Jason can only shrug and continue on with his research. Everything is almost complete and he just needs to fill in the gap. Mana and Qi both had seven steps specific to them, so Energy must as well. Though in the back of his head Jason did admit that this wasn’t necessarily true, he was willing to run with it for now.

Of the seven steps, the technique had five which should correspond to the first four steps and the last step. The first book, on the other hand, had four steps of which the first three lined up with steps two through four, so that meant the step without a match should be the missing fifth step. Leaving the sixth step to figure out. And of course, from the looks of it, that would be the most important step.

Jason shakes his head and lays them out one by one. Step one is easy enough. Just take control of the power in your core and shake it around. Basically, act like you are mixing up some salad dressing. All three powers have their own special little techniques to it of course. Energy specifically involves stirring it around counter to the general flow.

The second step is both easier and potentially dangerous. You have to empty your pool. For Mana and Qi this involves emptying it out by more than 50%, though if you are safe enough, completely emptying it all is better. For Energy this involves discharging at least the capacity of your core, though up to ten times the amount if you want better results. Comparing notes between the three powers brings Jason to believe this step is to refresh the core.

Any power that has been in your core long enough will prefer to stay in the core. So if a mage only ever uses 10% of their pool in any one fight, there will be some Mana in the core that is never used. By combining the results of the first step with releasing a lot of power at once those bits that aren’t generally used will be pulled out as well. Of course using up all the resources would assure this but that isn’t really advisable out in the wilds. A mage without Mana isn’t worth much in a surprise attack.

With the third step, if Jason had to pick a theme it would be refreshing the area around you. Apparently just because you got rid of the power doesn’t mean it would stop being attracted to you. For mana, the book tells you to go and get some kind of mediation mat that creates a mana flow to push the old away. Qi on the other hand has a harder time following the user so all you need to do is move to a new location before continuing.

Energy also has its own quirks that both make it easier and harder to manage. Apparently the easiest way to clear the area is to get the dispersed Energy to be turned into Mana and Qi. Easy enough since the Energy will naturally attract the other powers. Hard because that would in turn push out the natural Energy in the area from the oversaturation of the other two powers. With a laugh after reading that, Jason continues on. His farming activities provide the best environment he could wish for when it comes to the third step.

For step four, you have to actively work on gathering power back into your core. Mana and Qi have their own problems with this step but Energy definitely got the short end of the stick. The other two powers can actually empty their pools, which allows greater control of what they subsequently draw in. And going by Gregor’s notes, this is actually one of the ways the users of the two powers can align themselves with a specific element or what have you. Instead of just drawing in whatever power is available, they need to only refill with power of the type they want. Easy enough to do in the right place. So much so that many people that live around stuff like volcanos will end up partly aligned to the dominant element by accident.

Energy, however, is a constant flow and while the power does come from the area around you, there is a catch if you want to be aligned with an element. The world’s flow is in constant motion so barring special circumstances, the Energy you absorb won’t be aligned. This makes it much harder to be a fire Energy user or what have you. Besides that, the Energy from the flow comes in at a constant rate and you need more than it provides to complete this step.

To do it right, you need to also pull in Energy from the atmosphere around you. Which, following the third step, has gotten a lot harder. So while the flow is always there, free floating Energy can be hard to grab onto. Jason once again smirks as not only does his plants fix the problem, but he had been pulling in the loose Energy from the start.

Jason sighs, with the first four steps done he is now onto the missing steps. The fifth step at least was found in the other book and matches with the theme of the other two powers. That theme is retention. Like a pool of water, the powers dissipate from your pool. This just isn’t generally noticed as the passive regen rate everyone has is calculated to account for it.

Basically, in the fourth step you packed your pool full and in the fifth you hold it to familiarize the power with your core. This is similar to the power you expelled in the second step except for one key difference. Since the power is for lack of a better word “fresh” it isn’t lazy. Where the expelled power could be compared to silt that settled out of the water, the new power is water that has taken on the regional flavor.

Though thinking about this, Jason grimaces. No matter how much they process the water and add in all the right stuff, it just doesn’t quite taste right. There is something about the water from the area that you grew up in that unless there is a problem with it, will be what you think water should taste like. And though they try here, the natural power from his old life gave the water a certain tang. While the hodge podge of powers irl makes the water taste cluttered and almost greasy.