All morning, Leon was caught between excitement, anticipation, and a touch of anxiety. He forced himself back to his room and tried to "quiet his mind," as Elisa had told him, but with little success. His mind kept replaying the strange meditation experience at breakfast: the faint points of light, and the even stranger, more elusive shadowy "threads."
"Affinity for all elements... though weak..." Aunt Margaret's assessment left him both relieved and somewhat uneasy. He was relieved that he wasn't completely without talent, but uneasy that his talent seemed ordinary. And "all-element affinity" sounded impressive, but from his experience reading novels, it often meant being a jack of all trades and master of none, with a difficult path of cultivation.
Time crept by as he fretted. At a quarter to three in the afternoon, Leon arrived early outside Elisa's Magic Laboratory in the east wing of the Count's Mansion. It was a heavy oak door, inlaid with complex Silver Runes that faintly emanated magical energy. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart, then gently knocked.
The door slid open silently. The sight of the laboratory made Leon's eyes light up.
The room was more spacious and bright than he had imagined. Magic Crystals that gave off a soft white glow were set into the vaulted ceiling, illuminating the room as brightly as day. Bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling along the walls, crammed with thick books and scrolls in leather covers. In the center of the room stood a massive workbench made of some kind of dark metal. Crystal-clear glassware, grinding tools, scales, and specimens of minerals and plants he couldn't name—all giving off faint glimmers of colored light—were arranged across it. The air carried a faint scent of herbs and sulfur, along with a fresh, ozone-like smell: the scent of active Magic Elements.
Elisa stood at the workbench with her back to him, studying a crystal ball suspended in midair. Star-sand-like specks of light swirled slowly inside it. She had changed into a more formal, dark blue Magic Apprentice Robe. Her long hair was neatly tied back, revealing her fair, slender neck. Her upright posture held the distinctive charm of someone absorbed in scholarly work.
"Come in and close the door." Elisa didn't turn around. Her cool voice rang especially clearly in the quiet laboratory.
Leon did as he was told, stepping inside and gently closing the door. The magical energy in the laboratory seemed several times denser than outside. It made his skin tingle faintly, but left his mind feeling more alert.
Only then did Elisa turn around. Her violet eyes settled calmly on him. "Right on time." She pointed to a simple wooden chair in front of the workbench that looked like it had been prepared for a student. "Sit."
Leon sat down somewhat awkwardly, feeling out of place in this environment, so full of knowledge and mystery.
Elisa skipped the small talk and began teaching at once, her tone as matter-of-fact as if she were stating a law of physics. "The foundation of magic is Spiritual Power. Spiritual Power is the fuel that drives the elements and the cornerstone on which spell models are built. Your first step is to learn how to condense, control, and increase your Spiritual Power effectively."
She stepped in front of Leon and raised her right index finger. A soft white light suddenly glimmered at its tip. "Focus your attention and feel it."
Leon held his breath and stared at the light. At first, it was just a point of light, but gradually he seemed to "see" that it was made up of countless finer particles, leaping as if alive. They vibrated in a strange rhythm, radiating a peaceful, pure energy.
"This is the most basic form of External Manifestation of Spiritual Power." Elisa lowered her finger, and the white light vanished. "Now, try the method I mentioned this morning. But this time, don't try to sense the elements around you. Instead, gather your consciousness inward and explore. Search for the very core of your awareness, the source of your thoughts. Then try to 'push' it, as if pushing a still pool of water to make 'ripples.'"
Leon nodded, only half understanding. He closed his eyes and tried to follow Elisa's instructions. Empty his mind, explore inward... This was harder than sensing the world around him. His thoughts were cluttered with all sorts of distractions: curiosity about magic, worries about the future, even the faint disruption of Elisa's cool presence so close by.
The seconds ticked away. He felt like he was groping through a haze of chaos, unable to find this supposed "core of consciousness."
