*Ding-dong*
The front doorbell rang at 11 am. Leonidas, who was currently in his office busy checking some business related documents, knew who the mysterious person was. He immediately used a tier 1 *force application* spell to open the door.
'Come in'
Fiona was initially surprised, but after everything she saw yesterday she was glad that she wasn't dreaming. Everything really was true.
There was a Sorceror in her neighborhood. And she was going to learn from him.
She immediately walked into the house and closed the door behind her. Then she almost ran up the stairs with unbridled excitement. When she reached the second floor she saw a boy with deep, black eyes.
'You're here. Let's continue. Remember, telepathic communication only' said Leonidas with a stern look on his face.
'Okay.', nodded Fiona resolutely.
With that they went into Leonidas' bedroom and sat on the bed as they did yesterday.
Leonidas couldn't tell but Fiona's face was flushed. After she went to her own room in her home, she ran through the whole event and realized that she was being way too close to a boy her age. Her breathing was a bit heavy and she tried her best to calm down.
Leonidas was too busy to think about any of that and he just chalked it up to excitement. He had already been weaving arrays for anti reconnaissance and anti spying.
After a few more seconds where each person was getting more comfortable, Leonidas completed the arrays and then focused on Fiona again.
'So where were we...', questioned Leonidas almost to himself, but Fiona answered him promptly.
'We spoke about Sorcery, Arrays, and Cultivation'
'Yeah. And do you have any questions?', asked Leonidas.
'Yes... How do I cultivate spiritual energy'
'Hehe, now we're getting to the good stuff', said Leonidas while standing up again.
His bedroom was minimalistic. From the door's perspective, It had a single bed on the right and a bedside cabinet beside it, while on the left there was a table and a chair. On the table lay a laptop, some mini speakers, and his iPhone which was still charging.
He walked towards the table and fiddled with the phone until he managed to put on some music from soundcloud.
'Drum n Bass... I love drum n bass'
As the music played in, Fiona looked at Leonidas blankly as she really didn't care about any drums or bass. She waited patiently for the answer to her question. And Leonidas didn't dissapoint her.
'In order for a being to cultivate, they have to go through an Awakening.'
'Awakening...', Fiona repeated to herself unconsciously. Leonidas merely nodded and continued.
'I told you previously that beings have energy centres which are containers for certain energies right? Well spiritual energy is related to the 6th energy centre located right here' said Leonidas as he pointed to the area in the middle of his eyebrows.
'As long as you awaken the energy centre, you can awaken the *Energy Soul*. And as long as you awaken the Energy Soul, then you can Cultivate!'
Leonidas said all this with conviction as he looked into the eyes of the girl who was fascinated by him and the things he said.
Fiona's brows furrowed.
'Wait wait wait... I understand the Energy centres. I searched them up, they're called chakras right? What is the Energy Soul?'
Leonidas explained, 'Think of the energy centre as the container in the physical world, while the energy soul is the container in the energy dimension. The energy centre provides the only link to your energy soul. That's why you awaken it. So you can draw energy into the physical world.'
Fiona's eyes brightened but she kept quiet mumbling to herself. Leonidas gave her time to mull over everything before she looked back at him confidently.
Leonidas continued.
'After awakening, comes real cultivation. In cultivation, there are 4 stages to every cycle...'
Leonidas went on to explain how cultivation works conceptually. He told her about cultivation levels, units and so on so forth.
He also explained how it feels to awaken and to cultivate spiritual energy.
'When you awaken an energy centre, it's almost like you awaken a new sense. The way you perceive reality expands to new heights and you feel a closer connection to the universe around you as a consequence'
Fiona's mind was racing with wild imaginations at this point. She couldnt wait to ask Leonidas to teach her how to awaken. But she paused and something told her to ask Leonidas another question.
'How many energy centres have you awakened?'
Leonidas sat back down next to her and smiled.
'Me? Only 1 for now. But soon it'll be 2.'
'Only 2?' questioned Fiona mockingly. But Leonidas merely smiled and mocked her back.
'Hey hey hey... Do you really think it's that easy to awaken? If it was easy you' d see human beings flying around and moving things with their mind everywhere.'
'Wait you can fly? Oh my go-'
'That's not important right now', Leonidas interrupted.
'What's important is that other people would take 20, 30 maybe even 40 years to awaken. And that's assuming they have the right manual/script' Leonidas said smugly.
He couldn't hide the sneer on his face as he said 'Even your buddy Joshua, or Jesus as you might know him, spent a whole 10 years until he awakened. You're lucky you have me to guide you. With my help, and depending on your efforts, I can make sure you awaken within the space of 1 month.'
'1 month?!' Fiona gasped excitedly. She didn't really care about the first half of what he said, but after some time, everything clicked into place and she gasped a second time.
'Wait Jesus was a cultivator?!'
'That guy Joshua was nothing special. But his comprehension ability was brilliant. Perhaps better than all who came before him. Of course that was until the great Me.'
Fiona looked at him doubtfully, not willing to believe what he was spouting. But after thinking about it, she couldn't help but gulp. If this was true...
'What you don't believe me... Heh. Whatever, let's begin. For starters, just get comfortable. But not too comfortable.'
'What do you mean?' fioned asked curiously.
'Practitioners sit in the lotus position because it keeps them stable, but also forces their body and their mind to stay awake. You could lie down, but you might fall asleep if you do that and falling asleep is exactly what we don't want'
Leonidas was very patient as he explained all these things. He never had a disciple or partner to practice with. He wanted things to go well now, so Fiona could have a firm foundation in future.
