Nightfall came much quicker than Mel could have expected. Excitement bubbled up as he remembered everything he'd seen in the past day or so. Summoning weapons out of thin air, using the elements themselves to battle. It was something straight out of a fantasy book or anime.
And while the feats themselves weren't very impressive, barring one or two. It was how they achieved them.
Spirits and Spirit Energy.
They were both very interesting topics, and he itched to learn more. That was what he was going to be doing with Damjan that night.
He jumped out of his bedroom window and made his way across the empty town quickly. He had to be quiet lest the Watchers discovered him. The Watchers were the group of people in charge of keeping watch at night.
The town's myths said that they were more powerful than ordinary Bonded and that they had mysterious powers. If a misunderstanding occurred, he'd be dead in no time.
So he sneakily went around the town's crowded areas before finally finding himself in the forest. At this point, he was free to let loose.
Melchior navigated the path and watched for the marks he created the previous night. Very quickly, he spotted the large lake and went straight down towards it.
Finally, he stood in front and called out.
"Damjan,"
His voice seemed to roll across, causing waves on the surface. The waves grew larger and larger as a scaly head emerged with the rest of its body.
"I greet my Lord." the large snake said, bowing slightly.
It was a relief to hear its familiar soothing voice amidst everything that had happened today.
"Likewise, Damjan," He nodded, "You should have realized why I called you back here today, right?"
"To understand our energy, is it not, sire?"
"That's correct. I need to learn it to use your abilities and to further mine,"
There was an unspoken reason for it, too. Power. He needed a lot of power. Melchior still didn't fully trust the system and its objectives. He also didn't trust his power over spirits to remain consistent as time went on. There was probably a limit to how much he could control spirits who were stronger than him if he even could in the first place.
But he didn't voice those out.
"I will be needing it for my future explorations. So I trust that you will teach me well."
Something akin to a smile emerged on Damjan's face. "Of course, sire. Starting first, I'll need you to sit down in any position you're comfortable with."
Melchior did as told and took up a cross-legged posture on the lake's shore. He wasn't concerned with the dirt or water anymore.
"What next?"
The snake hummed in consideration before finally speaking.
"I'm not aware of the precise way humans train their Spirit Energy canals, so I'll teach you in the very same way I was taught."
That wasn't very surprising. Different types of creatures had different methods to achieve the same goals. Humans learned how to utilize their energy, but thousands of years of evolution had caused their paths of learning to deviate from the norm.
The only question now was, 'Can I learn it if we use his way?'
Melchior didn't express his concerns and instead visibly listened to what the spirit had to say.
"The first thing you need to understand is that like oxygen, spirit energy is everywhere all around us. My kind functions and lives on this energy, as you humans do on oxygen. Without it, we'd die out even more easily than before. It's a fundamental force that has affected life on this planet as we know it. The flora, the fauna, the cultures. Everything."
'A history lesson?'
He stayed silent.
Damjan continued, "For us, it's as simple as breathing air, but we have developed methods for your people to do it without having spirit physiologies. To learn it, you have to pay attention to one word; Harmony. Mind and Body as one. Mind and the World as one. Body and the World as one,"
It sounded like very abstract spiritualism that resembled concepts on earth. And in some ways, he instinctively understood what Damjan was talking about. The last explanation gave him just enough to figure it out.
He tuned the spirit out for a bit, closing his eyes and concentrating on everything around him.
The ground, the air, the leaves piercing his clothes, the tiny ants scurrying about everywhere, the radiance of the moon.
Everything worked together in a state of harmony. Even the pieces that didn't seem to fit in were all intricately connected to how the world worked.
Suddenly a heavy weight crashed down on him. The weight of all these threads and connections, the chains linking them together.
It was unbearable, and he almost leaned over, falling into the water. He tried to take a large breath, but everything seized at that moment. His heart, the air, the sky.
Everything.
A familiar white crystal popped up into his mind. It was like a flashlight pointing straight into his eyes.
He fell to the ground faster; the weights burdening everything.
It hurt. They wrapped around his neck. Strangled every part of his body.
Every muscle in his body strained, yearning for escape. For liberation.
And then…
A voice spoke. "Breathe. Break."
The world resumed. Those weights turned to advantages as his body and mind gradually acclimated to them. It was as if he was previously a man walking with a blindfold on and multiple body weights. Then, all of a sudden, the blindfold and the weights came off.
He felt even lighter than a feather.
Melchior opened his eyes and sighed deeply. A wisp of white energy flew out of his mouth before finally dissipating into the air.
He looked up at the moon, still disregarding everything around him.
Was this how Harmony felt like?
Before he got the chance to experience the feeling more, a series of screens popped up in front of him, disrupting it completely.
[Ding!]
[Your Spirit attribute has levelled up to Lvl 1]
[New Skill Learned: Innate Spirit Energy Manipulation]
[New Skill Learned: Flow]
[Spirit Contracts have been activated]
[New Innate Ability Learned: Flood Tide] - Damjan the Storm Eater
[...Ability Learned: Hailstorm]- Damjan the Storm Eater
[...Ability Learned: Whirlpool]- Tirun the Underworld Gate
[...Ability Learned: Dark Vortex]- Tirun the Underworld Gate
The series of similar messages overwhelmed him fully until they finally stopped.