Adam was surprised. This year, he had remembered his birthday, there was a looming deadline over it, but they should be celebrating his birthday tomorrow, with everyone else at Madame's. After his moment of surprise Adam excitedly stretched out his hands for the package while saying: “Thank you!”

Adam deliberately did not peak inside the package with his elemental sight. He wanted it to be a surprise. Opening the package up, what was inside was a simple flute! It was very similar to his old one. He could finally play again!

Adam carefully picked the flute up and started testing it out. Helen, Alfred, and the others had heard that Adam would sometimes like to play the flute on his way to the institute. Since today was actually his birthday, they decided to give him the flute now instead of tomorrow evening so he could take it with him on his trip.

Adam was very grateful and couldn't help playing his flute for the rest of the day. The next morning, it was finally time to get some answers from Cathryn. Adam did play his flute on the way, he was so impatient it was the only way to pass time by.

At the institute, everyone who knew Adam was excited when they saw him. Sebastian had been spreading a rumor that Adam had succeeded in switching to the path of a spiritualist. Adam impatiently entered Cathryn's office to get more answers.

Cathryn gave a wide smile when she saw Adam. “Adam, you have finally come. If you hadn't shown up today, I would have made a journey to Madame's my self! Now, tell me everything!”

Adam was more than happy to get right into it. Cathryn was able to address all but one concern. She had no idea why Adam still could not control any spirit essence. After thinking for a while she finally asked: “Do you still hear those weird sounds coming from spirit essence?”

Adam had completely forgotten about those sounds again! They sounded completely natural to him, so he hardly paid them any attention. Finally spending a moment to actively listen to those sounds, he answered: “Yeah, they are muffled compared to before, but they are clearly there. There are even more sounds than I have ever heard before too!”

Cathryn frowned. “Maybe these sounds have something to do with why you can't control any spirit essence. I have no idea what they mean though...”

Everyone in the room fell to their own thoughts. Vivienne had no idea what to think about this, while both Cathryn and Adam were stumped as to why this was happening. Adam began thinking about that spirit gathering formation, trying to figure out why he feels that something is missing from it. Sure, he does not fully understand the formation, but maybe this would help guide them to the problems he was having!

Adam thought of every little detail he could, trying to find a fault in the formation. He even tried to listen to the sounds the spirit essence made when it was gathering. Then, it stuck him! Before, that melodious tune that the spirit essence gave was rather faint. Even if he could hear it, he could not really make out the definite notes. Now, it was much clearer than it had ever been before, but was still rather quiet compared to normal sounds.

As Adam paid attention to these notes, he noticed that some of them were off. They weren't fitting properly inside the melodious tune. Driven by an impulse, Adam pulled out his flute and tried to play the tune as he thinks it should correctly be done.

Seeing Adam play his flute, Vivienne was a little confused. The tune was something she had never heard before, but it was quite pleasant. Still, this was not the time to be playing around was it? Vivienne curiously asked: “Adam?”

Cathryn quickly shushed Vivienne. Surprised by this, Vivienne did not say anything more. Adam had a look like he was fully concentrating on something while not paying any attention to the rest of the world. Cathryn was rather excited to see this and was wondering what the outcome would be.

This mode that Adam had entered could enable him to gain insights he normally would not be able to figure out. This wasn't normal thinking and just filtering out the rest of the world, it was something more. Most spiritualists experience this only a few times during their lives. This is also the time where they are able to progress with their path the most. Cathryn was curious, though, as to why Adam was using his flute while experiencing this.

The first couple of play throughs, Adam still could not play that tune in a manner that perfectly fit. Each time he finished a play through, it felt a little more correct. Finally, after fifteen minutes of experimentation, he completed the song. The impact of this, was unexpectedly large.

Once that tune was completed, Adam felt like his mind and soul had been opened up, and now spirit essence was rushing in to dance to the tune! The formation in his mind became more vibrant and moved more rhythmically! It no longer collapsed after pulling in just a small amount of spirit essence!

When Adam viewed this formation in his soul, he saw it to be more pure and complete then it ever had before. He followed the dancing movements of the spirit essence in his mind. As he did, his playing became even closer to the true impression he felt from this formation. The spirit essence that made up his soul even seemed to melt into the formation and join with the dancing!

