When Hansen noticed that Adam had stopped, he asked: “Is there something wrong, Adam?”

“It's weird, I cant figure out where the sword is! I can tell the ground is there, but not the sword!”

Hansen replied: “It seems there are limits to this new 'sight' of yours. Let's slowly test them one at a time.”

When the other boy's tried to crowd up and ask Adam what was going on, Hansen made them go back and continue their drills. In the meantime, he started helping Adam with a few experiments to figure out the limits of this strange sensation that allows him to see.

Adam discovered that he only could detect the sword as an extension of Hansen's arm. It was actually rather hard to tell the sword was there at all. If it was laying flat on the ground, it was simply too small to detect. If the blade was thrust into the ground, though, Adam could tell that there was a thin object extending from the ground. They also found he was only able to discern larger objects up to about five meters away. Further than that, everything became hazy and hard to figure out. This sensation only gave him a very general and imprecise vision. Still, it was something.

After the morning exercises were done, there was nothing stopping Alfred and the others from bombarding Adam with questions. They were all excited for this improvement that Adam acquired, and what it might mean for the future. It should now be a certainty that Adam would become a spiritualist!

That afternoon, Adam continued to play his flute at Madame's. There were two more days until his next class with Cathryn, and Adam couldn't wait to tell her the news. Vivienne had already fawned over Adam, joyous at him having acquired this strange sense that allowed him to see.

Playing his flute, Adam discovered some of the flaws of this new sight he gained. With all the noise and hubbub, the range from which Adam could differentiate objects decreased to less than a meter or so away. Further than that, everything started to congeal and distort together. Perhaps it was too many people, objects, noise, or a combination of all of the above. Either way, this was still a distinct flaw.

Later, Alfred came by to take Adam to the wall garden. Even if he had succeeded in gaining this new sight, Adam did not want to slack. Also, it was possible he could continue to improve his sight by reinforcing his soul more, right? It made sense to Adam, anyway.

As Adam concentrated on the formation in his mind, he felt that something was off. He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, though. Everything was the same as before, with the distortion of the formation and that small tug as some spirit essence was pulled into his soul. A sudden breeze brought over some faint sounds of the forest nearby and then it struck Adam. He could no longer hear that melodious tune coming from the formation!

Having always assumed the sound to be normal, Adam was a little worried now. He could no longer hear this sound that should always accompany gathered spirit essence. “Perhaps I should ask Cathryn about this.” He thought to himself.

After Adam accumulated some more spirit essence, he tried to see if he could move it now. However, it remained the same as before. He couldn't move the spirit essence at all. A little worried and disappointed about this, Adam went back to Madame's impatient to get answers from his next supplemental class.

Over the next two days, Adam worried over whether or not he had reinforced his soul properly as a spiritualist. He had also started to feel strange in training; whenever he uses the breathing technique, it feels like a cool liquid starts circulating in his body. Still, something had happened and Alfred's excitement was quite infectious. Even if he was worried, Adam also felt that he was just a step away from starting his life as a spiritualist.

Hansen allowed Adam to skip his training on Zonntock, so he could quickly go and ask Cathryn all his questions about what has happened to him. The moment Adam walked through the entrance, those who knew him could tell something was different. Adam was walking forward with a certain amount of confidence, without aide from a walking stick. As he was stepping carefully, it gave off the feeling that he could hazily see.

They could only hold their breath as they watched Adam walked forward. They hoped that this change meant that he had finally taken that initial step to becoming a spiritualist. Adam managed to carefully walk all the way to Cathryn's office, without any assistance at all!

After Adam first walked in, even Cathryn was a little surprised about Adam's demeanor. Cathryn quickly asked in excitement: “Adam, did you finally succeed?”

It was the only thing she could think of. Adam had taken that first step and had gained that elemental sight that allowed him to see. But Adam's response was a little unexpected.

“I think so?”

Cathryn quizzically asked: “What do you mean; you think so?”

“Well...” Adam began to explain everything to Cathryn. That odd sensation while he was training, the form that this sight took and its limits, and he also began to ask about the sounds that spirit essence made and how he could no longer hear it.

