It was the crack of dawn. A hint of blood red light emanated from the horizon, seeping through the curtain in Eldon’s room, where everyone was busy sleeping away. Thanks to Nikolas’s earplugs and Eldon’s workout yesterday, Eldon was able to fall asleep quickly. Right now, he was comfortably under his sheets, sleeping in a neat and straight position which contrasted with Angus’s, whose bedsheets had been tossed onto the floor. He was sprayed in an X position, like a puppet whose strings were cut. Other than the snores of Angus and Brien, the room was quiet and serene. Ladriath, being a core and soul, had no need to sleep and spent the entire night awake. He had fallen dormant for a few hours after merging with Eldon, but other than that, Ladriath was alert and active.

Ugh. Mortals and their need for sleep. A few times at night, Ladriath would casually spread his soul sense out to look for anything interesting, but almost everyone was asleep. He occasioned upon a few hidden rooms with people inside, but he didn’t pay much attention. For amusement, he would focus his soul sense upon random people or animals, spooking them out. However, he didn’t dare to risk being noticed, so he usually fiddled with students and small, harmless animals.

Although the suns were not visible from the horizon, the light was growling faintly stronger. Ladriath decided that it was a good time for Eldon to have some experience with utilizing magic with qi.

Ladriath’s powerful and dense soul, which encompassed Eldon’s small and pale soul like a layer of protection, sent a small soul tendril to Eldon’s. The tendril, having met the surface of Eldon’s soul, gave a little poke.

Eldon’s eyes burst open, and his upper body flew up out of his sheets. Angus’s snore stopped mid-way.

Woah.

“Oof…” Eldon winced, rubbing his entire body as he felt some muscle soreness and pain all over.

“It’s not that bad. Qi helps to lessen the pain.”

Am I happy for that. Having relaxed after the poke, Eldon began to yawn, stifling it so that he would not wake his fellow roommates. He took out the plugs from his rather sore ears and placed them on his drawer. Although the plugs blocked the sound of the snores, they were too uncomfortable. Eldon laid down on his bed again, enjoying the soft and plushy feeling of his pillow.

Looks like I’ll have to just get used to their snoring. Eldon rolled over. Why did you wake me up?

“Go wash your face to clear your mind and get dressed. Magic qi training is always best to be done during the early morning when your mind is refreshed.”

Before Ladriath had finished speaking, Eldon had already jumped out of bed, looking for his slippers. After a few frustrating failures of putting his foot in the correct slipper, Eldon gave up and stumbled to the door barefooted. Luckily, there was a square and burgundy carpet under his feet, so there was little chance of slipping.

“Relax. On a second note, you don’t have to get dressed. Your room is sufficient enough for what we’re doing.”

Eldon grabbed the door handle and pulled, making sure not to slam the door accidentally.

“SNOREE”

Eldon froze, fearing that Angus’s snore had awakened everyone else. Looking back, he saw that his friends were still sound asleep, albeit Brien mumbled a little and turned onto his side. Peeking his head out, Eldon saw no one and walked quickly but quietly to the bathroom.

____________________________________________________________________________

After splashing his face with cold water and brushing his teeth with a simple toothbrush and a gooey mixture of zeppermint and other various herbs, Eldon combed his hair to the extent that his mother would be satisfied with.

Back in his room where everyone was busily sleeping away, Eldon was sitting crossed legged on top of his bed, listening to Ladriath’s instructions.

“Yesterday, you may have noticed a small speck in the middle of your core while you were circulating your qi around it. This speck is of utmost importance for any cultivator, magician, or swordsman. I don’t know what you humans call it today, but in my time, it was known as the Lishen.”

Lishen? Eldon asked. He remembered when he was circulating his qi, there was a small, yellow lump that seemed to be the origin of his circulation.

“The Lishen is the controller and the origin of your power within your core. Although it is very small, your Lishen still possesses a significant amount of power that you can use in grave situations. However, the Lishen is the life of a cultivator. Never should you use up all your Lishen’s energy unless you have no other choice. Once you use up all your Lishen, you will not be able to control any qi, leaving you completely vulnerable. The drawbacks of using up your Lishen are small in the beginning of your cultivation, but as you become more and more powerful, you may possibly even die from the aftereffects of using up your Lishen.”

Eldon shivered.

Ladriath continued. “If one has affinity for an element, one’s Lishen will naturally refine and strengthen the qi within the core to become more attuned to the element. I have multiple affinities, so my qi is enhanced by them. However, since I have significant control over my Lishen, I can send neutral qi to your core. Any questions?”

Is there a significance to the color of my Lishen?

“The color of your Lishen usually depends upon your affinity for the elements. Since you have no affinity, the color of your Lishen is yellow, the same color as the natural qi within the world.”

