"You've done it, bastard!"
I woke up and saw Marian's azure eyes right in front of me.
"Yeah…"
He was jumping in my cell. – "Hahaha, even Vlad was happy! Damn! You used his punch technique after only a few days. Barehanded combat is in your blood!"
"And the Old Man managed to win a bunch of gold coins thanks to you!"
Suddenly he stopped and looked at me with a gaze that scared me.
"You destroyed the innards of your opponent and then even cooked them with fire. I am pretty sure that this time you managed to sense your purple fire. Show it to me."
I raised my hand and closed my eyes. The sensation I had during the combat with the dragon-man was surprisingly clear in my mind.
Immediately I felt a stream of energy flow from my heart towards the palm of my hand.
I opened my eyes.
Marian's mouth was opened. He seemed shocked.
Above my hand, there was a small flam…no. It wasn't exactly a flame, but only a mere spark, twitching and making a typical sound of burning wood.
"…beautiful…" – Mumbled Marian.
"It's only a spark…"- I was about to complain when Marian exploded.
"WHAT DO YOU EVEN KNOW!" – His cheeks became slightly red from the rage, but he quickly controlled himself. – "You can't see it, but this spark of yours, for someone who hasn't even entered the first level of warpath, is…"
"Impossible." – Vlad also entered the room. – "Absolutely impossible. It's too much power."
"What…?!" – I was very surprised. My idea of powers and magic changed.
"You incinerated half of the organs of dragon-man. And these guys are famous for their energy resistance." – He looked meaningfully at me. – "You understand? You destroyed with magic before you even became a first level practitioner, someone who is has a very high natural magic resistance."
I started to get it. – "My ability must be pretty strong?"
"Yes. And 'strong' is an understatement in my opinion." – Said Marian. – "From today I will teach you the basics of magic, and bloodline powers while Vlad will intensify his physical training."
I shuddered. Before I could object Vlad said. – "Listen. Just your ability and talent for barehanded combat you exhibited you can become more powerful than I and Marian combined."
And Marian added. – "And you may be able to burn the slave tattoo and contract with your flame. Maybe."
After some idle talk, they left my cell.
Once again I activated my ability. I purple spark danced above my hand. It was like a small child being happy to finally see his parent.
But there was something else.
I felt destruction, the power to burn…everything.
And pride, the pride of being the best.
I tried to move the spark but suddenly I felt my strength being drained. 'So difficult?!' I immediately stopped and made the spark disappear. 'For now, the spark will be my killing technique.'
I sat on the bed and started meditating.
'How can I use the spark to sense the raw energy in the air?'
'Flame needs to be nourished; it needs something to burn.' I made the spark appear above my hand another time and concentrated on it. I was trying to discern what it was burning to exist.
'There is…something.'
There were ripples. Nearly invisible but I felt them. Ripples converging towards the spark above my palm.
I slowly moved the spark back inside my body observing the ripple I noticed before.
'F*ck!'
I lost control and the ripple disappeared from my perception.
Sighing, I restated.
…and again.
…and another time…
[…]
I stopped after thirty tries because I was exhausted.
Every time I tried to follow the ripples around the spark as it entered back in my body, I lost any trace of them!
I opened the door of my cell…yeah, it wasn't locked at all.
*Bam, Bam, Bam*
I knocked on Vlad's door.
He opened pretty quickly. – "What do you want!?"
I immediately explained my problem. He glanced at me for a second. – "Come in."
His cell…room was a little smaller than Marian's one, but still far bigger than mine. It was basically a gym. The weights on the machines were overwhelming.
"So, you can no longer feel the energy after the flame re-enters your body?"
"Yes."
"Maybe I have a solution." – He pointed at himself. – "Energy inside our bodies travels in already set channels. These channels have enter-points, the extremities where the energy enters our bodies. You must guide the…spark you have through these channels to sense the raw world energy."
I immediately thought about something. – "Can you give me an energy technique? So, I can directly guide the energy using the technique."
Vlad frowned. – "Yes, I could…" – Suddenly he thoughts about something. – "I can, sure. Wait a second."
A few minutes later he returned with a scroll. – "Here. It's…" – He paused. – "It's a very…mediocre technique."
He gave me the scroll. – "BUT! But its best point is that you can change this technique to any other at any time without losing energy, being harmed, or have too many intersections…It's the most fundamental technique."
I opened the scroll. There was the image of the human body with energy paths and the direction I should follow to complete one circulation and refine the energy. In the left corner, I read 'Grey Refinement Technique'.
There were two circuits: the Minor Circulation Path, and the Major one.
Minor channels were less complicated and bigger, while the Major ones had a high number of small ramifications along the way.
"Try it now. I will ensure that you won't die." – Said Vlad.
I spent a few more minutes memorizing the whole path. The entry points were many, but I decided to go with the biggest one…and the most obvious: mouth.
Closing my eyes, I conjured the purple spark above my hand. The ripples were there. I controlled it and slowly moved it towards my mouth.
My energy was quickly consumed. Suddenly a felt someone placing a hand on my shoulder and my energy quickly recovered.
I mentally thanked Vlad and "swallowed" the spark.
The ripples continued as it went down my throat. 'It's burning…'
And it was very painful. Probably my control was lacking. Then the spark was at the level of my solar plexus I moved it straight towards the heart.
'YES! YES, I CAN STILL FEEL IT!'
From heart and onwards it was slightly easier. I could feel the ripple following the spark.
Near the end of the cycle, the feeling was no longer that of the ripple but a tiny stream.
'So, this is raw energy.' I thought as I completed the whole Minor Path…
After 10 days in this world, I set foot on the outskirts of the Warpath!