Cathryn's mind reeled at all the information Adam threw at her. According to what she knew, this was all wrong! Putting aside the fact that Adam Still couldn't consciously move spirit essence, even though his soul seemed to have been reinforced somehow, this was not the elemental spirit essence sight she had read about. It was far too generalistic and vague to be the same thing. And these sounds he had heard before? She had never heard of another person saying they could hear spirit essence, or something associated with it.

Cathryn didn't even know where to begin with trying to figure out what had happened. She started thinking about what Adam had said. “This had all happened when he was training....” something clicked in Cathryn's mind.

However, it was nothing good that came to mind. Her heart started beating a little harder as she feared the answer to the question she was going to ask: “Adam, as I remember, you were just doing strength training right? You weren't training any martial skills were you?”

Adam didn't think anything of it, he offhandedly answered: “Oh, we started with just strength training, but we also train with the sword!”

This was the answer that Cathryn feared, still there was one more thing to test. She opened Adams book up to that spirit gathering formation and asked him: “Can you feel any wave of spirit essence moving around?”

Adam suddenly realized that she had actually opened the book up to those two golden pages that had the formation sprawled across them. But he couldn't feel a single wave of spirit essence! Adam started to get a little scared as he stuttered out a simple: “N-no.”

Everything made sense now. Cathryn gave a disappointed sigh as she brought her hand to her forehead. “I should have inquired more about your training.”

Hearing Cathryn's suddenly depressed voice, Adam froze. “Was my training an issue?”

Vivienne had already noticed the strange state Cathryn had entered as she asked Adam those questions, now she herself was truly worried about what was going on.

Cathryn mumbled: “Where to start... Okay, Adam, let's start here. Do you know anything about martial art schools?”

Still frightened,Adam managed to get out: “N-not really. I've heard their name before, but I don't know anything about them.”

“I will simplify it a little. They are essential schools that teach specific ways of using weapons or combat techniques. Many great and powerful figures come out of these schools. These figures easily become great generals of various kingdoms and are far stronger than any normal man could ever hope to be. The secret to this strength is quite simple. They are actually spiritualists!”

Adam felt a little amazed about this, but was confused where Cathryn was going with this. Still, he listened attentively to her lesson.

“Even though these martial artists could be considered as spiritualists, we do not call them as such. The reason for this is we each use spirit essence in entirely different ways. A spiritualist will use spirit essence to strengthen their soul and then learn how to control the spirit essence of the world around them. A martial artist, however, uses spirit essence to reinforce their body! The way they circulate spirit essence in their body prevents them from ever controlling spirit essence like a spiritualist. The only thing they can do is circulate spirit essence into their weapons or armor!”

“It appears to me, that you have started following the path of a martial artist, not a spiritualist. This sight, that you have described to me, follows more along the lines of the spiritual awareness that some martial experts try to achieve. It is not the elemental sight that some blind spiritualists are described to possess!”

“This also explains why you were never able to control the spirit essence to reinforce your soul. Both your body and your soul were fighting over it's use, so it simply didn't move at all. At the time you were training with the sword, your body started to tug some of the spirit essence to circulate. Since you did not have time to stop and try to figure out what was happening, thereby stopping the process, it managed to go far enough to start you down the path of a martial artist. I fear..... you no longer have a future as a spiritualist! If it had just been the strength training, you could have still become a spiritualist. I had not realized that you had started training in the sword....”

The last few words were said with pain. Cathryn had been hoping to see Adam become a budding spiritualist, but he had instead been pushed down the path of a martial artist. She felt that if she had been more attentive, they could have averted this problem.

It took a minute for everything Cathryn said to sink in. He had wanted the strength to protect his family and friends, but it seemed to have backfired on him. Eventually, Adam hesitatingly spoke: “I don't remember anyone ever explaining elemental sight. Is it better than this spiritual awareness that I have gained?”

Adam felt he had to know the truth of this matter. If he would have gained a better sight from being a spiritualist, he would shocked deep into the core of his being. If he had never pushed to receive sword training, he still could have continued his strength training with minimal impact towards becoming a spiritualist. As it was, he only had this vague spiritual sense to feel out his surroundings, in an attempt to see.

