Alnea opened his eyes, and looked at the empty scroll in front of him with a completely flushed face. He probably deserved the embarrassment for doubting his master. But he did not wish to let his master know about either of those things. So, instead of raising his head, and looking towards her, he pretended to be in deep thought, and kept looking at the empty scroll.
Thankfully, as he calmed his Heart, bringing it back to its Serenity, his face too returned to its normal self. Feeling a bit more confident about himself, Alnea cleared his throat, and looked up from the scroll, only to find his master looking at him with amused smile. Did she already know everything? Was his stupid Heart betraying him once again?
“Did you understand everything?”
“…Yes, master.”
“Do you have any questions?”
“…No, master.”
“…Are you afraid?”
“…With you by my side, what do I have to be afraid of, master?”
“Be serious,” his master said, flicking his forehead. “The Art of Spirit Rebirth… This will be the first time that you will be experiencing the Mysteries of the Origin Sea in person… At least those that are not related to your Roots. They will not be friendly to you. If you slip up, the consequences will be very dire. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I am sure, master,” Alnea said, in a firm, and adamant voice. “I will try not to make any mistakes… But even if I do end up making any mistakes, I will not regret my decision. Because this is the only way for me to keep my Oaths. The only way to become strong enough to protect you.”
“I am glad to see that you conviction, and resolve are still firm.”
“It’s all thanks to you master. You are—
“And your cheekiness is just as blatant as ever. It looks like you are fine.”
“Of course, I am. I am Alnea Oathkeeper, son, and disciple of Nyssa Thornbearer. Mere Arts, and Mysteries cannot scare me.”
“If you are so cheerful, then you should be ready for trying out the First Cycle of the Art of Spirit Rebirth.”
“…I am ready.”
“Good. Then go ahead, and start the first Forging of your Spirit as a Wanderer, Alnea. And do not worry. Like you said, I will be by your side. If something goes wrong, I will save you in time.”
“…I know, master,” Alnea said. “But I will never let things reach that point. I will do this on my own.”
“Silly child,” his master said, caressing his cheeks, and looking at him in his eyes. “May Goddess Ilea watch over you, and bless you.”
“…I need only your blessings, master.”
“…You are getting better, and better at sweet talking,” his master said, shaking her head while chuckling at his response. “I wonder where you are learning that from.”
“…These are the most sincere words coming right from my Heart, master,” Alnea said, pouting at the implication of his master’s words.
“…Forget it,” his master said, caressing his cheeks once again, before looking at him with a solemn gaze. “Be careful.”
“…I will.”
With one last glance at his master’s face, Alnea took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, letting his consciousness enter his Spirit World. There was no need for him to close his eyes to accomplish that feat. But closing his eyes did give him better concentration, and focus. And he was going to need every bit of both of those things. Just to be on the safe side, before beginning with the Art, he even observed his Spirit Power. Just about a hundred units. He had been using his Spirit State for quite some time, so that little consumption was expected. But confirming it helped him plan out his—
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On second, thought, other than delaying the inevitable, it did not do much. He did not admit to his master, but he truly was afraid. Too afraid. In fact, he was so afraid, that he was trying to think of all kinds of excuse to either delay practising the Art, or just abandon it altogether. He could not do that though, or else he would be disappointing his master, and running away from his Oaths. Both were things that he could not accept.
Thus, brushing aside all his fears, Alnea reached towards the thread connecting his Spirit to the Origin Sea, and began borrowing Oren. Not in a carefully calculated manner of one unit at a time. It would not matter what the size of those threads would be in the end anyway. So, he just reached out, and kept borrowing Oren, stuffing it all into his Spirit, until his Spirit began feeling bloated, telling him that it could not bear it anymore. At least not without losing control.
With that, the condensation phase of the Art was over. Next was the dispersion phase. Following the instructions from the memory in his head, Alnea began disintegrating all the threads of Oren, spreading them all around his Spirit, before breaking even those tiny threads, and the threads that came from them, and on, and on, until no matter how much he tried, he could not break them down anymore.
However, in the process, he learned another thing about handling Oren. The lowest amount of Spirit Power needed to condense a thread of Oren was around one hundredth of a unit. Or maybe, that was also related to the limit of his Spirit Power. He would probably learn about it in a few days when his Spirit Power would increase. In any case, if his calculations were correct, then there were roughly twenty five hundred threads of Oren inside his Spirit. Even with their miniscule size, the threads were not enough to completely occupy his Spirit, but they were not required to do so in the first place.
After making sure that the threads were evenly distributed throughout his Spirit, Alnea paused for a few moments to gather his courage. The threads of Oren were so small that all they were able to do was to send tingling sensations throughout his Spirit, while making it feel a little warm. It did make him feel a little uncomfortable, but nothing he could not handle.
However, if that was all there was to Forging his Spirit, then the method would not have been abandoned. And neither would his master have been so worried about him. What he was about to do… Just thinking about it was making him shiver. Still, he knew that he had no choice. Whether it was for himself, or for his master, for Yuri, and Cecilia, and even big sis Serena, and his mother, he had to get past his hesitation. But…
Enn’s beard, Alnea thought. So be it. What was the worst that could happen? With his master by his side, he had nothing to fear. Without any hesitation, Alnea reached within himself, and made all the threads of Oren inside his Spirit vibrate in the manner as the instructions in his memory asked him to. Of course, just that was not enough to manifest the Mysteries of the Origin Sea. So, he reached deep within himself, to the thread that connected his Spirit to the Origin Sea, his Roots, and forced it to vibrate in a similar manner, making sure that his summons reached the Origin Sea.
And it did reach the Origin Sea. It reached the Mysteries he had called for. And the Mysteries responded kindly, barging into his Domain, ignoring all its defences. After all, he was the one who had called them. It was only natural then, that the Origin Sea would allow them entry into his Domain. No, not just his Domain, but his Spirit World itself. Because that was where he had sent the invitation from. That was where his Spirit was.
Almost as if they were cheering for the prey that they had caught, the Mysteries of the Origin Sea came rushing into his Spirit World, and surrounded his Spirit, ready to pounce upon it. Right before they could do so though, the thousands of the Oren threads vibrating inside his Spirit began to behave strangely, and left his control, as if they had gained a life of their own.
But they did not run rampant inside his Spirit. They did not even stop vibrating. Rather, they were vibrating in an even more vigorous, and strange manner. And before he knew it, the Mysteries, that were about to pounce on him, quietly slipped inside of his Spirit, and enveloped those threads of Oren. Or were they devoured by those Oren threads? It did not matter. The end result would be the same.
To get to that end result though, he had to summon more Mysteries from the Origin Sea. Thus, after making sure that neither the Oren threads, nor the Mysteries were running rampant inside of his Spirit, he reached out to the golden black thread connecting his Spirit to the Origin Sea once again. According to the instructions in the memory, next, he had to summon the second set of Mysteries by making his Spirit, and his Roots beat with the same strange rhythm.
Of course, Alnea did not have enough control to make his Spirit shake in such a strange manner. But he did not need to. His Spirit was already undulating as if it had no solid form, and was filled with air, or water. Not intentionally, but as natural defence mechanism against the Mysteries that had manifested inside of his Spirit. That was the basic concept of the Art of Spirit Rebirth, after all. The cycle of Creation, and Destruction. The cycle of Origin.