After the longest birthday party in his life, Kaden was finally alone in a room with his father, ready to begin.
He hadn’t been the slightest bit interested in the presents or all the other stuff, hoping all of it would just end as soon as possible.
“So…” Camden scratched his ear, a bit unsure of himself. “How to begin… well, let’s just start from the beginning.”
“The goal of meditation is to draw in the surrounding essence. To do this, we first need to enter a tranquil state.”
“How?” Kaden said, eager to skip the introduction and get to the important parts.
“I’ll get to that. For now, we need to start with your sitting position. Cross your legs like mine.”
Kaden tried to emulate his father, but when he looked down it wasn’t quite the same.
“Like this?” He asked hesitantly, doubtful he had gotten it right.
“No not quite, here, let me show you,” Camden said, unfolding his legs so that he could guide him. “One by one, put each foot on the opposite thigh. Yes, like that. Good. Now, remember to keep your back straight.”
“Why?”
“Uh well, I’m not really a meditation expert, but it’s necessary, okay?” Camden sighed, already regretting the fact that he agreed to this.
Meditation had never been high on his list of interests, and he had no need for it. He really wasn’t an expert, but he had to see this through.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Camden said, “Anyway, now we move on to the next part. Close your eyes.”
“Next, control your breath, slow it down and breathe deeply. Feel the air as it fills your lungs, energizing your body. Hold it in for a second, then release it slowly.”
As he slowed down and entered a steady rhythm, Kaden felt his body relax and his heart beat start to slow.
He sat like this for a few minutes, his body relaxing more and more. Seeing that he was doing well, Camden continued.
“With your body at ease, it is easier for your mind to relax too. The next step is quite hard, so there is no rush. When you feel ready, clear your head and let your thoughts evaporate.”
Kaden took a few more deep breaths to calm himself, and then tried to follow the instructions, clearing his head.
But… it didn’t work for him. In fact, the results were the exact opposite of what he wanted, as even more thoughts flooded his head, erasing all the calm he had built up.
“Don’t try to force it, that will only make it worse.” Camden could see he was struggling and tried to offer guidance. “Relax, let them move on their own. If you don’t pay them attention, they will disappear one by one.”
They continued for a few hours, with only a little progress. Kaden found that he could clear his head for a few seconds now, but then his concentration would break and the thoughts would come rushing right back in to fill it up.
Camden frowned, wondering if it was simply too much to ask of a three-year-old. He didn’t have a frame of reference to compare Kaden to, as he himself had not bothered learning meditation before his tenth birthday.
***
They continued with the practice of clearing one’s head for the next few days, spending an hour or two every morning.
He was getting a little better every time, but progress was slow. A week passed, and they sat in the training room once again.
Kaden felt that his mind was blank like a canvas, completely empty and devoid of distractions.
A wave of excitement rushed through him, and just like that the state was broken again.
“Good, very good!” Camden cheered, beaming a smile at him. “That was a full ten minutes, which means we can continue.”
Kaden cheered inwardly. After a dreadful week, it was finally time to move on.
“The next step is quite complicated, and I can’t guide you while doing it. I’ll do my best to explain. All living things have strands of essence flowing through them. You will have to enter the tranquil state, and search through your body to find one of these strands. As for how to recognize it?” Camden cleared his throat, taking a brief moment to think.
“Honestly, it’s impossible to describe, but you will know when you find it. Once you do, lock on to it and follow it back to the source. From there, all you have to do is reach out and touch your core, filling it up with your consciousness.” Camden said, watching Kaden’s face to see if he understood. “Did you get all of that?”
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“Think so. Find the source then touch it, right?”
“Essentially,” Camden said, nodding. “It will make sense when you try it yourself.”
Camden thought he was prepared enough to give it a try, so Kaden started clearing his head once more.
This process had become somewhat easy for him, and it wasn’t long before he slipped into that tranquil state.
With his mind clear, he turned his focus to his body. Scanning from head to toe, he watched out for any lingering signs of essence.
His practice with the cube had paid off, and it wasn’t long before he found a strand.
Latching onto it, he followed it as it flowed through his body. First through his arms and stomach, then into each leg before going back up through his other arm and into his neck. Like a full circulation.
When it finally entered his head, it was like a scenery sprung out in front of him, appearing out of nowhere.
It was a hazy dark space, with only one source of light, originating from a transparent blue crystal floating in the middle of this place. Pulsing like a heartbeat, it emitted bright radiant strands of blue light. Each flash lit up the dark space, showering it in blue.
