No.
It wasn't the fresh air that wasn't bringing Caelus peace.
It was the Wandering Soul that had attached itself to him while walking!
Even though he couldn't see them, he was feeling their formless souls. And they felt heavy enough to influence his already bad mood.
It was like a gray color getting mixed with black!
He felt his hair standing on their ends thinking how he could have ruined himself if he didn't stop to notice what was happening.
He inhaled and exhaled before slapping his cheeks with both palms, hoping to wake himself up.
He wasn't pessimistic.
He knew to find his own path the more he pondered. But the sudden weight of Wandering Soul made him wander around his path. If left alone, he knew he would have lost his track.
He turned around. He needed to get back in the cave that was out of reach for the Wandering Souls. He just realized how dangerous it was to wander without even seeing the Wandering Souls.
But alas, his body didn't follow his command!
He stood there, frozen, as he felt the Wandering Souls growing heavier as seconds passed by. Even without seeing them, he knew that the Wandering Souls getting attracted to him grew in numbers.
*Damn! I only wanted some fresh air, not death! Why do I have to actively seek death? Is it because I've been in too peaceful situations these past few days?*
Caelus didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Mindlessly dashing towards a dangerous area was really him just asking for death.
It was stupid to think of getting fresh air in a Hidden Zone that Hikari and Asahi warned him to be dangerous!
Not because the place has an indefinite time limit, doesn't mean it was safe!
A Hidden Zone was said to be extremely dangerous because of how uncertain most Hidden Zone was. Not because five were successful in clearing a Hidden Zone before, does not mean the rest of the Hidden Zones were easy.
He could only blame himself, but now was not the time.
Now, he needed to think how to get out of the clutches of Wandering Souls.
He tried to use Memories to calm himself down. Yet, the skill didn't activate.
He was slowly panicking but still tried to remain calm. He started circulating Qi around his body, just like how he meditated. He was trying to calm down his anxious heart.
*It's funny how the best way I found in calming myself was using Qi instead of taking potions or using my glitch skills.* He sarcastically thought but also rejoiced with that fact.
While circulating his Qi in a sense of breathing technique, all unnecessary thoughts were removed in his mind, any unrest he felt slowly dissipated, any burden he was feeling suddenly felt too light to even take in mind.
The Wandering Souls that were latching at him slowly lifted up, he could even hear faint wind that sounded screams of agony and also felt that wind cold enough to make a human shiver. But in his state of meditation, he couldn't feel the cold. All he could feel was the warmth brought by the specific warm Essence lurking around.
It was reminding him of something.
He was alive.
It seemed nothing else mattered as he was still alive.
The warmth of his Life Essence reminded him to take it easy. That as long as he was alive, he could do anything. As long as he was breathing, he could try and try until he succeeded. It was as if the Life Essence had its own consciousness, that too many gave up this life because they thought it was the end. Humans became tired of every hardship they experienced.
While feeling the Life Energy, he suddenly realized what he was missing.
He didn't understand Qi at all, and was blindly following Sho's Martial Arts novel and his dreams as his reference. He thought it was just a means to make him stronger. He neglected the fact that he never thought deeply about Qi.
What is Qi?
The answer seemed simple when he thought about it.
Qi was the Energy within everything. Even the air around him has a lot of Qi.
But it was not as simple as that.
Qi was not the same Energy. It was not very different but it was still different. It has a property of both Energy and Mana.
Qi is the Natural Essence hovering everywhere. In itself, it's a fuel that someone could achieve once they became one with nature.
Yes. The first time he used Qi was when he was feeling the surroundings, and unconsciously, he became one with nature.
There are different kinds of Qi. Dead Essence and Living Essence was a good example. But there was also the Qi Energy that was a pure Natural Essence. It was somewhat different from the Dead Essence or the Living Essence.
His Qi Energy was another source of power like Mana and Energy. It was unique in a sense that it could enhance him differently from other people. It was Natural Essence.
Everyone has their own Qi Energy, but not everyone can control it freely.
Qi Energy is something that is hiding deep inside the human body intertwining with the illusionary world he didn't know of. It was a domain the humans didn't study enough so they had little knowledge about it.
It was something like it came from Martial Art Books. Yet, the principle felt like it came from Magical Academy.
"Everything is complicated. The only thing I really know about Qi is that it is a form of Energy that pushes me to my limit, making me pass hurdles that shouldn't be possible. It's a sphere of Natural Essence that becomes one with me or I become with the Natural Essence depending on how I breathe. But when I think about it…"
Caelus opened his eyes, the Qi Energy didn't dissipate as he continued the breathing technique of meditation. He saw how the unrecognizable Wandering Souls were repealed and couldn't reach him anymore.
"This… is this a clue on how I can achieve Qi Sight? Wait. I think I've got everything wrong. I'm thinking too narrowly! How did I come up with Qi Boost, Qi Aura, Qi Cloak, Qi Protection and Qi Aura Cloak? It was trying out different breathing techniques that my dream showed me!
"Qi Boost was the first that I discovered. It was using the Natural Essence as my Qi Energy replenishing my Energy twice as much compared to others. In addition, as I've practiced the technique, I was able to discover how to enhance my speed thanks to the boost in my Qi Energy.
"And then, I started creating other techniques. Qi Protection in a sense creates a hardened Qi Energy from outside the world to be my own protection, dissipating any incoming harm towards me. In a sense, the Qi Energy absorbs any damage I should've bluntly taken.
"Qi Cloak was just me wanting to hide myself. So that I can travel easily. I didn't want to encounter any monsters or any strong living beings. So I created a Qi Cloak that cloaks every trace I could leave behind. The sensing of other's Energy was actually a side effect that I didn't plan.
"Qi Aura is enhancing my senses. In a way, I take control of every Qi Energy in the area so that when there's something that invades my territory, I would be allerted.
"And there's Qi Aura Cloak, which is a mix of Qi Cloak and Qi Aura. I'm able to erase my trace or any friend I have and then I can also detect invaders in my territory. Qi Aura Cloak was the hardest technique I've created because it was mixing two types of breathing techniques to achieve my goal.
"But the key point on all four techniques was that each technique has different Qi Energy breathing, enhancing that part I want to enhance.
"This time, I want to create Qi Sight, in a sense, I need to enhance my eyes to achieve this. A Qi Energy that circulates around my eyes… I need to open up the tiny vessels around my eyes to do so! Although I felt some of my Qi Waygate and Qi Waypoint expanded, there are still a lot of available Qi Waypoints that need to be opened.
"This! This is a different technique, but at the same time, has the same essence!"
When he started analyzing his Qi Techniques, he realized he needed specific vessels to achieve a result, but most of his veins, waypoint and waygate were opened when he learned Qi and made it enhance his physical body. He had almost taken for granted how he discovered and created those techniques.
There was just one reason why it happened.
"I became arrogant."
Because of how overpowered his techniques were, he could just run away from any enemies. Being able to run away safely made him proud of surviving without hurting someone.
But reality hit him being stuck in this Zone.
He couldn't just run away from the Zone. He needed to ferry the souls of the Wandering Souls to be able to get out of the Zone. in a way, he needed to confront his situation instead of just running away.
I need to feel the right breathing for the Qi Sight.
And so, in the middle of the dark environment, with countless Wandering Souls hovering around him, Caelus started to look for the right feeling of accessing his Qi Sight.
This time, he wasn't running away anymore. This time, he was looking forward to what future he might have.