In an instant, I recalled the damp and affectionate dawn air of New Year’s Day. The memory of hiding together in the highest and most secluded part of the palace, waiting for the new year to rise, was still vivid.
The quiet gestures with the distinct darkness crumbling in the light, Rubel’s dark eyelashes fluttering like the sound of crunching snow, the pale, luminous skin of his wrist, his gentle and soft voice…
When I looked closely into those dark eyes, colder yet milder than this dawn, slightly moist, I was…
Ha. I hastily shook my head to scatter my thoughts.
“This won’t do. Let’s do ten more laps.”
“Huh? Wait, just a minute. There are still five minutes left of our break!”
“You seem to have regained your energy to say such things. Let’s run together.”
“Seriously, that’s ridiculous. Fine, let’s run!”
I urged Marianne, who was giggling and getting up, to run faster.
After Marianne ran ten laps around the Martial arts training ground, I caught her as she was about to fall forward and roll, urging her to quickly cast a recovery spell, only to have her grab my collar. It was a frequent occurrence, so I didn’t mind.
❖ ❖ ❖
I studied the Dao of Taiji with Douglas.
There were many theoretical aspects, making it complicated, but calculating and comparing various paths was not my job. It wasn’t too difficult to listen attentively and simply follow instructions.
I was seated with authorities in each field on either side of me. Even if my Qi and blood became twisted, they could immediately correct it, so there was no danger.
I was told that although my internal energy and aura were not yet harmonizing, they were confident that I would see results within this semester. My inflated expectations seemed likely to come true.
Today, I was repeatedly testing how to equalize the amount of internal energy I drew in with the amount of aura I drew in. I had tested the same thing yesterday, but each time I drew in aura, my internal energy hid in my Dantian (Energy Center), preventing me from achieving any results.
What should I adjust to find the right path? We put our heads together and pondered.
What they calculated and conveyed was not much different from researching how to interpret the Secret incantation of the Mind method.
The Internal energy cultivation method was learned by receiving each phrase, one by one, in the mind’s eye from an enlightened person. With the mindset of learning the Secret incantation for manipulating aura from them, just as there was a Secret incantation for operating the Internal energy cultivation method, I promptly demonstrated what they asked.
Boulder pulled up chairs around me as I sat in Lotus Position, looking down at me, turning this way and that, writing something down, and listing long numbers for calculations. Then, he showed what he had written to Douglas.
“Professor Mustang, take a look at this. Isn’t the initial Mana ratio a bit strange? After the second breath, here, in this part.”
“…Hmm? But this part shouldn’t change… No, wait, just a moment.”
He told me to stop circulating Qi, so I calmed my breathing and sat still.
After rummaging through the bookshelves for a while, Douglas brought out a luminous model and fitted a Mana Stone into the groove below. As I blankly watched what this was, drip, drip. The oil inside the model dripped down in droplets.
Douglas read the scale where the red oil had filled and groaned softly.
“…14.1mp…”
“Huh? 14.1? How?”
“That’s what I’m saying. This shouldn’t be happening.”
Blanc Cooper wasn’t with us today. Therefore, I was the only one who didn’t know what they were up to. Bewildered, I watched the fussing pair before opening my mouth.
“What shouldn’t be happening?”
“Ah, well, this is… It’s called a Type 2 Mana measuring device, and it’s an instrument for measuring the amount of Mana in the air.”
“Yes? Yes.”
“Originally, the Mana concentration near the capital of the Sierran Empire was 13.4mp. It’s been the same for the past 400 years. Before that, the Mana level was even higher than it is now… For some reason, the Mana level was adjusted and fixed at the current value.”
“Yeees…”
So what?
Since being reborn, I hadn’t missed a single day of Breathing and regulating energy. In other words, I had been drawing in Mana, refining it, and accumulating it in my body every day. During that time, I had never felt that the Mana had become more or less abundant. It was such a subtle change that I couldn’t feel it physically.
Moreover, in the Central Plains, it was common for people to flock to places with a lot of Qi, considering them sacred. Wouldn’t it be a good thing if there was more Mana? I couldn’t understand why they were making such serious faces.
As I was bewildered and didn’t say anything, Douglas added an explanation.
“It may seem like a very small amount, but Mana measurement records how much Mana is contained in a 10-cubic-meter area. The distance from the Yuil Mountains to the Sierran capital is considerable, so it means that a very large amount of Mana has flowed over the Yuil Mountains and reached here.”
“…The mountains?”
“Yes, the Mana concentration becomes denser as you go north towards the Yuil Mountains, and it becomes thinner as you go south.”
Douglas pulled a teacup onto the table. He picked up the teapot and slowly filled the teacup, continuing to speak.
“If we consider the edge of this cup to be the mountains and this tea to be Mana… Right now…”
The tea easily overflowed the teacup. Douglas stopped what he was doing only after the saucer was soaked with tea, and he looked back at Boulder with a serious expression.
“…It’s overflowing like this. So, even though there were no errors in the equation, the balance kept being off.”
“…Is that a big deal?”
“Probably.”
I was also flustered. If it was something I could solve, I would have done something right away, but I didn’t know what to do when I was told that something unknown was happening in a range I hadn’t been aware of.
I sat there dumbfounded before opening my mouth.
“If there’s more Mana in the atmosphere… What happens?”