Just as he started to lose heart, his brows drawing tighter, Elisa's cool voice rang out again, guiding him with a strange force. "Don't strain. Relax. Imagine your thoughts as a lake and your distractions as leaves floating on its surface. Don't try to fish out the leaves; let them drift by. Your consciousness is the water beneath the surface—still and deep."
Her voice seemed to hold a kind of magic. Leon's anxious thoughts gradually settled. He stopped forcing it and tried instead to "observe" his distractions, letting them come and go freely. Slowly, a strange sensation of "sinking" came over him, as though he were diving into a quiet sea within himself.
Then, he "saw" it again—not the points of elemental light outside him, but something within! In the "field of vision" of his consciousness, a hazy region of mist appeared, swirling like a nebula. It was a chaotic dark gold, seemingly interspersed with extremely faint specks of various colors, like those he had sensed at breakfast, and... that barely perceptible shadowy thread that made his heart tremble!
Could this... be my Spiritual Origin? Leon was stunned. Did that dark gold share its source with the Hohenzollern Family's battle aura? And what were those multicolored specks and shadowy threads? Were they reflections of his Elemental Affinity in the spiritual world? Or... an aberration brought on by the soul of someone who had crossed over from another world?
He tried to "push" the nebula, as Elisa had instructed.
At first, the nebula showed no response. He focused all his will and imagined reaching out with an invisible hand to gently stir it.
It moved!
The nebula's rotation sped up by the tiniest amount, ever so slowly! At the same time, a faint, "ripple-like" wave spread outward from the nebula. Though the wave was so slight it was almost imperceptible, Leon had truly felt it! This was the pulse of Spiritual Power!
"Good." Elisa's voice came at just the right moment, carrying the faintest hint of approval. "You've touched the threshold of Spiritual Power. It's weak, but you're on the right track. Remember this feeling; this is the beginning of meditation. Now keep going. Try to maintain this 'push' and these 'ripples' and stabilize them, like keeping a gentle ripple on the surface of the water."
Leon's heart leaped with excitement. He quickly gathered his thoughts and focused all his energy on maintaining that faint pulse of Spiritual Power. The process took an immense amount of concentration. He had to remain completely focused; the slightest lapse and the "ripples" would die away. Sweat began to bead on his forehead.
Elisa stood quietly to one side and watched without interrupting. As she looked at Leon's faintly furrowed brow and slightly pale face, drawn tight with concentration, a flicker of surprise crossed her violet eyes again. She hadn't expected him to condense and stir Spiritual Power, even in a rudimentary way, in such a short time. It was pitifully weak, but his concentration and... some hard-to-describe quality that made him seem "malleable" both exceeded her expectations. This was not something a frivolous young master could easily manage.
After about a quarter of an hour, Leon felt utterly exhausted, as if he had just run a marathon. He could no longer sustain the faint "ripples," and they died away completely. He abruptly opened his eyes and gasped for breath. His vision even began to darken.
"Fifteen minutes for your first meditation. Barely adequate." Elisa's tone remained flat, but her assessment let Leon breathe a sigh of relief. Adequate was good enough!
"Next, sensing the elements." Elisa went to the other side of the workbench and picked up a transparent crystal box containing several seemingly ordinary stones in different colors. "These are basic Element Sensing Stones. They can slightly amplify your ability to sense specific elements. Now, enter a meditative state again, but this time, while keeping your Spiritual Power focused inward, divide off the faintest thread of perception, like extending an invisible feeler. Try to make contact with the points of light you 'saw' earlier. Don't force it. Just gently and warmly 'greet' them."
Leon followed her instructions and closed his eyes again. With his previous experience, he sank into that state of inner awareness more quickly this time, found the dark-gold spiritual nebula, and managed to maintain its faint pulse. Then he tried to divide off a wisp of intent, extending it like a strand, as Elisa had said, and carefully reaching toward the nearest red speck of light.
As his tendril of thought was about to touch the red speck, something changed!
The red speck, which had been drifting slowly, suddenly sprang backward like a startled animal. At the same time, it gave off a faint but unmistakable sensation of "heat" and "rejection"!
