His next goal was in reach, Viers motivation went through the roof. After Nakala taught the way, the trainees were burning with passion and every one of them was eager to make their Intio. Those that have been diligently training, was given the go-ahead sign by Nakala, Viers was included among them. Viers suspected that Path-seekers could see the amount of Mana someone has. Viers’s talent was tier 2, even after all the time he has done training, he won’t have sufficient Mana to make Intio, it was because he absorbed the Mana crystal. Viers vaguely felt this but he didn’t pay it much thought, the important thing was, he had the qualification to make the next step in his journey.

But circumstances were not always convenient for everyone. After class, Nakala said they shouldn’t be interrupted while they were doing this so all of them chose to return to their room. The ones given the go-ahead rushed back to the dorm while the ones who haven’t renewed their training spirit and started to train intensely.

Nakala taught them for much longer in class today so even though Viers didn’t meditate at the pool as usual, it was already 3 o’clock when he returned. If it were up to him, Viers would locked himself in his room like a hermit and started making his Intio. However, today was his turn to helped Yisha preparing dinner, he could only sigh and carry on doing his duty.

“You can go on ahead if you like, I know how exciting this is for all of you, every year was like this after you kids were taught how to make Intio.” Yisha said to him while boiling water.

“It's fine, it’s just for one hour after all… this is done, should I cut the vegetables now?” Viers asked, he wanted to finish this as soon as possible, of course, with enough quality to gain Yisha's approval.

“Calm down and be careful okay? If you don’t concentrate you may have an accident.” Yisha kindly said to him.

He did his work briskly and after he was done, he went to his room. Yisha saw that and she smiled and sighed while shaking her head.

“Boys will be boys.” Yisha returned to her duties while humming.

***

As he walked to his room, the dorm was very quiet, on the outside, the sun was setting. The trainees had been very quiet when Viers was in the kitchen, for him the atmosphere was akin to a monastery where monks were meditating, seeking inner peace and other purposes. He reached his room and shut the door, he took a deep breath.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

Viers was ready, he sat legs crossed on his bed and closed his eyes. He steadied his breathing and calmed his mind. He felt the Mana inside his body… it was flowing inside his body like blood, it exists at every corner of himself. Not physically but he also didn’t know if it was spiritually, he only sense that something exists within himself.

Viers used the method Nakala taught him, on the outside, Viers appeared to be only sat on top of his bed and sometimes his eyebrows moved. Inside, he was moving his Mana to one point in the center of his chest. The progress was slow and he needed to concentrate intently or his control over his Mana will be interrupted.

Nakala’s method was simple enough, moved some of your Mana to the center of the chest, condense it, add some more Mana, condense it again, repeat as many times as necessary.

The initial condensing was hard enough for Viers, after he condensed the Mana to the size of a bean, he'd to maintain it at that shape while branching off some of his minds to gather more Mana. The task was very taxing for him, when the third condensing happened, he’d lost control and the bundle of Mana he condensed all this time was scattered. He had to repeat the process from zero, after his first failure Viers opened his eyes.

“Fuuu,” Viers exhaled.

So this is how it feels to make your Intio, Nakala said it would be hard so I’m somewhat prepared but that doesn’t make me happy… It’s like those wuxia cultivation novels, the progress of breaking through to the next level is always hard. In the novels the more solid your foundation is the more wow you became after you breakthrough but I don’t think I can afford to wait, I shall breakthrough now!

I wonder if those with higher tier talent will have it easier in this case… well Viers, no need to concern yourself with others, focus on yourself. The hardest part is where I have to multitask of condensing and gathering, hmn… does the Spring of Wisdom have something that can help me here? Maybe, but I will try this on my own first, everyone can do it, so why not me?

I’m not afraid of challenge, come at me world! Throw me more lemons!

Viers tried again, his second attempt at making his Intio. After 8 minutes, failure.

His third attempt, failure.

His fifth attempt, failure.

His seventh attempt, terrible failure .

His last attempt was very bad, he had trouble concentrating so he decided to take a small break. He opened his eyes and he started to become aware of his surroundings again, after a few attempts, it was like his consciousness leave his body and went inside him.