It pained Cathryn to tell Adam the truth, but she felt that she could not keep it hidden. There were ways for him to discover the truth himself, as well. “Elemental sight is far more precise. With it, you can actually see the type of spirit essence that makes up the objects around you, as well as their form. Spiritual awareness only allows you to sense the presence and position of objects around you, typically restricted to larger objects. Spiritual awareness also has a more restricted range limitation.”

Adam's head drooped and he became quiet for a while after Cathryn spoke. No one knew what he was thinking. Vivienne wanted to comfort him, but no words came to mind that would help. Adam eventually looked back up, his blindfold a little wet from tears. “Is there no way for me to reverse this and follow the path of a spiritualist instead?”

“You can try, but it will be even harder to do this than it is for any of the other candidates to become a spiritualist. Your body has already gone through its first circulation of spirit essence, it currently has a superior hold on any of the spirit essence that you gather, compared to your soul! If you wish to try, you must stop all of your physical training. You also only have a month left to do this, when you turn ten there will be no way for you to reverse this!”

Adam was silent for a moment. “I only have until I'm ten? This has to do with the foundation of my soul.” He thought to himself.

Adam was correct. Even martial artists had to start some form of training by ten to make any type of advancement in their respective schools. It was currently the 28th of Einar, and Adam only had another twenty-seven days until he turned ten!

“I want to try and follow the path of a spiritualist, again!” Adam suddenly said.

Over the past two days, he had been infected with so much excitement about taking the first step into becoming a spiritualist, he did not want to have it any other way. Besides, if he was able to become a spiritualist, he would be able to gain an even better form of eye sight than he presently had.

Cathryn thought for a moment. “Okay, I suggest you take that spirit gathering tool with you again. At the very least, it won't harm your chances and may even help. You must remember not to train, or it will severely hinder you! Also, if you feel any pain or swelling from your soul, immediately stop what you are doing! It can be dangerous trying to change your path like this, but I don't expect you to encounter many dangers. You just started the path of a martial artist, so it should not effect your soul too much when you attempt to change paths.”

Adam was surprised to hear that it could possibly be dangerous to do this. But so to was using any spirit gathering formation. Adam did not feel too worried about this warning.

As Cathryn was talking with Adam, she had made a simple gesture to some ink and a piece of paper nearby. Adam did not notice them moving, since he was paying more attention to Cathryn's words. The ink rose, like living water, and fell onto the paper to form words. The paper then silently glided over to Vivienne. The words said: “In case Adam is not successful, I will reach out to various martial schools and see if there are any willing to accept Adam as a member.”

Vivienne felt deep gratitude towards Cathryn. Instead of saying it aloud, and possibly harming Adam's resolve in changing his path, she only let Vivienne silently know that she was preparing for the worst. This is far more effort than Vivienne expected. Cathryn was really only supposed to give supplemental lessons, but had acted more like a close mentor.

Adam retrieved the spirit gathering tool and spent the rest of the lesson trying to step back on the path of a spiritualist. He worried over a lot, and that did not help. He tried to calm himself down and concentrate on the spirit essence, in a hope to feel it's fluctuations or those sounds.

In the end, he had to leave with no measure of progress. On the way back to Madame's, he was constantly trying to reach out to the spirit essence in his soul and feel it or hear the sounds. He would try to do this at every chance he had, but it was tiresome and he required breaks.

When Adam had first gotten back, everyone wanted to hear the news about how his teachers received him as a spiritualist. They were shocked to learn he actually had yet to become one. They were all confused about the difference between a martial artist and a spiritualist. Adam let them know that he would not be continuing the training for quite a while. Hansen was aghast that his teaching Adam had harmed his progress to becoming a spiritualist.

Over the next three weeks, Adam spent a lot more time in the wall garden. Even at madame's he tried to find the best spot to continue his efforts in switching back to the path of a spiritualist. It was a lot harder to concentrate at madame's, but he did not want to waste a moment.

As his birthday approached, Adam became more worried and agitated. At times he would try to calm down by playing his flute, but his mind still could not shake these feelings off. He had not progressed a single centimeter from before and soon would be stuck following the path of a martial artist instead.

