Kahli immediately assumed a cross legged stance and closed her eyes as her system activated its meditation mode. She noticed that she was starting to hum lightly out of her mouth, much like Unit 5a23 did sometimes when he was meditating.

[Welcome to meditation]

[Would you like to meditate with time dilation?]

Kahli considered this system message, figuring that what her system was asking was whether she wanted time to expand for her as it did when she was, say, leveling up. She wasn't entirely certain what to think and what to choose. Was Unit 5a23 really going to be guiding her, or had he moved on back to working on his fruit chocolate or whatever it was he was talking about?

[Incoming system request]

Now, that was a new message. Kahli wasn't sure what to think.

[Unit 5a23 would like to join your meditation session. Allow him to join?]

Kahli thought yes.

Suddenly, she saw in the darkness of her closed eyes a glowing, blue orb.

Hi there, Kahli, responded the atonal voice of Unit 5a23. I'm assuming you haven't seen me in [thoughtform] before, so I'll give you a minute to getting used to me as a meditative entity as opposed to one of flesh - er, I mean, of metal.

Kahli waited in silence. She was definitely a little confused here. [Thoughtform]? What does that mean?

You really should've been taught this when you were younger, Kahli. By the gods, do all [paired] taumans have such trouble adjusting to the abilities of their systems? Don't answer that, Kahli, I know you don't know.

Kahli thought that Unit 5a23 was beign awfully stern and grumpy for someone who was supposed to be so centered and above emotions and peace loving. But, she didn't say anything - she didn't want to make him any more cross than he already was.

Regardless, let's focus on the important things, which don't include how obnoxious I find it that you seem to be a complete novice when it comes to meditation. Really, it is fine - I am happy to facilitate your education.

He didn't sound happy. If anything, he sounded more than a tad pissed off that Kahli had actually taken him up on his offer to train her. Still, Kahli stayed silent, staring at the glowing blue orb that was Unit 5a23's [thoughtform].

Okay, so. [Thoughtform] is, in essence, a mental construct that you can assume when in a meditative state. If you are exceedingly skilled at meditation, you can actually achieve [thoughtform] outside of meditation, although more often what people do is employ their [thoughtform] and then project it outwards to the outside world. This is, of course, useful for all sorts of different reasons - however, doing so takes a very advanced level of meditation, and will take you much time to get the hang of. That said, if you work hard at it, as I do, you will one day be able to project your [thoughtform] and use it to act out things in the physical world. Of course, affecting the physical world in your [thoughtform] outside of visual and audio effects is near unheard of, however some of the most powerful meditators have been rumored to be able to do just that.

Kahli would've nodded, but of course she wasn't moving. In fact, if she tried to move her physical body, she saw a message from her system telling her that moving her physical body would end the meditative session.

Now, the first thing I'll have you do, Kahli, is enter your own [thoughtform]. It's a pretty basic meditative maneuver for anyone with a system. Essentially, all you have to do is clear your mind of all thoughts at all, and then think about activating your [thoughtform].

Kahli tried to do this, but it was incredibly difficult. She first thought about how condescending Unit 5a23 was, and then about how badly she wished to stand up and scratch the side of her face that had some living wood popping up on it, and then she thought about-

You're having trouble emptying your mind, aren't you, Kahli? Unit 5a23 sounded like he wanted to push her off the side of the dragon's back at that moment.

Yes, Kahli admitted with shame.

Ugh. I had forgotten how much more difficult something like that is to a tauman as compared to an automaton. Myself, my mind is essentially a large series of on and off switches that are, in nature, mechanical. So, if I want to stop thinking, all I really have to do is switch all of them off. Well, no matter. Listen, Kahli, maybe this will make it easier for you. I've heard people use thought exercises to get into the right mental state in order to use their [thoughtform], especially for the first time. I promise, it will get easier.

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Thank you, thought Kahli.

You're... Ugh. You're welcome. Now, Kahli, try this. Try to picture all of the thoughts that you have in your head as... separate from yourself. Separate your identity from your cognition. Imagine... stepping backwards from all of your thoughts.

Kahli did her best to employ this tactic, and had what seemed to be a varied success.

Excellent. Well, hell, I don't know if it was excellent, I can't read your mind or anything Kahli, but I'll say for now that it was excellent and that you did an excellent job. Excellent, excellent, excellent.

All of Unit 5a23's repetitions of excellent were starting to make Kahli feel like she was doing a bad job or something. She didn't appreciate it, honestly. Wasn't Unit 5a23 supposed to be her teacher? It just felt like he was bullying her!

Excellent, excellent, excellent-

Then, his voice cut out for a second.

