The Learning Experience

Authors Note:

"" = Speech

<> = Other actions

B = Important thing

<()> = Techniques

When I awoke, a bright white light overwhelmed me temporarily before my vision began to clear up. Once my eyes adjusted, I scanned the room and noticed white walls and a plain bed. With all of these clues, I figured out that I was in the hospital - though I had no clue why I was in one.

While I was reflecting on my current situation, the door to the room opened. An apparent nurse had come in to attend to me. She wrote a few notes down, then walked towards me and said: "Your two friends found you collapsed in a clearing in the forest. We believe it was due to being drained of your inner energy; be more careful when you practice next time."

A million questions flew into my mind as I experienced a jumble of emotions. Why did that creature want to hurt me? What was it? How did it know my dad and why was it so powerful? Amidst these thoughts, the nurse's voice brought me back to reality. "Are you alright?" she asked. "Yes, just thinking," I replied. "I see," she commented. "Well, you best be on your way and don't push yourself too hard," she said. "Yeah, thanks," I uttered in response.

I headed home with my katana in hand, and started cooking an extravagant meal. After some time spent seasoning the steaks, I feasted on the delicious cuts of meat until I was pleasantly full.

Despite the darkness of night, I refused to give up and decided to do my training in my apartment. I had wanted to be ready for what that evil demon doppelganger possessed. After a vigorous exercise, I got into a lotus position and began to practice inner energy. As before, after a few minutes I opened my eyes; this time, however, I saw a deep purple hue emanating from my body. It was like a radiant force of power.

I leapt up and grabbed my katana, focusing on pushing my energy into it. <Krrrrrtttccchh> A web of cracks appeared all over the sword before <Krtching> it exploded in a multitude of tiny pieces. I realized that instead of surrounding the blade with energy and revolving it, I had directed it all to one place, causing an immense pressure that shattered the katana.

Frustrated, I knew that if I wanted to have more control over my spiritual abilities, I had to find a way. So, gathering my energy again, I picked up the spoon near me and filled it with my power. Then, I created a loop of energy that went from my body and hand and to the spoon then, back around again. As soon as the circuit began to flow, the spoon suddenly warped and twisted.

It appeared that I had to form a layer of energy around the spoon, providing balance between both sides. Any imbalance could result in the spoon caving in on itself. To enhance my control over the process, I grabbed another spoon and created a slightly weaker layer of energy that was still balanced. My theory was proven right; the spoons form remained unchanged.

I had gained knowledge through the spoon exercise, so I attempted to use this newfound energy to bolster other parts of my body. My first test was with my hands. It seemed harder to channel energy when I did it for the first time but after a few more times of channeling innate energy through my hand, it still took less effort than the previous times.

It appeared that if something had a smaller surface area, it would be more difficult to move a larger quantity of energy through it efficiently unless the volume of the exact energy was condensed down.

I conducted an experiment by running internal energy around my body, particularly to my legs. From this experiment, I noticed that this energy seemed to act like a multiplier for whatever I chose. The thinner the energy was, the smaller its multiplier; meaning that it had less power and intensity. The thicker the energy, the higher its multiplier; resulting in more strength and power.

This discovery led me to believe that this internal energy could be condensed thus the name condensed innate energy. This condensed energy could appear harmless, or used to add explosive force to all physical actions including, sword attacks and sword forms.

I jotted down a reminder in my notebook that having this energy would not only help with my basic sword movements, but to have it boost the effects of my forms that could end up to be advantageous.

Following my practice session and jotting down observations, I dragged myself into bed. I was still somewhat exhausted from the mental struggle with that weird demon copy of myself.

...

I woke up before dawn to ready myself for the Academy. I got dressed in a hurry and gathered all my items for the day ahead. Once the etiquette classes ended, I would spend time at the training ground with both Yukito and Keiko.

Today was going to be an extraordinary day. I had asked Yukito and Keiko for a 1vs1vs1 battle, plus an extra sword. He was quite pleased and said it could provide some helpful practice. Keiko wasn't as excited but eventually agreed to join in.

We then assumed our positions. Keiko rushed towards me, attacking with lethal accuracy. I quickly evaded and blocked her strikes before Yukito jumped in, activating an energy that caused a X-shaped torrent of water to come hurtling towards us. Yukito fell to the ground, depleted from the attack. Keiko gracefully leapt out of the way while I charged at Yukito, taking my opportunity to use my <(Sword Dance 1st Form, Crescent Dash)>.

I increased my speed by adding a little of my innate energy at my feet, and when I was close to him, I directed the same energy into my hands. A loud ringing sound echoed in the empty room as Yukito blocked my attack with his blade empowered by a extremely thickened layer of innate energy. Then Keiko shouted "<(Lightning Blade 2nd Form, Extreme Speeds)". The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I quickly performed a back flip using a quick burst of innate energy from the bottom of my sandal. The sandal was slightly charred, but it allowed me to dodge her over-headed strike.

Keiko then went up against Yukito and used "<(Lightning blade 1st form, Enlightening Lightning)>", scurrying forward to try and slash him. However, before she slashed him he managed to cover his sword in a watery blue energy as he rapidly spoke the words "(Water blade 4th form, Furious Falls!)>", which threw him over her like a wave after reeling in water from a tide.

I, a distance away from them realized that going after Keiko probably wasn't going to work because she was already going to be attacked and outmatched by Yukito. So, closing my eyes I started gathering the remaining energy within me, circulating it through my body. I knew that to beat someone like Yukito, who had years of high-level training, I had to have an enhanced level of strength.

As thick and powerful layers of innate energy started feeling as if they were leaking at a fast pace from my body I TOOK ONE SINGULAR STEP.