It was currently the 20th of Zvielen. Helen had taken Adam to the wall garden and watched over him, this time. As she watched Adam face turn between worry and anger, giving off silent youthful curses at the spiritual tool, she finally got fed up herself. She had been standing by a tree nearby and quickly walked up to Adam sitting on the bench. Adam was surprised to see her approach him. Helen, Hansen, and Alfred normally gave him plenty of space to work, without being disturbed.

In his surprise, Adam did not react quickly enough when Helen suddenly closed the wooden box on his lap and tossed it to the other side of the bench. Then she sat down next to him with a hmph, saying: “Do you know why I knew about this wall garden?”

Adam was caught off guard by the question, he had never thought of that before. This question also diffused the anger he had from the interruption. After shaking his head, Helen tartly answered him: “I would come here when I started thinking of my dead parents too much.”

Adam's face turned a little pale. He felt that he had somehow just seriously ticked Helen off. As Adam tried to stutter out some form of response, Helen continued unabated: “I came here to calm down and to find peace. This is supposed to be a peaceful place. You came here to study because it was a peaceful place. Let me tell you that you are ruining the mood of this garden with your curses and your angry attitude!”

Adam was simply stunned. He had never seen Helen act like this and had also not realized that his mood was so apparent and disruptive. Helen then said: “When your start thinking about anything to do with this spiritualist or marital artist stuff, tell me. Right now, we are going to relax without thinking about any of that stuff. Just listen to the wind like you used to!”

Adam timidly said: “Okay.” afraid to say no to her. He tried to relax and listen to the wind. He subconsciously formed that spirit formation in his mind again, while relaxing. Unsure of if that counts, he mumbled out: “I think I-”

Adam did not get more than a few words out before Helen flicked his forehead with a finger. With a small yelp, Adam started to rub his forehead. “Every time you think about that stuff, I will flick your forehead! For the next half hour we will be resting without thinking about that stuff, got it?”

Adam could only nod towards her. He could not see, but he could sense her domineering posture and attitude. “I seriously made her angry” He thought.

At first, Adam thought he could get away without telling her that his thoughts had strayed a little, whether it was creating the image of the formation or generally thinking about information related to spiritualists. He was wrong. She had spent nearly a year watching over Adam with the others. She could easily tell when he made that formation or when he was thinking about spiritualist stuff. She mercilessly flicked his forehead each time his mind strayed.

Adam was initially annoyed by this development, but that small sharp pain began to distract him. He didn't think as seriously about his approaching birthday or anything else. It also became a bit of a game to see if Helen knew he was creating that formation in his mind.

After a time, that was longer than a half hour, Adam finally stood up. He pulled out his flute to play a little. He pondered on what he wanted to play. Over the last couple of weeks, he had tried playing his flute to calm down, but mostly played tunes they used at Madame's.

A thought suddenly came to mind, and Adam decided to try it. He wanted to play that melodious tune that used to be his constant companion. That tune that came from the spirit essence gathered in his soul. A tune no one else had ever heard before.

Helen was immediately enchanted by the tune Adam started playing. At first, he couldn't get all the notes right to this new music, but he quickly perfected his playing. As he played, his mind drifted to anything and everything. He thought about his past at Fort Erich. The physical training and sword forms taught by Hansen. The formation he had spent so much effort into creating. He poured all the emotions he felt from these things into that melodious tune. He played and played the same tune until ten minutes had passed.

Helen was surprised about how long Adam was playing this single song, but she enjoyed the music. Adam felt that it wasn't enough, though. He wanted to get all this stress and everything out of him. He wanted to start fresh and anew. After quickly passing his thoughts over everything one more time, he suddenly stopped. He took a great big breath and screamed over the battlements. Helen was very startled when he did this.

Adam put all of his built up thoughts and emotions into this scream. Others could simply see it as a youth trying to bellow all his worries away. In the middle of his scream, Adam felt something inside snap! Enormous amounts of sounds and lights instantly flooded his mind. Dropping his flute and quickly gripping his head, Adam's scream quickly turned from a simple bellow into a screech of pain! Helen instantly became terrified.

Quickly after Adam started to scream in pain, he fainted and collapsed to the ground. A thin stream of blood leaking from his nose.