Leon jumped, and his tendril of thought immediately drew back.
"What happened?" Elisa keenly noticed the shift in his Spiritual Power.
"It... it doesn't seem to like me? It felt hot, and it moved away." Leon described it, somewhat bewildered.
A look of understanding flashed in Elisa's eyes as she explained, "The elements aren't lifeless. They possess a basic form of sentience, which we can call 'Elemental Spirits.' Your tendril of Spiritual Power carries your own 'aura.' If they don't 'like' your aura, or if they feel threatened, they'll reject you. This is perfectly normal, especially for a beginner. Keep trying, but be gentler and more patient. Imagine you're trying to soothe a wary stray cat."
Leon understood and tried again. This time, he was much more careful. His tendril of thought moved extremely slowly, and he did his best to convey a sense of "friendliness" and "calm." The red speck remained wary, but at least it didn't immediately spring away. It simply kept its distance.
He tried approaching a blue speck next. This time, he sensed "coolness" and "flow." The sense of rejection seemed weaker than with the red speck.
Then came the yellow speck (heavy, solid), the green speck (vitality, lightness)... He tried them one by one and found that the specks in different colors did indeed react differently, but overall, they all kept him at arm's length, with an instinctive wariness.
Just as he was about to end the attempt, his thought inadvertently swept over the shadowy "thread" that had been flickering at the edge of his Spiritual Sense all along.
This time, the sensation was no longer vague! When his tendril of thought barely brushed against the shadowy thread, a completely different feeling seized him!
It wasn't rejection! It wasn't wariness! It was... an indescribable "attraction"! It was as if the shadowy thread itself were a vortex, pulling at him with an icy, silent force that carried a kind of lethal temptation. It wanted to swallow his wisp of thought whole! At the same time, an extremely faint whisper, seemingly from the depths of his soul, rose at the edge of his mind. It was indistinct, yet made him shudder with instinctive fear!
"Ugh!" Leon grunted. He abruptly severed the connection and forcibly pulled himself out of meditation. His face was even paler than before, his forehead covered in cold sweat, his eyes filled with uncertainty and alarm.
"What happened this time?" Elisa asked with a frown. Leon's reaction seemed far more intense than it had been when he sensed ordinary elements.
"It's... it's nothing." Leon instinctively avoided the subject of the shadowy thread. The sensation had been too bizarre, and he didn't dare mention it lightly. "I just... seem a little tired. I used up too much Spiritual Power."
Elisa gave him a long look but didn't press him. She simply said, "It's only natural to be exhausted after your first systematic training in Spiritual Power and elemental perception. That's all for today."
She went to the bookshelf, took down a thin book with a dark blue leather cover and no writing on it, and handed it to Leon. "This is the most basic Spiritual Power Condensation Method and Introduction to Elemental Affinity Guidance. It includes the standard meditation postures and diagrams of Spiritual Power circulation routes. Take it home and practice once every morning and evening. For now, start by trying to last half an hour each time. If anything is unclear, you can... mark it and ask me next lesson."
Leon took the seemingly ordinary but immensely heavy little book in both hands, his heart surging with excitement. "Thank you! I'll be sure to practice diligently!"
Elisa nodded, then turned back to the floating crystal ball and dismissed him. "You can go back now."
Leon knew better than to disturb her any longer. He bowed respectfully—a gesture unlike the original Leon's style, though he himself didn't realize it—and left the laboratory.
Walking down the corridor, Leon clutched the basic meditation manual tightly, his feelings mixed. The door to magic had finally been pushed open, if only a crack. Spiritual Power, Elemental Spirits... The supernatural system of this world was far more intricate than he had imagined, and far more... "alive."
At the same time, however, the strange shadowy thread and the whisper of a soul hung like a dark cloud over the flame of hope that had just begun to burn within him.
What was it, exactly? A hidden danger left behind by the original owner of this body? Or... a "special feature" brought by his soul from another world?
Whatever it was, it seemed to promise that his path in magic would be anything but smooth. For now, he could only face all of it alone.
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