CHAPTER 14 - Talented.

After his insistent tries, he was still not able to perform the sixth circulation. There was a lack of stamina whenever he reached that point. So instead of continuing with this, he tried analysing what he needed to do to improve further.

When he tried thinking like this, he immediately remembered the words that Teacher Zeke had told them all that morning. Mental Energy was an important aspect that assisted a person in increasing there prana level. So the lack of stamina that he felt whenever he tried going for the sixth circulation, that should be a lack of mental energy, right?

He felt that he was probably right about that, which would mean that Mental energy played a big part in a person's prana cultivation. If he followed the method that Teacher Zeke, he might be able to increase his mental energy and improve his prana level. But he gave up on that thought soon. He had been already warned about it, so still treading that path would only qualify himself as an idiot. Also, he felt really lazy to do that complicated asana at this time anyways.

After he realised that there was no other way for him to increase his current level in a day, he felt really bored to continue with meditating any longer. He opened his eyes a creek to look at what Woulf was doing. The guy was still sitting straight, opposite to him while breathing in a smooth manner. Why was he still meditating? Was it that repeating the circulation process could also increase mental energy?

'I'll try next time maybe.'

He then also noticed that unlike him, Zewoulf did not seem to be sweating heavily.

'Maybe it is a first time thing?' Azyl thought.

He then opened his eyes to clearly observe his friend.

Azyl did not know how he might have looked when he was meditating just now, but he was definitely not as calm and relaxed as his friend. The difference was clearly visible. While he was sweating a lot and would sometimes scowl or make weird expressions with his face, Zewoulf was maintained a peaceful expression.

'It is almost like he is enjoying it?' He strangely thought to himself, while questioning the statement.

Suddenly Woulf opened his eyes and looked at him. It was like he felt someone staring at him.

Azyl smiled sheepishly at getting caught.

"I wasn't slacking or anything okay, I just finished." He hastily explained to him, afraid that he would be scolded again.

"So you reached your limit? Well you have only started meditating now, so its a given that it would not take that long." Woulf replied.

"Oh right, how many circulations were you able to complete in your first try?" He then questioned Azyl.

Immediately, Azyl felt a little down. He wasn't aware that the average students were only able to do three circulations in there first tries and most would not be able to improve it further in the time given to them. So his level was considered well above average. But being unaware, he thought the opposite and considered himself to be bad at meditation. After all, seeing how Zewoulf was calmly meditating and remembering how he had behaved so far, he had that impression of himself.

"Five full circulations." Azyl lightly mumbled.

Zewoulf thought he had misheard his reply, so he asked again.

"What did you say? Don't mind and clearly tell me."

"Five rounds. I could only do five circulations. Does that mean that I don't have talent or what?" Azyl replied meekly once more.

Woulf was surprised to hear this and when he noticed how his friend was reacting he understood that he had misunderstood something.

"Don't make that face. Five circulations means that you are well above the average. If tomorrow they somehow test us on this, you will definitely have a slightly better chance as well. Most of the students are only at three or four as far as I have heard. You might actually have a talent for this." Zewoulf quickly explained to him.

Azyl was first shocked and then delighted when he heard this. His words really spirited him up. A little hope that maybe he would be able to change the predetermined result and surprise others started to sprout in him. Then he looked at Zewoulf and asked him how much he was able to do.

"I started with four rounds in my first try, and since I have increased it by two currently. I feel like I am close to reaching the seventh round soon though." He answered Azyl's question.

Azyl was once more surprised at this, so he asked

"What secret did you apply to almost increase you level by three rounds? It has only been a week since we were taught about this. And we were not taught any other method to improve our mental energy before this."

"Method to improve mental energy? Why do you think that would affect our prana level?" This time it was Woulf who was confused and questioned him.

"Well the way Teacher Zeke explained to us about Mental energy and the manner in which we control prana to circulate in our body seemed similar..."

And he then explained to him about what he had thought earlier about increasing mental energy would directly increase your prana control and thus prana level.

"What you say makes sense, but we can't be sure. Anyways I did not use any method, as all I did was to practice it repeatedly everyday until I was no longer able to circulated prana. And my level increased due to that. Repeated and constant practice is the basic method to improve at anything." He answered him.

Azyl thought and felt that this should be the most common and slow way to improve one's prana level. And this also fits Zewoulf's character. But as students were not taught anything else, not many would have been able to persist through the boredom and increase their level in that case through this manner.

"Then maybe I should also try that and see if there is any improvement through the night."

"That is exactly what I was going to say. Lets try to meditate through the night today. I haven't tried doing that yet, but I feel its possible as the refreshing feeling from circulating prana through the body makes your fatigue go away." Zewoulf explained.

"Sure then." Azyl agreed and then both of them went back to meditating.

But only one of them managed to sail through the meditating session, while the other one fell asleep an hour later after they started.