Chapter 6: Her Own Strength

The booklet wasn't large. Instead it was small and thin, like a children's book. Eina opened the first page and saw a mix of diagrams and paragraphs scrawled messily all over the page.

To Eina this looked less like a serious training manual, and more like a journal. One in which the author wrote down their ideas as they were going along.

Eina didn't dismiss the book after seeing this. She herself was not even an amateur when it came to the knowledge of internal strength. She only knew from the media she had seen, that the earlier you start, the higher you can achieve. Although she didn't know if it was true, she wouldn't just take it for granted that she could somehow match the strength of the people in this world using only her heightened abilities.

This was a world she couldn't judge with her own common sense. If she wanted to thrive here, she'd need to adapt to it as soon as possible. And her own individual strength was the most important advantage she could have.

Reading through the scribbled sentences and fitting them to the pictures that were drawn, she came to an understanding that unlike Earth, this world has a tangible energy in its atmosphere. This person called it 'True Energy', but she didn't know if that was just their own opinion, or the collective term for it. Either way, the energy itself like all forms of energy can be harnessed in special ways.

In the booklet it mentions that many different methods of internal strength can be achieved by using different methods to absorb it. Some use meditation, some medicine and others, even poison can be used to induce a certain effect when absorbing the energy.

Eina had no ability to get her hands on medicine or poison, and she had no intention of using either anyway. Both of those things were not beneficial to the body in large amounts. So she'd rather use the most common route, even if it was slower.

The booklet said that using meditation to clear your thoughts will allow you to perceive the energy that you would usually ignore. And while focusing on feeling the energy in the atmosphere, you are able to bring it into your body through certain points.

Eina turned the page and saw a very detailed drawing of the human body. The points where the energy is said to go through, were marked clearly on the body. She felt that these places were very important to know, otherwise the author wouldn't have made sure only this page was drawn so well.

She looked at the diagram for a while, always thinking that it closely matched the anatomy class she took in the organisation. The points where the energy was supposed to flow coincided with the veins that ran throughout the body.

She wondered if it was the same as how the blood travelled around the body. Could this be used in the same way. Can she absorb the energy through breathing and follow the same path that the oxygenated blood would flow, and send it back out the way the deoxygenated blood does?

The booklet does mention releasing the turbid energy. If it's the equivalent of breathing in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide, then she only has to follow the process that she understands.

She viewed the method written by the author. Although the person seemed to vaguely understand the anatomy of the human body, but she still noticed that some of the points drawn didn't coincide with the layout of the veins.

Eina didn't know if this was the proper layout that needed to be followed, or if the author had some miscalculations, but she thought that she should try her method first. What's the worst that could happen? Dying again?

She had meditated for a time in her previous life, just because she had heard that it could allow her to forget her troubles, which worked for a while, until she was sent on the next mission.

She didn't sit in the style of meditation commonly used, who knew when one of those gazes would appear on her. It was best to just lay on the bed, and try her luck at feeling this energy.

Eina did exactly that, she got under the blanket and lay flat. Shutting her eyes and clearing her mind. She began to try and sense the energy flowing around her.

This proved to be quite simple for her, she could feel it with ease. Whether this was due to her practiced movements in meditation or because she was not as impetuous as a real child, she didn't know. It would make sense that children would have trouble starting if they couldn't understand fully what they were doing.

She felt the energy and began to breathe it in with the oxygen. Feeling the thicker substance entering her body made her slightly uncomfortable, but she didn't lose concentration. Allowing it to run through the body as the oxygen did. Passing through the heart, then towards the brain and the body.

At first the process was arduous, as she was hesitant when letting it flow through her veins, but seeing no immediately adverse reactions, she became more daring. Allowing it to travel around faster.

She felt the energy in her body increasing with each breath. Her body felt lighter, as if she was floating. The energy entrenched itself wherever the veins led, from her fingers to her toes, all the way to her head.

She remembered that one of the pictures said to store the energy in the field of life, right above the navel. In which the energy could be drawn from that point.

However Eina had read too many stories where there were ways to seal the energy in that area, so as to basically cripple that persons internal strength.

She wondered if just like she came here from Earth, were there people here that were reincarnated in Earth. Otherwise how would there be such a well established understanding of the martial arts method from this world.

Eina didn't bother to get to the bottom of it, instead she chose to allow the energy to radiate outwards from her veins. Not sending it to the field of life as it said. She had always risked everything during her last life. Why should it be any different in this one?