***

It was not unusual for Tao to spend much of the night awake. He often couldn't sleep long into the night or woke up sometime before sunrise. Even though Tao generally slept less than his sisters and parents, he did not experience sleep deprivation during the day. No doubt it was not normal for a 3-year-old boy's brain to harbor the mind of an adult, but it still seemed funny that his rebirth had such a side effect. Tao also accepted the possibility that the spirit power had somehow affected his brain, but he could not say for sure. For the time being, the boy felt no ill effects from it, so he did not hesitate to use the sleepless night hours for his training.

As usual, Tao poured water into a jug, but not to practice magic. He put it on the floor beside him.

"What's this?" Eleya whispered.

The boy involuntarily turned his gaze to the hallway. He was aware that whispers from the kitchen couldn't be heard in the bedrooms, but he did not want to risk it.

"If my mother comes in and asks what I'm doing here, I'll tell her I wanted a drink," Tao replied just as quietly.

Eleya nodded in understanding, or so it seemed. The forest spirit's tiny face wasn't so visible in the moonlight from the window.

"Then... shall we begin?" Tao asked.

"Yes, soon. I still need to make a circle." Eleya said.

Before the boy could find out what she meant, the forest spirit bowed or crouched, couldn't quite make out, then took two steps forward and repeated the movement and moved on again. Eleya moved quickly and in the darkness was more like a mouse or a rat crawling into the kitchen looking for something to eat. Behind her on the floor was left a small, oval object, which Tao thought was poop at first. A moment later, the boy realized that they were small, dark stones. Eleya arranged more than twenty such stones in a circle around the boy.

"What is this?" He asked.

"They will help me concentrate."

"But if my mother notices..."

"Don't worry, they help focus the spirit power, but otherwise they're not magical."

Tao knew that in Sofra's eyes, it would be strange to see her son sitting on the floor in a circle of small stones. Whatever Eleya said, it looked quite magical.

"If anyone comes into the kitchen, I'll push them aside." Tao decided to warn his ally.

"Then we better not waste our time, yes?"

The boy sat down on the floor and tried to ready himself for what he had to do tonight.

"Take that amulet off too," Eleya demanded.

"You said it didn't bother you."

"Usually yes, but we want to do something special now... best not to let other magical items have even a minimal effect."

Obeying his father's will, Tao always wore the dream protection amulet around his neck, day and night. At first, the metal chain irritated his neck a little, but with time he got used to it. He usually only took it off when he washed, so without the amulet, it meant feeling naked. Tao, however, obeyed Eleya and reluctantly put the amulet on the floor, outside the circle.

"Will that be all?" The boy asked.

The forest spirit sat down on the floor across from him as well.

"Yes. I will begin then. Be ready at my signal."

"Yeah."

Tao took a deep breath and tried to relax.

This wasn't something either of them could do whenever they wanted. To reduce the chance of being disturbed, the boy picked nights when his father was away and Safia slept in the mother's room. Despite the precautions, something could always go wrong.

Eleya had offered other possibilities if you could call them that.

If the boy's family was the problem, perhaps he could make sleeping medicine from his mother's stock and feed it to the parents and sisters?

Tao rejected that out of hand. Not only would it be morally wrong, but there was also the possibility that the mother, who was in the business of making medicine, would realize what was going on. Besides, what if another attack on the village happens at this time?

Another idea was to dig a new chamber under the house with magic, where they could train undisturbed. Although Tao was interested in learning more about this magic, it would not change the fact that someone might notice his absence.

In the end, the only acceptable option was to try to be quiet in the kitchen and hope that no one would disturb them.

The little doll-like body sagged as if it had lost some of its vitality. The boy reasoned that this meant that Eleya had started to work. He couldn't say for sure, after all, Tao still couldn't detect the spirit power. He hoped that would change soon.

The boy thought that the tiny stones around him were getting a little brighter, or for some reason reflecting the moonlight more.

"It's done. The barrier is around you." Eleya's delicate little voice seemed tense.

"All right..." Tao nodded.

