A week passed, and my hand was feeling better. Not there yet, though. I spent most of the week training in the courtyard and within VR. After, I would spend an hour in quiet meditation trying to sense aura. The last time meditating I felt an odd sensation, almost like a cross between an icy shiver and tingly sensation across my body, I was surprised and opened my eyes and it was gone. Trying again right after, but I couldn't bring it back. Zero used some of our funds to buy some scout drones, they're all currently out looking for the arbiter. So far we have been here for almost 2 weeks and haven't spotted one yet. My mood has been pretty sour because of my hand and the search having no results. Even this cultivation thing doesn't seem to work. I think Zero has noticed. We haven't been chatting as much as we used to, mainly talking during VR training. I've been ordering delivery every day for all my meals, trying local favorites, and found even a couple of human establishments as well. Last night I enjoyed a real(probably synthetic) pizza, which wasn't made on a food printer. It was heavenly. After morning training today, I just had a simple nutrition pack and went to the gym to meditate. Repeating all that I remember from the book. Zero has begun trying to teach me how to read the ancient Uzal dialect. I personally never had a good grasp of foreign language, but he says I'm doing well so far. I guess the language is far simpler than English to learn. User interfaces made almost all languages able to be translated in real-time, and vice versa. They will hear me speak in their own tongue, while I'm speaking in English. I suppose other races without such an interface like the Uzal and Eldrea struggle even more with it. I sat cross-legged, resting my hands on my knees. Taking in a deep breath and closing my eyes. I released my breath and with it my thoughts, trying to clear my mind of all distractions, thoughts, and just the random noise that seems to always linger. Complete silence inside and out. Slowly breathing in a steady rhythm and feeling finally relaxed. The tingly sensation came back followed by what felt like a cold shiver down my spine spreading across my chest and through my limbs, holding onto the feeling, savoring it. After a while, I felt confident enough to try experimenting with it little by little. Trying to focus on it felt like it remained, the more I concentrated it felt more tangible. The cold sensation went away but not the tingly sensation, quite the opposite when I concentrated I felt like it intensified, almost turning into pins and needles. It didn't hurt, though. Keeping my focus and keeping the feeling, I finally opened my eyes. I kept calm and just observed. Floating around me, filling the room, every square inch of it had glittery specks coming in and out of existence, reminding me of fireflies from back home, but these were of every color under the sun. Reaching out my hand to try to grab some, but they just passed through me like I was a ghost. Clinching my fist I must have lost concentration and they from my vision, along with the sensation on my skin which after opening my eyes I completely forgot about. "ZERO, ZERO I DID IT, I SAW... THEM... IT... AURA... Whatever." I shouted out loud. "Congratulations, Leo. That is great news. Should we start on the next step, or would you rather keep working on this step?" "I think, I think, we should move to the next step. What is it?" "Aura gathering, there are many techniques to gather aura. It really depends on who is teaching you, and even how powerful the technique is, some can help more long term, but with less immediate benefits, and others will trade long-term benefits for short-term gains. The one the king has described is going for a long-term gain." Zero described. "Once you can see the aura, try to pull it towards yourself," Zero said. Closing my eyes, I slowly felt the tingly sensation. It grew until I knew if I opened my eyes again I could see the surrounding aura. Slowly opening my eyes, I looked around. The density was roughly the same as last time. Outside the window was different, noticing aura would cluster around the trees and plants outside. Opening my palm, I try and draw the aura towards my hand. With some effort I pictured the aura slowly drawing towards my outstretched hand, I kept practicing until I got a decent draw from it. I tried drawing it towards myself from all around the room. "I can do it, I can draw it towards myself, it's rather easy," I said. "Good, we can begin aura guiding now," Zero said. Nodding, Zero continued. "Okay, I'll explain it to you before you attempt it. "While sensing aura you'll begin by picturing yourself pulling the aura into yourself and holding it there as long as possible, in the book it describes the king doing this and picturing he was the land around a lake, and the lake itself was the aura, becoming the container to hold the water. When the king was young, he first met the Levin beast, or thunder beast within the mountains while it drank from a small lake." "Okay, sounds simple enough," I said. "Okay, once you can do this for 5 minutes straight we'll move onto the next step." "Five minutes, okay." A smile grew on my face. Setting back and begin meditating again. It slowly came back to me, far easier this time. While sensing aura floating around, I had didn't quite know where to begin containing it. I thought back to my time coding and coming up with a solution to moving the code. I concentrated on myself first picturing my body was a glass of water and allowed the essence to fill the glass. Instantly I felt exhausted, and I felt like I was burning up. I held onto the feeling... Opening my eyes, blinking them open. I was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. It was dark outside; the windows showed the lit exterior of the courtyard pond. "What happened?" I asked. "You passed out, after you started meditating a couple of minutes passed and you just collapsed, seemingly out of exhaustion, but your body's reading showed no physical strain." "I guess, I didn't get very far. It