As Adam joyously melted into that song, both Cathryn and Vivienne were also effected. Vivienne felt so enchanted by the song, even she wanted to dance to the tune. Unfortunately, she could not. Cathryn had felt the change in the way the spirit essence was accumulating to Adam. Something big had happened!

Finally unable to stop herself, Cathryn carefully got up in a way that would not disturb Adam and went around to his back. She placed her forefingers on his temples and closed her eyes. She had to see what was going on in his soul herself.

She was utterly baffled by what she sensed. She was not even sure as to what Adam was doing, but it had thoroughly changed the spirit formation she had initially given him. That formation, she could see and completely understand. She could view the entire original formation with out it distorting at all for her. Now, when she viewed the formation in Adam's soul, even if she tried to concentrate on a small portion of the formation, she could no longer make out any distinct shape!

This formation was clearly beyond her comprehension. She felt that whatever Adam was doing, it was so far removed from the orthodox methods that SILU taught, it was like comparing spiritualists to martial artists. He seemed to have found a spiritualist path that is entirely unknown.

Cathryn decided to stay there and watch what was going on in Adam's soul. If anything weird happened, she might be able to stop it. She also wanted to try and understand exactly what Adam was doing. A few minutes later, Adam started to feel tired. He realized that he had to stop, or risk letting his soul run wild with the spirit essence and quite possibly die. But he found that he simply couldn't pull away from the song!

Adam became quite worried and confused. He seemed to have no control over what was happening anymore! Quickly trying to think of the reason why, he remembered that he had felt his soul seemingly melt into the spirit formation with the rest of the spirit essence. “Perhaps I have to remove my soul from the formation first, but how do I do do that?” He thought to himself.

Another thought quickly popped into his head. This all started when he began playing that song. Perhaps the song needed to end for all this to stop, but he couldn't seem to stop the song while he was in the middle of it. Quickly thinking, Adam began to consciously try and control what was going on with his flute. He began by slowing the tempo down. The spirit essence seemed to follow along and slowed as well. His soul even began to break away from the formation!

Relieved that he may have discovered the answer to his little dilemma, Adam continued to slow the song until his soul had fully broken away from the formation. Then he changed the song in a way to conclude it. He put his thoughts into trying to disperse the formation and the spirit essence and played to match those thoughts. As he finished the song, it finally scattered and escaped out through his aura. Not like it was exploding, or being pushed away in a hurry. He felt that it was more like the spirit essence was joyously returning to where it belonged.

After finishing the song, Adam finally slumped down with an exhausted sigh. He couldn't believe how much that took out of him. Adam had spent maybe twenty minutes at most playing that song, but it had done far more for him then the last few days of trying to gather spirit essence.

Worried about Adam's sudden exhaustion, Vivienne quickly asked if he was alright. As he responded to his mother, Cathryn walked back around her desk to her chair, deep in thought. She had sensed everything that had happened in Adam's soul and she couldn't understand any of it. Perhaps, in the thousands of years of history, there have been a few that stumbled into this path that Adam found, but there was almost no information on it. At this point, it would certainly be better to send Adam off to a larger branch of SILU that had access to more information then what was here at Hessler.

After giving Adam a small break to rest, Cathryn decided to tell Adam everything. She had no idea what path Adam had started on and there was nothing she had in Hessler that could significantly help him. The journey could be paid for, but Adam would have to go to the capital of Heider, Heider City. They had a larger branch that would have better facilities and access to more materials then here in Hessler. Even then, Adam might have to go to another country that has an even larger branch of SILU in order to find any information on this strange path that Adam had taken.

Adam was a little confused about all of this. “Why would I have to go so far? Don't you teach spiritualists here?”

Cathryn gave him a sympathetic smile. “You forget Adam, Heider is a very small kingdom. The facilities here may seem grand, but are hardly suitable for training spiritualists! Typically, any candidate who manages to become a student is shipped off to Heider City simply because they have better facilities there. However, these facilities are still paltry compared to many of the neighboring kingdoms.”

Vivienne suddenly had a question of her own: “Why does Adam require facilities that even Heider City might not have?”

Cathryn answered: “It has to do with the path his soul has chosen as a spiritualist. Normally, most who become spiritualist will follow an orthodox path. These are the simplest to understand and the easiest to learn. At least eighty percent of all spiritualists follow an orthodox path. Then, there are the unorthodox paths. These paths are much harder to learn and progress much slower, compared to orthodox paths. However, they are typically more powerful in their potential usage than orthodox paths are.”

