"Ok." Luna said with a heavy sigh, "the first thing I want to teach you, is how to cycle ether." She said calmly as she sat in the grass before Marcus.
Marcus nodded. "Alright."
"When cycling ether, there are two things you need to keep in mind, where you want to pull the replacement ether from, and how much you plan on taking."
Marcus nodded. "Ok then, so where can I pull ether from?"
"From anything or anywhere." Luna answered, "But the simplest way is to eat something dense with ether, then use that as an energy source, of course, that would require you to defeat an anomaly or buy a core, so while it's simple it's not easily possible."
"So then what's a way that's both simple and easy?"
"Well, you could go for quantity." Luna said as she gestured towards the area around them, "You see, although this planet doesn't naturally produce ether, its connection to…. " Luna fell silent, a perplexed expression on her face.
Marcus tilted his head in confusion. "Luna?" He asked curiously.
Luna shook her head. "Nothing, as I was saying, with how many rifts opening around the planet, and a few other smaller factors, the air itself has a small presence of ether, about 6 to 9%."
She continued. "That may not seem like much, but given that there are only around 2 thousand implant holders, there's plenty of ether to go around."
"Ok." Marcus said as he rubbed his chin, "so I can pull it from the air, but how?"
"Well, by breathing of course," Luna said with a soft giggle. "Now, I'm not sure how breathing works for humans exactly, but for me, it requires drawing in a large amount of air, then filtering it for what's required and exhaling what's not."
Marcus chuckled. "Sounds about right for me too."
Luna smiled, "good." Luna said the nod of her head, "then place your hands together, and focus on taking in a large quantity of air."
Marcus obliged, placing his hands together before inhaling deeply. "Now what?" He squeezed out.
"You begin the filtering process," Luna answered.
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "How?" He asked, exhaling his held breath.
"Like how you filter the air you need to breathe, you know," Luna said with a confident nod.
Marcus chuckled nervously. "Uhm, my body does the filtering on its own…."
Luna raised an eyebrow, before slowly nodding her head. "O-oh." She said softly, "Well, can you describe what ether feels like inside your body?" She asked.
"It's like a warm feeling, you can feel it flowing throughout your body, like drinking a hot liquid I guess."
Luna nodded. "Then when breathing, try to find that warmth in your air, and retain it."
Marcus chuckled again, "Retain air?" He asked.
Luna sighed as she fell silent.
"Luna?" Marcus asked worriedly. He knew it would be difficult for an anomaly to teach a human, but he hoped he wasn't annoying her.
"Hey we can q–"
"Marcus?" Luna asked curiously, cutting him off, "You can hold air within your body right?"
"Yeah," Marcus said with a nod.
"Ok, then take in a large breath, hold it within you, then focus on pulling all the ether back into your core, hopefully, it'll take the ether from the air you breathe in too."
Marcus obliged, taking a deep breath and holding it in. He then focused on his core, he pictured recalling every last drop of warmth into it.
As he continued to hold his breath, his body temperature began to drop slightly, his lungs began to ache, and his face began twitching.
Luna watched him with a curious gaze, she slowly leaned forward, touching his hand.
"It's cold." She commented, "Marcus you did it." She said with a proud chuckle.
Marcus exhaled deeply, groaning as he took quick breaths. "God." He coughed out, "I thought I was gonna die."
Luna chuckled. "Well, that certainly would be a cold way to die.' She said with a smile.
Marcus rolled his eyes as he lost back in the grass. "Ugh, I don't wanna cycle ether anymore."
"Well, you need to master this, otherwise forget ever using your abilities for longer than an hour," Luna stated factually.
"When would I ever need to use my abilities for longer than an hour?" Marcus asked with heavy breathing.
Luna smirked as she lay beside him, crossing her legs as she placed her hands on her stomach. "Marcus I won't even honor that question with an answer." Luna chuckled. "But, let's start small, with smaller breaths, then work our way up."
Marcus nodded, "well alright." He with a pout, slowly sat up.
"No, let's play here Marcus, you don't need to sit up and breathe, right?" She asked as she grabbed his arm.
Marcus looked back at Luna with a perplexed expression. "N-no, I guess not, but wouldn't that make meditation harder?"
Luna shook her head as Marcus lay down. "This isn't meditation, it's cycling ether, so if anything this is better."
"Well, you're the master." Marcus joked as he settled into the grass. He then closed his eyes and took in a shorter breath.
"Clasp your hands together," Luna remarked.
Marcus nodded as he put his hands together, he began feeling for the warmth, pulling it all into his core. As he held his breath, his concentration and focus were solely on cycling ether.
After a moment, Luna touched Marcus's hand again, measuring his temperature.
