Lenart didn't expect that anyone would catch on to his brilliant plan, so he had prepared no plausible excuse.
"It was worth a try." Falco patted his back.
"Well played." Teryon sighed.
Lith's offer caught everyone by surprise, and the stomachs of his soon-to-be apprentices churned in nervousness, ruining their appetite. When the al was over, and Lith Warped them to the tower, they felt akin to death-sentence inmates waiting for the execution.
"What is this place, son?" Raaz had never seen such a room in the tower.
It was small, circular, and empty. There was no window or openings aside from the entrance, making the room look like a prison. Raaz wasn't the only one who sighed in relief when he looked around and found no chamber pots or cots for the night.
"I've remodeled a small section of the Dream House." Lith replied. "It's one of the few floors with no defined shape and at the perfect height to Awaken people like you. The raw world energy in the lower floors is too strong, while it's too thin in the upper floors.
"Please, sit down in the middle and form a circle." He said, and they did as bidden.
"Tista, Indech form with . Solus, use the Hands of nadion to adjust the world energy density, but also use this opportunity to experience our Indech powers and try to imitate us."
Lith, Tista, and Solus shapeshifted into their Indech form and assud a triangle formation.
Yet while Lith and Tista used Swirling Wind to conjure more world energy, Solus used the Hands to keep up with them and the Eyes of nadion to study how the Indech wings were supposed to interact with the world energy.
"I feel sothing pressing all over my skin, Lil Bro. It's like the heat released by an invisible fire. Is this normal?" Rena asked.
"Yes. You are currently exposed to a density of world energy several tis superior to that of the mana geyser beneath the Mansion." Lith replied. "I want you guys to focus on that feeling.
"Try to follow the world energy as it enters your bodies and find your mana cores. Once you do, I want you to inform , and I'll explain the next step to you."
"What about the breathing technique?" Senton asked. "Aren't we supposed to use it to Awaken?"
"I'm already giving you guys the perfect environnt for Awakening. The breathing technique would make things too easy. I'm checking on your innate talent and mana perception. Now shut up, and follow my instructions." Lith said.
'If they manage to self-Awaken, it would be ideal. Next cos feeling their cores without my help. Needing both the perfect environnt and the breathing technique is the bottom of the barrel.' He also said via a mind link.
'That's an, Lith.' Tista said. 'You can't expect so much from them. They have no magical practice worth ntioning.'
'It's not.' Solus shook her head as she tried to feel the world energy with her wings. 'Lith said it's a test of talent. It has nothing to do with practice. We can use it to gauge how much guidance each one of them needs.'
Elina and the others knew the theory behind Awakening, but aside from the hair on their necks bristling, there was no reaction. They took deep breaths and exhaled slowly, imitating what they had seen Lith do countless tis to the best of their abilities.
Yet only one of them succeeded.
Raaz had already experienced sothing similar, yet this ti the world around him wasn't dark. It was as bright as day, and the only darkness he could sense was the one of his own body and those of the other non-Awakened.
Even with his eyes closed, Raaz was surrounded by a white light and three sets of flaming wings. Two of them burned with prismatic fire while the third set was barely a flickering outline in the background.
'Let guess. Those are Lith and Tista, while the weak one is Solus.' Raaz thought. 'Maybe my mana core is no different from her wings. They are both hard to notice due to their weakened state.'
He focused on the void of his body, searching for a spark of light until he found a tiny dull orange fla right above his navel. The darkness surrounding it was so deep, and the fla so faint, that one mont of distraction was enough to lose sight of it.
"I've found my mana core. I've tried the breathing thing multiple tis, but nothing works." Raaz said, sweating profusely from the effort. "What's next?"
"Anyone else?" Lith asked, a bit surprised by his father's success and a bit disappointed that Raaz had stumbled right in front of the finishing line.
Several minutes had already passed since the beginning of the exercise, yet no one had achieved the slightest hint of mana flow that the Eyes of nadion could detect.
"No. I'm sorry." Rena said, and Elina and Senton nodded.
"Then start breathing according to this rhythm. Inhale…" A silvery knell resounded.
"And exhale." A dull chi accompanied the command.
'Gods, I'm so stupid.' Upon the second breath, Raaz saw the orange fla burn brighter. 'I shouldn't have breathed at random. I should have followed the rhythm of my mana core.'
He noticed that Lith's breathing rhythm was slightly off from that of his natural mana flow, so Raaz disregarded the bell. He breathed in as long as his mana core burned bright and breathed out as soon as its light started to flicker.
Before Elina and the others could notice the growing fla of their mana cores, Raaz developed a mana flow, and an orange light replaced the darkness of his body.
'Congratulations, Dad.' Lith touched his father's shoulder to activate a mind link. 'You have Awakened first and learned the breathing technique called Accumulation. Keep practicing in silence, please. Don't disturb the others.
'This is not a competition but no one likes feeling like a loser.'
'Thanks, son, but I'm not as talented as you think.' Raaz perceived Elina, Rena, and Senton as three pitch-black outlines and knew they were nowhere close to Awakening.
'You've already taught how to sense and follow my mana during our fishing trip. I had an unfair advantage over the others.'
Lith was flabbergasted by both his father still rembering a single magic lesson he had received months ago and how much it had helped Raaz Awakening.
'Don't be too humble, Dad.' Lith replied as Solus and Tista congratulated Raaz as well. 'It's still an impressive achievent.'
"I can see my mana core!" Elina was next.
Her bright orange mana core was weaker than Rena's dull yellow, but she had over a decade of magical experience on her daughter.
"What am I supposed to do now?"
"Keep following the breathing rhythm, Mom." Lith said, hoping she would grasp the final piece of the puzzle on her own, like Raaz. "You'll Awaken once your mana flow grows intense enough. The sa will happen for everybody else."
" too!" Rena said the mont she caught a lick of yellow fire lighting the darkness.
"Can one have no talent for Awakening?" Senton asked in embarrassnt.
"You have a red core." Solus replied. "I bet you've never used chore magic to do more than light a candle. You are not used to feeling the world energy clearly, correct?"
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