felt like I was...almost like...it's hard to explain," I said, frustrated. "Well, you won't be able to do this on your first try, it will take time." I got up and ate some leftovers. My body still felt tired and sore, though I'm guessing the sore part was from laying on the ground for so long. Deciding that I'll continue focusing on the aura gathering tomorrow. Zero recommends I do it from the bed next time, just in case I pass out again. The next day I tried again and lasted twice as long before passing out, waking within minutes after. Every time I could hold on a little longer. Then I had an idea, what if I was thinking too small. A glass of water only holds a little water but is filled to the brim rather quickly, why not change my container, I looked out the pond in the courtyard, picturing I was containing the water at the edge of the small waterfall, aura would enter through that at a slow but continuous loop. This time I wasn't overwhelmed by the heat or exhaustion, it slowly and steadily filled the barrier I had set until it was full but something still wasn't right, as soon as the pond was full I got lightheaded and was on the verge of passing out again, opening my eyes I severed the link with the aura gathering technique. "Something is still off," I say under my breath. "You lasted 10 minutes, shattering your record and beating the time. Would you like to move on or keep working at this one?" Zero asked. "I need to keep working on this, I was just about to pass out again, I'm doing something wrong, I know it," I say. Closing my eyes, I feel the embrace of aura all around me. I picture the pond and even the rocks and grass around it, building up my mind's image of the whole courtyard and villa, only stopping at the walls surrounding it. I begin trying to pull, the aura is the water, and the waterfall is bringing it. I slow the waterfall, slowing the pond from being filled up. I watch as the water fills the small pond. Feeling fine, even better than fine really. I feel like I'm bursting with energy. Why isn't this working, I think. The pond reached the top, and the waterfall keeps splashing against the pond, creating never-ending ripples on the surface and ever more intense directly under the falls themselves. Feeling lightheaded again, I try to troubleshoot my issue. First, I stop the flow of water from the falls; the lightheadedness goes away, but I feel like the energy is being drained, noticing the pond slowly recede. I start the waterfall again, slower this time, matching the drain from the pond. "It's all a balancing act, I say, I am the pond, but the pond will eventually drain without some form of a return of water. I watch the process before opening my eyes. "That was even better than last time, forty-five minutes this time," Zero exclaimed. "I still need to do something, it's not sustainable." "You'll get it." I decided to take a break for lunch and do some training in VR with Zero. I was able to find the Arbiter and track him for about an hour before they detected me. I changed to moving targets for practice. My aim was quickly improving each day. Now, I could hit successfully at 500 yards easily, and my grouping being within only a couple of inches, which was passable by Zero's standards. Though without the battle armor helping me stabilize my shots, I would be way further off than that. I decided to read and relax for the rest of the night. Dinner was another strange Uzal dish, not one of the best ones but passable, some type of curry cooked inside of a large flaky pastry. The book was a recommendation from Zero; it was a Xianxia found within the cube. Zero explained it had cultivation elements from Earth in it. After the first few chapters, I was hooked, staying up late before finally going to sleep. The sun was starting to peek through the glass dome and over the forest outside the courtyard. The story was about the displaced soul of a blue phoenix trapped within a hairpin by an evil power and later inside of a reincarnated man inside another world, one of magic and cultivation. I had to admit; it hit close to home with me a Zero. As the story progressed, I even gained some ideas on how to alter my own cultivation. The next morning I skipped my morning exercises and went straight into meditation and aura gathering. My courtyard remained now, I didn't have to rebuild it anymore every time I visualized this space. The water began to fill the pond. When it was full, it turned off the pond and created clouds in the sky, and rain to fill the pond, thinking it would create a loop without me controlling the falls. Though after the rain left, the pond would slowly drain and be refilled, making me feel like I was playing tug of war. My energy would be high then start to wane. How do I get it to stay full without losing any volume and stop the rapids from the waterfall. Maybe it's the waterfall messing up my idea. I stopped it, but instead, I made a hole under the pond and made the flow of water go through that instead; the water raised until it wouldn't go any further. I felt full of energy again. The lake would show only the slightest ripple, and for the very first time since using this technique, it felt right. No lightheadedness or any other effect. I pictured the waterfall turning back on, but this time it wasn't aura but just an illusion of water, same with the splashing at the bottom of the cascade. The water was still calm, and so was I. Opening my eyes, I felt good, like all of my muscles have been massaged, feeling calm and relaxed. "Zero, I think I did it." "Good, now I think you're in for the hard part." This was the easy part? I thought, shaking my head. Outside, Vestale over the northern ocean. "We are planning on going back out again tomorrow, if you're interested that is, Cid." the husky voice of the group leader asked. The man named Cid was sitting next to the port window, looking out across the rust and copper-colored ocean of sand before breaking away into the splashing gray waters of the veritable ocean. "Maybe, maybe not, most of the works getting dried up around here might move on to