The beep of medical machinery bounced off the walls of the room where Anders lay still, his breaths shallow yet even. The first rays of dawn crept through the blinds, casting a soft glow over his bandaged form.
Zayzal's eyes fluttered open to the gentle morning light, and for a moment, he struggled to remember where he was. The smell of antiseptics and the sight of Sera slumped in the opposite chair with a bed head brought it all rushing back.
‘So, it wasn’t a dream. Damn.’ He held his head, taking a moment to process everything. For some reason, seeing Anders get severely injured affected him more than watching those “Vikings” die right before his eyes.
‘I guess it’s because I’ve spent more time with him. Though, him almost dying over some dungeon loot is certainly a factor as well.’ While dying to monsters was definitely horrible, dying from a fellow human, especially in these trying times and for such a petty reason, seemed worse.
‘...I guess we’ll have to be more careful about going on dungeon raids with strangers.’ Zayzal concluded with furrowed brows. He didn’t want to be so suspicious and wary toward others, but he’d be damned if he let something like this happen again.
‘No amount of loot is worth more than my comrade’s trust!’ With that final thought, Zayzal sat up.
He nudged Sera. She awoke with a start, her hand instantly reaching for the knife at her side. Recognizing the room, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
They both glanced at Anders but noticed he was still asleep and looked at one another.
“...Good morning,” Zayzal murmured, stifling a yawn.
“Mornin’...”
An awkward silence hung in the air.
"...Let's check the loot," Zayzal suggested, his voice hoarse. He needed something to keep his mind off Anders's situation. He’d deal with that whenever the man wakes up.
Sera nodded, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
From within Anders’s clothes, they retrieved the items he had risked his life for: a handful of gold coins, six mana stones, and a small, ancient leather-bound book.
The gold and stones were set aside, but the book piqued their interest.
Zayzal opened the book carefully, aware of the fragility of the leather under his fingers. The pages were filled with intricate symbols and a script neither of them recognized at first glance. But as they focused, the letters seemed to shift and change, rearranging themselves into words they could understand—a language that adapted to the reader's mind.
"This is... different," Sera murmured, leaning in closer. If before her mind was worried about Anders, now it was completely focused on this.
The book spoke of a meditation technique called "Mind’s Eye." It described a method by which one, through guided meditation and the utilization of mana, could journey inward, exploring the body and everything in it with one’s consciousness.
Zayzal read aloud, his voice low and steady, "Mind’s Eye allows the seeker to traverse the inner sanctum of self, a voyage not through the physical, but through the essence of one's being..."
As he read, Sera's expression shifted from skepticism to wonder. The technique required the practitioner to ‘create’ a third eye inside one’s mind, guiding their consciousness through the body, to obtain a perfectly unique, up-to-date reading of the state of one’s anatomy.
"It's not magic," Sera stated, her brow furrowed as she processed the information. "It's... it's like becoming a spectator of your own body."
"Maybe it's worth a try," Zayzal pondered, the book still open in his lap. "If this works, could we help Anders with it? Maybe this is just what I need to finally get stronger like the rest of you."
"It says here it's a personal journey and that everyone is different," she glanced at Anders, "maybe if we understand it, we can at least explain to Anders how to do it when he wakes up, and he can get a more comprehensive understanding of his condition."
With a mutual nod, they decided to attempt the meditation technique themselves. They sat cross-legged on the floor, the book laid out before them and began to follow the instructions.
They placed all the mana stones they had around them in a circle just to make it a bit easier to grasp.
They closed their eyes, each taking a deep breath. Once their lungs couldn’t hold any more air, they slowly released it. The two continued to do this while emptying their mind of all thoughts, merely focusing on their breathing.
The first step of the technique was to ground oneself. Discard all thoughts and create a rhythmic breathing cycle to allow the energy both within and outside one’s body to flow smoothly. To accept and let go of themselves as they molded with the universe.
This went on for a few minutes before Zayzal eventually fell into a trance as the energy around him flowed without obstructions. He could feel the ambient mana brush against his skin, enter his pores, and penetrate his bones, organs, blood, and everything before it left in one fluid motion.
He realized that the ambient mana was always flowing through him like this but remained neutral. It didn’t aid or hurt him, merely replenish his personal reserves.
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As Zayzal breathed, he focused his mind on different parts of his body, starting from the tips of his toes. He visualized the inside of his foot, the blood flowing through it, the sounds it made, and the slight twitches. From there, he moved up to his calves all the way up to the top of his head.
Once he finished the preliminary body scan, he moved on to the next step, which was: Centering.
With even breaths, he visualized the core of his being around his belly button, the navel. This was where power was generated. The core acts as a kinetic chain for just about every movement and it would be the same with mana, at least for this technique.
After finding his center and keeping his breathing steady, he began the next step: Activation.
Through controlled breathing, he visualized mana gathering within his center with each inhale. He saw it as a silver light that grew brighter with each breath. It was like he was pulling at microscopic threads and then trying to wind them up with his mind to keep them there.
Around an hour went by, and sweat started to pour down Zayzal’s face, with his eyes and nose all scrunched up. He was using every ounce of focus to keep that mana there, and it was starting to take a toll on his mind and body. It wasn’t long before he felt like he had reached his limit, even with his [Adaptability] talent, so he moved on to the actual creation of the “Mind’s Eye”.
With meticulous care, he guided the energy upwards through the core of his being and then towards his mind, more specifically his consciousness. It was there that he started to shape this mana, envisioning it as an eye — not a physical one, but one made of pure energy.