[Unit 5a23 would like to join your meditation session. Allow him to join?]

Kahli let Unit 5a23 back into her meditation session once again, and his little blue orb appeared before her.

Sorry about that. I was overheating and didn't have any bread in my chest-toaster. Now that is sorted, go ahead and imagine you've stepped back from all your thoughts as an independent entity, and then imagine that there is a large volume knob beside all of your thoughts. And then, slowly but surely, turn the dial back and listen as your thoughts get quieter... quieter... until you can't hear them at all.

Kahli did her best to complete this exercise in her mind. Then, she was there - in the future of the present moment.

Perfect. I can tell that you've reached the apex of nothingness. With that, please now think about activating your [thoughtform] so that we are able to proceed.

Kahli thought.

[Thoughtform activated]

Kahli no longer felt her physical body - indeed, she seemed to be floating around as a glowing blue orb, right there next to Unit 5a23!

Wow, this is cool, Kahli said as she zoomed around in circles with her [thoughtform]. Only, um, how do I leave this once we're done?

Well, of course if we get interrupted you'll leave immediately, and that's a big risk since you didn't enable time dilation at the beginning of the meditative session. I usually activate it, unless I'm just trying to burn time that is - not that any time spent meditating is time wasted, it's instead incredibly constructive. Regardless, you're in [thoughtform] now, and leaving it is as simple as thinking that you want to leave it. Your system can do the rest. But, before you leave, let's start working on some more meditative techniques.

Okay.

Unit 5a23's [thoughform] suddenly engorged, and then shrunk down as a small, white dot emanated out of it. This white dot then grew, and grew, and then exploded into nothingness.

What was that? asked Kahli in confusion.

That was the beginnings of a thought conjuring. You can use thought conjurings to do all kinds of cool things here in meditative space. I'll show you one now, for motivation. Unit 5a23's [thoughtform] quivered again, then engorged, then shot out another white orb that quickly grew into a large circle. This circle then started slowly fading into colors, all kinds of colors, and those colors faded into gears that whirred and changed and morphed into one another over and over again in impossible directions. Then, the loud sounds of screaming and crying emanated from this strange amalgamation, and it started leaking blood.

What in Theseosus' mighty pincers am I looking at? thought Kahli with more than a little anxiety.

Sorry, it's just another universe, thought Unit 5a23 as he quickly shot out a ray of green light that rendered the whole concoction into nothing but dust that soon faded away. Visualizing other universes can be quite entertaining. However, there are definitely times when it gets a little weird. I apologize for any stress you felt from that, know that the universe was more scared of you than you were of it, and let's move on.

Kahli tried to mentally move on, although it was tough - she was so intrigued and indeed puzzled over the fact that Unit 5a23 was dropping reference to other universes like it was nothing! What a strange guy he was - even stranger than she'd thought before, obviously.

Now, I want you to think about how you use your [skills] in your system. It's intuitive, right? You essentially just think about them, and your [skills] are a part of you, ready and at your disposal. Well, with that, here's another thing to consider -

[Meditation ended]

"Kahli! Unit 5a23! You've got to snap out of it already, damnit!" shouted Sahdi with what sounded like a hoarse frustration. This, obviously, wasn't the first time she'd yelled for them to stop meditating.

"What, Sahdi?" asked Unit 5a23 atonally. "I was just teaching Kahli how to visualize other universes and-"

"Well, do it later! Look over there!" Sahdi pointed to a cloud.

"Sahdi, I don't see anything," said Kahli. "Are your eyes okay? You might want to get them checked. I know I've had to have mine fixed with [enchantments] a few times, and-"

"Oh my gods, Kahli, right over there!!" Sahdi pointed to another cloud.

"Sahdi, stop pointing at clouds like they're enemies," said Kahli with a disgruntled tone. Froufrou squelched in agreeance.

"UGH!" Sahdi flipped her hair a few times in frustration.

Then, a terrible roar jolted everyone out of their fussing and drew their attention to a hulking, bony figure floating overhead.

"Oh, wow," said Kahli with a gasp. "A mega bone dragon?"

"Worse," said Sahdi. "It's an ultra bone dragon. And it's already done quite some damage to G'athoong's soft underbelly, though of course being a water dragon she's already started healing herself. We need to fight back, and quick, though, or she might have to come down out of the sky in order to escape this thing."

Kahli chuckled. "Let's be real, here, Sahdi. You mean you need me and Unit 5a23 to fight back. Everyone knows you won't do anything."

"I'll heal you!!" Sahdi crossed her arms. "Now focus on the ultra bone dragon already!"