Tom found himself sitting in the metal ring once again.

He’d been sitting here for around twenty minutes trying once again to use his senses.

Dr. White had given him the same spiel as before about the special stone that he needed to point to while sitting in the metal ring. His job was to sense the stone and track it with his finger.

Simple.

He just had to follow the magic stone that he couldn't see due to the itchy blindfold she was making him wear.

Tom ran through the list of ideas he'd tried using to sense the stone previously: random guessing, listening closely for small rolling noises, trying to see through the blindfold, deep meditation, even trying to estimate where it should be on the ring based on its initial velocity.

None of that had worked so Tom decided he would just sit there and ignore the stone, where ever it may be. He figured that he might end up feeling where it wasn't or something like that. The absence of a stone in enough places to tell him where it actually was. Maybe that was the trick.

But he wasn't feeling anything from the area around him in the ring.

If anything, some part of him felt more drawn back to where the other students were likely standing and practicing whatever cool magic Dr. White had scheduled for today.

She'd started class off by getting him in position in the ring, before moving back to the rest of the class to begin her next lesson.

Based on what he was hearing, it sounded like the string thing they'd done yesterday was only the beginning. Now they were working on enforcing some weird type of rock to make it stronger.

Dr. White had told him he would be caught up soon and to just focus on sensing the energy source around him and point to it.

Right now, he wasn't pointing at anything. He'd just been sitting in the ring with his legs crossed.

Tom pondered the times he'd seen Arthur sense things. The first he big reaction he'd seen from Arthur was at the store where they'd first met Vincent. Thinking back to that time, Tom hadn't felt anything weird at all from the man. Another time during their trip to Silverleaf, Arthur had sensed the painted on symbols for the safe havens.

He didn't have too many other examples besides those two.

Tom was mentally beating himself for not asking Arthur how Dr. White's class had gone for him yesterday. He'd gotten too caught up in looking for the deer and then everything happened with the bear, so school had been the farthest thing from his mind.

He was sure Arthur had sensed the stone yesterday. Maybe Arthur hadn't even needed to sit in the circle, but Tom had a feeling his friend would have volunteered to test his senses when Dr. White asked if anyone wasn't sure on their ability.

How would Arthur have done it?

His friend had a tendency to overthink things, but Tom knew deep down that Arthur always trusted his gut when he wasn't sure of something.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

So where would Arthur's gut be pointing right now?

Where was Tom's own gut pointing right now?

Tom thought back to the loose sensation he'd felt earlier back toward where the rest of the class was with the oak tree.

He lifted his hand up much higher than where the small stone could even be, and pointed over to his right.

"What are you pointing at there?" Dr. White asked from a few feet away.

Tom jumped, not expecting her to be right there watching him. He'd literally just heard her voice around twenty feet away a few seconds ago.

Still blindfolded, Tom replied in the direction he thought she was standing and said, "I'm not really sure. It just felt right."

"Your hand is much higher than the metal ring. Shouldn't you be pointing closer to the ground?"

"I don't really feel anything coming from the ground though. Not feeling a ton from where I'm pointing right now either but it feels more right to me."

"Well. It makes sense you don't feel anything from stone rolling around the ring. The biggest energy source near you is actually behind the oak tree. A different stone, carved with actual runes. The little one is just normal ink lettering."

Tom ripped the blindfold off his head and looked down at the stone, which had settled close to his right foot.

Dr. White continued saying, "It's normal not to have a very defined sense of your surroundings yet. My main goal in having you sit in this ring was to take some time and focus on getting that first inkling of what you're looking for."

"Going forward, you'll begin to notice more and more sources of energy ranging from plants, animals to even your fellow classmates. That rock behind the oak tree is the equivalent of a natural energy light house. Feel free to come examine it after class."

Tom looked to her and asked, "Why have the smaller stone rolling around at all?"

"It serves to help you separate thought from what you're feeling. You thought the stone around you must have some energy signature that you were missing based on what I told you. You correctly ended up feeling the real source of energy nearby though, which was a matter of trusting yourself."

Tom mulled over that information and figured she was right. He had been fixating too hard on the little rock in the metal ring surrounding him.

His thinking was interrupted by a thin black piece of rope landing in his lap.

Dr. White pulled out a rope of her own saying, "Great work sensing the stone. Now, let's focus on the next task. The trick to this rope is pushing out your energy in a steady controlled manner, just enough to contract the fibers and allow it to rise."

The rope in her hand began to rise and fall in a steady manner.

"Now you try."

Tom picked up the rope in his hand, just as she had. He stared at the rope intently and tried flexing his hand.

The rope didn't budge.

"Keep at it," Dr. White said with a smile on her face, "Also feel free to join the other student by the tree. They're working on an enforcing technique slightly more advanced than this one. For now, just focus on getting a feel for making the rope rise."

Dr. White walked back over to the other students and Tom followed behind her, cradling the rope in his hand.

Tom spent the rest of the class period trying everything he could think of to get the rope to move.

His new situation with the rope felt infuriatingly similar to sitting in the metal ring trying to sense the stone.

Dr. White finally announced that class was finished and reminded all the students to practice their enforcement techniques.

Tom and the rest of the students began collecting their bags and walking away from the oak tree when Dr. White made another announcement.

"Before you all go, please grab a textbook from the box by the tree. The reading due tomorrow includes chapter one along with the practice problems at the end of the chapter. Please feel free to annotate your copy as you read. The author intended for you all to truly engage with the material."

Tom walked over to the box with the rest of the students, grabbing a copy of his own. The cover read, 'Elements of Natural Energy: An introduction' in large bold lettering. At the bottom of the book in a slightly smaller font size, Tom saw 'By Dr. Cristine White'.

Oh yeah I'm sure the author has a lot of intentions for this text, Tom thought to himself, careful not to say anything she could overhear.

With his new textbook in hand, Tom began the trek to his next class.