Semblance of Remembrance

Chapter 6 - First Spell Card

A/N: I will now address regular patterns as nonspells because it's easier and more intuitive. It's a danmaku pattern that is not a spell card, so thus a nonspell. Also I changed the cover art. It's like the concept art of Ayaka. It is AI generated so of course it isn't 100% accurate, but it's close enough to how I envisioned her.

"Yes this is danmaku." Satori said before floating back down to where Koishi and I were watching her from. "Now I'll teach you how to make these patterns yourself and how to float, like you asked before." She reached the ground and started to walk towards us, stopping right before where I was standing.

"First, we should get the basics down, specifically how to feel and manipulate the energy inside you. Right now, can you feel anything strange in your body?" Satori asked.

I closed my eyes, trying to scan my body for anything that felt out of the ordinary. I continued for several minutes before eventually giving up after discovering nothing. I shook my head in denial towards Satori to indicate my inability to do so.

"Instead of spreading your attention around your body, focus all your attention to right below your heart. Usually the source of danmaku energy or magical energy will be located around that area." Satori instructed.

I nodded before following her directions, focusing my scan on the area below my heart. When I did that, I felt an unordinary warmth originating from there. I tried to concentrate more on that warmth, familiarizing myself with it until I became confident that I could still feel it even when I wasn't concentrating on it. When I felt like I could do so, I released my concentration and opened my eyes. I still felt that warmth even though I wasn't focused on it, which meant that I had succeeded in the first task, feeling the energy. I started to smile, feeling proud of my progression.

'I did it! I can finally feel this danmaku energy or mana as Satori called it! I am rather curious about the difference between danmaku energy and mana though.' I thought to myself.

"They are basically the same, the only real distinction is the people themselves. Humans and magicians do not have any danmaku energy at all and thus rely on mana to create the bullets necessary for danmaku battles. Basically every other race here in Gensokyo uses danmaku energy, as for why, I do not know, perhaps an inhabitant of the surface might know, but at the moment, we have no way of contacting them. Moving on, the next step to making danmaku is being able to manipulate your energy at will. Try to make that warmth in your chest circle around your body. Once you have circled your body 10 times, you should have an adequate amount of control to make your first danmaku pattern." Satori directed.

I nodded before doing as Satori had instructed me. At first, I tried to force the energy to move through my body. However; that did not work at all. The energy absolutely refused to move how I wanted it to, so I gave up on that idea. Next, I tried gently compelling it to, like giving a nudge. I tried this method for several minutes. However, like my first idea, this idea failed, but I did get my energy to move a miniscule amount. It seemed I was on the right track with compelling it gently, but I was still missing something.

'What could I be missing? Wait, I've been treating it like it is sentient, I've tried methods that rely on the energy moving by itself. This energy could behave like an object that has some kind of will. It behaves awfully similar to Newton's first law, stating that an object at rest stays at rest. The energy that is already at rest wants to remain at rest, so forceful methods like my first idea will not work as that will of the energy is determined to stay at rest, and because the energy does not have the capability to make rational thoughts, it relies on instincts. Its instincts tell it to not move, but some kind of outside interference could make it move. My second method failed because it assumed that the will would move itself after a bit of gentle prodding, which it did a bit, but not much. Maybe infusing the energy with my intent could work as it could influence the instincts of the will inside of the energy and cause it to do what I want it to. It's worth a try.' I analyzed it in my head.