'It's a shame that this first symbiote I got is useless without another, symbiotes are much rarer than parasites'
Then from within Yue spoke up "don't give up hope just yet, I think we may be able to use this symbiote ability and repurpose it to absorb 'miasma' qi as well. I assume the spirit will in the symbiote gives the ability to absorb natural qi and through some techniques it was changed to only absorb 'safe' sunlight qi"
Hou thought for a bit then asked "that does make sense but how do I interfere with the workings of the symbiote and charge what it does?"
"I suspect that the way the symbiote manipulated the spirit will power is by filtering the symbiote's external will so only sunlight qi is permitted through. To change this user your own will around the parasite and let all qi through"
Hou took this in and instantly tried to put it in practice, he felt as if his body was covered in will as normal but then he focused on the symbiote's location. He could sense the will was different, it was under his control but without commanding it, it continued it's normal functioning. Instead, Hou pushed it's will internal and covered it with his own. Then whether he needed to activate it he would let that area be open, so the ability's suction force would work.
Hou tested it out, using some of the stored sunlight qi with activating will and the spirit will's ability started. A suction force was created and qi started flowing into Hou's body, which he could then trap in a blood formation and control.
'Would I be able to create a permanent blood formation that traps the qi automatically?'
Before thinking for another second Hou started making the formation but this time he moved his veins to create the formation naturally within his flow of blood. He realised that although the formation was created he still needed to activate it and make it move into the realm qi inhabited to control it. Even then he knew this would make it viable to use in battle, meaning his qi reserves would never run out while being surrounded by the qi. He could use the parasites and symbiotes as much as he wanted.
Hou needed to thoroughly test out his abilities before moving forward. I'm his last fight he learned about the cooldowns but he still needed to figure it everything about his abilities.
Firstly, he looked at the first parasite he gained, the petals on his right palm. First he shot them into a clearing and tested distance they could travel. He shot them and saw them travel twenty five metres before falling off. Next he timed how long they took to regrow, after a minute they regrew one after the other expending some miasma qi. Hou shot them again and tested whether they could regrow faster if he injected qi in manually. Then in only ten or so seconds they regrew and could be used again.
Hou thought for a while and came up with an idea, what if he only shot a few petals at a time while the other regrew, meaning he could shoot for longer. Hou tested it out and at first he shot out every petal but after a few attempts he could control each petal individually and extend his shot for longer.
Next Hou looked at his leg parasites and new that from his previous fight, to cool down he would need a few breaths but the quicker he used without cool down the more the fatigue accumulated in his legs. But Hou had an idea with these too, if he activated the legs alternatively he could extend the time used and maximise their recovery period as each would be used only half the time.
This technique would however put a burden on Hou's mind, having to activate each parasite individually timing it perfectly when he needs would be much harder than if he activated both all the time.
Hou then looked at his left ring finger, at the bloody moss. He realised that while the effect was small, even slowing and opponent slightly would increase his fighting capacity by a huge margin. In consideration of this he wanted to learn the exact ability of the blood fog.
Hou activated it and could sustain it with no activity for 5 minutes before it dissipated, but in combat it should be lower since it would have to resist more will when action is happening.
To this Hou sat down and contemplated hard on what he could do to make this ability stronger. He thought for a long time until he had a flash of inspiration!
'The abilities don't need to be independent, I can combine abilities to create compound attacks, like punching and using parasite legs!'
Hou immediately tried to compress the blood fog as he got an idea of what he could do. He moved the blood fog like his own body, due to the experience he had with Yue's technique. It condensed into a few drops of red blood, which Hou threw to himself, at his last parasite, the cactus wrist guard. The needles were covered with the time of red. He suspected that once the needle pierced skin it would poison the target and cause then to be unable to move for half a second. There was no target near so he displayed it but did not rely on it working as he suspected when he tried it.
Hou whistled and Da came running up and grew letting him jump on his back. The two tracked out of the forest into a plains area where on the other side they should see a faint smoke rising.
Smoke meant fire and fire was a chance of humanity. Da charged forward, creating a rhythmic drumming sound as his paws got the ground. All around the duo, both miasma and light was moving onwards before disappearing.