Learning

As I opened the manual, I was met with the first blank page, except for a sentence written in the center, as if it were a slogan: "With weak energy techniques, even the best abilities lose their power."

On the first page of the manual, there was a detailed explanation of energy techniques. There were low and high-level techniques, with high-level ones being exclusive to the four great clans and mostly powerful families and the government.

Among the families, the Mercer family was renowned for possessing one of the most powerful energy techniques - energy flow control.

Basically, the nexum is like a container that stores energy, and before it can be used, the user must fill the container. To use an ability, the energy needs to be transferred from the container to the body, and this is called energy flow.

Most energy techniques focus on increasing the capacity to fill the container with energy more quickly and extracting energy more quickly. However, it is rarely possible to increase both speeds, let alone to a significant degree, especially in low-level techniques.

But the Mercer family's technique was different - it consisted of maintaining a constant flow of energy input and output.

Basically, the technique involved controlling the input and output of energy from the nexum, allowing you to use your ability constantly and control the path your energy takes when it is released from the container more easily.

"Focus," I thought to myself as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to relax.

Suddenly, in the midst of the darkness, I began to visualize several white dots forming one by one. I tried to move them and, as I imagined, they moved according to my will.

These white dots were my nexum energy of the Void element.

As the dots formed, I felt the Nexum around my heart and began to fill it with energy, moving it in a random and disconnected manner.

To make the energy stronger, I needed to introduce it completely around the Nexum and not at a single point. This would make the energy channels used more often and, when extracting energy, it would be faster.

I took another deep breath, trying to follow the steps in the manual that explained how to do both things at the same time. I closed my eyes and tried to focus again, visualizing the white energy dots around my body.

This time, I focused on dividing my attention, paying attention to how I was producing Nexus energy and introducing it in a disconnected way while also maintaining the same amount of energy circulating in my body. It was difficult at first, but I kept trying, taking deep breaths and focusing my mind.

I started to feel a stronger current of energy circulating in my body and realized that I was finally able to do both things at the same time. I continued visualizing the white energy points moving and multiplying around me while introducing and extracting Nexus energy constantly.

I opened my eyes and looked at my hand, which was now glowing with a bright and powerful energy. I smiled, knowing that I had finally mastered this difficult technique.

My excitement grew when I began to question whether I was some kind of genius.

"Wow, it seems easier than I thought," I said to myself, surprised at how quickly I was able to do both things at the same time.

But soon I began to question, "Is it really as easy as it seems?"

I picked up the manual again and read carefully, looking for any additional details that I might have missed.

That's when I found a note in red, written in a different font, which said, "Congratulations, if you were able to perform this task. Now, the next step is to perform it unconsciously."

My excitement disappeared instantly. I was screwed; this meant that I had to practice and practice until this task became as natural as breathing.

****

After completing my training, I left the house and headed towards my main goal.

As Darya was an excluded daughter, her residence was distant from the rest of the family. Despite the presence of employees who were possibly her brothers' spies, she still enjoyed a certain level of privacy.

As I left the residence, I found myself in a completely empty courtyard, with only wooden training dummies present. I looked around for any employees who might be watching me, but to my surprise, there was no one.

I didn't know the reason. Perhaps Darya had sent them away after our conversation, or maybe they had been watching her for so long that they simply neglected their work.

Anyway, it was better for me.

As soon as I stepped into the courtyard, I walked towards the dummies and stood in front of one. I closed my eyes again, this time trying to recall the memories of the invasion in the hall, trying to remember how the self-suggestion activated and used my ability.

I remembered the self-suggestion I had used to activate my ability. I tried to focus on how I felt at that moment, how my mind struggled to control the nexus energy and use it to my advantage.

With this memory in mind, I began to visualize the hall again in my mind. Gradually, the details began to emerge, the colors, textures, and people present in the location.

I needed to find a way to use my ability at a level close to what self-suggestion was able to do.

The problem was that I had no idea how to do it, so I needed to remember every moment of that day.

