Mirae sat with her bottom firmly placed against the dusty old pillow, her back straight—Pippa to one side and Henry on the other. At the front of the room, Instructor Kamble sat, his brown robe flowing over the large well-worn pillow as he stroked his beard. Watching.

She swallowed as the dull buzzing of a fly came from the back of the room. She wanted to scratch at her ear, but Kamble‘s gaze kept her from moving an inch. Mirae sat and waited.

A moment passed. The buzzing growing more intense. Her tongue shifted in her mouth as words threatened to bubble out. This silence was like a pillow over her face, and she needed to breathe.

“So,” Kamble said. Her shoulders relaxed—she hadn’t even noticed they were tensed. “What can you all tell me about mana? Who wants to go first?” He glanced at her with an expectant look, like he’d given her a nice setup.

Just because my brother is one of your top students doesn’t mean I’m filled with knowledge, Kamble.

Mirae shifted against the pillow’s fabric, wishing she could sink deep into it. All the while, the buzzing fly at the back of the room carried on its annoying business. What could she say? Hector hadn’t talked about any of this with her. If anything, it was a wonder he readily let her join the dojo at all.

“I’ll start instructor,” Henry said. The instructor’s lips tightened, disappointment flashing through his eyes as he looked at her, before he turned to Henry and nodded his head. The boy continued, “Mana is an energy. It flows all around us like air, but is more than that. It exists everywhere.”

Henry shifted on his pillow. He was no doubt finding it uncomfortable as well—compound that with the fly, and Mirae could more than sympathize. But he carried on, his back straightening, “Mana is the lifeblood of a Mana-cultivator, it is what gives them power, and allows them to do all the feats we hear about.”

Instructor Kamble stroked his beard. Clearing his throat, he then turned to Mirae and Pippa. “And you two. What do you know about mana?”

“It’s a type of energy that is good at...” Pippa petered off and turned to Mirae. Her eyes signalling for her to jump in.

Oh, Pippa. Good effort, but I don’t know anything either.

Mirae straightened her back and attempted to drown out the buzzing as she focused on the instructor’s forehead—there was no way she was looking into those cold grey eyes. “I apologize, but I do not know much about mana apart from the fact that it powers many of the things we use on the day to day. As well as large objects like the airships.”

Kamble shook his head and let out a sigh. His gaze flickered to the window as he scooped up a small piece of chalk. His hand whipped out, and the air snapped. The buzzing at the back of the room stopped. “It seems only our friend from the Papyrus quarter has some knowledge of mana. I must say I expected better, especially from you, Mirae.”

She fidgeted as the weight of his gaze rested on her. Her heart fluttered, and she resisted the urge to investigate the design of the room’s mat. “At home, we don’t speak much about these things. I mostly spend time focusing on my garden. But I hope to fix that with your guidance, sir.”

“Hmm... I should hope so.” The instructor rested a hand on his knee as his gaze wandered around the room. “So, what is mana? As Henry here said, it is the lifeblood of a mana cultivator. It is where a Mana-cultivator starts and is where a Mana-cultivator ends. There is nothing else.”

Kamble pushed off his knee and stood, grabbing a long piece of chalk from the floor as he did. He nudged the large pillow to the side with his feet and began writing on the board. “Mana comes in many forms, but what you three will focus on is chaotic mana.” He scribbled the name furiously onto the old chalkboard, setting off a mist of chalk and dust.

“This is the foundation of mana cultivation. It is what you draw into your soulscape and convert into affinited mana via a four-step process. And these processes are, in general terms: absorb, capture, cycle and funnel. Any questions?”

I’m so confused. What the heck is a soulscape, and how do we even get mana there?

She raised her hand. Kamble nodded. “Sir, what is a soul scape?”

Instructor Kamble frowned for a moment in thought, then his hands burst into motion as he began to draw a diagram. It was the body of a human, not too well drawn—instructor Kamble seemed to not draw in his spare time. But what made the body special was the lines and circles drawn on it.

“This is your body, and within it is the soul scape. Don’t ask me exactly where—the soulscape is not a physical place.” He continued scribbling on the board. “And this here, these circles and lines are your mana veins and mana nodes. It is the way in which you extract mana from the environment. Is that clear?”

Stolen story; please report.

“Yes,” they all said in unison.

“Good.” He reached down to a small ledge at the bottom of the chalkboard and picked up a block. He then wiped the board. “So, back to the four principals of cultivation. What are they? Pippa.”

The girl tensed, her eyes going wide as she looked from the board to the instructor. “Umm... absorb, capture... and... umm,” she stuttered to a stop and turned to Mirae. Her eyes again signalling for her to jump in.

And Mirae did. “Absorb, capture, cycle and funnel, Instructor Kamble.”

