Level 1

The cafeteria stood devoid of life.

No hands to hand over meals, no companions to share the silence. Only Triss and Leon were in here, facing the meal sections with about ten different options hidden beneath the metal pots. But it was impossible to see the meals without opening the metal pots.

"Let's see…" Murmured and touched a button under one of the pots, Triss, "You know what this is, right?"

"Just a regular heater that you can find in any school."

"Well, I went to school just a little bit, so I don't know about that."

Triss's casual words cast a quiet sadness over Leon. He had no words to respond, just kept his silence until the food was ready.

"So, what's the deal? Was the meditation part too hard for you?"

"I was tired, that's all."

"You got bored and fell asleep, huh?"

"Seems like someone else has done that before."

"No. I became Level 1 in just one day."

"Is that so?"

"It's that so."

"Then tell me the trick of meditation."

"Empty head is the trick."

"Wow. That's a kind of information that you can't find in the book."

"Just run, walk, or do something to empty your head. Then, gaze at the ceiling like an idiot for a while. After that, take the meditation state. And you are good to go."

"In short, getting tired is the trick, right?"

"Yep, exactly."

"Thanks."

"No problem," Triss whispered, drawing closer, "After you reach Level 1, let's do something."

"What something?"

"Let's earn some money."

---

"Let's try what she said," murmured, Leon.

He had no choice but to trust Triss's words and also had nothing to lose.

He began with aimless running around the room, followed by push-ups, and concluded with sit-ups. He engaged in some activities that he had almost never had before.

It isn't like Leon hated to train, but he was readying himself for universal energy arts' training time.

'Why should I bother with training if I'm going to do it in the future, anyway?' This was his thought process, like most of the kids out there. On the other hand, some, especially those from certain families or clans, started their training at a young age.

It isn't like Leon never trained. However, he had experienced a different form of training from his mother.

Dropped his head on the bed. He forced himself not to succumb to sleep this time, though fatigue weighed heavily on him. Yet, he also hadn't any bit of sleep in him.

Ten minutes of ceiling gazing wasted in contemplation of the metallic ceiling's grayness.

Slowly raised his body up, crossed his legs and closed his eyes to utilize the breathing technique. And darkness slowly embraced him in its empty, distorted hands.

The first thing he has to do was to imagine an ocean blue mist.

This space of darkness was what everyone saw when their eyes yielded themselves to comfort. However, he has to imagine the same space in his mind, too, which is what the breathing technique's meditation style also stands for.

Stepping into the imagination phase means a successful meditation process.

This is why, whatever Leon will do from this moment on, will mean that he also is doing the exact same thing in his mind. Exact need was this one to step onto Level 1, the very first step towards the heavens.

Before the mist part, he has to imagine an ocean blue color, be it shapeless or be it a perfect round. Leon's physical body entered a trance, impervious unless attacked, while his mind remained perfectly fine.

He could think in his own consciousness, which is what he had to be capable of in the first place to imagine something.

A tiny, imperceptible light emerged in the darkness, akin to a flashlight in the forest. Yet, if you light a flashlight right in the middle of the forest in the dark, even people a kilometer away could see it.

Of course, Leon could see the ocean blue light in front of him. Albeit, he could do nothing with that much.

Creation of a tinge of energy was a success. Now, he needed a much bigger and denser one, about the size of his own fist. For that, he can do nothing but to bide his time.

That energy appeared thanks to the breathing technique, which is what he has been constantly using for the past fifteen minutes. Using more meant gathering more energy, at least for a while.

Leon's focus remained fixed on the growing light, observed it as though a sapling was growing up to be a mighty tree.

Minutes have passed and passed. Every single minute meant a tiny bit larger of a light. And this boring process ruled for about thirty more minutes, marked the forty-fifth minute of meditation.

Believing it large enough, he moved to the second phase: leading. He imagined that he was breathing that blue energy from his mouth.

Yet, breathing felt nothing. It was nothing more than air. However, this fact could make things harder if he couldn't see the light, which already became a tailed mist.

It was like a misty shooting star, stretching its tail every time Leon breathed in.

This phase was resolved in five minutes.

However, the second phase and third one, creating a sphere above the navel, were connected to each other. He already was leading the energy from his mouth to one centimeter above his navel, which was the second phase's requirement.

Meanwhile, he had to gather every single bit of mist there and hold it inside. He was akin to a balloon ready to explode. It felt like if someone were to stick a nail, he would explode.

Leon needed the utmost focus to process further. Thankfully, he had to be in a meditative state to do these things. And in a meditative state, focus was a blossomed flower.

Once again, minutes passed and passed. The end of the brief journey was near. Only the last phase of the entire operation, the reason for the existence of the entire operation, left: creating a core.

The first thing he has to do was turn that ocean blue mist into a sphere, which is what he had been trying from the start. Secondly, he has to empty the inner part of the sphere. Even before that, he has to get the mist into the edges of the sphere and solidify it. Slow, but a doable process. 

As others had noted, the first two levels were easy but time-consuming.

Creating an empty sphere, Leon's last task was to fill the inside. Why would you do that since you already had the core the moment you get to the solidification part? Universal Energy Arts book had an answer for that, too.

That book has been around for more than ninety years. It had the answers to any questions one may think of. Since the question has arisen in your mind, it is probable that somebody born in the past 90 years had contemplated the same.

The answer was relatively easy to find. Solidification created a perfect glass to hold universal energy inside the body and soul. And energy users need a perfect, solid vessel to hold their energy.

Otherwise, they may face energy deflection later on. That is why they needed to be sure of that their vessel is in fact can work, not harm them. Because facing energy deflection was too much of a risk to take.

Energy deflection was no different from a sickness for energy users, a fatal one. If a Level 3 person has energy deflection, it would be best for them to avoid using magic as much as possible. Otherwise, either their core, which already cracked up to a certain extent, may be completely destroyed or their magic may backfire on them.

The worst nightmare for an energy user was having their core destroyed, reverting to a normal person without power, the normal of a century ago. Consequentially, they neither left with power nor a place to stand in the world.

Power doesn't mean everything, but many things one can think of.

However, that could either be the best scenario or the worst scenario for someone. After all, to some, losing their powers meant death. On the other hand, dying was the worst scenario for the other bunch.

The moment the energy core explodes, the universal energy that their body and soul hold in them rush through the person's body to exit the cage. And it wasn't walking, ruthlessly marching through the person's body, leading them to death.

Focus was the key to crack open gates of success.

Solidification of the energy core finished without a hitch and Leon already had begun the last part of the entire process: filling the inside.

He literally was breathing the ocean blue energy from before and leading it towards the core.

The new energy seamlessly entered the core. Yet, the important part was: it was the same kind of energy that was taken by the same person.

Minutes passed and passed until…

Ding!

[Your 'Status' screen has been updated!]