred. Then, with another movement of his palm, it slowed and came to rest.

"Oh, hey, Dai. Sit down. Order whatever you want." Ma Hongjun was the first to spot Dai Mubai hurrying over. He waved him into a seat, then turned back to Jodio's demonstration.

"Remember my third Spirit Skill?" Jodio asked Oscar.

"Fang? It works by firing something that spins at high speed..." Oscar's eyes lit up as he spoke. No way. Could he teach that to someone else? Could someone else actually learn it?

"Why not? Once you understand the rules behind a Spirit Skill, what's stopping you from reproducing it?" Jodio replied casually.

The Soul Tools of later generations worked on that very principle: using Soul Power to reproduce the rules behind a Spirit Skill and create a similar attack. How was that different from swordsmanship or saber techniques? If you grasped the principles and rules behind a Spirit Skill, then in theory, you could use it without possessing that skill yourself.

That was a Self-Created Soul Skill!

"Ever heard of the Golden Spin?" Jodio asked. As a mentor and friend to the two younger boys, he had told them plenty about life, history, and basic science. The term might be hard to understand, but whenever he drew it for them, they could more or less follow.

"This spiral has a remarkable property: it maintains its energy as it spins. That's why an object spun according to the principles of the Golden Spin can gain greater, almost unbelievable energy. That's the energy we're going to learn to use. I call it Golden Spin Power," Jodio continued.

"With precise training, that energy can be used to realign bones or repair nerves through delicate surgery. It can also reduce pain, dull certain sensations, increase kinetic energy, or change an object's trajectory. All of that comes from the energy generated by the spin. Imagine me putting both hands on Ma Hongjun's shoulders. Damn it, I'm not wiping grease on your clothes! Get back here!"

Dai Mubai watched the three of them bicker, at a loss for words. Whenever he thought Jodio and the others seemed like gloomy adults, they started fooling around like little kids. No, wait! What an absurd thought! This is what true freedom looks like! They've already reached a higher state of complete freedom! I let appearances fool me. I'm still not ready to become strong!

"Imagine me putting both hands on Ma Hongjun's shoulders and pressing down. See? With enough force, I can make him feel pressure and pain. Let's call that force ten. Now, what about this Steel Ball? Do you think it can do the same thing?" Jodio asked, picking it up.

"Boss, did you sleep badly? I could knock someone out just by throwing that thing at him," Ma Hongjun said flatly.

"Right. But how much force would you need to throw it that hard? Seven? Eight?" Jodio asked, spinning the Steel Ball.

"Your strength has limits. Let's say I asked you to temporarily numb Oscar's pain nerves. How hard would you have to press to manage that? And how would you make sure he recovered afterward? Roughly how much force would all that take?" Jodio spread his hands.

"Maybe a hundred?"

Jodio sent the Steel Ball spinning onto Ma Hongjun's wrist. The skin twisted with its rotation, as though something had seized and pulled it. Jodio then pinched the back of Ma Hongjun's hand. Ma Hongjun only blinked, feeling nothing, as if Jodio had pinched someone else.

"That's the Spin Technique. You don't need to apply much force. Its own rotation generates an unimaginable amount of energy. Oscar, want to learn?" Jodio retrieved the Steel Ball. Ma Hongjun immediately clutched the back of his hand, grimacing as the pain caught up with him. Jodio had pinched hard for the sake of the demonstration, though not quite hard enough to leave a bruise.

"Coach! I want to learn the Spin!" Oscar grabbed Jodio's leg, looking ready to burst into tears.

"I haven't mastered it myself. I've only begun to get the tiniest feel for it, and it still works only sometimes. But I'm certain its potential is practically limitless. It could give every support-type Soul Master a way to protect himself and fight when needed. At the very least, a battle-type Soul Master below level thirty or forty would have a hard time completely overpowering a support-type Soul Master of the same level who'd mastered the Spin Technique," Jodio explained.

"Boss, I want to learn too," Ma Hongjun said pitifully. Why does Oscar get to learn a technique like that? I knew it. He's got the face of a treacherous adviser! He must have bewitched Boss Jo!

"Boss, why not start a sect?" Oscar asked curiously. A technique like this was worthy of being passed down as a sect's secret art. A sect built around it would surely be a paradise for support-type Soul Masters.

"It'll be surpassed. One day, it'll be just another support tool. You could build a sect around it, sure, but you'd better be prepared for that."

Jodio wasn't too worried about the Spin Technique's future standing. Nothing could hold an exalted position above everything else forever. Sooner or later, as Soul Tool technology advanced, the Spin Technique would settle into its rightful place. There was no need to cling to it the way that Tang fellow clung to his hidden weapons.

"I don't understand how your mind works, Boss. The thing hasn't even been born, and you're already talking about its death," Oscar complained.

"Enough about that. Dai, what brings you here?"

Information currently available to the public:

Spin Technique:

A secret art passed down through generations of the Zeppeli Family, an executioner family in the new world. It applies the Golden Spin to a Steel Ball, which is then thrown to strike a target. Its purpose was to allow condemned prisoners to be executed with as little resistance and pain as possible. The Zeppeli Family also used it in their public role as doctors. With the boundless energy of the Golden Spin, they could treat all manner of supposedly incurable conditions through seemingly impossible procedures, such as the delicate suturing of an optic nerve.