“From what I have seen, Adam is following an unorthodox path. One that I have never even heard of either. Even the method in which Adam controls spirit essence is vastly different from an orthodox path. Has anyone ever heard of controlling spirit essence with a song?!”

Adam was a little shocked, he hadn't really thought he controlled the spirit essence. “Wait, did I actually control the spirit essence?!”

It was Cathryn's turn to be stunned. “Did Adam really have no idea what he was doing?”

Cathryn then began to nod her head. “Yes, you managed to control it! At least, enough to make it start gathering in the way it did and then dispersed it when you were done. I don't know if you were actually able to use any of it to reinforce your soul some more, though. Only time will tell for that!”

Adam then looked down at the flute in his hands as he contemplated about something. He clearly looked excited, though. He then asked: “Do you really think that they would have any information on this path I have taken at Heider City?”

Cathryn gave a slightly depressed smile. “No, I don't think they will. What would end up happening is that they could put in an application for you at other branches that are better equipped. If one of them accepts you as a student, there is a chance that they will have information regarding your path. At the very least, they would have better facilities then here in Hessler.”

Adam looked down again before asking: “Would it take a lot of time?”

“Yes. Anywhere from two to four weeks to get to Heider City. Then however long for another branch to accept your application followed by however long it takes to get to that branch. It might even take a year or more!”

Vivienne was speechless. This journey would be a huge undertaking for both her and Adam. “Such a long journey, is this something that we really want to do? Adam has already gained some measure of sight back and it was quite dangerous just to do that! How much more dangerous will it be to continue with this?”

Even though Vivienne held those thoughts, she waited to see what Adam had to say about this. If he said he wanted to go, she would certainly talk with him about this. If he was still firm in his decision then, she would just have to go along with it. But she dearly hoped he would not.

Cathryn wondered what Adam was thinking about herself. Yes the journey would be long, but it was surely the only way forward. However, when Adam finally spoke up, she was surprised.

“I don't want to go on that journey! Who knows how long it will take and if there will actually be anything there that can help me. I have gotten used to living here and I don't want to move from my home again!”

Vivienne was happy to hear Adam's response. She had truly feared such a long journey. Cathryn was left wondering just what to do next. She told Adam: “You do know that there is no way for me to teach you anything about your path right?”

Adam simply gave her an innocent smile. “It will be like how it has always been! I will try everything I can and tell you the results. You can see if I did anything wrong or if there is something more I need to do!”

At first Cathryn was once again stunned by Adam's bluntness. Then she laughed saying: “Sure, why not. It's not like I can force you to go. As long as you understand your options, it's fine. Let's do it this way. We will continue to have classes on Zonntock where we try to figure your path out and I will also give you more information about spiritualists. You can also come in on any day if you have something that desperately needs to be asked or if there is a problem!”

Vivienne felt a little dismayed that Adam would continue his studies as a spiritualist regardless of what has already happened. Still, there seemed to be no way to stop him. Adam then bashfully asked: “By the way.... is there any way I can start training again?”

Cathryn gave an exasperated sigh. “You are truly a greedy boy. Why do you want to train so much?”

Adam was a little thrown off by the question. “Well, it will be part of my strength that I can use to protect my family. It is also fun to train with the others and I miss it! Perhaps they will want to join the army or a mercenary company like my father did.... I kind of want to join them too.”

Vivienne had never heard Adam speak of this before, so this was news to her too. She did not know Adam wanted to join the army or a mercenary band. He had never shown such interest back at Fort Erich.

Cathryn then said: “You can also join the army and mercenary bands as a spiritualist. You know that right?”

Adam nodded his head. “Yes, but they are separated from the common soldiers. I want to stay with my friends, so I want to join as a common soldier!”

Vivienne heaved a sigh. Her son was being reckless again. What should she do to keep him from making these decisions?

Cathryn thought it over. “Well, to be on the safe side, let's wait a month before you resume your training. Only do it on Zonntock so I can see if it is effecting your soul in any way. After we make sure nothing bad will happen from you training, you can do it at your own leisure. My only worry is if some spirit essence wants to cycle through your body again. You could lose your elemental sight and hurt your soul worse than this last time when you managed to switch back to the path of a spiritualist.”

Adam did not want to lose his elemental sight after going through so much trouble to gain. If he was somehow forced back to being a martial artist instead, he had no idea what he would do. “Okay. I will be careful and take it one step at a time.”

