I stomped back into the house, having run most of the way across base, thoroughly irritated at both Brent and myself. He was right, I couldn't do everything myself. But dammit, there were billions of others out there that could be doing something too.

We were watching the alien cause the world to go through breakthroughs and cause everyone massive problems. It wasn't like before when everything was fine and it was more just for fun that-

"You OK?" Karen's voice cut through my internal monologue.

I looked up, seeing I'd wandered into the backyard without realizing it. Melissa, Karen, Ash, and Danny were all outside, with Melissa trying to teach everyone Feathersteps. While they'd apparently stopped at my entrance, Melissa was currently balanced on the fishing line again with Danny trying to keep himself balanced on a rope held by Ash and Karen. The bow in the rope showed Danny hadn't figured it out yet.

"Meh." I waved at them all. "Aggravated over the testing earlier. And Brent saying I should give over a few things and work on making higher breakthroughs."

Mellissa stepped off her own line, dropping back to the ground lightly and Danny made an ungraceful half stumble to the ground as Karen let go of her end of the rope.

"Cycling in energy is a pain now though." Karen noted. "It's thin and condensing it is a lot of effort." When everyone looked at her, she blushed. "I've been trying to build up for my next one."

Ash and nodded his head while Danny frowned.

"I've heard that a lot from everyone using the Earth's energy." I nodded towards both Karen and Ash. "Internal, that doesn't seem to be a problem." I waved a hand towards Melissa and Danny before including myself. "My problem is trying to gauge if I can actually generate enough energy in my own dantian to hit the next breakthrough."

"The first few were pretty easy though?" Danny asked. He pulled a few chairs off the porch for everyone to sit. "I mean, I honestly felt like I had plenty of energy to clean the block out."

"Yeah, no. Remember when Nicole and I were first testing it, we both nearly didn't have enough energy." Melissa interjected.

I nodded. "That's why we were originally cycling for max overflow, basically training to have all that energy right at the edge of what we were capable of cycling, then pushing everything still in the dantian out to easily hit that block, clean it, and breakthrough."

"So you were at your max for weeks before you let it fall back for Feathersteps, right?" Ash asked. "Wish I could hold that level of cycling up, but you did. How long do you think you need for the next block?"

"My breakthroughs split, if you'll recall. Do I pick one and go for it? Do they combine back again?" I listed out. "We've had several people report clogging themselves so badly they can't breakthrough anymore because they can't make enough energy to clear everything out. What happens if I do that to myself?"

"So you want someone else to figure it out then?" Danny prompted. "That's a pretty big change from everything you've been doing so far."

I blew out my breath and shook my head. "No, I just don't want to become a cautionary tale of what not to do." I nodded to myself then looked around. "It's going to take me a day or two to cycle all the way back up again and balance out the overflow before I can really try."

"Do we need to find some massive gymnastics parkour for you here? Or are you going to come to Rolla?" Danny asked. "We still have all the rickety equipment set up, you can do that again."