I continued to focus and visualize the scene in my mind, trying to recall the details and emotions of that moment.

The first point was that the self-suggestion gathered a great amount of energy around the fist.

So, I started to try to mimic that feeling, focusing my energy on my right fist.

It was difficult at first, but slowly I felt the energy building up in my hand. With more concentration, I began to shape that energy into a more defined form, until I finally managed to create a small energy field in the palm of my hand.

I opened my eyes and observed the small energy sphere floating in my hand. I smiled, satisfied with my progress. Now, it was time to test my ability in action.

I raised my fist and punched the training dummy with all my might.

My hand collided with the wood, making a loud noise. I didn't feel any pain, maybe it had been contained by the nexus energy.

But what I expected didn't happen, in fact, nothing happened.

It was just a normal punch.

I raised my fist again and tried again. This time, I focused more, visualizing the nexus energy forming around my fist and concentrating on a single point.

PUNCH!

The sound of my fist hitting the dummy echoed through the room, but again nothing happened. I became frustrated and tried a few more times, but the result was the same.

I sat down on the floor, disheartened. I was determined to master this ability, but it seemed to be far out of my reach. I started to lament, questioning if I would ever be able to use it like the self-suggestion did.

"Why is it so hard?" I asked myself aloud. I looked at the training dummy and sighed, deciding to take a break and think of a new approach to mastering this ability.

I closed my eyes, putting myself back in the hall once again. I tried to identify what the self-suggestion did differently, but I didn't see anything different.

Until I started to observe the other people. Darya, the old man, and the woman, they all did one thing in common before using their ability, they said the name.

But I didn't.

"Well, it can't hurt to try."

I gathered nexus energy again in my fist and raised it.

"Absolute Nonexistence!" I shouted the name of my ability and threw my fist in the direction of the wooden dummy.

PUNCH!

The sound of impact was deafening, but something different happened this time. The white energy that spread through the wood trunk compressed and started changing color, becoming black. Then, the part of the wood where the energy spread simply disappeared in front of me.

I opened my eyes and stood still, looking at the empty space where there used to be wood.

"Okay..." I raised an eyebrow. "If this is a requirement, how the hell was autosuggestion doing this without saying the skill name?"

As I tried to understand, I began to reflect on the matter. At first, I thought the user simply erased the sound of their voice, but even when he did this with his steps, there was a noticeable fluctuation of energy.

However, when he used the skill, there was no such fluctuation. It didn't seem to be a prerequisite for its use.

Putting these thoughts aside, I focused again on the energy flowing in my fist, but this time, I used the Mercer family energy technique to maintain a constant flow.

I concentrated on the flow of energy within me and visualized the energy flowing through my arms and concentrating in my fist.

"Absolute Nonexistence!" I shouted, launching my fist towards the training dummy.

Punch!

Suddenly, a loud sound echoed through the area and the black energy compressed at the point of my punch, causing the dummy to disappear completely.

I was surprised by the result, but also satisfied that I had finally been able to reproduce the skill efficiently. "So the technique increases the power of my energy? That's better than expected!"

Even while maintaining a continuous flow of energy, most of it remained within my body, so I knew I had used the same amount of energy in both punches.

"Interesting..." I looked around at the other two training dummies, and the mark on the ground where the third dummy should have been. "Haha, no one will notice... right?"

Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching. "Shit, someone's coming!" I panicked and ran inside the house, trying to act normal.

Once I got to my room, I turned on the tablet and began my research.

The first thing I found was an interview with a famous awakened person named Andrew Quiron, who talked about the requirement of saying the name of the ability.

In the interview, he explained that it was not an absolute requirement. Saying the name of the ability helped with visualization and materialization in the real world, but some awakened people were able to use their abilities only mentally, and the more advanced ones didn't even need that.

"Ah, now it makes sense." I commented to myself.

I continued searching for more information about the Mercer family's energy technique and found some interesting articles. Based on that, I started practicing and perfecting the technique.