The process was obscure, for it was not like flexing a muscle or reaching out a hand; it was an act of sheer will and imagination. He had to believe that he really had a third eye there! Not just believe, but KNOW it was there.
It wasn’t an act of creation. He had to, with 100% of his being, act like he already had a third eye and allow his body to change to these new adaptations. In the book, it said that most people never make it past this point.
Zayzal closed his eyes, settling into the rhythm of his breath. The mantra of creating the Mind’s Eye lingered at the edge of his consciousness, but he approached it differently now, less as a rigid construct and more as a natural extension of his being.
'Is it possible?' he wondered, 'to see within myself in a way I never have before?' The idea felt less absurd now, more like uncovering a hidden truth.
As he focused, a warmth began to build at his forehead, not painful but noticeable. 'Is this it?' he thought, curiosity piquing. 'Is this the feeling of awakening something new?'
The sensation wasn't overwhelming but intimate, like the touch of a sunbeam on a chilly day. It felt right, aligning with the cadence of his breathing. 'This is part of me,' he realized, 'an unexplored aspect of my existence.'
He visualized the energy at his center not as a forced gathering but as a natural convergence. The idea of the third eye transformed his mind's eye, evolving from a mystical symbol into a tangible part of his self-awareness.
'What does it mean to see with a Mind's Eye?' he pondered. The concept morphed from an external tool to an intrinsic sense, a new way to perceive the world and himself.
As the energy flowed, Zayzal's awareness expanded. The boundaries between his physical self and the energy within him blurred. 'I am more than just flesh and bone,' he acknowledged, embracing this newfound sense.
The searing heat on his forehead transformed into a beacon of insight. 'This is the gateway to understanding,' he thought, 'a bridge between the seen and the unseen within me.'
He let go of any remaining skepticism, allowing his intuition to guide the formation of the Mind's Eye. 'This isn't just an exercise; it's a revelation,' he realized. The Mind's Eye was not an imposition on his consciousness but an unveiling of a deeper truth.
As the Mind’s Eye took shape, it was less an act of creation and more a discovery of something that had always been there, latent yet potent. 'I am uncovering, not creating,' he understood.
Finally, as he breached the boundary of the technique, Zayzal felt the Mind's Eye open.
His consciousness began to stretch and expand, pushing against the confines of his physical self. New neural pathways were formed as his brain transformed and evolved. The burning sensation intensified, and for a moment, he almost blacked out. Yet, amidst the blaze, he felt an opening—a window into a state of heightened awareness.
The sensation was overwhelming, an overflow of sensory information that one could not perceive with just five senses. It was as if a veil had been lifted, revealing a new spectrum of existence.
There, in the eye of his mind, Zayzal saw it—his Mind's Eye. It throbbed with a silver luminescence, an orb of pure mana that mirrored his willpower. It reminded him of the Eye of Sauron, but a lot less creepy.
Now that it was finally formed, he breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Damn. That was a lot more intense than I thought it would be.’ He chuckled lightly but couldn’t relax just yet. It was still sublimating within his mind. As soon as he created it, Zayzal understood that the Mind’s Eye wasn’t as simple as just using mana to inspect one’s internal structure.
It was a complete overhaul of the brain. It was like skipping thousands of years of evolution to essentially alter and evolve his genetic code to accommodate this change.
'No, I, rather, humans, have always had this ability,' he recognized, 'We just need to find it within us, somewhere deep, hidden in our genes. Mana just helped speed up the process.' At least, that’s what he believed.
With the metaphorical eye formed, he drew in a breath that felt as if it reached the depths of his soul, and with a silent command, the eye opened. Mana poured into this newfound sense like a stream into a long-parched riverbed, bringing with it an intense clarity.
The instant the Mind’s Eye unfurled, Zayzal was thrust into the Exploration Phase, a term the book had coined for navigating one's inner self.
The Eye's vision swept through him, using his innate mana as a catalyst. Starting from the crown of his head and flowing downwards, he perceived his body's intricacies—the delicate pulsing of nerves, the steadfast beating of his heart, the ebb and flow of mana. He could ‘see’ everything.
The silver mana illuminated the deepest corners of Zayzal’s being. With his Mind's Eye, each cell, each molecule appeared vibrant and distinct. The sensations were alien yet intimately familiar as if he had been blind to his own existence all this while and now finally saw the truth of his being.
Colors he had no names for swirled within him, each hue representing a different aspect of his physical and energetic makeup. He watched, fascinated, as they mingled in harmony with his thoughts and breaths.
There were knots of darker shades in places where his muscles were tense, spots that glowed brightly where his energy flowed with vigor, and faint traces where it was weak.
The insights were not just visual. Emotions, too, had their own signature. Every emotion he felt elicited changes within different areas of his body.
Zayzal’s consciousness roved through his body like a ghostly spectator. He saw the scars of past battles and tissues that had healed stronger over time. He felt the rush of adrenaline from memories of danger and the calming drip of endorphins from moments of triumph.
As he pieced it all together, the image of his body became a complete reflection of his existence in real-time. It was like a 3-D model of his entire being formed in his mind.
Finally, Zayzal drew back, pulling his Mind’s Eye away from the depths of his inner self. He released a deep, turbid breath before he slumped onto the ground, exhausted.
“Ugh.” He grunted, drained of almost all his energy. ‘I need a nap.’ With that last thought, his eyes closed, and he instantly fell asleep, allowing his brain and subconscious to finalize the changes within him.