Thrice-Honed Dragon | Vanyel Upgrade

» Character Name: Vanyel Xiaoyang
» Character Application: App Link

» Upgrade Details:

Power Control: Untrained -> Beginner
Physical Augmentation: Untrained -> Beginner
Spiritual Adaptation: Untrained -> Beginner
Mediumship: Untrained -> Beginner

Focus: Beginner -> Adept
Mental Deduction: Adept -> Advanced

Power Control

• Huánglóng Jīchǔ [黄龙基础, Yellow Dragon Foundation]: Based in the myth of the Yellow Dragon and its associated element in wuxing, this primarily grants him the ability to move earth telekinetically, or through movements and gestures, as well as transmute his energy to mimic the properties of Earth. By remaining in contact with the ground, the power’s energy requirements are halved.
  
  
• Jīn Jīng Huǒ Yǎn  [金睛眼火, True Sight]: Named after the Monkey King's "eyes of truth" from A Journey to the West, Vanyel channels Reikaku into his eyes, augmenting his vision. This grants him the ability to see energy capacity and type as a dense aura around someone, even through obstructions. Furthermore, these auras have particular colors to distinguish the different races: white for Hollows/Arrancar, green for Shinigami/Quincy, and yellow for humans. While this does not have a time limit, the longer that it is used, the more strained his eyes become, risking potential damage, should he use it for too long, as well as just being a general utility/information gathering tool, rather than an offensive one.
  
  

  Meaning of the Colors:

Mediumship

• Yùqīn [玉皇欽, Jade Veneration]: A basic application of Vanyel's mediumship, named in tribute to the Jade Emperor of Chinese mythology, this allows him to telekinetically control objects imbued by or affected by his energy. Furthermore, this also allows him to imbue his spiritual energy into weapons, clothing, and objects, repairing them and restoring them to pristine condition. This scales off Mediumship, and the higher it gets, the process becomes faster and more energy-efficient. Additionally, it allows him to siphon energy into vehicles, substituting gas for energy.
  
  
• Zao Jun Dàcān [灶君大餐, Zao Jun’s Banquet]: Drawn from the domestic Chinese god of the kitchen; by putting energy into the things that he cooks, Vanyel is able to imbue restorative properties into his food. This is reminiscent of a Hollow's healing factor, and scales off his own Mediumship, capping at Elite. In general, it allows him to heal non-lethal wounds, restore stamina/energy, and boost the metabolism of the body to allow the recipient to become healthier and reach their peak fitness.
  

Physical Augmentation

• Jīn Dǒu Yún [筋斗云, Cloud Surfing]: Vanyel's high speed movement ability akin to Shunpo or Hirenkyaku, named after one of Wukong's abilities in A Journey to the West, scaling with Physical Augmentation.
  

» Summary:

Powers

Vanyel has been active in this endeavor for well over two years, ever since he went from returning to a human from demonhood, though primary showings and major developments of this have been in more recent threads. From taking notes of what he wanted to do and achieve with his powers, making illustrations of the idea in his head, and demonstrations, Vanyel is no stranger to this process.

Due to this experience, knowledge, solidified understanding and intent, as well as a willingness to experiment, Vanyel has been able to regain a grasp on the fundamentals much faster than most normally would, allowing him to reach notable breakthroughs in various threads.

He has rapidly been able to redevelop and utilize an old ability, True Sight, in order to identify potential threats, learned to funnel his energy into his food through Mediumship, and came to a sense of inspiration and enlightenment on what he wanted to be the core of his powers while fighting his best friend and being pushed to break through that bottleneck.

Mental Deduction & Focus

Focus is a skill that I'm wishing to upgrade due to what was my own lack of understanding of the skill, as well as what it was intended to represent in the past, that being emotional control. However, with the modern updates to the skill, I felt that Adept was a better representation for Vanyel. This is due to him being an exceptionally skilled martial artist to the point of learning multiple styles, his nature as a bodyguard for Gracen Arms, as well as a long history of combat that has made him into a seasoned fighter and someone who is generally "alert at all times," per the skill level's description.