Leonidas and Fiona sat together on the bed while facing each other with their bodies in the lotus position.
'Now what you want to attain is the *state of forgetting oneself*. It's a state where you have no will or care in the world. You just exist. But YOU don't. At the same time.'
'But before that, I want you to get used to a way of breathing first. That's all we're gonna do. Just breathe. Are you ready?'
'Yes.' said Fiona with surety. She was ready.
'Okay, I'm gonna need you to close your eyes.'
'...'
'What... Don't look at me like that, I'm not gonna do anything funny.'
Fiona's face went flush but she soon pushed those thoughts to the side and closed her eyes.
Leonidas then instructed her on when to breathe in, when to hold in, when to breathe out, and when to hold out. To her it seemed like there was no pattern but Leonidas knew this was the fibbonacci series.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34...
It was like an outward spiral of breathing. At every step, the number symbolized the amount of seconds for each part of the cycle.
Of course considering the size of her lungs she could only hold up till the 7th fibonnacci number. The series would then restart from the 0th number and repeat again and again and again.
Soon enough,after guiding her for an hour she finally got the rhythm and was able to pace herself. Leonidas let her go on for another 30 minutes until he woke her gently.
"It's time for lunch"
"What?!"
"..."
"You woke me up just for that?"
"Yes. The next part is very long you might not get it the first time. You need to be sated so we can continue"
Fiona wasn't convinced. She managed to learn this weird breathing rhythm easily. How hard could attaining forgetfulness be?
Well... It was Very difficult.
After Leonidas came back he taught her a script which would help her attain resonance with the universe thus attaining forgetfullness. But she underestimated the process and kept failing.
Even by the end of the day she hadn't gotten the hang of it. She felt aggrieved.
'Is there a trick?', Fiona asked as she was being walked home. She wanted to start cultivating as quickly as possible.
'There's no trick. Either you get it or you don't get it' said Leonidas smugly. Fiona glared at him in response.
'Oh come on... There has to be a trick...'
'Hmm... I won't give you a trick but I can give you something even more precious'
'Haha I knew there was a trick. Come on give it to me. '
'Okay stand still...'
Leonidas and Fiona stood facing each other. Leonidas raised his hand up to her forehead calmly. Then
*poke*
Fiona felt all her surroundings disappear. Her thoughts, her feelings, even her being ended up disappearing. What was left was... Everything.
She could not think, she could not act. She could not feel. She just... WAS. After what felt like years for her, Leonidas poked her forehead again and Fiona's awareness came back.
She started gasping for air like a person who had been drowning. She almost fell on her knees but Leonidas held her up.
"Are you okay?", said Leonidas with a smirk on his face.
"What was that?!" Fiona said in between breaths.
"That was a glimpse into how it feels like. Being surrounded by Everything and Nothing at the same time. Did you like it?"
"No.", Fiona said decisively. Her heart was still beating like crazy. She was more interested in how he was able to show her that.
Of course Leonidas had used a tier 3 *Mind Communication - Illusion* array. He wanted Fiona to experience the state atleast once so that she could have a goal.
"I won't be able to see you for the next few days. Don't come unless you actually figure it out" Leonidas said while turning to leave.
Fiona stood on the front porch of her house and couldn't help but think that he was a jerk for not wanting to see her.
The next few days were easier for Leonidas. Halo had finalized some designs for the first smartphone release... The Halo A1. It would feature a sleek design with a company owned and copyrighted Operating System called 'Solus'.
Of course the idea for Solus was created by Leonidas. Solus would be coded in C++ and would one day be able to compete evenly with Android and iOS. The phone's release was scheduled for early next year. Leonidas had a lot of work to do.
Halo was also preparing to release a league of Notepads, Laptops, Tablets, and in future, smart watches.
Alpha Labs on the other hand, was currently working on AI research project called 'the Pantheon'. These were meant to be special purpose AI which tackle one base problem each, like image processing or sound design, or cyber security.
Leonidas created the base algorithm and the neural network for the AI and called it ALPHA. ALPHA was still learning language processing frameworks and it would one day be the mother of every other AI born in Alpha Labs.
After IThemba was setup and all the factories were bought and filled with machinery, the first technology infrasttucture that was tackled was 4g and 5g tower routers for Reign.
More factories are being populated with workers and machinery every week.
It had been a week since Leonidas saw Fiona, so he figured her pride was holding her back from coming to see her. But Leonidas knew that with her talent it wouldn't take her another week to attain the forgetful state. He was sure they would see each other soon.
It was Monday in mid July and he had to return back to school for the second semester.
As he got on the bus, he immediately noticed a weird atmosphere. Leonidas knew that people disliked him, but not to the extent of talking about him.
He thought he was old news. But that was until someone approached him. A 10th grader Leonidas has never spoke to before. He stood in front of Leonidas and looked at him with condescension in his eyes.
"Is it true?"
*pfft*
A friend of his who came and stood behind Leonidas almost burst out laughing. Bit he held it in.
Leonidas was a bit perturbed. He turned his head and looked right at the boy noticing his fat face.
"Is what true?"
"That you're cursed. That you killed your whole family for your parents' inheritance"
*pfft hahaha*
"Wow so it's true..."
"I thought it was a joke. Damn."
"I knew he was a psycho but this..."
"Why isn't he in jail?"
Leonidas was surprised but he didn't show it in his face. Someone was digging up his past and spreading rumours about him.
Leonidas merely smiled at the tenth grader.
"Hmm... What do you think? Do I look like a killer?"