Having sat in the same position for about half an hour, Chris was beginning to lose his patience. All the previous joy and optimism seemed far away as he wasn't getting anywhere.
This wasn't the first time he had meditated after his lectures with Ming Yong. He would, in fact, use his techniques quite often when he was out completing missions. Chris had always felt more relaxed and eased after utilizing these methods. He would even sometimes use it in the middle of a hit, gaining a more prominent focus and concentration.
Now though he felt like he had hit some kind of wall. He wasn't receiving any kind of calm nor did he feel his focus increase. He knew he had to focus his breath, following the air as it came into his mouth, following down to his lungs and spreading through his body. Every time he sensed as though he was onto something he felt very hopeful, but just as he was about grasp that feeling it was snatched away, resulting in the optimism being replaced by bitterness.
This had never happened when he was out on work, where the atmosphere usually brought a lot of intense situations and experiences, which would make most assassins be nervous out of their wits. 'Hell, I managed to enter the same focused state after waking up in that cabin.'
Chris felt it really strange how he could enter such a serene feeling when surrounded with combat and murder, but seemed unable to in this peaceful place.
However, thinking back he remembered a couple of times he had experienced something similar.
He had just been to his usual café and came back home after receiving another hit-mission from Creed. Starting his usual routine of meditation before heading out, he couldn't seem to get 'her' out of his mind.
The barista at his favourite café seemed to occupy his thoughts leaving him unable to completely lose himself in the usual calm and serene state he was supposed to be in.
With Chris reminiscing back to the times this had happened before, he began to draw conclusions as to what was happening.
'Master Yong always said I need to remove all otherworldly things from my mind in order to enter a successful state of meditation' musing about the words of his former teacher, he began to understand the reasoning for his lack of focus.
'Let's start from the beginning.. empty my mind, take long deep breaths, focus on the sensation of air being brought in and out, and finally concentrate on the sensation all around my body as it's filled with oxygen..'
As Chris was continuously sinking deeper into the meditative state he quickly became lost in the sensation.
It felt different this time, he wasn't simply finding his focus and concentration. It seemed as though there was something else resonating with his condition, something foreign, yet familiar.
Sitting at the simple one sized bed in Jacobs' room, Chris had lost his sense of time whilst diving deeper towards that unknown feeling he could sense in himself.
As if his current state was an invitation that finally got accepted, Chris was able to observe what it was that kept escaping his grasp previously.
A tiny white looking orb was situated about 5cm below his navel, continuously pulsating in small bursts of energy as it was alive and beckoning someone or something to attach itself to.
Though not completely sure what it was or what it was trying to accomplish, Chris trusted whatever it was doing.
He believed in his instincts, which told him this was a good thing. It was similar to how one would feel if they suddenly regrew a limb, only now it had always been there. Just waiting to connect and reunite with the rest of his body.
As if the connection with himself and the strange white orb was the prerequisite, he began to feel a tingle spread all across his skin.
Yet again trusting in this newfound 'limb', he fell deeper into this sensation, fully accepting this strange energy coating himself.
With his mind and body in synchronisation the energy freely entered through his skin and running straight to the orb.
In contrast to the previous situation there wasn't any sense of danger, but rather a comfortable and warm feeling spreading through his body.
Still in his meditative state, he observed as the orb reacted to the energy, which he now referred to as mana. It was greedily absorbing every speck of the mana, continuing to increase its density.
Basking in this exhilarating condition he felt himself slowly but surely increase in power. He could sense it, the orb was helping him. Working as an additional energy source and boosting his physical ability at his will.
After an unknown amount of time, Chris could tell it was time to come out of his reverie. The orb had stopped absorbing the mana surrounding him, and looked as if it was ruminating with all the energy it had collected. Condensing and compressing it similar to how gas forces molecules together trying to create a liquid form.
Opening his eyes, Chris' gaze traveled around the room, finally taking in the details of his surroundings. The room was small and sparsely furnished, with the narrow bed he was sitting on pushed against one wall and a small table in the corner in front him. A single window to his right let in a sliver of light illimuntiating the room.
'It's all so clear,' he thought lost in an almost transfixed gaze. It seemed as if the mana absorbed had worked wonders for himself.
Now aware of the existence of the orb in his body, he could tell how it pulsated a certain amount of mana through his body, boosting his senses and strengthening every part of him.
'Though I can feel the amount energy it's giving me is more than previously, it doesn't seem to be the full extent of its ability.' Grumbling about the functions of the orb he began trying move the mana it contained.
At first it was similar to a baby moving it's legs for the first time, stumbling forward and falling to its butt. However, after a bit of practice he could move it somewhat freely through his body, though with a lot of focus.
He could also sense how the orb replenished itself with the surrounding mana after he utilised it, but with a lot less vigour than when they were completely in synch.
Bringing his concentration to moving the mana around his body he sensed how it seemed to give a certain boost to wherever he sent it, improving his blood flow, strengthening his muscles, tendons and nerves.
At this train of thought, he suddenly had a certain idea. Bringing all the mana he could muster straight to the area of his eyes, strengthening all the aspect he knew of in concern to his vision, his brows raised high as he looked around himself.
"Extraordinary," he mumbled in a daze. Similar to how one would see white flakes surrounding them in a snowstorm, Chris could see tiny translucent particles in every kind of colour surrounding him. Clinging and invading every type of object he could set his gaze upon.
The mana seemed endless, looking as if the ocean had converted to a rainbow and began filling up the atmosphere.
As he moved himself around he observed how his body absorbed the particles with no care for the colour's and was led straight to his orb replenishing it.
As he continued experimenting with his vision, it didn't take more than a minute until he began to feel a small amount of pain began to emerge from his eyes.
Understanding he must've strained them and also seeing the full extent of his mana having mostly been spent, he began to loosen his control.
Now back to normal he held a manic grin thinking of all the possibilities this could pose.
However, with how much focus he had to implement in utilising it, he couldn't help but let out a tired sigh 'seems I'm gonna have to start training non-stop again..'
As his thoughts returned to a certain 'normal' theme, he suddenly realised he had no recollection of the time he spent.
Feeling a bit anxious of the idea of being picked up before explaining things to the old couple, he quickly got up and went outside the room while thinking
'I hope I wasn't cooped up too long.'