Mental Deduction, however, is primarily focused on his extreme analytical nature regarding powers. Showcased in many threads below, this understanding and analytical nature allowed him to redevelop his powers at a far quicker pace than normal, come to a reasonable conclusion about a person based on their powers and picking apart word choice in dialogue, as well as his understanding of abilities allowing him to break down powers to a fundamental level in order to understand their triggers or activation conditions/requirements with little information being told to him beyond visible display.

» Threads: Placed in as close to a chronological order as I could.

1. Unpleasant Repetition - Immediate aftermath of his conversion from demon back to human, explicitly lays out desire for re-cultivating his powers, with hints into what they would eventually grow into.
   
   
2. Dragon's Trip - First thread going into proper detail of what he wanted to accomplish from his powers, explaining an old power that would be re-attained, and showcasing of his understanding of powers.
   
   
3. An Insidious Call - Final post of thread showcases Vanyel's deep understanding of powers and ability to analyze them, to the point where he was eventually able to break down Kurai's abilities down to a fundamental level. Throughout the hallucinations under said abilities, showcases a reactionary implementation of old powers due to being under extreme emotional duress.
   
   
4. Envy's Ford - Extensive thread that, while unfinished, showcasing Vanyel's notetaking when it comes to understanding and analyzing power minutia, as well as connecting powers and small details to discern aspects of Veralia's character, both generally and in combat. This also serves as the first showcasing of him attempting to use True Sight, utilizing Mediumship in a manner that would eventually become Jade Veneration, his knowledge of energy flow and its various interactions in the body, as well as a basic implementation of Physical Augmentation to create a Flash Step-like technique.
   
   This also teased the beginnings of a fire/water power, though the intent and reason for why this was not pursued was due to a struggle and distaste for how to continue that development dissuaded him from continuing down that path.
   
   [This is primarily an OOC note, as the thread is unfinished, however, that is the direction I have been wanting to take for this thread, and it is too important to this upgrade for me to not include it.]
   
   
5. Can You Smell What the Dragon's Cooking? - Thread starts with Vanyel cooking, as well as prose outlining the desire to implement this into his powerset, as well as the general theme of the thread involving cooking.
   
   
6. Shortcuts, Long Punches - Second, brief showcasing of True Sight, notably struggles to maintain it.
   
   
7. The Cat Who Cried Boyfriend - Another showcasing of True Sight, utilizes the same line of logic regarding colors regarding Khaana, and while still a very brief usage, does not have the same strain as it had when used prior. Also shows him briefly utilizing Mediumship as a form of telekinesis, enveloping items with his energy to control them telekinetically.
   
   
8. Howl of the Sea - Showcasing of Vanyel's notetaking and understanding of power minutia, even though what he wanted to analyze would ultimately not become part of his powers.
   
   
9. Southern Sass - Another showcasing of his understanding toward general abilities and powers, as well as methods to help refine them, referencing image training, as well as other methods to make the summoning and manifestation of energy easier through a shift in object size.
   
   
10. Vanishing Act - Initial showcasing of the development of Zao Jun's Banquet, the power officially born from a desire to help Violet recover. Also demonstrates ability to understand and deduce events that took place with the character through very small amounts of information, specifically Violet having taken heroin and, later on, understanding that she'd been raped in the past.
    
    
11. Comforts of Home - While primarily mentioned through Violet's post, Vanyel continued to develop Zao Jun's Banquet to hasten Violet's recovery process.
    
    
12. Two Cups of Competition - Another showcasing of the development of Zao Jun's Banquet, spurred by a sense of competition, though this has been something he has been habitually doing whenever he cooks. Furthermore, this showcases brief, baseline usages of Mediumship, outlined in Jade Veneration.
    
    
13. High Mountains, Flowing Waters - Inspired by part of Kenichi's Goshoku Ryuuken, Vanyel reached a sense of realization of what he wanted to do with his powers, leading to a brief, primitive version of what became Yellow Dragon Foundation, altering the properties of his energy to resemble the earth and what it represents.
    

This took way too long.