I thought back to that last breakthrough, the effort and pressure I'd pushed. That shape of a greater me. "No. I think I can push myself without needing something external this time, I know what it really felt like."

~~~

May 17th​

In order to use Feathersteps and any other possible passive energy techniques, I'd let my cycling lapse enough to only overflow into the first two breakthroughs. Bringing myself back up to all five again felt almost odd. An internal static tingle that faded after a little bit.

I'd spent three days cycling energy from my dantian through my body. Though all of my breakthroughs. Coming back to the absolute maximum I could cycle without ending up losing more in overflow than I was bringing out of my dantian.

I opened my eyes again, letting the energy rush through me still. Alone in my bedroom, I'd cloistered myself away this morning while I focused. Bed shoved off to one side as I sat on a mat, towels underneath. I hadn't had any goop since my first breakthrough, but no sense in risking it.

"What's the next breakthrough?" I whispered to myself, eyes closing once more as I imagined my body, the line power that flowed from my dantian, nestled underneath my heart. That power flowed into my heart, beating in time. Then to my sternum, buried in my breastbone where I could feel it strengthen my body, also creating the odd sensation that was how I pushed energy out when I used the Art of Awakening.

From there, it flowed once more through me into my neck, wrapping around my spine. I could almost imagine the energy touching my nerves, little jolts of energy there, though nothing visible or truly testable on any equipment we'd tried so far.

Then the split, somehow carrying the full power of my energy in two directions at once, against the law of conservation of energy. Each line of power ending in a shoulder blade. Overflow from those points seemed to strengthen my upper body more than it did my lower body, but was that the purpose or just a side-effect of proximity?

Tentatively, I cycled additional energy out of my dantian, holding the energy tight as it passed through the first three breakthroughs. Pushing forward, it wanted to split. Instead, I held even tighter to it, drawing the extra energy all down one side and gently out my left shoulder blade. I wanted only to find where the next block was, not start clearing it yet. So I didn't flood the power out, because I knew if I fully hit the block, I would have to clear it.

The energy felt a little tight as I pushed it down my body. Then it started to pinch, then quickly became a pull. Then actual pain as I felt my energy unbalance, stars blooming behind my eyelids as the energy overflowing my breakthroughs actually churned, sloshing and crashing against itself.

I abandoned the test, frantically trying to figure out what I'd done to myself. The abandoned energy actually snapped back into my shoulder and rubber banded all the way up to my third breakthrough, flushing outwards like a violent cycling overflow. The energy sent my entire body ringing with breakthroughs and dantian alike going numb for a moment before relaxing once more.

I coughed, tasting blood in the back of my throat. Panicking, I started rolling my tongue around trying to figure out what I'd done before slumping in relief. I'd bitten into my cheek in panic and then choked on my own blood.

I dropped my face into my hands, taking a shuddering breath. I grabbed a towel edge and blotted out my mouth, the bleeding already stopped. My energy already slowly smoothing back out to flows from my dantian into my body. Not much missing thankfully.

"What was that?" I asked into the empty room, before grabbing at my tablet standing on a nightstand. I stopped the recording intent on winding it back to watch myself... "Two hours forty-five minutes? Did I start recording early or something?"

A quick glance at the time showed I hadn't started recording early. Still, I started the recording over just in case.

"What's the next breakthrough?" I heard myself say in the first few minutes. How did I lose track of time that badly? I shook my head and ran the recording to the last ten minutes. I watched as I was dead still for several minutes, before tremors I didn't even know I was having started. Finally a full body flinch as I watched myself grit my teeth, likely when I bit my cheek.

All leading up to me eventually reaching out to grabbing the tablet.

Nothing physical I could see that started the problem, only responses to it. Maybe I can use that? I downloaded a motion sensor app and played with it for a moment, setting the sensitivity to maximum and a minimum alert time. Setting the tablet back up, I sat down in front of it again, easily setting it off.

I sat there for a moment, letting the alert quiet. Then slightly moved just a hand.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I took a deep breath, setting of the sensor again, before starting again.

Going through my dantian and breakthroughs one more time, I felt a little tremor in them that stilled as I slowly pulled energy through me. At the third breakthrough, I pulled the energy down the other path this time. Cycling the energy into my right shoulder this time, I paused, making sure absolutely everything felt correct and not off.

I then slowly let it wash into myself. No tightness this time, at least not immediately. A little more and I felt it the energy thicken and tighten once more, my tablet firing as well. Instantly, I relaxed the energy back instead of just letting it go.

No snapback this time, and I could feel the tension leaving as well. I 'retreated' backwards once more. Did it split, just to immediately merge again? I was forcing power that wanted to split down a single path, deviating from its natural path.

I cycled, pushing again. This time, letting the energy split naturally and filling both breakthroughs in my shoulders. My energy truly felt like it'd been doubled, the split carrying all the same power it had previously. It wasn't half the original power, or just a shell.

Carefully, I flooded outwards. No tightness. No thickening. No alarm.

If the two points were supposed to merge again, I couldn't see how it would be down my arms. So instead, I pushed lower. Tracing the flow of power in the image in my head of myself. That image I'd seen forming of my power when I'd made my last breakthroughs.

Outside of the flow between breakthroughs, it wasn't drawing a line to try to connect the two points. Instead, it was a gentle wave of cycled power looking for a sink as I pushed more questing energy through me.

Something at the base of my spine maybe? But my power flinched away from that spot and I vaguely noted I might have heard the alarm. I wondered if that spot was another breakthough I shouldn't touch yet?

Instead, I let the energy instead flow down my sides for a moment to no avail. Maybe it wasn't in my lower half? Maybe in my head?

I was just about to stop when the energy seemed to being flowing into something at my hips. I immediately stopped the extra flow. I didn't want to start a process I couldn't finish. But each flow of energy wanted to sink into its own block. Was I going to have to do two breakthroughs again? Could you even call it two if I didn't have a choice? Had I been wrong about Barry being on a fourth breakthrough. Was it a difference between internal and external energy?

Was it a difference between my method and whatever his was? Did ELF have a reason to believe there was a real issue?

Those answers didn't matter. Not right now, not when it wouldn't make a difference to what I was doing at this moment. I took mental stock of myself as I let the energy ebb back into balance.

I was only a few hours of cycling short of what I felt was my current maximum. Build it all back up, then push those two blocks. Whether we could call it the fifth, sixth, or seventh breakthroughs we could figure out afterwards.

~~~

Power flowed again, down my sides, dodging that spot in my spine. As little extra power spent hitting those two spots on my hips and then it all sunk in. Both blocks felt deep and wide, massive reservoirs that represented challenge and opportunity.

For long minutes, it seemed as if I could continually pour my energy into those blocks and nothing would happen. The darkness in them not lightening to the clear power that flowed from my dantian. My cycling sped up, energy flowing faster.

Should I have waited and used the equipment? Would that have pushed me harder for this?

If this failed, I'd do that next. But the setup last time was crazy enough that we couldn't keep increasing that forever.

But this would have to fail first. And I wouldn't call it that until my dantian was completely dry. I pushed myself. Drew everything I could, flooding those two blocks.

The blocks were clearing and as they did so, the self-image in my mind grew clearer, more detailed. I could see the individual breakthroughs shining through my own skin, tracery of energy flowing from the center of the image.

For some reason, I held something in my hands. Try as I might, I couldn't figure out what it was, but I also couldn't shift the image either. Trying to just caused me to lose focus on finishing the blocks, so I left it be.

And then the blocks broke. The energy expanded, flowing through the breakthroughs and then backwards to my dantian.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

BEEP BEEP BEEP