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34 – First Step II

September 4031. Monarch Academy

The essence of the shown example was extravagant display of power. Ralf’s step had enough power to make ground vibrate and crack. “Thank you”, was all I said to him before departing Klytea’s school manor empty-handed.

There had to be a way to channel mana into body, whether it was to strengthen the body or magnifying the vision. The question that was crawling in my brain and driving me crazy was “How?”.

“How to transfer a metaphysical mana into physical body”, had occupied my mind. Beasts and monsters had profound cores which were used as catalysts to control flow the mana into their bodies.

Unfortunately human body had no such thing called a profound core. But there had to be something or number of ‘gears’ to traffic the mana into body.

Engrossed in deep thoughts and busy seeking for answers, I was roaming around without a destination. Instant pain of the hit shocked me. Someone had slapped me from behind of my head. I turned to see Maera Vossen.

Single, craving for you-know-what, brute and hopeless teacher of my Magic 102 class was standing in front of me. She was grinning while her hands were resting on her waist. She had the aura and pose of a winner of war. As if she has accomplished something.

“What was that for?”, I asked in anger. “Don’t get me wrong”, she said and smiled. “Wrong? That’s called violence towards underage kids. It should be classified as BULLYING!”, I raised my tone and yelled. She was stunned. I overdid it, in sense I think that was how she expressed herself. “I called you out and you didn’t answer to me. so I...”, she hesitated which proved my theory. An introvert woman with strength of a bull had to be kept in a zoo but instead she was left free at school to do whatever she wanted.

“Just forget it”, I said but without losing a second she replied “You looked like a stray dog puppy...Sorry... Sorry. I meant lost lamb”. I was frozen to death. She was incapable of having a conversation. She uttered wrong words at every possible chance. Most probably her lack of common sense was the main reason she was single.

“I may be a bit rude now... Maybe even out of place... But Maera I can help you!”, I said out loud. “Help me? I need no help... You are the one who seems to be in need of help”, she replied instantly although her voice waivered.

“Alright, lets do it my way. What do you think my problem is?”, I asked her. She was puzzled. With a hand gesture I showed her to the bench under the massive willow tree. She walked to sit there with me but in silence.

Winds of a smooth breeze were cooling us. I was overhelmed at sight of branches and leaves of willow tree which were moving as winds hit them. “So?”, I said diverting my gaze from tree to Maera. “You are homesick... Hmm... You feel out of place and scared of failing in Monarch!”, she told. I just waved my head to make her know that her claims were wrong.

“Your father is a great man”, I said and waited for her face expressions. Although her face didn’t change at all, her body stiffened for a moment.

“He wanted a heir. A boy who would be as great as him... Who could continue his legacy”, I stopped to analyze her more. “That’s was why you were brought up as a boy and after being released or escaping from your family you can not adjust to society... We are not in army, Maera!”, I declared.

“Do you want my help? Because I need yours”, I asserted. “How...How...”, words didn’t come out of her mouth as if she was hit by a lightening. I raised my hand to indicate her to stop. “You help me out, and I will help you Maera”, I moved upper part of my body towards her while talking. “What you say?”, I asked.

“I’ll go first then”, I said and she nodded in aggrement. “How can I learn to cultivate internal cultivation?”, I asked looking straight into her eyes. “Library, level 2, block d 282”, she said and continued “Although I have no idea how you going to learn techniques even if you are able to breakthrough”.

“Good enough for me”, I replied. “Maera, we are in school and you are teaching normal students. We are not in army. No need to scream, shout or yell to make a statement. Just follow the flow... Do this and next week I wil tell you more... By the way, how can I get in contact with you?”, I asked.

“Take this and in case you need me tear it up”, she said and gave me a small paper which I stored in my storage ring. Waving her goodbye, I departed towards the library.

“What a lucky day”, I whispered to myself. Anyhow, I entered to library to see a male student sitting in the reception. I nodded my head in greeting and went to gondola. I said “Level 2, block D” and gondola began to levitate to the destination.

Each shelf had 50 books on it having 10 rows of books, 5 at each of them. Following the numbers I walked to 6th shelf and checked the 3rd row. “282”, I uttered.

There a thick old book with no name on its side. I took it up to check its cover and back. I cleant the book with my handkerchief as it was covered with dust. There was no indication of its name or who had written it on either side of the book. I opened it to see blank page on every single leaf of the book.

