Water at room temperature is a liquid, a state of matter in which atoms aren't packed in fixed positions. This allows it to be formless, conforming to the shape of its container. It is soft, yielding, and adaptable. Although it is soft and formless, it can harm and damage the most powerful materials given time and effort.
Depending on the frequency, the surface of a body of water may vibrate and form different shapes. At one frequency, it could resemble a snowflake with its fractal-like edges. At another frequency, it could resemble a blooming flower, its petals outstretched in all directions symmetrically.
'What the…'
Quies hovered his hand above the trembling puddle of cursed blood. As he waved his hand around, he noticed that the pool of liquid conformed and elongated, as if trying to reach him. It slid around the moderately deep basin, clinging to its slippery edges.
He was so busy concentrating on the peculiar behaviour of the blood in the sink, he didn't notice that the blood from his hand had stopped pouring. However, it didn't stop because of clotting, due to the fact Quies had hemophilia. The blood that poured from his hand actually acted quite similarly to the blood in the sink, elongating its form to reach its separated fragment.
He moved his hand closer to the small pool of blood in the sink. Eventually, the two liquid bodies made contact, and the body of liquid that was in the sink was almost instantaneously absorbed into the larger body. Following that, Quies finally noticed that his hand wasn't bleeding anymore.
He moved his hand, twisting it so that the wound was oriented in his direction. As he peered into the opening within his flesh, he noticed that he could see the blood flowing as if there was no wound for it to spill into. It was a weird sensation to be able to see the inner workings of your body. He put his other hand over his heart, feeling the rhythm of its perpetual duty. His heartbeat lined up with the cadence of the speed that the stream of blood within his finger was moving. As his heartbeat grew stronger and quickened, the flow and pulse of his blood followed.
'That's cool! But also kind of useless… Wait, let me try this…'
An idea popping into his mind, Quies went over all the necessary steps needed to execute it. He closed his eyes, solely focusing on the imaginary map of his veins and the feeling of blood flowing through his body. He sensed the journey that it took throughout his body. Starting at the heart, his blood felt weak, devoid of oxygen. As he breathed in, he sensed that blood get pumped towards his lungs, absorbing fresh oxygen molecules and tossing out carbon dioxide. Another beat returned the blood back to where it started, the heart. Another couple of beats took the blood through his arteries and towards his brain. At that moment, he felt as if his thoughts gained a newfound clarity. Another couple of beats took the blood back to the heart, ready to repeat the cycle once more.
'Okay… not too hard to learn the basics of it… I think…'
This time, he inverted his thought process. Rather than focusing on the blood and its journey, he focused on its destination, which in this case was his bleeding finger. He felt the sensation of blood flowing from the base of his finger through to the tip, and exiting through the base once more. He sensed its rhythm, the slight friction it felt as it flowed against the walls of his arteries. He then interpreted it as an incorporeal substance, entering his damaged finger muscles and giving them the necessary nutrients to repair themselves.
As he opened his eyes, still keeping that focus and sense of blood flowing through his finger, he moved his gaze towards said finger.
'No way…'
It was hard to notice from afar, but he could almost make out the fact that his wound was healing. Sure, it might've not been a rapid recovery like what Valerie had done earlier, but progress was progress!
'So I can control how different parts of my body receive blood, enhancing said parts above their usual level. That's… not bad! Still a far fetch from being powerful enough to have a whole faction of… divers? I think that's what she said… divers loathe you, but I'm getting there… slow-'
He noticed that the force that held his blood in his body broke as the wound started bleeding again. Calming himself down, he allocated his focus back to his senses. He had to practice and meditate for countless hours for such a basic ability to become second nature. For now, he would at the very least have to allocate some of his attention towards his bloodrend.
Fortunately, this moment of time was perfect for Quies to spend meditating. It was already night, which meant that he had until dawn to meditate and hone this foundational skill. Well, only if he was willing to sacrifice sleep of course.
'Actually, if I master this ability to its fullest extent, I might not need to sleep at all! How great would that be?'
With that, Quies cleaned up his mess in the bathroom, which was surprisingly little considering he bled a considerable amount. He had expected for his cursed blood to somewhat stain the basin of the sink or at least leave a foul stench, but it seemed like every single drop of blood had returned to his body.
As he walked out, he thought of different ways he could use such an ability in different situations. For example, he could enhance his brain, allowing him to read, learn, and think faster and at a much higher level than he usually does. As for combat, he could enhance different groups of muscles at the right time to improve his strikes.
But a couple thoughts still lingered in his mind. First off, could his blood be controlled externally, as in, can he shape the liquid into different forms and control them? For example, he could form a blood sword that would be unreasonably sharp. Or could he shoot a high pressure and concentrated jet of blood that could cut through most things? If this turned out to be true, the application of his ability could be broader than Quies initially thought. However, there would be a limit to how many forms he could conjure simply because he had a finite amount of blood flowing through his body. However, his second thought could possibly provide a solution towards this problem…
"........."
'What the'
Was it just him, or was he hearing a faint whisper?