After that, Cathryn started to ask Adam some questions about what he felt when his soul joined the spirit formation. Since he wanted her help in figuring this out, she would try everything she could to help him. He was a unique student that she had grown fond of.

When asked why he played that song, even Adam was baffled as to why he did it. “I felt that something was missing from the formation. I felt it in the spirit essence I heard that made the formation. It was like it was missing.... life, the true spirit of spirit essence!”

Cathryn could only shake her head. “This boy... it sounds like nonsense to me, but perhaps he can sense something I can not. Spirit essence is supposed to be inanimate. While it moves as dictated by it's nature, it should have no mind of it's own. Adam seems to be implying that it does though...”

Time passed and Adam's life became joyous again. He continued to visit the wall garden to utilize that spirit formation with his song. The song itself could be dangerous, much like a spirit formation, so he never played it at Madame's. He no longer needed anyone to guide him to the wall but Helen would occasionally join him while Alfred would sometimes tag along too.

This weird method that Adam used to gather spirit essence does indeed use some of what it gathers to reinforce his soul. As he continued to play the song, he needed to take less and less of the medicine that closed his aura. His soul was becoming strong enough to resist the freely flowing spirit essence. This made it so that his elemental sight became clearer and clearer.

It was even discovered that Adam could read the mood of others from their soul. Even if they put up a front, he could tell if they were lying or something was wrong. He could use this effect to tell when some one was going to strike at him during his sparring. There seemed to be no adverse effects against his soul if he trained with the sword now.

His elemental sight had even gained enough strength to see through walls. Depending on the amount of objects he had to 'see' through, he could even see what was going on a few rooms away from his own. There was one time this brought him trouble though.

Adam had been talking with Alfred and Helen at Madame's and Susan had somehow been brought up in the conversation. Adam had not seen Susan for a long time, so he was wondering what she was up to. Spreading his elemental sight out he finally found her.... on the third floor engaging with a patron.

Adam's face turned bright red as he quickly shut his elemental sigh down. He really wished he hadn't done that. Being pressed for why his face had turned red, he didn't speak a word. Somehow, Helen still put one and one together.

She accused Adam: “You peeped on her!”

To Helen's dismay, Susan would tell her details of her escapades on the third floor. Susan seemed to like winding men around her fingers and toying with them up there... She was one of the few girls who would actively work on the third floor of Madame's. After this, Adam would never use his elemental sight to look into another room in Madame's again.

During this time though, Adam's studies as a spiritualist did not progress much at all! He could reinforce his soul with spirit essence, but that was it! Neither Adam nor Cathryn had figured out a way for Adam to control spirit essence to do anything else than gather in his soul.

After that day in Cathryn's office when Adam first played the song, he could no longer use any other spirit formation. He can see them perfectly with his elemental sight, but for some reason they would not work in his soul. The formations would stay dead and un-moving. He also couldn't clearly hear the song the formations made on their own, so he could not make an appropriate song on his flute to move the spirit essence in a way to complete the formation on it's own.

Other than methods to control spirit essence, Adam learned plenty of other things about spiritualists. Cathryn would constantly give him lessons and teach him more about how spirit essence can effect the world. Adam had even learned that spiritualists could expand their life expectancy! normal people only live to be around sixty, seventy years old. it is unheard of for a normal person to live to eighty years. the average spiritualist, however, can easily live from one hundred to three hundred years old!

Adam was once again at the wall garden. Night had fallen, but Adam remained. His birthday was just yesterday, so he was now eleven years old. A full year had passed since he took his first step into becoming a spiritualist. But that was pretty much all he had done. He no longer needed any medication to regulate his aura though, so his elemental sight was almost flawless now!

Adam looked towards the forest listening to the howls of wolves. His entire future laid out before him was as wide as it could be. There was still five years until he was truly an adult. What would he do when that time came? He was the youngest of the boys who trained with Hansen, but he still hoped to join them wherever they went. He didn't know what was going to happen but he felt that he was going to be prepared for it before it comes.

Adam stayed for a few more minutes listening to the wolves. Sometimes he felt he could almost understand what their howls were saying. It felt very similar to how he listened to spirit essence. There was an intent hidden somewhere deep inside and he only had to discover it.

After a small while Adam finally left without gleaning anything from those howls. Tomorrow morning Hansen had some sort of announcement to make and Adam was very curious as to what this would be.