Raven Black - 9

It was moments after Delphine had left. The door had closed gently, only a quiet click to echo the significance of her leave

The gentle scent that had suffused the room with her presence, gone. Replaced by the simple breath of my own heart.

I gazed softly at that closed door. I had no clue, save for that curiosity within my heart, what to do. All because I had been left so suddenly.

Not even the soft rumble of my stomach could root me from my seat. For I sat there, paw against paw, head against ground. I watched the door for movement.

And for those gentle minutes, where my breath was the only sound within this house of hers, there was a grand total of nothing that happened.

For every second I stayed, for every minute my mind grew blank. There was a curiosity that refused to subside.

As if called by some nascent desire I slowly rose. Stepped over the drowsy mind of mine and towards the shelf that seemed to only grow closer and closer within my eyes.

There was one title that seemed to just… just draw my eyes. Like it was meant for me.

As such I found it no surprise when a moment later a bang echoed through the house. Scattered amongst the books that had fallen from their place.

Like some sort of picturesque scene. A fox within a house of scrolls and books. Surrounded by the bitter scent of ink.

But that did not deter me. For soon I had reached within that pile. Pulled from it the book that had intrigued me the most.

To my nose it was not the same scent of the others.Those had this inky smell that could not be hidden. 

But this one had a different smell. It… it was like some sort of flower. A rose maybe… Though I could not be truly certain.

I opened the book. Scrolled past the flowery words and came upon some sort of instructions. It depicted a person, their naked body and the points within.

And for the first time since I had came here, since that food had reached my mouth. 

I was excited.

This… this was just the best.

For within it described the first step of cultivation. A manual for beginners. But it seemed that there was more to it than that. As I could interpret the next step just from that first one.

But how it described the first step. To take Qi into the body and then strengthen it. It was too esoteric.

Too unspecific. And so I tried what it described. Only to find my efforts blocked by one simple fact. I did not have a form that was similar to that of what was depicted.

"In that case" I muttered, a glint within my eye.

…

The elementary realm. It could be divided into three stages. The low stage, where one was just starting, middle, high, peak. Each of them were not that different from the other.

But there still was a stark difference. For each of them signified a step towards the second stage of cultivation.

But that wasn't even relevant at the moment. As from what I had grasped from the book, their way of gathering heavenly energy was just… inherently flawed.

They stood still, their feet rooted to the ground and their legs crossed together. Pulled themselves into a state of absolute focus and then waited. 

There were other nuances such that they made a trap within their body by breathing in a certain way. But that was all.

They relied on the natural flow of heavenly energy to cultivate which while not wrong, I felt there was a better way.

That was why I currently held a pen between the teeth of my maw. An empty page below me. And information of my own, the details of my body.

It had come from the depths of my mind. Like some sort of divine intervention that told me of the mannerisms and details of my own body. How it interacted with the energy of the world.

Truly… it fascinated me. And it was for that reason that I had changed the technique that I had found. Made it more efficient with one simple change.

Once that first initial absorption had occurred, instead of doing what they did - tempering their body with the energy - instead I found it a much more sound idea to create a pseudo vortex with that same energy.

I had already tested the idea with my own energy. I had manipulated it with intense focus. Found that I could place it further and further from me.

The more that it swirled clockwise the more energy within the air was pulled into that vortex. And so it went faster and faster. Until I stopped, I siphoned it within my body.

With a final hollowed breath, I took that Qi, for it had been suffused with the taste of my own. I took it and with scrunched eyes, manipulated them into dense strands of Qi.

That was the next step, at least once the Qi was within the muscles, one would shape the Qi within to the same shape. And naturally it would take the same form as these strands of Qi.

However what I had done was something completely different. Instead of storing those strands within my body, I instead made them denser and denser, until I couldn't.

And when I was done. I swallowed the Qi. Manipulated it so that it wrapped around the bone within my tail. All the way from the tip to the top of my spine.

Only… only…

I felt my eyes close slightly, the pen that had inked down my ideas fell from my mouth. Created a sort of mess.

I paid that no mind.

For what truly came to mind was the pain. A fire that seemed to only grow further and further with each second. Until I passed out. 

A final thud.