Triss was having her day. A compliment was enough to send her soaring into the clouds.
"So, where are we heading?"
"To your room, of course."
"Shouldn't you have asked that from your superiors?"
"Not really. The room next to mine is empty. So, you can take that."
"It shouldn't work like that, though. What if a new person comes and they give that place to them?"
His sensible words made Triss pause and nod, "I think we should inform someone. Right, right. We should do that."
"Life is hard for you, huh?"
"Hmm? Where did that come from?"
"Nothing."
The secret base had four floors. They came from the fourth, while the ground counted as the first. They walked through the long stairways once more to reach their destination.
All doors were the same—gray, hard, cold metal.
"This room is Memma's, and the one in the middle is mine. So, you will take the one on the right."
"Alright, but don't I need a card or something at least?"
One glance at the door was enough to realize the empty doorknob or any locking system. The leader had said they were a family, but this much of a family was a little bit too much for Leon. Even a family needed some limits.
"Not really," shaking her head as if the situation was entirely normal.
"What if someone randomly walks in?"
"No one does that, except for spies."
It was time for Leon to raise an eyebrow, "Hmmm…"
"What?"
"I see, I think…"
"What did you see?"
"Spies, huh…"
'It must be a test.'
"Huh? You were talking about them?"
"Have you seen one?"
Eyes of pure innocence, innocence that firmly believed in something, surfaced once again, "No, I mean, the leader said that if someone walks in suddenly in the middle of the night, that means they are spies and show no mercy to them."
"Weew…"
"Is it weird?"
"Well… Now that I think about it…" Nodded to her, "If someone does that, then just kill them. They most likely would be up to no good."
"Right? Hehehe."
"Alright. I'm going in, then."
"I'm coming with you."
"Sure."
It was a cozy, minimalist room. A carpet on the ground warmed his feet, a bed to rest on, a nightstand facing a desk.
Right side of the desk, also the right corner of the room, had a blue wardrobe as it also was a necessity. Lastly, a room at the back of the bed remained hidden unless you entered it.
The walls were entirely made of metal. Yet, compared to the outside, the room was warm. A warmth that can't only spread from the carpet was in the air, different from what one may expect with a glance at the cold, lifeless, prisoner cell of a place.
"Where is this warmth coming from?"
"Seems like they have an underfloor heating system and it's inserted into walls, too."
"I see. That should be the case," pointed at the second and last question, "And that place is?"
"The bathroom, of course, idiot. Hahaha."
"Ha ha ha. Sorry for asking in the heat of the moment," however, he had to get back to her somehow, and she presented the chance, "Also, choose one. Either do it like 'hahaha' or 'hehehe.' Stick to one kind."
"What!?" Her genuine surprise infected her entire face, "Am I doing something like that!?"
"Yes, you are."
"Lies."
In front of such accusations, "Sure," Leon chose not to even bother.
"What a bummer…"
Before Leon could open his mouth, "So, what are you going to do now? Will you sleep or learn Universal Energy Arts?"
Even hearing it was enough to brighten Leon's eyes and recall his mother's words—the exact same words the leader had uttered earlier: get stronger.
"I will do that. Thank you for everything."
A gentle smile graced her face, "I'll call you for dinner. See you later," and took her steps away to leave Leon alone.
'I have to take a shower and wash these wastes of clothes, though,' then glanced at the wardrobe, 'I hope they would have clothes. Well, the size is also a problem.'
Contrary to his usual 15-minute washing time, this one took around two times that. He was so desperate to clean himself that one would wonder if he had swum through the sewers.
Rebellious was thoughtful enough to put three towels in the bathroom.
But, to Leon's surprise once again, something he already got tired of after being surprised so many times in just two days, Rebellious turned out to be much more thoughtful.
The wardrobe that he thought might be empty was, in fact, filled with clothes, all sizes and unisex. Casually took a white sweatsuit set, went back to the bathroom to put his dirties into the washing machine, and sat down in the middle of the bed.
"Sigh…"
He sighed out of his heart, as though the stress of the universe had passed through his entire soul, creating air strong enough to flip a few pages of the black book with galaxies on the cover.
It was finally time for him to tread the path of the strong—a path everyone living in the universe takes at least once
Universal Energy Arts was the standard name of the energy technique that everyone living under the Gods took as guidance.
The core of the technique involved a breathing method that enables the user to harness the energy present in all of existence and form an energy core within their body.
After the core had been created, they had to meet a certain requirement to reach a higher level.
Universal Energy Arts has a total of 6 levels. The very first level had a hard part—getting oneself into a meditative state. It was harder than saying, but it was still doable. Some could do it in one day, while others might take a few days or weeks to accomplish that.
Regardless, it was just a moment of time.
When it comes to a moment of time, Level 2 is literally it. To reach Level 1, energy users have to create a sphere above their navel. Meanwhile, Level 2 is nothing more than expanding it to the size of a regular grown-up human male's fist.
That's the requirement for Level 2, and that's also the reason everyone could achieve it.
There are a few prerequisites that an energy user has to meet before starting their journey. The first one must be completed before reaching a meditative state. The latter of the requirements must be done during meditation.
The first one is knowing the exact location where they will be creating their energy core. As people before his time already thought about that part, they added a clear picture of it for every race out there.
Humans were the first ones on the first page.
The second requirement, directly related to the first one, is knowing your own race. The reason for that is to make the energy core creation progress easier.
Every race out there has its own core color. Humans' color was blue, ocean blue.
The usual practice was the one written in the book—imagining as though they were taking an ocean blue mist into their bodies, then leading that mist one centimeter above their navel.
The third one and the hardest of the batch were creating a sphere, an energy core, from that mist. It was difficult because the energy user had to be sure that it was genuinely a sphere, as it was quite easy to create something irrelevant.
Lastly, the energy user had to consolidate all that mist on the edges of the core, as though nailing it, to ensure that the mist didn't spread to the outside.
This was the progress of core creation.
However, creating an empty core would have been nothing more than creating an empty glass. To make it useful, you had to pour something into it. And in this case, it was the same ocean blue energy, the universal energy that humans take into their bodies.
It wasn't like there was more than one energy, and humans were picking the ocean blue one. The energy was the same; let alone their races, even for Gods.
The energy's color was the only thing that changed the moment the energy user took it inside their body. The quality and the root are the exact same.
After all, energy treats everyone equally.
Minutes piled up and turned into half an hour.
Leon's head embraced the soft pillow, bored and mentally tired. It was one of the most common reactions when someone tries to meditate for the first time—falling asleep from boredom.
He literally looked at the darkness of closed eyes, a hot wave of sleep naturally hit his body.
The first ordeal in his path of power became boredom.
Knock! Knock!
"Hraahh…"
Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Comiing!!"
Pulled his lazy head, "Are we f*cking under attack or something!?"
"No, it's time to eat," gently answered, Triss.
"Oh, okay," her reaction was completely different from his childhood friend, Maria, "Thanks," the pure kindness made him feel some shame for his action, turned his head to the room.
"How did it go?"
"Too good to be true is all I can say."
"So, you became a Level 1 already?" Bright stars ruled her eyes.
"I was sleeping."