He noticed his clothes were drenched with sweat, he stood up and stretched his body to relax then he went to the bathroom to wash his face. As he splashed the water from the sink, he saw his own reflection in the mirror. The reflection smiled at him.

“Yo, you want to give up?”

“Hah, because of failure a few times? You underestimate me reflection! That’s why you are the reflection in the mirror while I’m in the real world!”

“I don’t know… isn’t this too hard buddy? Is this possible for you?”

“Who determines what’s possible or not? Something is impossible just because someone hasn’t done it yet, it’s that simple reflection.”

“But you’re tired right? Want to buy something tasty outside? Or a walk, you know… just a change of pace, some fresh air. It won’t be long, I promise, shall we go?”

“Hmph, not really, my body is still in tip-top shape, the whispers of sloth cannot sway me from my aspiration.”

“…Well then, you better get going real me, good luck, call me again after you’ve succeeded.”

“Okay reflection, thanks for the pep talk.”

When he turned, he saw Max was standing there, looking at him in silence. Viers wasn’t surprised, unlike in other stories, Max didn’t appear like a ninja or a certain man with a bat costume, Viers heard his footsteps as he approached quite early but Viers didn’t care and continued talking with his reflection in the mirror anyway.

“The line is open now, apologies for the wait, you know Max, you should try talking to your reflection too, after I talked with mine, I feel refreshed.”

Viers said that while passing Max by, his steps were without shame nor uncertainty, he left Max who’s still dumbfounded alone, Viers went to the kitchen. He met some of his classmates, they were eating dinner.

“Hey Viers, how is it going? You succeed?” Farley asked, her face was weary, clearly tired.

“Nah, just want to grab a drink, you met Terry and Paina?” Viers take an empty glass and filled it to the brim, he drank it while listening to Farley’s reply.

“Paina hasn’t come out yet, Terry came earlier but already went back.” She put the spoon on her mouth after she said that.

“So I guess no one has succeeded then… well it’s time for me to go back too, good luck to you Farley.” Viers said after emptying his third glass.

Farley replied by waving her hand, Viers returned to his room.

“Awright, time to get this thing settled!”

Viers continued his training with renewed spirit.

His tenth attempt, failure.

On his eleventh attempt, Viers managed to make the Mana condensed in his chest for some time, the size of the condensed Mana was as big as his fist. Looking at the amount of Mana remained in his body, Viers determined he was at halfway mark. Still, his eleventh attempt ended in failure.

“Oh shit, I failed again.” Viers talked to himself, he sprawled on the bed for one minute.

“Okay, time to try again.”

Thirteenth attempt…

Seventeenth attempt…

During his numerous tries, his super-senses attacks disturbed him twice, Viers was furious but he let it slide, he knew he would benefit from the senses greatly after could control it. Viers continued to hone his Mana manipulation, bit by bit he came closer to success. He’d taken rest two times more and he knew it was nearly time for the sun to rise, still, he didn’t stop or give up.

Failure after tens of times? So what? You afraid of failure? You won’t be afraid of failure after you had beaten the final bosses of Souls games! There is always a WAY!

Viers continued, he’d refuse to submit to failure. The sky already turned bright, maybe it was already time to go to class but Viers didn’t care.

Twenty-sixth attempt, Viers was very close to success, he poured every ounce of his concentration to keep the Mana inside his chest. The Mana from all over his body was now concentrated, Viers just needed to hold the containment and make the Mana denser bit by bit, slowly.

It was painful, the strain was similar to when he bench pressed and was told to hold it on, unaware of how long he had to keep doing it.

Guuuuuhhhh, hold it on Viers… just hold on…

Viers felt something, like something gaseous turned into solid-state. Viers suddenly felt the weight of his bench press was disappeared accompanied by a shockwave spreading throughout his body. He managed to condense all the Mana in his body, the compression has succeeded!

Viers was overwhelmed with exhaustion and fell down on his bed. It was noon and the sun was shining brightly, he was very tired and sleepy, simply opened his eyes was a burden for the current Viers.

It’s done, finally… it was just an ordinary sensation, nothing world shocking like in other stories, no pillar of light that pierced the sky, no shadows of dragon above me, no lightning out of the blue, no volcanoes erupted, just a man, taking his next step. I… am… satisfied.