Two months later.
Sunlight blazed through the forest, squeezed through the window, and cast a bright strip across the floor.
Ponzu sat in the middle of the living room with her eyes closed.
Her breathing was steady, and a light sheen of sweat covered her forehead.
Five Chameleon Cats had turned into little hamsters and huddled nearby, watching her without moving.
The two dragonflies did the same. She had set a hat on a nearby table, and bees circled above it.
Odin sat by the window, holding a glass of water and watching her.
Inside Ponzu's nen script dantian, her true qi had already formed a fist-sized mass, filling the entire space like dense fog.
She opened her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Ready?" Odin asked.
"Ready." Ponzu stood and stretched her arms and legs. "Do I have enough true qi?"
"Enough," Odin said. "Let's begin."
Ponzu sat back down and closed her eyes.
She focused on her dantian and began compressing the mass of true qi.
The true qi began to shrink, from the size of a fist to an egg, then from an egg to a walnut.
As it contracted, her breathing grew rapid and her brow furrowed.
Beads of sweat rolled down her cheeks.
Odin stood, walked over, and crouched beside her.
He raised his right hand. Nen poured from his palm, transformed into heart rate nen, and spread over her.
This nen could regulate Ponzu's mental state, restoring her calm while also helping her recover mentally.
Ponzu's breathing steadied a little.
She kept compressing it.
The true qi shrank from the size of a walnut to a marble.
Then a drop of liquid appeared at the center of her dantian.
It was tiny, no larger than a pinprick, but it was unmistakably liquid.
The drop