I awoke feeling amazing with a giant wolf wrapped around me like I was his cub. He had really soft fur and very short like a pitbull would have. I wished I could have stayed and slept all day, my body practically demanded it but I knew if we had any chance of surviving I would have to take training deadly seriously.

I carefully extricated myself from Alpha’s hold without waking him, somehow. I then proceeded to tiptoe out of the room. Where to my surprise I found Grace waiting outside the door for me sitting in a chair with a book in hand.

Needless to say I was confused but she cleared any confusion when she saw the look on my face and told me Luk had asked her to guide me through cultivation being a high level cultivator which is apparently different from leveling up. She said it has to do with leveling involving aura becoming charged to point it energy can be focused into intentional selective evolution whereas cultivation happens inside involving what people in my world had referred to as chakras or meridians. She said that most often leveling involves the absorption of another auric field often through killing until your own auric field is charged enough to fuel an evolution.

“You need to level in cultivation if you don’t want to injure yourself with your next level up .” she said. “ or possibly hinder your own growth/potential”

She explained these chakras as I had decided to call them where about forming mana pools in your own body so that when you leveled up the evolution is handled by the newly advanced body tissue while improving certain stats like mind and presence so there was very little down side.

I was impressed. She really knew her stuff. Sadly we had limited time and as much as I wanted to know everything about these chakras, I doubted I would have time to open more than one. So the Question was which one to unlock. With 7 to choose from I listened to her lay out what I thought were going to be options. I was wrong.

“You must open your root chakra first “ she told me sternly as if she thought I would try to do something reckless and go against her advice which is arguably what many main characters in my favorite stories would do. Test the bounds of what is possible and maybe gain a different edge than is expected but I couldn’t afford to be reckless. Not when peoples lives were on the line.

I nodded showing I understood how serious she was but my curiosity got the best of me so I asked “ why is the root chakra the most important to start with.”

she looked annoyed like she didn‘t want to have to explain more. I realized in the moment she was amazingly beautiful. Her skin was truly such a meszmirizing swirl of the darkest blue you could imagine contrasted by red skin more crimson than blood. Her hair was the color of fire. A gorgeous mixture of red oranges yellows and more. Her hair was parted by two horns that gleamed like ebony. For a moment I was breathless.

Luckily for me she broke my reverie without noticing when she took a deep breath and launched into a detail oriented argument for why the root was the best and arguably the only real choice if you didn’t want to stunt your growth.

The root chakra she explained to me was the link between my physical body and my spiritual self. Opening it first has the benefit of strengthening both sides as the body is now able to draw on more spiritual energy or mana as they called it and the spirit is then given an anchor or base through which to grow, basically stabilizing the spirit and giving it a stronger connection to the physical.

This will even give a tangible increase to both body and my presence stat. While I understood the former the Latter concept still seemed vague and I felt I needed clarification lest I make a grave mistake. Since I had someone so knowledgeable about all this Grace seemed like the perfect person to ask.

“ So what exactly is presence” I asked, looking to her for an answer.

At first she just looked confused like I had asked her how breathing works before the expression shifted to judgmental as if I was some kind of idiot before softening into a strange expression.

She stared off into the horizon and looked like she was searching for the right words. “ I guess explaining that is a little harder to explain than I had thought” she said pausing before continuing. “ your body is the medium through which you interact with the physical world but your soul and the sum total of who you are resides in the auric field surrounding and permeating your body.”

Your mind or the fleshy brain part of your body contains your thinking ability and your skills and handling new information. Finally your senses are how effectively you collect and or understand the truth of the world around you. Ultimately though these designations are simply areas of focus or study which work together as a whole therefore any strengthening to one part strengthens the whole.”

“We could discuss and question these and many overlayering subjects for years but unfortunately we just don’t have that Kind of time” she went on scrunching her brow “But there is something you should be aware”

I nodded for her continue even though I was nervous about what she had to say

She hesitated but continued on “ Opening a chakra pool isn’t simple, done safely it can take anywhere from 5 days to a week and half in comatose state” she finished looking at me to see my reaction

For a moment I just gaped at her slackjawed. Part of me had known the training she had offered wouldn’t be easy but I had hoped I would be able to get an extra edge in time to fight Luk’s Brother but I didn’t have time for a week long meditation session. Luk had made it very clear that his brother would be back any day now.

