Alex placed his hand on an inconspicuous position that look like it was directly in the center of the wall from Zalan's perspective. A slight beep resounded before Alex lifted his hand. Afterwards the bookshelf to the left slid inwards like a door revealing stone stairs that led to down into the darkness.
Following Alex, the duo stepped forward and walked down the flight of stairs.
'Woah!' Zalan thought whilst finally reaching the bottom after 50 steps or so.
'How many secrets does this house have?'
Zalan step forward and glance around in wonder. It was a 50 square meter cave like structure with obsidians black walls and white stones that illuminated the area scattered around the high ceiling, resembling stars in the night sky.
'Is this where he trains to fight and absorb Vis?' Zalan thought whilst studying the various marks on the walls that looked like cuts.
On the side, several crates of red crystals and some orange ones laid stacked neatly on top of one another. That was where the Vis crystals were located.
'There must be at least 200 in here' Zalan thought as he eyed the various different boxes.
Alex walked to the corner of the cave and picked up a mat. He dusted it off and blew the dust cloud back into the corner, before setting it in the middle of the space. Grabbing the other he usually sat on, Alex threw both on the ground, one behind the other and turned towards Zalan.
"Sit here" he said to Zalan whilst pointing at the mat closest towards the door
Immediately complying, Zalan promptly went over and sat down. Making himself comfortable, he waited whilst Alex prepared by grabbing 2 red crystals from one of the opened crates that lined the walls.
"Hold this" Alex said before handing the Crystal to Zalan and sitting down behind him.
"I'm going to start now. Since this is the first time we are doing this, let me explain what is going to happen."
Zalan sat there listening attentively to Alex speaking. Although he was already familiar with a similar process from his awakened journey on Earth, there were some subtle differences between that Alex was going to do and what he was already used to.
"So basically you are going put some of your Vis in me and guide it to form a barrier around my core right?" Zalan asked as soon as Alex finished his explanation.
"Yep. Now get ready and don't let go of the crystal or your body will burst from the excess Vis I'm putting in you" Alex warned solemnly.
"Ok" Zalan agreed before they started.
Soon, Zalan felt a warm palm on his back as the familiar sensation of Vis rushed into his body this time. At first, it felt like a warm blanket slowly engulfing his body, but soon the sensation turned closer to that of being roasted in the oven. Clearly unpleasant.
"Ugh!" Zalan let out a cry before trying his best to channel the Vis into the crystal in front of him.
"Ok Zalan, keep you body at this temperature, I'm going to start the forging process".
Still feeling as if he was being cooked alive, Zalan could only hold the pain as Alex began altering the flow of Vis to form a circular barrier around Zalan's core.
They sat there for 3 hours before finally Alex could feel the full formation of a barrier.
"Almost there.. hold it for a few more seconds.." Alex encouraged Zalan as he was almost done.
Zalan could feel the core being suppressed as he waited patently. Finally he felt the sensation of someone pressing against his back removed as he now could feel the technique to revolve the Vis around his core to prevent other people from sensing his aura.
"Try and familiarize yourself with it. Dissipate and form the barrier over and over again until it feels natural" Alex added while standing up and depositing the crystals back into its original box.
"Ok, so I just have to practice absorbing Vis from the environment and then form a barrier around core right?"
"Yep." Alex confirmed
Zalan absorbed the Vis from the environment and lead it to his core. Following the path Alex drilled into his body, the Vis particles diffused to their respective places as now Zalan felt his prowess suppressed a bit. This went on for about another hour.
'This feels sort of like a snake slithering around me body and coiling around the core' Zalan thought whilst following Alex's advice.
'One last time before I'm ready'.
Zalan familiarized himself with the sensations and could now easily release and remove the seal. Finally doing it one last time and expecting the results to stay the same, a sudden wave of nausea washed over Zalan as if all the blood rushed towards his head.
'What's happening' Zalan thought before frantically turning to look at Alex.
"Dad—" Zalan trailed off before slipping away and falling flat on his back.
When Zalan reopened his eyes, his physical body was nowhere to be seen as he floated in a dark world with only one shining white orb appearing within his vision. Looking around him, there was only darkness except for a glowing version of his body beneath. Like he had became a ghost. Only, Zalan was pretty sure he was still alive.
"Where am I and how did I get here?"
"What is this white ball?" Zalan asked looking at the giant orb floating in front of him. But Zalan was pleasantly surprised he could still transmit sound.
'Woah, I've never even hear of this. What is happening?'
Zalan felt himself floating towards it and inspected it further. When he got closer, it seemed to be slightly larger than him and had small rays shooting out and dancing around it like solar flares.
'Interesting. But how do I get back now?' Zalan wondered as he didn't know what else he could do. Sudden a deep unknown voice resounded startling Zalan.
"Touch it"
"Who's there!" Zalan asked as he snapped his head around.
"Unimportant. Just touch it already" the voice said again. This time, a little louder and more threatening.
"Who are you?"
"JUST TOUCH IT!"
"Why?"
'Such little patience.' Zalan thought when the voice didn't respond.
But this time, Zalan was just left unanswered as the silence returned. The voice had seemingly disappeared.
'Why did he want me to touch it? But I guess there's nothing else better to do.' Zalan agreed as he arched his arm and slowly reached out at the white orb.