Upon arriving home, Kailin sat by the window overlooking the fields of flowers, feeling the calm before the storm.

After a few moments of reflection, he left his bed and sat on the floor in the "lotus" position his father had taught him, which should help him focus and sense the chi around him. The room was quiet, as if time had stopped just for him to face the thoughts he had long tried to ignore.

He felt a hint of hesitation creeping in as he prepared to use the "Breathing – Harmony of Life" technique for the first time on his own, without his father's supervision. "Can I really do this?" he wondered. These doubts had haunted him for some time. His talent for cultivating chi wasn't entirely clear, and his questions about himself seemed to grow with each training session.

He had watched his peers grow and progress; some had shown remarkable talents from a young age and reached advanced levels before their sixteenth year. He was often told he had "great potential," but were these merely encouraging words from his family and those around him, or was there a truth he could rely on?

He was nine when he started learning the basics of chi, back then training felt more like a game, something enjoyable without the heavy expectations he now felt. Seven years had passed since those days, and Kailin never felt that he was advancing quickly. He watched his friends climb the mountain of progress while he remained at the base, staring quietly upward.

Sometimes, he asked himself if he was a "hidden genius," someone with untapped potential waiting for the right moment to explode and reveal itself. He thought he might just need a spark, something to awaken that dormant power within. He was waiting for the moment he could prove to himself and everyone else that he could achieve something great, something beyond the modest expectations he held.

But there was also a darker thought lingering in his mind. "What if I'm just a failure?" he wondered silently. "What if these seven years have been nothing but futile attempts?" This thought often haunted him, especially when he was alone, away from encouraging words or hopeful looks from the villagers. He wasn't even sure why he continued; was it his true desire to succeed, or merely the pressure of being the village chief's son, expected to be strong and exceptional?

"I've never trained alone like this before…" Kailin thought, feeling a bit uneasy. Training with his father gave him a sense of safety, a shield against direct failure; his father was always there to correct his mistakes, making every step seem easier. But this time, there was no one to tell him if he was on the right path. This moment, with all its freedom and independence, felt both isolating and pressuring.

Despite all this, his desire to succeed outweighed his doubts. Something within him drove him to keep going, even if it was just a faint hope that he might have a unique talent, something not yet revealed. He may not have fully realized it, but this desire, this hidden passion for training and self-improvement, was the fuel that kept him going.

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He took a deep breath, as if preparing to face himself before facing the technique. Now he stood before a new challenge, an experience he had never had before. "Alright, let's try," he whispered to himself, attempting to calm his doubts. It was time to practice the "Harmony of Life" technique, to search within himself for the energy he had always felt existed.

"Let's begin…" he whispered firmly, readying his mind to dive into a deep state of meditation. He began with slow, deep breaths, intentionally feeling every particle of air entering and leaving his lungs, imagining this air as the life energy flowing around him.

At first, he focused on his inner voice, trying to calm his thoughts and conflicts. After a few moments, he opened his mind to the energy around him. He imagined transparent threads, invisible lines connecting him to the outer world; the trees of the forest, the scent of the earth, the sounds of the wind, and the whispers of nature. Everything pulsed with a hidden energy, as if inviting him to merge with it.

On his first attempt, he felt a weight inside, as if his body was blocking him from receiving the chi. A minute passed, then two, with no change. Eventually, he felt frustration, and a thought of doubt crept into his mind: "What's wrong with me? Why don't I feel anything?" But he remembered his father's words, how he had told him that patience was the key to controlling chi. He gathered his courage and took deeper breaths, trying to let go of all negative thoughts.

On his second attempt, he decided to focus more on sensing his surroundings. He listened intently to the sounds of nature around him: the rustling of trees, the chirping of birds, even the faint sounds of insects. He imagined these sounds as waves of energy filling the air and began to visualize how he could draw these waves toward his body. Yet, despite his efforts, he couldn't grasp anything, as though his energy remained trapped behind an invisible wall.

In his third attempt, Kailin chose to abandon all efforts to "control" the energy, opting instead to simply be part of this universe. He took slow, deep breaths, and with each inhale, he imagined his body melting gradually, as though it was losing its boundaries and becoming a connected entity with nature. The inhale brought energy, and the exhale released tension and anxiety from his body.

Suddenly, he felt a gentle warmth flowing through him. It started in his toes and gradually moved up his legs, then settled in his abdomen, specifically in the energy center known as the dantian. He realized that this warmth was the beginning of his connection to chi, the first sign of success in the technique.

He kept concentrating, trying to amplify his sense of chi. He imagined the chi as a faint light flowing from the ground beneath his feet, slowly rising and filling his body. He pictured this light seeping into him through invisible pathways, like arteries, stretching from his extremities to his center, where the dantian waited to receive and store this energy.

With each breath, he felt the light growing stronger and more vivid. The energy lines, or "meridians," began to glow in his mind's eye, like small streams carrying droplets of light. He felt a deep relief and tranquility he hadn't known before, as though the chi he had absorbed was cleansing his body from within.

"I did it!" he whispered to himself, barely believing he could finally sense the chi. He felt his body pulsing with life, as though a newfound power flowed within him, warming his heart and granting him a hidden strength. He realized that this energy was the first step toward achieving his greater goal, toward protecting his village and his loved ones.

He took another, deeper breath, trying to absorb more chi, but something suddenly changed. He felt his energy connect seamlessly with the nature around him, as if the trees, plants, and even the air itself were whispering to him, guiding him into a world larger than he had imagined.

He wondered eagerly, "If this is just the beginning, what could I achieve in the future?" He knew this was merely the first step, but he also realized that his journey toward power and knowledge had truly begun, and he was ready to face the challenges awaiting him, with a heart connected to nature and a mind armed with patience..