Chapter 47 - Disciple

Boss reaches out his palm, facing up, in between us.

Then, as if a hologram projector from sci-fi movies is switched on, a miniature planet appears on his palm.

"Spiritual energy, it's all around us. Anywhere that life exists, it's present. Anything that lives, has a tinge of it in their essence…" He starts.

This is the first time he's starting out training with a lecture, and not an order or an instruction.

Then, as if Google Earth, the illusory planet on boss' palm zooms in, displaying an aerial view of mountains, rivers, and lakes.

The view zooms in even further and it shows a forest containing oversized and more colorful versions of real world animals and plants.

What I'm interested in more though, there is this glowing smoke or fog in the air which moves near each living thing. That one giant rabbit for example, some wisps of the glowing fog is slowly spiraling around it.

Then, based on what boss just said, I guess this is some sort of a visual representation of spiritual energy? Is this what it looks like if I see how spiritual energy is used by boss' seals and formations?

"Our kind…"

Boss continues and he switches off the illusion on his palm and suddenly, on his hand, it's as if the space or air is distorted into a spiral. Then in the middle of that spiral, a ball of yellow flame materializes.

"...Has the potential to harness this energy."

As if my mind is not already blown, the yellow flame transforms itself to what looks like a beautiful lotus that is crafted out of yellow tinted glass.

Then, the flower slowly floats towards me, as if wanting to be closely appreciated. Before I realized it, my index finger is already approaching the flower, already feeling the heat coming from it.

Then, it explodes, almost startling me.

"That is simply one of the most rudimentary ways we can harness it." Boss says.

'Rudimentary', he's right.

Even though he used spiritual energy to display some fire ability, I think it's just a party trick compared to the other things I've seen him do.

"Now, I want you to close your eyes." Boss commands, which I follow.

"Try to look inside yourself. The…" Boss starts guided imagery as I feel probably his finger on my forehead.

From his finger, I feel this comforting feeling, both cold and hot, travel throughout my body.

Now this is odd. I see it. Around me, even if I don't turn my head or move my eyeballs, I see a vast black expanse around me, and within this huge expanse, there are hundreds of billiard-ball sized orbs of light scattered, peacefully suspended.

Above, I also 'see' one orb of yellow light, much brighter than the rest, and is probably hundreds of times larger. And somehow, I feel, that these orbs of light, no, these stars and sun… are mine.

"Congratulations. Welcome to the real first step to your journey, disciple." I hear boss' voice reverberate in my mind as he retreats his finger.

Disciple?

Me?

Months ago, when he said I was a potential disciple, I only thought I'd be just that, if I do well.

Even after I've trained and got to be as strong as Blade Tornado, my aim was to grow as strong as boss.

But now… I feel like boss just opened the door to something that is bigger than just growing stronger, or me just being his disciple.

Journey?

Boss chose his words carefully.

Yes. This feels like it is a start of a long journey. My journey that begins by me joining boss' journey.

I don't know what to say. I feel validated, welcomed, and happy… I feel great. But… I'm scared to open my eyes.

"You won't even look me in the eyes?" I hear boss say.

I know he's joking, but I'm scared. I don't want to open my eyes. I feel like these 'stars' in my body would disappear if I open my eyes.

What if I don't see these again? I feel that they're mine, but what if the moment I open my eyes, I lose them?

"It's fine. Open them." Boss says.

Looks like he knows what I'm thinking, as always. Yeah, there's no fooling him. Let's bite the bullet for now, screw it.

After opening my eyes, I am greeted by boss, or shall I say, master, smiling.

"M-master." I can only address him. What should I do? Should I bow? I should bow.

"Keep seated. I don't need that. Just address me comfortably." He says, keeping me seated.

"This time. You should look within yourself by yourself, and access your inner world without my assistance… Close your eyes." He orders me instead.

I close my eyes, and my fears earlier are warranted. I don't see my sun and stars anymore, just darkness.

"Relax. Try feeling around you. Feel it." Boss assures me.

It looks like he knew this would happen.

Okay. Relax, and feel around me. And feel it… I don't know what 'it' is, but I try.

...Nothing.

Aside from the gentle breeze that smells like pine trees and grass, nothing.

"Find that feeling." I hear boss' vague words once again.

Feeling… Is it that comforting feeling? Find it… How? Sometimes it's frustrating that boss just won't tell me the entirety of what he wants me to do.

As I take a deep breath out of frustration, I smell it… No. More like feel it.

Whatever that is, that has to be what boss is talking about.

Okay, that's the key, right? I knew it. There's a reason why boss had me change my breathing pattern to the one he taught me.

For now, let's keep breathing.

Inhale…

There… again… this time, I feel it gather right on my skin… Good.

Whatever it is, it's getting closer.

Inhale…

There, there. I feel it entering my body. That's it. Just like the feeling boss gave me earlier, just a bit weaker.

Then, I start to see them. But they're not as clear as I saw them earlier. It's like there's a thick black fog obstructing them.

Inhale…

maybe the more apparent the feeling is, the more I can see them more clearly...

And, There they are… getting clearer. But more importantly, this pleasant feeling brushing my being, I want more…

A few repetitions later, I see a change...

There they are, again. My sun and stars, in all their glory. Shining just as brightly as when I first saw them.

Among the 'stars' in my body though, I see something else.