“If we interpret it positively, it means that the vitality of this land is increasing… The land will become fertile.”
“And on the contrary?”
“…The Magic territory might expand its range.”
Douglas looked back at me and forced a smile. His fingertips trembled slightly, making it obvious that it was a fake smile.
Douglas quickly wrote down the equation again on the paper and calculated it. Then, he picked up the teacup with the tea sloshing around, drank the contents in one gulp, and put it down.
“This… We need to resolve this by dispatching Wizards to the Yuil Mountains, so let’s do our work for now.”
“Can it be resolved?”
Mage Boulder answered that question.
“Of course. What problem in the world can’t be solved? We need to measure the rate of Mana increase and set up a Barrier that matches it, or find the cause and eliminate it to extend the current state’s maintenance period. In the first place, Mana originates from nature, so it’s strange that it hasn’t changed consistently until now.”
“Ah.”
“It’s quite an interesting topic, so there will be many Wizards who want to jump in. If Young Master Ernhardt weren’t here, I would have rushed to the Yuil Mountains right away. Don’t worry. I’ll inform the Magic Tower of this hot and exciting news today!”
It was the first time Boulder had looked so reliable. Only after seeing Boulder confidently pounding his chest did Douglas smile, as if collapsing. He nodded a few times, saying, “Okay,” and watched him sit quietly in his seat for a long time.
“I’m sorry, Young Master Ernhardt. I was too surprised.”
“…No, it’s alright. If it’s such an important matter…”
“Anyway, it seems like we need to adjust the amount a little. Let’s see… When Young Master draws in aura, not around here… But right here. From here, with the feeling of inhaling, let’s omit this part in the second breath and try again.”
Douglas’s fingertip pointed to a certain point in the air. His aura moved like dancing, drawing a path in the air.
I was accustomed to Douglas’s method of delicately adjusting Mana and aura. I carefully listened to the Secret incantation according to the revised equation and understood what he was saying. I readjusted my posture.
I used the internal energy inside my body as it was. Since I wasn’t trying to Accumulate Energy, I converted the Mana from outside into aura and immediately led it to the Middle Dantian.
The internal energy, which had been roaming along the familiar path following the Acupoint of the lower Dantian (Energy Center), and the aura, which had seeped in from afar following the Acupoint of the middle Dantian (Energy Center), met each other.
And,
They gently intertwined with each other.
It was like the Yin and Yang of Taiji intertwining. When I matched the amounts of internal energy and aura completely equally, the internal energy didn’t harm the aura, and the aura didn’t harm the internal energy. The energy, standing side by side with an unfamiliar neighbor, gradually moved along the familiar Acupoint.
Even while rushing from the lower Dantian (Energy Center) to the middle Dantian (Energy Center), neither side’s energy became even slightly turbid. The pure and the virtuous headed side by side towards the right path. I didn’t exhale as much as I inhaled. The rising breath filled and covered my body. It was a path I had already awakened to once. It was a well-known path.
The internal energy and aura that rose along the warm Acupoint made my eyes open.
A smile naturally formed on my lips.
I performed the Threefold Circulation. It was the process of revering the sky, bowing to the earth, and reflecting on oneself. I reached the Dao by drawing in unfamiliar energy along a familiar path. The blue Essence light lingering in the calmly dispersing internal energy was visible even with my eyes closed.
Hoo, I exhaled more breath than I had inhaled and raised my head.
I first saw Douglas’s eyes, which had been filled with worry and looked more sorrowful than usual, shining with joy. Boulder, who I thought would burst into tears, had an unexpectedly calm expression.
Douglas stuttered and opened his mouth.
“Now, Young Master, now, Ernhardt, Young Master Ernhardt.”
“…Yes.”
“Perhaps, that. Just now?”
“Yes.”
I got up. My body felt light. Without realizing it, I tried to shake off my sleeves and get up, as I had done in my previous life, but since my sleeves weren’t wide, it wasn’t much different from getting up while waving my arms. I swallowed my embarrassment and drew my sword, gripping it properly.
One breath. Deeply inhaling, and with the exhaled breath.
Blue Essence light formed along the sword’s blade.
It was Sword energy.
The most lacking thing on the path to reaching the realm of my previous life was, of course, internal energy.
In my previous life, I had reached the Transcendent Peak realm at the age of forty, possessing 2 cycles of internal energy. In this life, I had diligently practiced until the age of fifteen and barely obtained 1 cycle of internal energy. And now, at this very moment. I was able to use the 1 cycle of energy that I had obtained through effort from afar.
The total was 2 cycles.
By laying a solid foundation with internal energy and erecting pillars with aura, there was nothing lacking.
“…Sword Master…”
“Yes.”
Feeling awkward about showing off my energy for no reason, I returned the sword to its scabbard.
“I thought I’d try it, and it worked.”
“…. Huh, Mage Boulder!”
“Huh?”
I hurriedly caught Boulder as he fell backward without a sound. No, was he fainting with his eyes open? I was so dumbfounded that a hollow laugh came out on its own.
It was a grateful thing that there was someone who was moved by my achievement. I laughed loudly without holding back.
A little later, Boulder woke up and insisted on seeing it again, so I showed him the Sword energy again. Knowing that he had also suffered together, I wasn’t bothered at all.