"Hey, you're doing pretty well." Luna commented as she removed her hand from Marcus's, "Now hold in that ether, and breathe again, bringing in new ether."
Marcus obliged, taking another shallow breath while retaining the ether from the last. As he continued, he could feel a sense of growth in his power, it was strange, yet extraordinary.
Luna continued to observe him, a gentle smile playing on her lips. "You're a fast learner." She commented. "I can sense your core growing in energy, it's not much, but it's growing."
Marcus smirked as he continued the exercise. Each cycle he completed was easier than the last, yet his lungs would protest if he held a breath for too long.
"You know." Marcus commented between breaths, "This isn't very good for fighting." He said, smirking while continuing to cycle his ether.
"Well that's because you just learned how to do it, but as you get better, you'll be cycling your ether with every breath, making you stronger over time," Luna explained.
Marcus nodded. He never thought about it before, but now it began to make sense why a technique like this would be necessary.
"Still." Marcus commented, "I wonder why Volkov…." Marcus cycled another breath of ether, "…..thought me how to fight first?"
Luna crossed her arms as she looked up to the sky. "Well, he did say he was training his next partner, maybe he wanted to make sure you knew how to fight, before teaching you how to last in one."
"That makes sense….."
"…..but why are you teaching me this first?"
"Because it's how I….." Luna quickly stopped herself from talking, "Uhm, it's just how anomalies are, we're born this way, so I'm going to teach you the same."
Marcus chuckled.
"Speaking of anomalies, where….."
"…. Do you guys come from?" Marcus asked curiously.
Luna gave Marcus a side eye, before quickly chuckling. "Maybe I'll tell you one day if you can complete your training."
Marcus frowned. "How convenient." He grumbled.
As the duo continued their breathing exercise, Marcus could feel the bond between them growing. Luna was becoming increasingly important to him, he didn't know if it was the connection between their shared core, the close contact they shared, or if it was just coincidence.
But whatever it was, Marcus was certain that with Luna's guidance, his goal of becoming both stronger for himself and those around him would be possible.
Marcus and Luna's training continued over the next two weeks.
Her training relied heavily on teaching Marcus how to manage his ether. She taught him how to properly cycle his ether, and how to enhance his body with it, she even dipped into teaching Marcus how to fly.
While he passed most of her lessons with flying colors, by the end of the two weeks of training he was allowed, Marcus didn't know how to use teleportation, and he could barely fly.
Felix's training meanwhile, focused more on his raw power. He couldn't maintain many of his abilities for long, but he didn't need to, as he put out some much damage in a short period that most would struggle to maintain a long fight with him.
On the last night of both of their training, both boys sat in their dorm room sleeplessly.
"Well, Felix." Marcus said softly as he ran his fingers through Luna's hair, "Tomorrow is the start of the final exam."
Felix sighed heavily as he played with a ball of electricity in his right hand. It cracked and popped, illuminating his face with a purple glow.
"Yeah…" he said softly, "I wonder what it'll be about?"
Marcus sighed, "I know we'll be fighting rouge anomalies, but that's about it, my other source of information didn't pan out well."
"Oh yeah." Felix said with realization, "That Volkov guy, I remember you mentioning something about him, but I'm guessing it didn't pan out?"
Marcus nodded with a sigh, "I don't know if you noticed, but Luna and I haven't gotten along with Sang-hee, so Volkov had to choose between us and her."
"Tch, that's some bullshit bro." He commented with frustration, "But I expect nothing less from someone like her, she's manipulative and cruel."
Marcus sighed. "Yeah, but don't be too harsh on her, from the little time I spent with her, she's been through a lot, it doesn't take a genius to see her struggling when you notice those few clues."
"Well, I still don't like her, no matter what she's struggling with, she didn't have to take it out on you," Felix replied.
"Thank Felix, and sorry about not being able to spar with you, I hope you weren't looking forward to that bet."
Felix shrugged, "I was, but with how things are going, I'm just glad we've gotten this far in this place, my mentors said nothing about the exam being this sloppy."
Marcus chuckled. "I honestly don't even think it's this place's fault, just know some weird shit is going on."
Felix yawned as he nodded. "I know that from the jump bro, essentially with how Lieutenant Reiva was acting." Felix grumbled, "But it's almost over now."
Marcus nodded in agreement. "That it is….."
The night grew darker, and the two friends fell deeper into exhaustion. Marcus however, was still thinking about recent events. With how strange everything had become, it was hard to remember that he was still technically training to become a cadet, and tomorrow would mark the beginning of the end of his training.
With a finale conscious thought, Marcus decided he would push everything to the side for now, and focus on graduating as an officer, everything else would just have to wait.