greener pastures," Cid said, his left continued flipping a small black knife over and over without even watching it. The other members watched with interest at the interaction, they all hoped the Cid would join them, hopefully permanently. He was quiet and seemed rather aloft, but either way, he was one hell of a good scout they all agreed on. The leader hoped for a better result but was prepared for this beforehand. Cid was excellent at his role but didn't seem to play well with others. The group was down a member, and they picked up Cid for a fill-in, but his performance was astonishing. "Well, if you change your mind, contact me anytime." "Will do, who knows, maybe I'll change my mind," Cid said, tossing the knife up in the air and catching it with the other hand, still looking out the window. The rest of the ride was left in silence. No one else attempted to convince Cid, or even just mingle with each other. Most of them are here for money, not to make friends. Cid, sitting alone, continued to watch the ocean until the green jungle finally overtook the ocean. In the distance the only major city came into view, the city of domes was a welcomed sight. Once they landed, Cid was the first to depart, his credits already transferred to him. He put his cybernetic hand up and gestured farewell to the little group of mercenaries. Cid walked into the city, looking up at the towering city center spire. "Let's see where the winds take me this time," In the bedroom of the Villa, Leo sat cross-legged deep in meditation upon his bed. Zero's words calmly explaining the steps to cultivation. "This step, it's like a second part to guiding. Now that you can hold the aura inside yourself, you can begin pulling the aura through your body, creating a pathway for aura to use, making it far easier to use in the future. I'm going to warn you now though, this will take time, there is no rushing this step." "Okay, explain it to me," I said. "You're going to create a type of circulatory system for the aura to pass through the inside of your body," he said, while watching the calm pond inside my mind, the image seemed to get more vivid each minute I spent here, becoming more and more tangible, I no longer needed to build it, only will it into existence. Watching the stillness of the pond for a second, thinking this was more tranquil than the real thing, "How do I begin the next step?" I ask. "I was getting to that. Okay, first imagine a thin thread traveling from each fingertip through your finger, connecting at the center of your palm. This is called a gate, but I'll touch more on that later. Then, continue this thread up through your arm and out your shoulders coming together connecting at your spine. Next, do the same with your feet, and up your legs, connecting them at your lower spine, continue wrapping the thread up your spine, finally connecting all the threads together making up a complete network." I pictured this imaginary thread as he explained it; I started at my fingers and continued through my arms, only making a thin thread, same for my feet and legs, slowly wrapping the thread around my spine and connecting them similar as I did with my fingers and toes into gates. "Done," I said, still deep within meditation. Being able to communicate and be within the imaginary pond came second nature now. "Now, start feeding your aura through the thread filling them. The threads filled with aura create the channels needed, each gate will take longer to fill." Zero explained. Imagining the threads being filled with aura, they slowly filled changing color and expanding, Seeing the pond rapidly deplete while I forced the aura through the threads of my fingers. I got an idea; I tried projecting myself as an avatar inside my imaginary world. It worked, I was there standing next to the pond; I was free to move around. I just knew I could return to my physical body any time as it was in meditation. I got on my knee next to the pond; I was able to touch the pond; the water passed through my fingers, leaving no wake behind. Looking down at my hand, seeing inside each one of my fingers, seeing thin silver threads underneath my flesh slowly beginning to turn gold. It took hours forcing the aura through the channels within my fingers before finally emptying the pond of aura. I began feeling exhausted after the pond was half empty, feeling more and more drained as it was depleted. Even though it was exhausting, I kept going until it was entirely empty, only then quitting before returning to the real world. Lifting my hand, I didn't see any threads or golden glow. "How'd it go?" Zero asked. "Good, but it will take a while as you said." "Don't force it or you could damage the threads, or worse, releasing the aura inside," Zero said. "That ruined my idea of opening the floodgates inside my pond and filling it the threads in one go," I said. "Yes, I would advise against that, this process is supposed to take time and will strengthen you while doing so, be patient." "Okay, I think I'm done with meditation for the day," I said, feeling mentally exhausted from the progress I made. A few days passed by and the progress of my aura channels increased. My right hand was completed and found that it was now completely healed, days earlier than expected. Starting the channels on my other hand after, which is almost completed in half the time as my right hand. I noticed my pond of aura would slowly refill, filling overtime even if I wasn't meditating, which was a happy surprise. Now in the morning and evening, I would focus on forming my channels with my available aura, pushing aura through the threads I made was tedious and time-consuming. After lunch, one day Zero's scouts finally had good news, on the glass panel in the living room showed multiple feeds of a lone figure walking through the city. He wore full battle armor and a hooded cloak that hid most of his features. A few times he would look up towards a drone, even once giving it a thumbs up. Four glowing sensors stared back. "Tomorrow, we hunt," I said, "let's cram as much training in as possible before bed."