The next few days were strange for Kael. Martin had sent him a text the next day, informing him of a possible lead his father had mentioned. There was not much to go by yet, and he would need a few more days to do his own research. Interestingly, it seemed that Jason had not been to school since the incident. The teachers had apparently not mentioned anything about his absence however, so they would have to wait and see.

With all the time that had already passed since that night, Kael was not worried that he would get the authorities involved. There might be a personal vendetta in the works, but living his life in fear of something that might or might not happen did not sound particularly appealing to him. So he focused on something that he could do: Training.

By now, he had a decent understanding of how the awakening had affected his senses. All of them had seen a boost in power. But what was more than that, the most impactful change had happened somewhere in his subconscious?

In the beginning, he was overwhelmed. Feeling the wind drift past his arm, accurately noticing the direction in which the air was moving. Feeling the minute changes in temperature as the air absorbed some of his body heat. The energy of the sun slowly transitioned from the surface to below his skin. His brain was just not able to keep up.

Training had changed that somewhat. Exposing himself to different stimuli had brought his brain to its limits time and time again, slowly forcing it to adapt. By now, he was able to ignore most of the unimportant information. That was not to say that the information was lost, however. Instead of being actively processed, it was being filtered and analyzed in his subconscious instead. How? He had no clue, but it worked.

This way, his head was free to work while a wealth of information was at the tips of his fingers. There was one major downside to this method. Since the knowledge only surfaced when he "asked" himself a question, there might be something he missed by not asking the right questions. At the end of the day, it was an acceptable compromise for him.

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Aside from training with his senses, magic was the main focus since Martin had explained it to him. It sounded easy at first. Guide the ambient mana into your pool until it is expanding. Martin's explanations and demonstrations had helped him immensely to understand the process. Theoretically, he knew what he had to do. In practice, however...

Using the sensations and feelings as a guide had sped up the process a lot. It took Kael three days to find his mana pool, and that was with the help of the experience he had in the awakening. Once that part was done, he had to guide the ambient mana. The only problem was that he could not feel the ambient mana at all.

He knew it was there. The feeling was unforgettable as it gathered in Jason's will and was hurled at him. Again when Martin had healed him, and AGAIN when he had demonstrated the process during his explanations. But STILL, he could not perceive anything. This was the step he had been on for close to five days now.

A sigh escaped Kael when he once again failed to sense the arcane energy supposedly surrounding him. Sitting in lotus position below the green canopy of a small cluster of trees had not helped at all, marking another of his ideas as a failure. The ambiance had helped calm him down, making the meditation easier, but had sadly not increased his arcane perception.

He looked up at the sun, light breaking through the loose cover of leaves. "About two hours past twelve? No, should the sun not be closer to..." A sudden beeping sound ripped him out of his thoughts, making him flinch. Then the sound repeated, and he looked around, trying to identify the source. By the third ring, Kael had realized that it was his cell phone that was ringing.

Picking up the call, he heard Martin's unforgettable voice. "Yo! Kael! I got news! You got time to meet? It's kinda important." Kael had to suppress a slight chuckle as he, once again, noticed how their interactions had changed in the past week. Gone was the shy teenager, replaced by an outgoing and happy one.

"Hey Martin. Yea, I got time. I'm in the park. You want to come here or do we meet somewhere else?" - "Mhh Yea, I'll get there soon. Just have to pick something up on the way. You won't believe what happened today man. We had this math exam today and" Kael had trouble understanding Martin's voice for a second when the loud sounds of an arriving subway drowned it out.

"So yea, fuck that question. Who would know that anyway, right? Hey, I'll need to hang up now. See you in twenty minutes then." - "Sure see you then." The last syllable just left his mouth when he heard the click of the disconnecting connection. "Could at least wait for me to finish. Haaa... Well whatever, he will be here soon anyway. No time for another round of mind games sooo... Let's just enjoy the warm summer sun in the shade."

Drinking in the smells and sounds of the park with his improved senses, Kael waited for his friend to arrive.