Zoser was sitting on the ground in front of Onar, his hands tightly pressed to his sides, his eyes glowing with excitement and anticipation, knowing that this moment marked the beginning of a new transformation in his abilities. Onar, standing before him, had a face pale with the wisdom that had accumulated over the years, her eyes radiating a focused energy as she gazed deeply into Zoser.
"Zoser, are you ready now?" Onar asked in a calm voice, yet one that carried a firmness tempered with kindness.
Zoser nodded, his heart pounding with intensity despite the hardships he had endured. This was the opportunity he had long awaited—a new phase in his power.
Onar spoke, her words deliberate: "In the beginner phase, your energy is spread throughout your body like gas. It's unfocused, untamed, and unstable. You can feel it everywhere around you, but you find it very difficult to control."
She paused for a moment, allowing her words to settle in his mind. "But over time, you'll begin to harness it. You'll learn to condense it little by little. Gradually, this gas will turn into liquid—denser, more concentrated, and more precise in its movement and direction."
Onar bent slightly, her features hardening in silence as she placed her hands on the ground, igniting the air around them. "Today, we stand at the threshold of your transformation from beginner to apprentice. You will be able to control your energy with more precision. From gas to liquid."
Then, she locked eyes with him seriously and said with more conviction: "Focus now on your body. Imagine the energy within you, push away any distractions, and concentrate only on shaping it, condensing it, making it more cohesive."
Zoser felt something strange move inside his body. His energy began to grow denser, flowing through his veins as if it were a thick liquid. There were moments when he felt his heart constrict, as if the very force surging through him was also flooding every part of his being.
Onar continued calmly: "The next step is to learn how to compress this energy even more, to make it denser, as if you are turning liquid into solid."
As she explained, Zoser struggled to concentrate on the energy flowing through him. With each passing moment, his energy thickened more and more, but each attempt still felt like a failure to shape it as he had hoped.
Frustration began to build within him; his efforts seemed fruitless, his body exhausted, and the energy within him scattered, as if slipping through his fingers.
Onar gradually halted his attempts, speaking softly: "Alright, let me simplify this for you."
She raised her finger and pointed to the air around them. In an instant, the ether in the air began to gather around her fingertips at an incredible speed, as if the air itself had turned liquid. The ether particles converged at her fingertips, then solidified into transparent droplets, condensed into a visible form.
"As you can see, we can condense the ether surrounding us into liquid. It takes continuous focus and a strong will. After that, you can turn it into a solid state." Onar said, as the droplets disappeared back into the air, returning to their original state.
Zoser watched intently, his eyes wide with astonishment, seeing how Onar had turned the ether into liquid and then reverted it back to its gaseous state in the blink of an eye.
"Now it's your turn." Onar said, her voice filled with encouragement. "Try to focus on your energy center, gather the ether flowing within you, then use your focus to condense it, turning it into liquid."
Zoser began to concentrate on the energy inside him, his mind occupied with the precise movements he had seen in Onar's hands. This was a pivotal moment; he could feel the energy traveling through his veins as if it moved slowly, yet he was still far from shaping it into liquid as Onar had done.
But as time passed, the pressure within his body began to increase. His energy was gradually transforming into a denser form, and now he could move it more smoothly. He imagined his energy becoming heavier, charged, ready to turn into liquid. In a sudden moment, he felt something unusual. His energy began to solidify, as if it was becoming more dense.
Onar noticed the change happening in his body and smiled with satisfaction. "Well done, Zoser. You are now at the beginning of the apprentice stage."
Her words were simple, but they resonated deeply within Zoser's heart. He felt something unprecedented within him. His energy, which once scattered aimlessly, was now denser and more defined. He had crossed the threshold from being a beginner and was now taking his first steps toward becoming an apprentice.
Zoser was in a moment of contemplation, his eyes glowing with curiosity. He felt the magnitude of the effort he had put in to surpass the beginner stage, and his questions were swirling in his mind.
He took a deep breath before asking Onar: "I asked Orion and Lina about the difficulty of advancing to the apprentice stage, and they said it was easier than they expected. Why is that?"
Onar smiled a gentle smile, one that carried many layers of meaning. "That's because we followed the hard way, but it will benefit you in the long run. Despite its difficulty, you now have a stronger foundation, and you'll be able to control your energy more effectively when you grow more powerful."
Zoser nodded thoughtfully, then asked: "How do others break through?"
Onar looked at him with calm eyes, weighing her words carefully. "Some people take pills that help them compress their energy more quickly. But they contain impurities that could affect them in the future, sometimes making them take shortcuts without realizing the consequences. That is the method many rely on."
She paused for a moment, then continued: "The other method is for an experienced apprentice, often a pinnacle apprentice, to help you. They place their hand on your energy center and assist you during critical moments to speed up your progress."
Onar paused again, then added: "But if you ask me why I didn't do that for you, I would simply say: because you'll understand in the future the value of what I've done. This method gives you the ability to build a solid foundation. When you reach a certain point, you will fully understand the value of what you have learned on your own."
Her words carried deep wisdom, and Zoser felt as if he were stepping into a completely new world of power and knowledge.