The Pyro Sparrows, as Xavier chose to call them, were happily chirping outside the house. Their melodious trilling rang through the entire bedroom where Xavier was still seated.
His eyes were closed, and he was trying to feel the energy within his body. Well, rather than feeling Energy, one might as well say that Xavier was trying to sense the origin of the mysterious energy.
When he first integrated Soul Essences into the Star of Energy it felt like a mysterious energy manifested inside him – almost as if emerging out of nowhere.
But that feeling changed ever so slightly as his Star of Perception progressed as well. As both the Stars of Perception and Energy improved, Xavier’s senses began to pick up something from within the tremendous amount of cold energy that surged through him.
However, only by upgrading both Foundation Stars to Novice was he finally able to grasp the mysterious energy with his will. He could sense it clearly as it passed through his body, which allowed Xavier to create a small mental roadmap of the mysterious energy’s circulation paths, how often it passed through him, and what happened when it reached his abdomen.
Xavier was still not too sure how the energy was stored inside his abdomen, but it always moved to the exact same spot below his belly button. The chilly energy he obtained from upgrading the Star of Energy circulated a total of ten times through his body before it chose to rest right behind his belly button.
Since Xavier was pretty sure that nobody had implanted something in his abdomen within the last two days, many questions popped up in his mind.
Did the mysterious energy arrive just now, or was it something more primordial? Had he always been able to store some of it inside his body? Did every human have the capability to store energy? Did the human body have a specific organ to store energy or was the ‘organ’ created as the Classless Deck linked to his Soul? Was it even an organ, in the first place? If not, what was it?
Xavier wanted to find out some answers to the question that filled his mind. He thought that the answers could help him find an efficient way to replenish his Energy after some – or all of it – was drained.
If he couldn’t accelerate the replenishment of Energy, Xavier would have to start using Air Bullets sparingly. It would have to turn into a trump card, which was a thought Xavier didn’t really like. Air Bullet was powerful and had an element of surprise but was not exactly powerful enough to consider it a powerful trump card capable of changing the tides on the battlefield.
I know that I can replenish Energy naturally. I can feel that it replenished a little bit…but from where is the Energy coming? Is my body using nutrition to create energy on its own, or is there energy in the surroundings?
In both cases, Xavier would be glad. He would start hunting mutated animals if it was the former and stay in the house and meditate if it was the latter.
At that thought, Xavier froze in his tracks. Meditate? It’s worth a try, I guess. What can go wrong with a little bit of meditation?
Xavier was already seated on the ground, but he was leaning on the wall behind him. He recalled the meditation pose and crossed his legs to sit in a lotus position. That was one of the few things he knew about meditating.
So. What am I supposed to do now? If I remember correctly, meditating mostly involved breathing. Deep belly breathing was it, I think. The conscious engagement of the diaphragm, which is a dome-shaped muscle located below the lungs, to achieve slower, deeper breaths. My memories are so great, I am rocking this!! Now, how exactly am I supposed to do this? Let’s just give it a try. Experimenting a little bit should give me some sort of answer in no time.’
Instead of focusing on perceiving energy in his surroundings – which was one of the many theories he created without feasible pieces of evidence – Xavier tried to meditate properly at first.
Meditating calmed the mind, reduced stress, and it helped inculcate a deeper sense of presence and mindfulness. It was a technique that required practice and focus. And Xavier needed his wits for the battlefield that awaited him everytime he stepped out of the door. He had to find a way to disperse the stress that accumulated within him, allowing him to create plans with a calm mind.
Even if meditation wouldn’t allow him to replenish his Energy faster, it would still benefit him. Therefore, Xavier gave it his all. He sat cross-legged with an upright yet relaxed posture. Xavier closed his eyes again, emptying his mind of all the thoughts – including the distraction caused by overthinking about the worries of the changed world, and the things he had to do in the next few days.
After a few seconds, Xavier placed his hands on his abdomen. He rested his hands gently on his lower abdomen and inhaled deeply through the nose. In a slow and controlled manner, he drew the air deep into his lungs, expanding his abdomen as he breathed in.
Xavier focused on the lower area of the lungs to allow the diaphragm to descend and create space for his lungs to expand. Then, he exhaled through the mouth, slowly and steadily, while trying to feel how the abdomen reacted as the diaphragm rose.
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The chilly energy residing within him responded almost immediately. It stirred up and spread through him. Xavier didn’t do anything actively other than trying to sense the energy course within him. He tried to understand what was happening and how his breathing influenced the chilly energy. Tendrils of energy began to spread through his body as he exhaled. The tendrils were thin and frail at first as they extended. However, as they pulled back, Xavier noticed something weird.
His hair stood up on its end and a chill spread down his spine. One of the tendrils seemed a little thicker than before. The difference was negligible but Xavier could still perceive the difference – even if it might have been a lucky stroke.