All winter Tao had been trying unsuccessfully to sense spirit power until he concluded that his method would not be successful. The disturbance was a barrier of spirit power that renewed itself with every breath. The boy had tried to reduce its effectiveness by allowing a small amount of spirit power to flow through. Eleya claimed that should have been enough to sense anything, but her perception was different. The first time when Tao was able to affect water and snow, he summoned a huge amount of spirit power. The boy reasoned that learning this skill the same way would also be more effective.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

But that would mean risking letting other spirits sense his power, and he also had to watch out for Sigi's sensitive nose. Finally, Eleya offered an idea that was for a change not entirely hopeless.

Tao completely freed himself from the barrier of spirit power around his body. Like removing the amulet, he felt naked again. His aura of spirit power now flowed freely. In a way, the boy needed to concentrate more to avoid forming a barrier, but overall, it was not a problem. He could now concentrate and release a greater amount of spirit power by focusing it on his mind.

The forest spirit was silent, so Tao judged that everything was going as planned. His aura and spirit power, free of the boy's barrier, were contained within the barrier Eleya had created around him. Unlike Tao, she was able to create her barrier over a wider area, creating a sort of meter-sized bubble around herself and the boy. However, this was not easy and required more power, especially when Tao insisted on doing it within the village and his home.

Now it was all up to me, the boy began to concentrate seriously on his task.

The process was mostly the same as before - to release his spirit power and make it flow back into the body, only with more volume and without the worry that the puppy would sense something. More spirit power meant more opportunity to detect it, and more variations in changes of its nature. But Tao didn't rely on just a lucky chance to accidentally discover this ability.

For a year, the boy had regularly tried to find out more from Eleya about this mystical energy called spirit power or sindura. Even if it defied the laws of physics as he knew them, this power was not chaotic, without order. Other laws and principles governed it, Tao just needed to understand them and act on them.

If this is a dead end, then I have no choice but to change my thinking, the boy finally decided.

In his understanding, the physical body, the energy it created, and the mind, which was made up of electrical impulses in the brain, all belonged to the physical world. But in this world, everyone was guided by a different principle: the physical body creates the energy of the spirit, which is influenced by the will of the mind. Body, mind, and spirit were three different essences, three different realms, so to speak.

The body belongs to the Material Realm, and the spirit power is part of the Spirit Realm, but what about the mind? Tao wanted to know.

Eleya agreed that the mind was something else, but could not give a clear answer either.

"If a living being, physical or spiritual, can think, it has a mind. It is neither physical nor spiritual... and it doesn't really have a Realm of its own, apart from the Realms of Dreams and Magic."

This only confused Tao even more. But when he asked more about it...

"Eh, don't think too much about it. Trying to understand what the mind is - that’s the quickest way to lose it."

True, the countless philosophers and researchers on Earth hadn't quite gotten to the bottom of this either. Tao, however, felt a certain irony when a supernatural, spiritual being told him to philosophize less.

And yet the mind influenced the power of the spirit, which in turn influenced the material world. Even if the spirit power and the mind were obscure elements, their connection with the body and the physical world was undeniable. This was the basis for Tao's understanding of how these forces worked.

Spirits were able to speak to the mind of physical beings. Eleya confirmed that they used spirit power to do this. So not only was the mind able to influence the spirit power, but the spirit power also could influence the mind.

But to influence and to sense were not the same thing. When the Tao moved or released spirit power inside his body, it affected the living tissues, the nerves picked it up and signaled to the brain that something was happening. It didn't matter how much spirit power he released outside his body - if this energy didn't physically affect his body, it couldn't be felt.

Tao reasoned that the sereni dogs, too, might not feel the spirit power directly, but how it affected the material world. That is why they reacted most actively to magic. Spiritual beings like Eleya were in a different category. It was simply not possible for the Tao to acquire their ability to directly sense spirit power. This meant that the forest spirit radar technique had the same problem - even if a boy learned to alter the nature of his spirit power so that it reflected from the spirit power of other beings, his senses wouldn't be able to pick it up.

