Three days later, Han Yu opened his eyes and tested the ratio again.
Ten units in.
Five units out.
Han Yu exhaled slowly, satisfied.
"Much better."
By the fifth day, the ratio reached ten to seven.
At that point, he finally moved on to the actual skill.
He raised his right hand, palm upward, and guided a small amount of dark elemental Qi toward it.
At first, nothing happened.
Then a faint wisp of dark smoke leaked from his palm, thin and unstable, dispersing almost instantly.
Han Yu narrowed his eyes and adjusted his intent.
The manual emphasized one thing repeatedly.
Darkness is not aggression. It is concealment. It is suffocation. It is presence without form.
He changed his mindset.
Instead of pushing the Qi outward, he let it settle.
This time, the smoke thickened slightly. It curled lazily above his palm, still unstable, but visibly darker.
Another hour passed.
Then another.
By the end of the evening, the smoke emerging from his hand had changed.
