The next day had come and Lily and Keng stood outside, taking in the morning suns. Gorrum and Jyu'so stood in front of them as Keng yawned and stretched. Keng wore a black t-shirt that was more revealing than the beige t-shirt with strings. He rubbed his eyes as Gorrum cleared his throat.
"Alright, hope you had a good rest. Our training starts today. We'll be starting with physical training. Run for an hour around the forest. After the hour, find a nice spot to do meditation. Elder Jyu'so and I will shadow one of you until then. You'll get more instructions after you find a place to meditate, alright?"
"Yes, sir." Keng and Lily answered.
"Go."
Keng waved at Lily before he turned and started to run. The forest blurred around him as he randomly followed a direction. He ran and moved accordingly to the space around him. He had observed Lee Seng for quite some time through memories and actual observation and learned Lee Seng had a great sense of movement. He had apparently learned parkour as a way to get out of sticky situations while he was being bullied by the Kang twins and multiple other people. Lee Seng had become slippery because he could do things on the fly. Even though Keng knew him to be a person who wasn't confident with himself, Keng respected the outcome of his actions.
Keng leapt across the tree branches, listening to the sounds around him as he tried to focus on manipulating the energy around him. He had started this habit only because Elder Jyu'so recommended him to try it.
"You must be able to manipulate energy from anywhere at anytime. You must be able to use it while you're running, walking, sleeping, even a single breath must draw and recognize the energy." Jyu'so told him. He had struggled for awhile to understand that concept, but over the course of a month, he had learned what he needed to do. He disliked the feeling of sitting and manipulating the energy, so Jyu'so had instructed him to work on Energy manipulation whilst he was doing his physical exercises. The energy pulled around him, almost like his Silver energy cloak.
'It's different from that, though.' He thought as he twisted his body in a spiral to fly in between two trees. He landed on his feet and dropped to the ground. He continued running on his way. 'It's like I'm feeling the energy distributing around and inside me. I'm not activating it, but I'm merely feeling the flow of it.' Keng had full monologues while he did any training. He wanted to understand the way everything worked and to do that, he talked to himself.
"Understanding the flow of energy is important for anyone who wishes to wield its power." Jyu'so's voice spoke up. Keng turned, sliding to a stop as Jyu'so slid past him, turning. "That's why Gorrum and I are teaching you in this way. If you cannot feel the energy at any given time, you must keep on trying until it's burned in your mind. That feeling, the way it creeps around. The energy will grow an impression on your body and you'll improve physically as well as mentally. But I accidentally dig into your mind, again, Silver one. Time has passed. You've ran for more than an hour and you didn't notice me following this time. You must be more aware of your surroundings and not think so much."
"Sorry, Elder." Keng apologized. "I just have a lot on my mind. Energy manipulation and Energy Sensory is a lot to take in especially since I'm not used to manipulating the energy around me and inside of me."
"You are used to it." Jyu'so reassured him. "If that wasn't the case, you wouldn't be able to use your powers." Shadows billowed out of him. "Pushing that energy out is what fuels our power. If we can feel our power with the energy within us, we can do anything."
"I know. We need to feel what's within and what's around to use it as fuel for what we do." Keng recited.
"Good, you do listen." Jyu'so chuckled. "Find a place to sit and meditate. We'll only be doing it for a couple of hours. Do your best to not get squirmy." Keng nodded and started off, again. Jyu'so followed him as Keng's ears twitched. He could hear a stream nearby.
'I'll go there.' He thought. He diverted diagonally to the left and listened to the water grow louder. Keng popped out of the forest and came to a stop. The breeze and scent of water passed him. He let in a big sniff of air and sighed.
"Ahhh, this'll do." He planted himself on his back in the grass and listened to the stream pass in front of him.
"You know what you need to do now. Feel around you." Jyu'so instructed. Keng groaned and sat up. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes. He didn't like the feeling of natural energy around him.
'It WaS aN eSsEnTiAl PaRt Of EnErGy TrAiNiNg.' He thought with sass. He sighed and slowly began to clear his thoughts out. Colors were the first thing that always came to him. They were wispy and barely there, but colors filled his mind. Green, blue, white, black, silver, browns. They flowed around him and made his head hurt.
"You're doing it, again. You're not supposed to push the energy to your head. It's going to give you an headache. If you're trying to practice the next part, you should at least wait an hour before attempting." Jyu'so smacked him across the head with a shadow hand.
"I don't even know what I'm doing, Elder!" Keng rubbed the back of his head. "It just happens. I sit and meditate and feel the energy around me and all I see are vivid colors in my head."
"You and these colors." Jyu'so shook his head. "Don't think so much. Don't seek them out so much. You've been unconsciously doing this since you've started trying to get the grip of Energy manipulation. Don't push ahead when you haven't walked the distance between!"
"Yes, sir. I'm trying!" Keng cracked his neck and took in another deep breath. He continued to meditate. Keng would continue to see the vivid colors. They would grow stronger and then grow weak. It kept repeating with Jyu'so smacking his head. By the end of the meditation, Keng felt like he had a huge bump on his head.
"Come, let's go back. We will do more after lunch." Jyu'so motioned. Keng stood up, opening his eyes and following Jyu'so.
"What're we eating?" Keng asked.
"Whatever Gorrum makes with the wild boar. We didn't use all of it. I think tonight or tomorrow you'll go on a hunt for some food with Lily. That should be good practice." Jyu'so nodded. Keng followed the small man back to the Tomb. It took them an hour to get back despite Keng running for more than hour to reach the stream. Keng was focused and not thinking as much. He still spent the time feeling the energy out, but they arrived with no problems.
A cauldron was sitting outside under a tree as Lily stirred. She looked up to see the two arrive back.
"Ah, you're back!" Lily smiled. She waved at the two of them as Keng looked around.
"Where's Gorrum?" Keng asked.
"Figuring out what plants we have in the garden for this boar soup."
"Ah, wild boar soup. That sounds pleasant after meditation." Jyu'so nodded. "How did your training go, my dear?"
"Training? It went well, Elder. Gorrum's a great teacher. I'm learning a lot. Feeling the energy in and around me isn't hard. I think I have it down already but Sir Gorrum insists I continue practicing. He says it's good to always do it in the morning as a way to prepare for the day."
"Gorrum is correct on that. If you haven't noticed, Gorrum's a bit of a routine man. Always finds time to meditate sometime during the day. Probably why his training regimen includes meditation. It's just an excuse for Gorrum to do it, too." Jyu'so chuckled.
"I heard that, Elder." Gorrum stepped out of the Tomb with a basket of cleaned and cut plants of various sizes. "It's a good way to start your day or take a breather. It also helps the Foxlings understand the difference between natural and their own energies." He came over to the pot and looked at it. "Good. We'll add these to it and let it simmer for a bit. I can take over, Lily."
"Alright, sir." Lily stepped away as Gorrum stood next to the pot and started to dump the various plants and vegetables into the cauldron of boiling water and meat.
"And now for some of this." Gorrum stuck his arm to his right and it disappeared into the Void Storage. He pulled out some dry spices and began to eyeball them. Once he dumped all of the necessary spices, he nodded in satisfaction and the Void Storage closed. He grabbed the stirring spoon and began to stir the cauldron. "This'll go for a bit and we'll have soup in no time!"