My head dipped feeling a little scared for the first time since I had come to this world. Up to now everything had just been kind of working out for me. Part of me had just expected that things would keep this upward trajectory but now I realize that was arrogant.

Talk about a reality check. I was suddenly so unsure about my plans to lead the hybrids to save other slaves and try to make this world a better place.

For a moment I almost fell to despair.

Until I remembered one of my favorites stories. It was a tale of an orphan with no magic in a world of magic but this world he inhabited was one of corruption greed and class discrimination. Despite lacking the advantage most of his world had in at least some respect, the young man never gave up and through hard work became a strong warrior in his own right.

Now That I thought about it my favorite stories were always about strong individuals with wills of steel. They never backed down from their goal and always fought for what they believed was right. Many wanted to be heroes. Some even knew the folly of such a choice. Hell I knew how impossible it felt to do any lasting good but I have always seen the beauty in that dream.

I came to this world for power but I stayed here at this fort for the chance to be something I had wanted to be all my life. A hero for justice. Maybe I didn’t have the right to say what is right but I couldn’t deny how I felt about the situation. Even If it cost me my life I didn’t wanna give up on my goals to try and make this world a better place.

I raised my head finally having decided. I looked at her face seeing what might have been concern before her expression shifted back to indifferent so fast I thought I might have imagined it.

“There is no way I have that kind of time” I said as I got to my feet I appreciate the offer but this will have to wait until the threat had passed If we survive that is”

Her expression had turned serious at these words “ do you truly think you might lose and die” Her words carried an edge. of fear or anger I wasn’t sure but I decided to be truthful “ Honestly I am not sure Luk’s brother is a warrior who has lived here his whole life” I paused “ His stats will be strong if his dad is anything to go by” I continued thinking of that brutal encounter that I barely won even with the element of surprise

“If I am gonna beat him I’m gonna need to make the best use of my time. Thank you for your time ” I said, turning to walk out. I had made it to the door before hearing “wait” . I turned back confused to see her approach.

She looked unsure of herself at first but slowly the look on her face resolved into determination. Then she spoke “ there is one thing I can do that will allow you a you a short cut”

Hope sprang anew within me. I’d take any advantage I could get , still I was suspicious. Afterall why had she waited to make the offer. On the one hand shortcuts can be detrimental to one's growth. I couldn’t be sure what had prompted her to change her mind.

Maybe she too was afraid I would’t survive and she would end up in a cage. Couldn’t blame her. Her situation was horrifying when I got here.It would make sense to want to avoid that.

I didn’t want to complicate the situation so I simply asked “ What is it”?

She replied “ It is a guided meditation ritual that will let me accompany you into your inner mental landscape where you can interact with your chakra.” and before I could ask any questions she continued

“My culture has a name for this space but I have forgotten the language my mother tried to teach me so we will just call it your chakra space.”

Her voice had grown quieter at the end seemingly without realizing it.

For a moment her eyes filled with more torment than I could seemingly fathom. I wanted to know what to say to help having felt that darkness to lesser degree myself but before I could even consider what to say she had snapped out of her reverie.

My curiosity had been piqued “ So why didn’t you wanna use this shortcut before”

Her gaze cool voice calm as she said “ I despise laziness for one but more important is that working your energy within your space without guidance takes time but is generally better for your overall training because for many working within their chakra space is the first time they will work with their magic .”

Now she was on a roll

“here in your chakra space your individual chakras act as whirlpools pulling in and purifying the magic of the world into mana you can use.”

“Now you need fine control or guided assistance to to open one of your pools basically forcibly reorganizing the energy structure to take a more efficient form thereby increasing how much magic you can hold aswell as how fast you regenerate it”

“It can be quite an uncomfortable and exhausting process but with my help we can open your first gate tonight”

I’ll admit I was scared but her selfassuredness made me feel better besides I wasn’t about to turn away help. As any good anime character knows, you don’t get very far on your own.