Time flashed by and three entire years have passed.

Quin was now ten years old and though he was still a child, he also matured quite bit. No longer was he the skinny kid, like when he had began to go to school, but one who had an athletic body. He was not ripped in muscles, not just due to his age, but also because his training was not concentrated on that.

Hist training schedule was readjusted every half year by his instructor and from the results and Quin’s body type he decided that the boy should not focus on simply building his size and amount of muscles. Instead he gave him exercises which would build up an excellent stamina, speed and smaller, but denser muscles, which were faster and more explosive.

There was not much change in his everyday life however. He was going to school, training afterwards, hanging out with his friends and reading books in his free time. They often hung out with just the four of them, but sometimes other ones joined them as well, like Leyn, Mang or a couple of Alinor’s or Aline’s friends.

He still talked a lot with Leyn and they often did some of their training together. Although Quin was more focused on his training compared to her, the gap between them grew more and more due to her entering the Qi Foundation stage, granting her the ability to access and use qi.

Just two months ago in September, he entered the third level of the so-called Derelict stage, providing him with the ability to slightly sense qi and store it in his body. It was not that much of a boost as he could not use it for now, that would only be available by reaching the next stage.

One of the new things were a single class, which taught them how to properly meditate, as it was essential for reaching the Qi Foundation stage. Quin did it diligently and even spent more time and effort on it as they were required. Meditation made him relaxed, relieved his mental and physical fatigue and was quite easy for him. Furthermore his instructor told him that it usually takes one to two years to reach the next stage, however this time can be reduced by properly training his mind by meditation and his body by exercises. Thus he had every motivation to do it.

The normal classes were becoming easier and easier for him, because he read a lot of books since he has started school and gathered a decent amount of knowledge from them. After seeing his performance on tests, many teacher started to consider him a genius.

School has already ended for Quin, and now it was mid July.

At night, while meditating just before going to bed, he suddenly felt a change in his body. He recognized it right away that it meant his breaking through to the next stage has finally come!

‘When you step into the third level of the Derelict stage, it means that your first and main Qi Core has awakened. Although at first it will be only the size of a gold coin, it will also grant you the ability to sense energy. You will have to slowly absorb this energy surrounding you and your Core will convert it into qi. At this level the type of your qi is not yet determined and you will not be able to use it at all, only store it inside your body. Well, it indeed has one benefit: it will slowly cleanse your body of impurities, thus strengthening it as well.

‘By regularly meditating and training you can gradually increase the rate of the absorption, and after a while you will feel a sudden change in your body. Your dantian region will act like a vortex, starting to suck up the qi stored inside your body. Meanwhile, your Core will slowly start to get expanded by the absorbed qi, to the size of an apple. Its inside will be hollow, and that is where your qi will be stored. This is called Core Establishment. When your reach this level, you will be able to spread qi through your body and after learning different techniques and spells to use with it, your attack power will increase by leaps and bounds. Lastly this is the time, your type of qi will become fixed and testable. There are numerous types but the most basic and usual ones are the four basic elemental ones: Fire Qi, Water Qi, Earth Qi and Air Qi. They all have different properties and can be used for different spells and techniques.

‘Let’s speak briefly about what is next then. Your first established Core will be your main one, and in the first three levels of Qi Foundation, you have to repeat this procedure three more times to create three Sub-Cores which will surround your main one.’ Quin fully remembered what his teacher, Nyra said about the breakthrough and the different levels.

Taking a long final breath he re-entered the deep meditative state and concentrated on his body, especially on his dantian region.

It was sucking up his qi at an insane rate and he felt like it was siphoning his very soul away.

What the heck is going on? Argh! Suddenly he felt like his whole body was vibrating. It doesn’t supposed to go like this! They said it can hurt a bit but it shouldn’t be anything major! He did not know how much time has passed, but the pain started to become unbearable... Then when he was just about to pass out, he remembered all that effort he had put into his training in the last four years, the day he had seen his friend and classmates being massacred on the school field, the feelings when he thought he would die, the helplessness he felt and let out an unintelligible scream. This is nothing! I have to bear through it.... Focus! Using his sheer willpower, his breathing started to normalize and he concentrated on what was going on in his dantian. What’s happening? The whole thing is vibrating, and its shell is cracking! There also sparks going off of it. Quin was flabbergasted and had no idea what to do, so even in great pain, he continued observing it. Maybe I could stabilize it? With all of his mental strength, he focused on suppressing the vibration, the cracking and the sparks. Yes! It’s stabilizing. Just as he got happy and lost his focus for a moment, the vibration and the others things returned. He kept doing it for a while but the torture always came back when he stopped paying attention.

After a while he got an idea and started laughing inside his head. I’ll just use it like I was training! I can bring down its intensity to a level, just bearable and then I’ll gradually let it back to its original strength as I get used to it!

After an unknown amount of time, Quin suddenly opened his eyes, smiling.

“Yes, I succeeded! Hmm, why do I smell like this?” Just as he became ecstatic, he smelled a sour smell and looked around. “What’s this brown puddle below me? Did I just shat my pants?” Forgetting his previous excitement, he was totally embarrassed now and stood up confused, only to see that all of his clothing he was wearing, was covered in the same thing.

“Mom!” Though he was feeling shame like he never had before, he really could not decide what to do, so he called for her mother, whom he could always rely on.

“Ah, you finally finished honey? I was getting worried about you,” she said like she has not even noticed Quin’s state.

“W-What? Why? I only started meditating yesterday,” he asked, becoming even more confused.

“Yesterday?” She sighed. “You have been sitting here cross-legged, while trying to break through for more than three days! We have even called a doctor to check on you, but fortunately he told us that there’s nothing to worry about and we should just let you finish it,” she told him.

“Mom, umm, you know...” he felt it difficult to say it.

“Oh, the brown thing below you? Don’t worry about that, though disgusting it’s completely natural. That’s only the impurities coming out of your body. Quickly, take a bath and I’ll clean it.” She looked very happy at this moment which Quin could not comprehend at all.

He let out a sigh, then found his way to the bathroom and took a long bath. He washed his body for several minutes, to make it sure he got the terrible smell off of him.

After he cleaned himself, he could finally inspect what has happened to his body. Interestingly his Core was the same: vibrating, its shell continuously cracking, with sparks flying off of it. It was just like he had thought before, this state became its natural state. The only reason he was not feeling the pain from before, is due to his days long acclimatization to it. Other than this, his whole body felt lighter and although he did not test it, he felt that he was way faster than before.

He went down to his mother, who told him to go to the school immediately, where they can check up on him, to see if everything is alright and to explain all the important things he needed to know.

Thus even though it was already two in the afternoon, he went to his school and searched for his instructor, who he trusted on these kind of matter the most.