Watching the heart beat, Kaden felt his essence flow in sync with it.
He controlled his conciousness to go closer, and the closer he got, the more overwhelmed he got. It was like he could feel all the essence in his body, and influence it as he wished.
As his conciousness finally came into contact with the core, a myriad of information rushed into his head. No longer just feeling the essence inside of his body, he could feel the essence all around it too. It was everywhere, like air.
The sheer sensory overload from being exposed to all of it at once made him lose his concentration.
New Passive Skill Learned [ Essence Manipulation (Basic) ]
Having touched the core, your understanding of essence has increased,
giving you the ability to manipulate it within your body.
“It’s not so easy, huh? Don’t worry, you’ll get there next time.” Camden said, giving him a pat on the shoulder after seeing him lose concentration.
“I… I felt it.” He still felt overwhelmed from the experience, it was nothing like he had imagined.
“You what?” Camden said, raising an eyebrow. “Really?”
Kaden nodded.
“Wow uh… Did you get the skill?”
“Think so.” Kaden read the skill information out loud, and Camden confirmed it was the right one.
“Well… Good job then, I wasn’t expecting you to accomplish it so soon.”
“What is this skill?”
“Nothing much, a basic one. But it’s a prerequisite to learn skills that use essence, it’s the only reason most people bother with meditation. And for them, it ends here, but you still have some way to go. I’ve taught you everything you need though, next time, you just need to enter your core again and keep your concentration for as long as possible. It will take a while to improve, but you wanted this, so make sure you stick with it.”
“I will.” Kaden gave a firm nod. There was no way he was going to give up here.
Camden laughed and ruffled Kaden’s hair. “Come on, let’s get something to eat, practice can wait.”
***
Camden sat at the table in his study, thinking.
That son of his impressed him a lot lately. The kid had spunk, that was for sure. No challenge was ever big enough to discourage him.
It was admirable, and Camden doubted he would’ve had the same disposition at that age. And the kid was damn intelligent too.
He had intended to hire a teacher for Kaden when Lily turned four. That way, they could study together. But now it seemed stupid, and he had to reconsider. Holding Kaden back for half a year was just too wasteful.
***
The day after his first success, Kaden was practicing his meditation once again.
This time he had easily found his core, and when he touched it, that same world changing experience spread out before him. His perspective shifted, and he could feel the essence floating all around him.
Soon there was another shift, as his body started acting on the essence, drawing it in towards him. He didn’t even mean to; it was like his body was just instinctively doing it by itself.
It was incredibly slow, like his body only had a slight influence on the essence. It was still noticeable, but before he could even draw in a single strand, he lost his concentration again.
He sighed and took a quick break to refocus, before continuing his practice. No matter what it took, he would make this happen.
For days he practiced an hour in the morning, and an hour in the evening.
By now it was painfully clear that it was far too easy to lose concentration, and that the process itself was far slower than he had expected.
After an entire week of dedicated practice, he could only last for two minutes before his concentration broke.
That was also what made him sit down and reassess his plans. He had finally realized why Camden had given it an estimate of a year.
Even though he spent two hours every day, it didn’t mean that the time was spent productively. He couldn’t concentrate for long, and two-thirds of his practice time was spent on getting into the tranquil state because to he had to start over constantly. That left little time for actually absorbing the essence.
His concentration was a bottleneck, and he was limited by it constantly breaking.
At this rate, he wasn’t on course to achieving his goal of leveling up in a 100 days. Knowing this, he had no choice but to double the amount of time spent practicing every day. At least until he improved.
But practicing for four hours was unrealistic and would only be a waste of time. He had to split it up. Thinking it over to find the best solution, he decided on two hours in the morning, an hour somewhere in the middle, and then the last one before going to sleep.
This way he would have time to recharge between sessions and do most of his practicing in the morning when he was newly energized.
It would be a hard schedule, but he was good at repetitive tasks like this. He had to be to read the same books repeatedly.
***
Switching schedule had been hard, but after a few days, he was finally rewarded for his hard work. That made it all worth it.
Essence Absorbed
+1 Experience
It was a small and brief notification, but it brought with it a great deal of hope. Now he only had to do it... 99 more times.
That fact was a bit devastating. It had taken so long, just to achieve so little. But it was nowhere near enough to deter him. The first step was the hardest, and it would only get faster as he continued to improve.