73 Training

"You need to hit this against a surface and focus on the vibrations of the tuning fork. Feel the vibrations move up your fingers, into your wrist, through your arms and into your body. Focus on the feeling that it induces and memorize the frequency," instructed Aida.

Her initial idea for teaching Rin focus was to fight with him, but as they were in a rush, she would not have the time or ability to do this. Instead, she decided to use an alternative method instead. Her theory is that all abilities are induced by waves of power oscillating at different frequencies to produce different powers. If one can get onto the right frequency, then theoretically, they can increase their control and maximize the output of the power.

She handed one out to everyone within the car including Lucifer. Regardless of whether one had powers or not, meditation was extremely useful to stabilize the mind and improve one's performance. Placing Rin and Yukio at the back of the jeep, she had them begin their training. Her expectation for the younger two was to practice for half an hour in the morning and another half an hour in the evening. The amount of time would increase as their attention span improved.

At the front, Lucifer was pleasantly surprised to receive a tuning fork and hear the explanation on meditation. As someone from the special forces, he had placed a huge emphasis on strength but had not placed as much focus on the power of the mind. Now that he had telekinetic abilities, it made sense that he should focus more on this.

Having settled the twins, Aida next turned her focus to Lucifer. She had actually come up with a training plan for each person in the jeep during her idle time at the base. While she was not sure whether Lucifer would join them on their trip to City M, she had prepared material regardless. If he joined, she intended to teach him personally. If he stayed on base, she would leave him a booklet full of recommendations and instructions.

Being an otaku, someone who grew up with superpowers, someone who had been experimented on by scientists to test the limits of her powers, and someone who had an organization weaponize her abilities, she had ample experience to draw from.

Instructing Lucifer, she said in a serious and cold voice, "From now on, you will be placed on an extremely strict regimen. We are headed to fight an entire government and need every member to be as strong and prepared as possible."

She began laying out the different areas that he had to focus on. The first was that he always had to be using the skills and refining his control of his telekinetic abilities no matter the situation. If he is conscious, then he should use it for his day to day activities. If he is sleeping, he still has to upkeep the skill. Secondly, he must learn how to split his mind to do multiple things and continue to increase the number of items. Lastly, he had to learn how to cohesively fight with the ability rather than using them as two separate abilities. His strength would grow exponentially if he is able to integrate his fighting skills with his telekinesis.

No time like the present. Aida immediately ordered him to use his telekinesis to individually control the wheel, pedal and brake. Once he could execute that steadily, he should then move on to meditating while driving.

Nodding in appreciation, Lucifer looked at Aida with warmth that he thought he no longer had and began practicing. The car became extremely jerky and unstable, but they continued to move forward...slowly. Ace who was sitting at the back with the twins was turning green and looked ready to puke. The twins continued to focus on their tuning forks, mystified by this new exercise, and didn't notice the jerkiness of the car.

Aida turned her attention to Light. She frowned slightly in contemplation. During their time at base, her greatest concern was Light's mental instability and how to address it. At the time, she thought it was a manifestation of all his depression but after seeing his current condition, she could tell based on their connection that it was far more than just depression.

Facing Light, she asked him to begin meditating. She sat with him and closed her eyes to focus solely on their connection as well. Guiding him in his meditation, she said in a cold yet soothing voice, "Breath in…. breath out… feel the air enter through your nose and travel down your lungs…"

"Now, once you feel comfortable, begin focusing on your head. Use all your senses and tell me what you can see and feel."

Light's shoulder gradually relaxed as he began focusing on his brain. As an Aikido master, he had been taught to meditate at a young age and was able to enter the state fairly easily. Looking into his own mind, he felt that it was a complete mess. While he could not visually see anything, he could feel a number of emotions clustered together, all tangled up. "It's a mess up there."

Aida rolled her eyes internally when she heard that. No kidding...

"The first step will be for you to organize these feelings. Allowing them to be tangled up like that will affect your ability to exercise good judgement."

Nodding, Light began to try to tear through the web or emotions with brute force, but it was a lot harder than he thought. It appears he would have to sort each of them strand by strand. Following a strand, he noticed that it seemed to lead somewhere outside of his body. Curious, he stretched his consciousness to outside his body as well, sensing and feeling his surroundings.

To his surprise, he was able to sense the emotions from all those around him. Aida was exuding a surprising warmth, the twins were happy, Lucifer was frustrated and Ace was nauseous. Light saw that the strand of emotion he had been following was connected directly to Aida.