Eldon thought back to yesterday, thinking about how his Lishen seemed to become a little bit smaller after he circulated the qi throughout his body. Yesterday, my Lishen seemed to become a little smaller, even though I only used the qi that you gave me. Why is that?

“Within your core, your Lishen will be constantly controlling and moving your qi. A very small amount of the Lishen’s energy is lost over time if you continue to store qi within your core. It becomes negligible as you become stronger and your Lishen becomes bigger and denser, but a good amount is lost in channeling qi around your body and in casting spells. Although I can replenish your qi, I cannot directly replenish your Lishen. Anyway, enough of my blathering. Let us begin.”

Eldon sat up, feeling ready to learn about spellcasting.

Ladriath faked a yawn. “You see your earplugs on your drawer?”

Yes. Eldon responded.

“Pick an earplug and move it across the drawer.”

Although Eldon was confused, he nevertheless obliged and went to take an earplug, before Ladriath’s voice rang in his head.

“Stop. You can’t touch the earplug nor move. This is your first challenge.”

How…?...!

Eldon suddenly realized what Ladriath wanted him to do. I guess I have to use qi, don’t I?

Ladriath smirked internally. “Why don’t you try?” Ladriath then promptly sent a surge of qi into Eldon, who closed his eyes. Eldon felt the same feeling he felt yesterday originating from his chest and entering into his core. This time, however, Eldon was able to quite easily contain the qi. Within his core, Eldon’s faint yellow Lishen began to glow a little bit brighter. The specks of golden qi began to converge and revolve around his Lishen into a sphere. Eldon then opened his eyes, having established control within his core.

Now what? He thought to himself. Oh well. Here goes nothing.

Eldon furrowed his brow and peered into his core. He envisioned the qi going out of his body through his right hand. Eldon’s Lishen grew even more brighter. Soon, a small and faint stream of qi emerged from the qi sphere in Eldon’s core, albeit it seemed to be a little be hesitant and lost. Eldon focused onto the stream, seemingly encouraging and nudging it. The stream then veered out of Eldon’s core, bypassing a few of his internal organs, causing Eldon to feel a little tingly. The stream, which seemed to be fainter now, exited out of Eldon’s body and into the air. Nevertheless, it was not visible to the naked eye.

“Good. Now, move that earplug.”

This doesn’t seem to be that difficult. Eldon sent the stream towards the closer earplug. Once it reached the plug, the stream imbued itself into the plug. Concentrating, Eldon willed the stream to move the plug. Surprisingly, the plug began to rock a little bit, before slowly beginning to move slightly.

Wow! I did it! Eldon thought excitedly. However, his momentary lack of concentration caused the stream to dissipate, and the qi was released back into the air.

Aww…

Ladriath chuckled. “You did quite well for your first try. Nevertheless, controlling your qi becomes harder as you bring it farther and farther away from your core. This is the most important type of training. Although many people can increase their core capacity and Lishen size, learning the fine elements of controlling qi is quite tricky. If you are able to grasp an excellent amount of control and finesse to your qi, you will be able to preserve more energy and concentration and even cast spells faster. This can be the decisive element in a battle between two equally powerful fighters. You can possibly even defeat stronger opponents with powerful control over your qi.”

Eldon practiced a couple of more times, each time becoming more and more proficient. However, his mind started to become sluggish after the ninth time. After the eleventh, he probed his core and saw that his Lishen had become quite small.

I barely used any qi compared to yesterday. Why has my Lishen become so small? Eldon asked.

“You have just begun to finely control your qi, so it will be quite taxing in the beginning. Yesterday, you may have used up nearly all the qi, but channeling qi throughout your body is fairly simple because the qi will naturally flow through your qi channels. As a result, your Lishen did not have to expend much energy. In the future, I will teach you how to channel the qi through your body more efficiently by diverting the qi flow through other locked channels. For now, use up all of your Lishen.”

Are you sure? Eldon thought apprehensively.

“What some people don’t realize is that in the beginning of cultivation, the aftereffects of using up all of your Lishen is small. However, you can become a lot stronger faster by exhausting your Lishen and in the future, the aftereffects of Lishen exhaustion will be less. You still have to be cautious, though. Worst case scenario, you’ll probably pass out for an hour or so.”

Alright. Eldon moved the plug for the 12th time, this time quite smoothly compared to his first attempt. The small speck of his Lishen was then completely used up.

Almost instantly, Eldon saw specks of black within his vision, as if he was going to pass out. His sluggish mind already began to shut down. Waves of exhaustion spreaded throughout his entire body.

Ugh…

Eldon’s head met his pillow.

…

“Well, that was unfortunate.” Ladriath commented.

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Time for an afternoon nap. x.x