Is that it? Can I really replenish energy via meditation? Does that mean the surroundings have energy in the air, but it’s too faint for me to sense…or that my body generates it..somehow?
Xavier had no answer to these questions but he felt like he was getting somewhere. Therefore, he repeated the same cycle as before. His hands continued to rest on his lower abdomen. He inhaled deeply through the nose, and he drew the air into his lungs, expanding his abdomen in a slow and controlled manner. He continued to focus on the lower area of the lungs as the diaphragm descended, creating space for oxygen…and energy.
Xavier didn’t sense it before, but now he could. Traces of energy passed through his lungs. They spread through his lungs and passed through them. The traces of energy detached from the oxygen Xavier breathed in and began to move through his body.
As Xavier exhaled through his mouth, slowly and steadily, the energy within him spread out once again. The tendrils began to expand and travel through his body, picking up the loose energy that traversed through his body aimlessly on the way.
“Fuck me!” Xavier exclaimed, his eyes opening in shock.
He looked around excitedly and tried to see the energy all around him, but there was nothing except the familiar room.
“There is definitely energy in the air. I just sensed it. I knew it! You can actually replenish your energy by meditating. That is insane! Amazing! Perfect! Wonderful!”
It was likely that breathing normally would allow the body to replenish Energy as well.
However, meditating accelerated the process by actively sending out the tendrils to collect the loose traces of energy that spread through his body.
Of course, Xavier would have to research a lot more to gain a better understanding, but that was something he could do later. For now, he wanted to meditate a bit longer to test out how effective meditating was and to calm his nerves as well. The next 24 hours would be very stressful. Therefore, he might as well utilize this time to relax and rejuvenate and wait for lunch before he would move out of the house to hunt down every single Goblin that dared to enter his sight.
With that in mind, Xavier continued to meditate. He steadied his breathing and entered a natural rhythm that allowed him to become one with his surroundings – or so it felt.
Most Energy was lost when he breathed out, but a few traces remained in his abdomen where his body absorbed it naturally. The traces left inside him were only minuscule, but that was already much better than Xavier could have hoped for.
Intrigued by how far he could go and if it was possible to keep more traces of energy inside his body, Xavier repeated the deep belly breathing technique a few more times. He maintained his natural and gentle rhythm while continuing to practice.
That way two hours passed in the blink of an eye.
It was already lunchtime when Xavier regained his senses. His Stamina was fully replenished and his Energy was somewhat full as well. It was not filled to the brim, but it was almost full – which was a lot more than he possessed two hours ago.
“Amazi—URGH! What is this smell? Oh…right, that’s me…” Xavier cursed his heart out, smelling the disgusting stench of impurities. He completely forgot to shower and clean his grandmother’s bedroom after upgrading his Foundation Stars – something that Xavier regretted now.
While practicing meditation, Xavier didn’t really feel anything. The smell didn’t bother him much. In fact, it allowed him to clear his mind from useless thoughts as the pungent smell reached every nook and cranny of his mind. But now. Now it was the worst enemy he could face right after regaining his senses.
The stench was overwhelming and Xavier could only pray that the bedroom wasn’t permanently contaminated. Xavier rushed out of the bedroom, picked up some clothes from a pile, and entered the bathroom. He was lucky that the bathroom was empty. Therefore, he hastily jumped under the shower to get rid of his old skin’s remnants that clung to his body.
The impurities clung to him as if they were leeches but Xavier was lucky enough to remove them after scrubbing his entire body for half an hour. Once done showering, Xavier dried his body and looked into the shower.
His skin looked somewhat pinkish and tender, which confused Xavier for a moment. He recalled only then that it would probably take a few days before his new skin would lose the pinkish sheen. At least that was what Xavier hoped. He didn’t really want to turn into mankind’s first pink human. His skin was more elastic and resilient than the skin he shed before. That was a good thing. However, it was even more interesting to note that his scars looked fainter than before. The smallest scars had vanished entirely!
“Xavier, are you awake?” Silvia’s voice resounded through the house. “Lunch is ready!”
Xavier left the bathroom once he put on the new clothes. They were a bit baggy and ill-fitted for him, but that didn’t matter much. They would be drenched in blood and clinging to his body soon enough.
“I was just taking a shower. I will be there in ten,” He said loud enough for his mother to hear. Then he went into his grandmother’s bedroom with a bucket of water and a mop. Xavier opened the windows as wide as possible to let fresh air inside the room and started to mop.
“Xavier, the cleaning fairy of the apocalypse…glad to serve you,” He mumbled while mopping the floor, sincerely praying that the stench of the impurities would disperse in the next ten minutes.
Otherwise, he was as good as dead. Killed by his grandmother for ruining her precious carpet.
What a great way to die!!
****
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