Chapter 08: Absorbing Life Energy
After Alfred learned the Breathing Technique, all he did was keep repeating the exact breathing over and over again. It was already been 2 weeks since he started to use the Breathing Technique, the only time he took a break was when the time Aponi came to check his wound and brought him some food.
There was also a time when Shaman Catori and Chief Viren visit him for a chat, and if he was making some progress in his Breathing Technique.
Alfred was starting to get a little impatient. Because no matter how many times he repeated the Breathing Technique, he still couldn’t feel the Life Energy. Alfred started to think that Life Energy didn’t exist and the breathing technique was fake. When this thought came to his mind, he instantly withdrew it.
‘What am I thinking? There’s no reason for them to lie to me. All they show me are kindness, and yet here I am thinking something stupid. I really need to change the way of my thinking, I am not on earth anymore.’
When Alfred straightened his thought, he remembered what Shaman Catori said to him, that he should be patient. Alfred removed all the useless thoughts in his head, and start focusing on the Breathing Techniques again.
After one more week, Alfred finally felt something, he felt some kind of sensation, it was warm and gentle. When Alfred realized this, he became excited and tried to absorb it using the Breathing Technique, but when he did, the energy just dissipated, then spread out again in the environment.
Alfred tried to repeatedly absorb it, but it kept coming out of his body. Alfred tried to remember what Shaman Catori taught to him, but he didn’t recall Shaman Catori saying anything about how to store the Energy inside him.
“Maybe I should ask Shaman Catori how to do it. If I just keep doing this, I am just going to waste my time.”
After Alfred waited for a while, Aponi finally came to check on his wounds, he asked her if she can help him again to go to Shaman Catori’s shelter. When Aponi heard that Alfred was deliberately asking for her help, she became happy and smiled.
“I will gladly help you. You change quite a bit. Before, you will never ask someone for help. You even rejected my help when I offered, but now you are asking of your own accord.”
“I also think that I change, it is thanks to Vir’s advice that changed my mind. Speaking of Vir where is he? I have never seen him after we look around the tribe.” Alfred said.
“He is in the forest hunting for food. You do not have to worry about him, he is the strongest person I know” Aponi replied.
After the small talk, Aponi and Alfred went to Shaman Catori’s shelter. When shaman Catori saw the two, she immediately asked Alfred.
“Did you finally able to feel the Life Energy?”
When Aponi heard Shaman Catori instantly ask Alfred, she greet her, say her goodbye, and left. After Aponi left, Alfred explained to Shaman Catori what happened.
“Yes, I can finally feel the life energy in the environment, but whenever I tried to absorb it, the Energy always seeped out of my body. Why is that?”
“Of course, it will come out in your body, I never taught you how to store it in the first place.” Shaman Catori’s replied
Alfred became confused.
“But why? Do I need to do something first before I can accumulate energy?”
“You see, I did not teach you how to accumulate the energy inside your body for a reason. Absorbing the Life Energy is fine, but storing it within you is quite dangerous.”
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“How dangerous?”
“If you try to accumulate Energy unattended, your body might explode; and of course, you will die. Because absorbing Energy needs a lot of focus, sometimes you will get into a trance and lose awareness of how much Energy your body already absorbed. If you absorb too much energy, your body will not be able to take it and explode. That is why you need someone to look after you while you are storing Life Energy.”
“Wait did something like that happen before?”
“That is right, someone in our tribe was so eager to be a hunter and tried to accumulate Energy on his own. Because no one was there to woke him up in his tranced, he did not realize that he was absorbing too much energy and exploded. That is also the reason why we do not teach how to store Life Energy to anyone without guidance.”
Alfred was shocked by what he heard, but he didn’t let that stop him.
“I understand the danger, but I still want to learn how to store Energy inside my body, and I promised that I would not accumulate Energy on my own.”
“Do not worry, the danger of exploding is only for the first-timer, after that you are pretty much safe. Tomorrow I will go to your shelter, I will personally look after you. You need someone who can feel the life energy. So, they will know when to stop you.”
“Thank you Shaman Catori, I will remember your kindness.”
Shaman Catori smiled.
“You should go back first and rest, tomorrow we will start.”
After talking to Shaman Catori, Alfred goes back on his own. Because so many days had passed, Alfred wound had healed, and he was now wearing the prosthetic given to him by Elder Ahote. Alfred saw this as an opportunity to practice walking on his own.
When Alfred got back into his tent, he was out of breath and covered with dirt. Even though he looked miserable, he has a wide smile on his face. The feeling of walking on his own again gave him so much joy that he couldn’t stop smiling.
Even if Alfred stumbled and fell while walking, he still felt grateful to be able to walk again, but that is not the only reason why he was happy. The last time he went out with Vir and Aponi, a lot of tribesmen show wariness when they saw him.
But now when the tribesmen were watching him walking on his own, they had a worried look on their faces. Some of them even help him stand up when he stumbled and fell. Alfred started to feel that the tribesmen were starting to accept him into the tribe. While Alfred was gloating around, Aponi finally showed up.
Aponi hastily ran when she heard that Alfred walked on his own, a lot of tribesmen told her that he fell so many times. When she saw Alfred’s miserable look, her face instantly saddened and her eyes reddened. Aponi immediately apologized out of guilt.
“Alfred I am very very sorry. If I knew you were going back this early, I should have waited for you.”
“No please do not cry, I am the one who should apologize. I should have waited for you there, I just really want to try my new foot on my own. If I knew you were going to react this way, I will not have left. I am very sorry, also you do not have to be sad, in fact, I am overjoyed to be able to walk again.” Alfred hastily replied.
Aponi wiped her tears with her hand. When she saw Alfred was really happy, she also smiled.
“Are you sure you are okay?”
“Definitely! I have never been better!” Alfred replied enthusiastically
Aponi laugh when she heard that.
“What is that even mean?”
“I do not know it just came to my mind” Alfred replied.
After Aponi saw Alfred was happy and didn’t get hurt, she left Alfred’s tent with relief. Because Alfred can’t absorb energy until tomorrow, he decided to sit down and memorized the Runic Symbols again.
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In the forest, 10 people were sitting around the fire with depressed faces. Suddenly a young man with black short hair, black eyes, a face with tribal tattoos, and a lean body spoke up.
“Head Arrow Vir, the monster is getting scarce it is been 4 days and we only get 2 prey. If this continues, our tribesmen will not have enough to eat.”
“I know that Gunnar, that is why I decided tomorrow I will split our group in two. I will lead the first, and Gunnar will lead the second group. All of you go rest, I will take the first guard duty.” Vir Commanded.
“Yes, Head Arrow Vir.” All the Arrows or hunters replied.
When the morning came, the 10 hunters split into two groups with four members each. Vir left two hunters to guard the 2 prey so they can move faster, He told the other group to meet in this place in 3 days. Vir’s group heads east while the second group head west.
While Vir’s group was running, they suddenly heard a loud roar. The group stopped and look in the direction of where the sound came from. Vir ordered the hunters to lower their bodies and move silently towards the sound.
When they reached their destination, they saw two large beasts fighting each other. One beast was a giant lion with white fur, a fierce look, sharp claws, and a sharp canine. The other one was a giant snake with a black scale, sharp fangs, and 3-eyed on its head both beasts had massive bodies they were as big as a truck. When Vir’s group got there, the lion was already on its last leg.
That confused the group, because the white lion was like the king of this side of the forest for a very long time, and based on the energy of the 3-Eyed Snake its Life Stone should have been formed very recently. So, they were confused about why the white Lion was losing the fight.