It was not yet noon that Lug was already in front of the lake.

Barefoot and sitting in the grass, he looked contemplative.

"Ghosts have no idea how materialization works, it's as natural to them as breathing."

It was this thought that Lug was turning over and over in his head.

He had come to this conclusion by observing the ghost’s ignorance of their own abilities.

He looked up and around.

This valley had a slightly higher temperature than the surrounding mountains.

Lug was barefoot and not cold.

The water of the lake was not frozen, you could see fish swimming at full speed when Lug threw a stone.

You could even see trees starting to put on leaves, while spring was still a few weeks away.

It was a kind of microcosm.

A paradise - under lock and key - hidden away.

"I'm lucky. For once I'm training in a pleasant place; I almost want to take my time." thought the young man with the raven black hair.

He pulled himself together suddenly, after having had this thought.

He was angry at himself.

"I'll take my time when I'm strong!" he said.

He picked up a flat stone from the ground.

Strengthened his whole arm and part of his shoulder, more than the amount he had set to limit the pain.

He blew gently through his mouth as he took his position to throw the stone.

And with a sharp blow, he threw it.

So quickly that a hissing sound was heard in the air.

The stone flew over the water for about fourty meters before making a first ricochet, then a second after another twenty meters.

Then Lug stopped following the stone.

It was a beautiful demonstration of strength.

But that was it.

He had just wanted to let off steam.

But he was already starting to feel the tingling in his arm coming.

Then a sharper pain came from the other side of his body.

He had strengthened and used a lot of force with his right arm.

But he had not strengthened the muscles that had absorbed the shock, and allowed his arm to stop its movement after he threw the stone.

Many of the muscles in his back and legs had suffered a shock for which they were not prepared.

That day, Lug learned in pain that every movement requires an opposite one, to slow down or absorb the shock.

The pain was so strong that he had to lie down in the grass.

His eyes were open, he was looking at the sky.

Shaking in fits and starts.

"Why do I always have to go too far..." he thought.

When he wasn't hurting himself physically, he was torturing his mind with guilty thoughts.

He had put his coat and shoes back on because the immobility made him cold.

And despite the pain, he fell asleep in the grass.

He woke up when the sun hit his eyes.

It was midday.

When he got up, he felt that his body had already gotten better.

"I didn't strengthen my arm that much, but I didn't think it would recover that quickly." he thought as he inspected his body.

Lug had almost completely healed from his injuries.

His right foot still had a few wounds that were visible.

Apart from that, he was able to move on to the next part of his training.

But first, he had to project his aura - or psychic energy.

"The tents had something organic about them. Red, as if blood was flowing through the fibers of the fabric." Lug thought.

As he breathed out, he could see the hot air coming out of his mouth, in the form of smoke.

He thought of the wise man who had spit out smoke from his pipe, which was psychic energy; that is, aura projection.

So Lug thought of projecting his psychic energy by *attaching* it to the air he was breathing out.

"The materialization has an organic, familiar feel to it. Almost intimate." he thought.

He visualized the psychic energy in his lungs, and imagined tying it to the air he breathed.

Lug understood that the more realistic and advanced the visualization, the more effective it was.

So he pictured a miniature version of himself in his lungs, chasing the air that he had given the shape of transparent rabbits.

He had the idea to give a shape to the air, to simplify the visualization

Once he caught one, he put an egg on its back and tied it with shoe laces.

The egg was of course the shape he had given to the psychic energy.

Lug had chosen an Easter theme.

He himself did not know why.

When he finished - which took him about thirty seconds - he exhaled.

Watching the air come out of his mouth, he noticed some psychic particles.

It wasn't much.

But it was something.

He smiled, he was making progress.

He knew it wouldn't take long to make it an automated process.

"There is a sensation linked to the success of the reinforcement, there is also a sensation linked to the densification of the psychic body. The goal of a technique is to discover the sensation of success.

The technique is useful for the beginner, to become familiar with the sensation.

Once the sensation is found, the technique becomes obsolete." thought Lug.

This was another important lesson that he had learned through mistakes and progress.

Somehow he was beginning to understand the philosophy of the Wise One.

To learn by himself, it was for Lug the best way to emancipate himself from the image of incompetence that he had stuck to his skin.

He repeated this process over and over again.

It did not take long to see Lug exhaling psychic energy without effort.

This was the first goal he had set before moving on to the next part.

He was going to spit out air loaded with psychic energy.

And the energy had to remain attached to the air during a whole hour.

A bit like the Wise One's smoke, which tended to stay intact much longer than normal smoke.

Lug succeeded gradually, at first it was maintained for 15 minutes.

Then 30.

Then he managed to maintain the psychic energy that he had exhaled for more than two hours.

This leap is explained by the fact that Lug stopped filling his lungs with air.

By exhaling less air, he was able to charge a large amount of energy with greater ease.

The less scattered energy stayed intact longer.

Lug finally felt ready to pass the ricochet test.