He nodded, “Stay focused. These steps are important. You will need to implement them later when I give you your cultivation techniques.”

Oh, my stars. We are going to get cultivation techniques.

The instructor flicked the long sagging ends of the robe’s arms as he continued to write. “As Mirae said, the four basic and fundamental principles of mana-cultivation are: absorb, capture, cycle and funnel. These will allow you to grow your soul nucleus, which is where we as Mana-cultivators get our abilities.”

Instructor Kamble turned back to their group. He frowned for a moment. “Do you have any questions before I move on to the next topic? If you have any about the soul nucleus, you can save them. It will all make sense once you cultivate. All I will say is that during the funneling process, you should aim the mana that you gather directly above you. You will understand what I mean.”

Do I have any more questions? I don’t think so. He’s answered all of my major ones, so I guess not.

“I have a question, sir. How does any of this relate to the dojo’s battle techniques?” Henry said, his voice laced with determination.

“Ah, you mean techniques such as our legendary Orion Fist. Well, that’s simple,” Kamble said, stroking his beard. He nudged the pillow back to its original position and plopped back down, kicking up another plume of dust. “The Gravity Forging realm strengthens one’s body, and that is important. As even if you know a handful of battle techniques, you could be crushed by those who have far superior cultivation. Though there are those who can shorten that disparity with pure skill. Your brother being one such person, Mirae.”

Her cheeks flushed as warmth crawled up the back of her neck. While it wasn’t her being complimented, it was still a little strange to have someone praise Hector.

“But to answer your question, you need battle techniques to augment your strength. Because raw strength isn’t everything. It’s how you use it.”

Having finished his speech, Instructor Kamble stood back up and walked to the side of the room, to a small shelf. He opened it, pulling out three worn books, their green covers browned with age. “These hold the cultivation technique of our dojo. I see that look in your eye. Don’t be impressed. I just made some changes to the standard Kurma manual you can find in stores.”

“Is that safe, instructor? I’ve heard that—”

“It’s more than safe, my boy.” Kamble shuffled back across the mat, plopping back down onto his pillow with a huff. He splayed the three manuals out on the floor before him. “Okay, each of you take one and read over it. We are then going to move on to the practical application.”

Mirae nodded, focusing on the tattered green-brown book, its cover splotched with stains. As she reached toward the book, the sunlight seemed to converge on it and her hands shook, reverence overtaking her.

She was about to enter a world that had only been a dream. A world only her brother and father knew of. But now—no, she had always been a part of it. Her visions didn’t come from nowhere, but now she would take a step in finding out where they came from.

She scooped up the book, careful not to damage its delicate form, and began reading. The book described the process of cultivating mana, of taking it into your soulscape and cycling it around your soul's manifestation.

The words were more detailed than what Kamble had said, but the same four principals were there. Absorb mana into your soul space, capture it into your soul orbit, cycle the mana until it has become affinited, and then funnel it into your souler lagrange point, forming your soul nucleus.

It all made sense. It was all simple.

After a good while of silent reading, Kamble spoke up. “Okay, now that you have familiarized yourselves with the cultivation techniques, it is time to get hands on with it.”

“I want you all to follow my lead.” Kamble then crossed his legs, wiggling into place on his pillow and closing his eyes. Mirae did the same. “Now I want you all to focus inward, listen to the rhythms of your body. That is the path to your soul.”

That is the path to my soul. I need to focus in on myself, focus on the rhythm.

A wave of calm washed over her. Her heart thumped in her chest, her skin prickled. All these sensations, all of them, had a rhythm and it was going somewhere. She followed her heartbeat, each thump became more intense. Building and building, until...

She found herself standing in a void, a black, all-consuming void. She looked to her feet, and there she found water, ankle-deep and still. “Is this my soulscape?” Her mind went back to the words of the book as she turned in the empty void, the water glowing as she moved.

It said the next step was—

“Good, all three of you have entered your soulscape. It’s quite impressive. I thought it’d take a bit longer.” Instructor Kamble‘s voice echoed through the void. She could follow it if she wanted to, but from what the book said, doing that would break her meditation.

His voice continued, “Now comes the absorption process. I want all of you to take a deep breath. It will feel like you’re breathing through your entire body. I want you to grasp that feeling and pull.”

It’s just like breathing, just breathing.

She took a breath, and immediately the void began to throb. She fought to keep her focus, as it felt like her body had become a gaping hole pulling in all around it.

After a few moments of bearing this, she noticed a light form in the void above her. A small weak light. It drifted through the void lazily, going about its business. A few moments later, another light appeared.

This is it, this is what the manual said. Chaotic mana motes. Now I just have to pull them in and capture them.