It's as if the dark fog that was obstructing my sun and stars, has changed and is now among a glowing white and blue mist. A familiar-looking glowing light blue fog.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" I hear boss say.

"Yeah…" I can only reply.

Spiritual energy. This has to be spiritual energy.

They 'look' just like the visual representation of spiritual energy in the illusion boss showed me.

The glowing fog, is not a visual representation after all. It's here. I feel it. And I want more.

Inhale…

I don't know how long has passed or how many cycles I did, but I'm getting used to it.

There is another change. The strength of the light emitted by my stars are starting to pulsate.

Weak, strong, weak, strong, in different intervals.

"They are just waiting to eat some spiritual energy, what are you waiting for?" I hear boss say.

As soon as the urge to ask boss how to do that, the glowing fog which has grown in thickness, start moving towards some of my stars. Then, the stars that are absorbing the spiritual energy, stopped pulsating and are now glowing stably.

But. Out of the hundreds of my stars, only a few of them are eating.

There has to be a more efficient way of feeding them, right?

Hmmmm…

Well, these stars are mine and I feel like I can control them as I please.  So, why not do it the other way around? Instead of me guiding the spiritual energy to them, I'll just have them vacuum the spiritual energy instead?

This group over here…

That cluster over there...

Those ones down there…

All of you, eat. 

Good…

That easy. I'm such an idiot for not thinking of that sooner.

But now, there's the problem. The fog of spiritual energy I've accumulated are quickly clearing up, and soon, gone.

The stars though… Are now brighter. They're back to pulsating once again, but they're a bit brighter than before. Okay. I need to get more spiritual energy to feed these guys. 

I don't know how long I've stayed like this, how many breaths cycles I did, how much spiritual energy I've accumulated, or how many times I've fed my stars, but I feel like I'm at an impasse.

The spiritual energy fog is getting thicker, but I guess my stars are full.

"Impressive." I hear boss say.

Impressed of what? 

"Why don't you play around with the fog? Hm? Do you know how clouds and rain work?" He suggests before I can ask. 

Hmmm. Okay, sounds fun.

I then command the thick fog to form up above. I try to use my 'sun' as the reference point to where I should make my 'cloud'.

Alright. Another waiting round…

A long while later…

Finally. I was bored out of my mind of the repetitive process, I was tempted to stop, but I fought through it. So, it's almost finally here.

The cloud is now so thick and wide. Thick that it looks like cotton candy. Wide that it even covers some of my stars. Just a bit more… And…

*sssss*

Drops of what I can only assume as spiritual energy I've concentrated and condensed, starts falling. .

Then, right at the middle of everything, the droplets start accumulating into a thin puddle. What's strange is that, as the puddle accumulates, that feeling of warmth and cold  of spiritual energy, intensifies. And that feeling is accumulating right below my abdomen, and above my pubic region.

Soon, the cloud has dispersed into thin fog again, and the puddle is now peacefully suspended, as if lying on top of an invisible ground.

SO… what now? Do I do it again? Somehow, by body is telling me to expand this small puddle.

"You can absorb more in the future." Boss interrupts me.

"For now, let's do something else? Something that would require a lot of focus."

Okay. Absorbing spiritual energy already took a lot of focus.

"Let's connect the dots." He says.

Connect the dots? Hmmm. Like constellations? Alright.

I start manipulating the shape of one of my stars… And it's fuckin hard.

Suddenly, I feel a pang of pain on my left thigh, as if it was stabbed with a dull knife and I am forced to open my eyes.

"Being recklessly eager will get you hurt." I see boss looking at me with a smirk.

Yes… Yes... But I don't know what I did wrong.

"Boss. My leg is killing me." I can only ask for his help.

He does his healing technique to me and I feel better immediately.

"Don't you feel that your body, is somehow full?" He asks, and as soon as he said it, I feel like my muscles… or bones… I don't know, but somewhere deep in them, something is about to burst.

"Assume pose 1, Focus on your inner world again." He orders me, and I quickly stretch my legs out, assuming the pose before closing my eyes.

Unlike before, I see my sun and stars clearly immediately as soon as I closed my eyes. I notice though that this time, maybe because of the change in my position, that some of my stars, start growing some sort of limbs, and those limbs slowly connect to each other.

After completing one cycle of the breathing technique, twelve of my stars have connected to each other, forming what looks like a web of light. It looks great.

Then, one of those twelve stars, has its 'limb' soaked to the puddle of concentrated spiritual energy in the middle.

I see… It looks like these stars will now eat from the puddle of spiritual energy instead of vacuuming the spiritual energy fog.

Wait a minute…

My legs…

They feel the lightest they've ever been…

And that feeling too…

"Spiritual energy in my legs…" I cannot help but utter as I realize it.

"Only a part of your legs, to be precise." Boss confirms.

"Now, assume pose 2." He then orders, not allowing me to bask in the feeling.

Okay… Now I get where this is going. I have to complete 16 poses to connect these stars to each other.

Wouldn't that mean that my muscles, my body will now harness spiritual energy? Holy shit, I'm excited.

"Calm yourself down and focus on your breathing. One careless slip up and what happened earlier will repeat itself." Boss calms me down.

"In the future, I won't always be with you when you train, so you have to be careful. You don't want to be crippled." He then warns.

Okay… Okay… That was close then.

From now on, slow and steady.