I turned back to first page of the book and saw the thing which amazed me. Slowly letters began to emerge on first page. “What one can not keep, two hold and three destroy?”, was written on it. “A riddle”, passed my mind. I tried to turn the page but I couldn’t, which meant I had to answer the riddle to pass to the next page.

“If I can not keep it... In case Arman and I know of its existence... If we leak knowledge of its existence to Sophia..Then the answer is”, every single brain cell in my head was squeezed to work at its best to come up with the answer. “A secret”, I said out loud.

First page seperated from the rest. I turned to second page to see the text already available to be read.

“Seed is the origin.

Cleanse the way

Balance the way

Open the way

Seed shall grow”

Page brightened with light as I read out loud the last word. Information about the chant to meditate flowed into my head and the next moment I knew it by heart. I closed the book, left it into its original place and departed the library.

Sofia and Arman went to sleep and May was nowhere to be found which I assumed that she is asleep too. I left the house to the backyard towards the pond. Two moons, one smaller in size in comparison to the other, were brightening the night with the light reflected by them. I sat on grass and took on lotus position.

According to the information inscribed in my memory, I had to murmur the chant in a low voice while focusing on the first energy center that was located below the navel area. Name of the energy center was called origin center hence the name origin realm.

Hierarchically it is the first gate that takes off the borders between physical body and metaphysical realm. Origin center is the most instinctual of all energy centers initiating the most primal, animalistic nature of the body. Moreover it is the foundation of transcendence. It is the first step towards physical immortality.

Theoretical information regarding origin realm and its 10 level’s were in my brain. Nevertheless I didn’t have a teacher or guru who ease up my practice by sharing their experiences with me. Moreover I lacked the knowledge which martial arts sects such as Moon Bao had accumulated for centuries or millenias.

As a result I had come up with 2 short term goals. First one was to open up the energy center. Second one was to apply judo and aikido moves and create a new martial arts if I succeeded first step.

Extra thoughts that were rumbling in my mind had to be put away. This was not a matter of joke rather something that had potential to change my life. Cleaning my thoughts, I delved into trance like state where my focus was in my body.

My mouth was mumbling the chant automatically without my conscious intervention. I assume it should be categorized as breathing. You can fasten or slow your breathing but normally you don’t meddle with it. Body does it for you as it is part of your survival. Diction of the chant had become as important as breathing so I didn’t have to interfere either in its pace or wording.

In time, I was absorbed in meditation so much that I had lost control over my external senses such as hearing, touch and smell. I was aware of my consciousness which was dwelling in darkness.

I was traveling in shadows without moving. It felt harmonious but peace was no where to be found. Something was lacking. Although I didn’t feel irritated at all as I wasn’t concerned about it. As my last worry faded away consciousness stopped to move.

A spark occurred. More sparks began to appear within the darkness. It felt as though it was calling out to me. Instantly my physical body appeared within the darkness and I found myself in it. Raising both my hands up, I moved my fingers into a punch and released them. ‘Tsk’, ‘Tsk’. Sounds of sparks were echoing in darkness.

I walked towards the place. Bent on my knees I began to observe the sparks. “Seed is the origin, I had cleaned, balanced and now have to open the way for it grow”, I said out loud.

Moving my right arm towards the sparks, I touched them with my fingers. In the next moment, my body was consumed by the sparks and my vision had changed back to the one of conscious being rather than physical.

Sparks began to occur more and more. At initial point from where sparks were coming out, dark blue mana began to pour out. It elevated and began to spiral around sparks. Next, sparkling turned into fire of dark red color.

It was an amazing sight to see that had mesmerized me. A small fire as big as a candle was covered with dark blue mana.

Momentarily I woke up from deep trance. Lungs lacked air. Instant inhale of air almost had choked me to death. In a minute, I gained control over my body. First rays of sun were shining from east. My body felt disgusting. Because of over sweating during the meditation my clothes had become wet and they were sticking to my skin.

Nevertheless there was a big grin on my face. I could feel the mana flowing into my body through my origin center. The power that was flowing through my veins almost made me to think that I am some kind of god.

I walked towards the hot tub, filled it with water and burned fire underneath it to warm the water. I had to clean my body before checking out my newly found powers.

P.S: Glossary contains information up to chapter 10... We are at 34th chap right now so (i'm a lazy bum) if there anyone willing to update it upto chapter 30 please let me know.. kthx