Acclimation, Part 4

Popping into existence, Terminus appears again.

'Long time no see! You really did it, huh?' Terminus asked, signs of anticipation showing.

"Yeah. I have one problem though!" I yelled, furious at him for something he'd said prior to the training.

'Before you talk, show me.'

Standing up, I look straight at him, not going into my usual meditation.

'Are you going to start?' He inquired, curious as to why I wasn't in a meditative stance.

"I am starting." I replied, a smirk appearing on my face.

Through my time of constant meditation, I'd gained the ability to see and sense the soul, something I didn't think was possible until I'd instilled the imagery of the soul circuit into my brain.

Seeing the circuit, I went small, smaller, then even smaller.

Envisioning 1/10th, I pulled on the smallest unit of soul energy I could find.

But I didn't stop there.

I pulled on the ones nearby as well, grabbing the infinitesimal units and willing them to move in a separate direction.

Terminus smiled, happiness overwhelming his before-stoic facial expression.

As I pulled on these small units, I'd gotten to the point where they constituted 1/10th of the soul flow, and then pulled on them separately.

The whole process took me around 30 seconds, but once I'd gotten the right amount, it was only a matter of perseverance and maintenance of focus.

Using all my willpower, I urged the soul energy to move towards my chest, having them zip through all around my body taking different routes, eventually reaching one point, right in-between my pectorals.

At last I could finally relax, taking a knee as I heaved for air.

'Wow, to have learned how to control your soul flow in just a few days, you're really something, you know that? Bravo!'

Terminus started to clap his hands, smiling down at me while I was recuperating on the ground.

Looking up at Terminus, I immediately got up and put a finger to his chest, anger rising as my head began to boil.

"Hey, you shitty God! Why didn't you tell me about them?"

'About what?'

"You know what! The little soul thingys!'

Raising a questioning brow, Terminus seemed to enter thought, eventually coming to an idea of what I was talking about.

'Ohhh, you mean the magicules?'

Now understanding what they were, I questioned him again.

"Yeah, magicules! You had me thinking I was to control the soul energy at once, and not separately as a union! You wasted my time, and unnecessarily caused trouble for both of us!"

'Well, to be honest, I forgot.'

Furious at his uncaring attitude towards something that was so time-consuming, I dialed back, reminding myself of his position as a self-proclaimed God.

My understanding increased as a result, so I suppose in a way, it wasn't a complete waste of time.

'Why don't you explain to me how you ended up coming to the conclusion of manipulating magicules instead of the collective soul flow?' Terminus asked, obviously wanting me to express my understanding.

"Well, whenever I tried to control too much soul energy, it would always resist and move against me, eventually causing my control over it to diminish. It was with this idea that I'd figured that no matter how hard I tried or how diligently I trained, I would never be able to control the collective. But then, I noticed something."

Closing my eyes, I began to visualize the soul circuit, seeing the individual magicules as they trekked on uni-directionally with their surrounding counterparts.

"As I went smaller in my desire to control, so too did the force resisting it. So I went smaller and smaller until I saw these little guys. They're people, not just energy used for a human's purpose. They're sentient."

Terminus smiled, using his hand to motion further explanation.

"Just as guiding a large crowd is proven difficult, so too would guiding a group of magicules, so difficult in fact that it would prove impossible no matter how much will I imposed. However, if you divide and conquer—guide each person individually to reach a common goal—you can achieve the same effect as having the entire group perform one action."

Finishing my explanation, Terminus started… crying?

'Beautiful, beautiful indeed. It takes the average person years to come to this realization, and yet you've done it so soon. You're every bit as promising as I hoped. Most people pray to me for levels of talent inferior to yours.'

Avoiding feelings of achievement, I let him continue.

'However, you also seem to understand its drawback.'

Pausing to think, I realize what he's talking about.

"Yes. Guiding each magicule is time consuming, and would thus be impractical for real combat where you have only split seconds to defend yourself."

'You really are great, huh?' Terminus mused, my understanding impressing the idiot God.

'Yes! There's no way somebody could use it in combat. Now that you understand this, I want you to try pumping in a tenth of your soul circuit into your cells."

Feeling like my question hadn't been answered, I nodded in response anyway, sensing my soul circuit.

Instead of directing it to one spot, I would be diffusing it in a controlled manner.

Seeing each individual magicule, I began to redirect them one-by-one into my cells, eventually expending a tenth of the soul energy in the circuit.

My body began to tense, muscles becoming denser, eyesight becoming keener, thinking becoming clearer.

Wait, thinking?

I can (I) think (can) multiple (think) thoughts (multiple) at (thoughts) the (at) same (the) time (same) now (time) (now).

Weird (weird)!

Returning the magicules to their respective soul flow, I calm down my thoughts, my body returning to normal.

'Weird, right? You're not used to having multiple thoughts at the same time I'm sure, especially if it's the same one. That is but one property of vitalization through the soul. You become stronger, you can see further, you can breathe clearer, sickness is warded off, and even concepts like healing can be sped up through the utilization of one's soul to empower themselves!" 

Exhibiting excitement, Terminus was breathing heavily, having explained everything in a single second.

To avert weirding me out, he riled himself back down, returning to a normal posture.

'Anyway, to return to the original problem of having to deal with each individual magicule, you can instead use your soul to empower the brain, improving mental clarity and allowing for parallel thinking.' 

Amused, I visualize my soul circuit again and distribute magicules only to my brain. Just as Terminus said, I can manipulation multiple magicules at the same time to achieve the effect of simultaneous soul control.

I'll call this one parallel thinking.

'Well, you've gotten past the first step. Now is the issue of acquiring your soul tag.'

Curious of the details, I question him on the topic.

"How do I obtain this soul tag?"

Terminus, looking at me with a grim expression states blankly.

'You'll have to die.'

Suddenly, I teleported out of the white realm, surrounded by darkness.

Except, it's not because I'm in a void, but because I'm back to reality.

Just as soon as I'd realized where I was, I felt a sharp jolt to my neck.

Swiftly, I lose all feeling before I'm pushed out of my body, only then recognizing what exactly happened. 

Below was my beheaded almost 3-year-old body, encapsulated by the creature responsible.