I concentrated on the 'unseen wind's' interaction with my body.

I tried to feel the movement of energy, but nothing. I just felt the wind's contact with my skin and nothing more.

Wait skin? I was under a thick fabric; it couldn’t be my skin, but what? I had to reject all of the material world right now. I observed the wind again.

The heat couldn't disappear; it had to transfer somewhere.

Wait, maybe, yes, I was feeling a membrane slowly heating up around me from all of the impacts.

It was hard to keep my focus; my head ached more and more, but I felt I was on the verge of a breakthrough; I couldn't stop.

I followed the energy; it was dissipating from the membrane toward the inside; it seemed to flow through paths; they somewhat bore resemblance to blood vessels.

I tried to find where those paths lead. It was hard; I had to start over dozens of times; they were dividing, converging, hundreds of times, just like the root system of an elderly tree.

There it was, I felt a faint, inconsistent, shapeless source of heat within. All paths lead to it; it was like a candle's flame. I knew what it was, without a single doubt.

"My soul."

Immediately after I perceived the flame, a terrible cough took over; droplets of blood flowed from my mouth and nose.

My muscles were shaking, my heart rate became unstable, and my breathing was fast and short.

A metallic taste filled my mouth; my capillaries were severely damaged by the unexpectedly high blood pressure.

Nonetheless, I felt immense joy; I was in a state akin to what Olympic athletes reach after a performance. I finally breached my comprehension of the human body.

It was still hard to think; I went too fast, and I overstrained my brain.

If I wished to pursue magic further without dying, I had to take my time.

The pain was slowly returning to me as the endorphins faded away. I was kept conscious by the initial high and excitement.

Now my body was getting so heavy, I couldn't keep myself up and fell on my back. My lids were slowly falling; everything was overtaken by a sticky black void.

A warm red dawn greeted me at the end of my slumber.

The sun climbing the sky between mountains, breath taking!

I never enjoyed nature's beauty so much ever before.

Going by the sun's position, I slept a bit less than a day. My body was stiff and my mind foggy, as if I had spent years in a coma. I washed my face and quenched my thirst.

I was getting quite hungry by now, but there was nothing I could do. Monks could fast for weeks while meditating. I should try to replicate their feat. While meditating, I could ponder my soul.

I sat down and closed my eyes, like before.

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I knew not for how long I was there. As the only times I wasn't submerged in darkness were solely to drink or urinate.

I couldn't keep track of time as I slept dreamless hours undistinguishable from meditation.

The feeling of hunger vanished some days after I started; I felt as light as a leaf; I perceived the wind better than ever.

All this time, I tried to broaden my perception of myself, like before, I analyzed my spiritual presence.

When I looked at myself through closed eyes, I could now distinguish a faintly glowing figure. My mind was getting more and more used to such prolonged concentrations.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

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I now realized why the flame at my core was so unstable; many paths that led to it were intertwined and clogged.

Even if my external membrane absorbed the ambient magic energy, most of it would dissipate somewhere inside my body without reaching my core, creating an unsteady flow.

At first, I tried to push from inside with the little energy I had. It ended not only not helping, but terrible pain struck my lower stomach. I lacked power right now, I had to change my approach.

More energy was required to start refining my spiritual vessels. If I couldn't increase the efficiency of the energy absorption, I had to increase the amount. If I increase the permeability of the outer membrane, more magic could flow inside.

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It took me days; I failed at making my spirit’s outer membrane more vulnerable to magic, but I succeeded in increasing my magic intake.

I created a technique that increased the magic intake my body received, but due to the increased strain on the vessels, it had a time limit. I could sustain it for about half an hour right now.

By filling the membrane with energy and releasing it at once, it creates a magic void around me. Ambient magic would flow faster than usual, such as when water fell faster in a waterfall than it streamed in a river.

With this technique, I could stack up energy faster inside my core. I could soon start purifying my spirit.

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My core was no longer comparable to a candle's flame; it became more akin to burning alcohol fumes. still unstable but much more powerful.

I was now ready to start the purifying process. As the energy from the core flowed through the vessels, pushing out the impurities, a burning sensation propagated from my lower stomach throughout my body.

I pushed more, my lungs cramped, and I couldn't breathe anymore. However, I couldn't stop anymore; it's like pushing a sled down the mountain; you could push it over, but once in motion, it couldn't be stopped.

A filthy smell attacked my nostrils, and the impurities started being ejected. I felt like I was being torn apart from within; it was painful, but I had no choice.

In a last effort, I concentrated my last bit of magic and completely cleared my vessels. The air around me was very hot and smelled really bad, but before I could do anything, my mind went all black again.

I woke up to the same horrible smell. I had never actually been near a corpse, but this is what I imagined it would smell like.

For the first time in weeks, I stood up easily and swiftly. My body wasn't even a little sore, and I honestly felt extremely well. But this one thing almost ruined everything—the damn smell.

First thing, I undressed myself and washed away the greyish impurities stuck on my skin in the stream.

The water was freezing, but I enjoyed this bath nonetheless since I didn’t have the opportunity to wash myself for at least 4 weeks by now. Then I washed my clothes and put them on some clean rocks to dry them.

Being without any clothes, wet, and on a mountain was very cold. And I couldn't wear wet clothes; it would've been even worse. Then I had an idea: I could try using my new, stabilized core.

I could easily absorb ambient energy and collect it in my core at astonishing speeds; if I combined it with my absorption technique, I could reach more energy than ever.

My lower stomach was getting warm—such a pleasant feeling.

I circulated all of my energy toward the membrane and made it into a shell-like shape around me. The warmth embraced me, and it was even too hot. It felt like a very, very warm bath. At least I wouldn't catch the flu while I waited for my clothes to dry up.

Surprisingly, it wasn't hard to maintain my magic blanket. I was so busy with training that I didn't even fathom what I just achieved.

Even if it was weak, it was magic—my magic. I concentrated some energy in my palms and looked at them in awe.

A little bit of blueish smoke was emanating from seemingly nowhere. I was staring dumbly at my palms, like a toddler seeing them for the first time. Magic was so fascinating, I wanted to learn every bit of it.

Some time later, my clothes dried up, and I got dressed. How was I supposed to know if I finished the challenge or not?

I had no idea how to get the exact time; in truth, I was not even sure of my approximation. Did I continued meditating until I die or what?

I panicked a little bit. I didn't feel hungry, but I knew my body was getting weaker by the day.

If I start meditating again, I wouldn't realize my imminent death, and so I couldn't summon the Gate in an emergency. Should I just call it now?

A force pushed me away, and in a burst of light, the Gate appeared. The door did not open yet; only a blueish message appeared.

-Notification-

Congratulations! You completed the challenge. You may now leave this instance of the first car. The next time you enter this car, it will be shared between every adventurer.

It was such perfect timing; I didn't even believe it at first, but my worries were gone.

I was now a true adventurer; I felt that anything was achievable. I had to go find Kim Jinhyung now. I would earn my forgiveness.

I wondered how much stronger he was now. I myself was unrecognizable, my body was lean and pure, and above all, I now had magic.

I entered the Gate and smiled.

"Wait for me, Jinhyung."