One possible option would be to alter his spirit power so that the physical senses can sense it, but that would probably mean that other physical beings would sense something too. This would quickly bring the Tao's abilities into the open.

The answer is not the body, but the mind. The power of the spirit must be modified so that it is not the nerves that feel it, but the mind, Tao concluded.

Was this even possible? The brain normally takes in information from the senses and forms an understanding based on it.

But if the mind is more than just electrical impulses in the brain, then perhaps it is possible, Tao reasoned.

If there was a direct link between the mind and the spirit power, it didn't matter if the boy's senses and brain structure sensed nothing. The mind would be able to perceive the information anyway. The difference was that he had to command the spirit power not to be felt but to be understood.

Not the body, but the mind.

Tao was aware, however, that this idea was not very well founded or even logically strong. Eleya knew too little about the constitution of beings clothed in flesh to be able to make any concrete statements, while Tao made several guesses about the relationship between spirit power and mind that may well have been wrong.

But if the will of the mind affects the spirit's power, doubt will hinder it. In the end – I need faith, the boy said to himself.

Tao learned to influence water not through deep knowledge of H2O or the nature of spirit power, but through strong perseverance and countless attempts. He believed it was possible, so he succeeded.

To put aside his doubts and concentrate all his will on this possibility was the only way.

Tao had closed his eyes to avoid outside distractions. The house was silent, and there were no outside noises. The boy could smell the scent of sourdough his mother had prepared for tomorrow, probably to bake bread. Other scents, such as dried medicinal herbs, were so familiar that the boy's nose hardly noticed them.

Don't think about it. Forget about the physical senses, just concentrate on the idea. The information about the power of the spirit moving from the hands to the face... Tao tried to focus his mind.

He allowed the nature of his spirit power to change, hoping that some part would conform to his will. Just as it happened with water. At first, only a small part of the released spirit power was able to influence the water and ice. Later, when Tao understood better exactly how the spirit power had to be changed for this purpose, he was able to do more with less.

"Tao, your barrier." Eleya's whisper broke the boy's concentration.

He realized that he had unconsciously resumed forming the spirit barrier around himself, so he removed it again.

Just as the mind and the spirit power are linked, so are the mind and the body. Body and spirit power too.

Tao repeated these thoughts like a mantra.

In a way it was appropriate, after all, he was sitting almost like a Buddha, striving for some form of enlightenment.

"Tao, we have to stop," Eleya announced.

When the boy didn't answer her, the forest spirit spoke again, more insistently.

"I'm running out of strength; I can't maintain the barrier around you anymore."

Reluctantly, Tao stopped the exercise and re-established his barrier. When the boy opened his eyes, he saw more light coming from the windows, indicating that morning was approaching. Tao felt a heaviness in his body from sitting in one position for so long.

Almost like before, when he sat in front of the computer all night, the boy even felt some nostalgia.

Well, this time he hadn't lost touch with the outside world because of a video game or something like that.

"How did it go?" The forest spirit asked, getting to her feet.

She stretched, ignoring the fact that the tiny body was artificial.

"I felt something, no that's not the right word… I perceived something... at least I think I did." Tao slowly replied.

"You think?" Eleya furrowed her brows.

"Like cones from my hands to my face, but irregular, like spots. I saw something like that in my mind. No colors or other details. Maybe I just imagined it, but..."

Tao smiled.

"I have a faith."

"That... doesn't sound convincing."

"Better than a clear failure, anyway."

"Maybe... but, that mean to do this again?"

"Yes… if you will help me."

Eleya didn't look very happy with the question and pursed her lips.

"Your debt to me is only growing, you hear?" she announced, holding out a finger to the boy.

"I know, thank you."

Tao tried to stand up but froze on the spot.

"Uh..." he groaned.

"What happened?" Eleya asked.

"Nothing, just..."

"...?"

" I have leg cramps." The boy complained.

Fortunately, Eleya was kind enough to help with a therapeutic massage.

Of course, this was also added to the debt.

***