Indeed, Kinney's cooking was terrible.
Izumi thanked him for the meal and kept a friendly smile—a fake one. The Berta twins, however, no longer bothered with such courtesy…
Collapsed over the dining table, Erik rubbed his stomach while holding back the nausea lodged in his throat.
It would've been better to starve to death or eat worms… Erik thought, feeling gas rise toward his mouth.
Luckily for Izumi, his Burden prevented him from seeing the bizarre appearance of the meal: a chicken stew in which skin floated atop a greenish oil broth. The seasonings drifted in a poorly mixed mess.
But for Erika… just looking at the dish was a misfortune.
"Sir Kinney…" she said, stirring the spoon in her plate.
"Yes? It's delicious!" he replied, stuffing a chicken foot into his mouth.
"Please… let me cook next time."
Kinney choked on the broth.
"What?! No. While you're inside a Domain, meals will be at this level! Besides, this is one of the best dishes I've ever made!" Kinney said, lifting a piece of chicken skin on his spoon…
Pure oil dripped from it.
"I can understand Izumi not eating. When you carry a sensory Burden, even hunger disappears. But you two? Stop being picky, you pampered brats! I want to see your faces when you have to eat demon meat!"
Slapping his thigh, Kinney burst into loud laughter.
Raw demon meat must taste better than this garbage… Erik thought, lifting his head.
Avoiding the stew, Izumi swallowed hard as he calmly stirred the broth.
"Hey, Izumi… you don't have access to the system yet, do you?" Erika asked, pushing her plate away.
"Not yet… I need to enter Yetzirah for that, right?" Izumi said, setting the spoon down and leaning back.
Erika nodded, mumbling an "Uh-huh."
"I think your supervisor will take you there… but it'd be good to start reviewing the material…"
"Material?" Izumi asked, curious.
At that instant, Erik glanced at Kinney, who hid behind his stew plate.
Useless! he thought.
Slamming his hand on the table and pushing his chair back, Erik exclaimed:
"You didn't give him the material?!"
Kinney shook his head while swallowing another piece of chicken skin.
A vein bulged on Erik's forehead.
"What material would that be?" Izumi asked, frowning.
"Lessons on prana control, an introduction to the paths of magic… Sir Kinney should've given it to you so you'd already know things by the time your supervisor arrived," Erik said, completely irritated by Kinney's attitude.
"Don't talk like I messed up! I left the material in his room—it's your fault for not delivering it…" Kinney shot back, lacking confidence.
"And we're supposed to be clairvoyant to know that? Damn it…"
Sitting back down, Erik pressed a hand to his forehead and took a breath. Watching his apprentice, Kinney hid a sarcastic smile.
"Erika, please take Izumi to his room and give him the material. I have something to resolve with your brother," Kinney said, finishing his meal.
Looking at her twin, Erika couldn't hold back her laughter at the dumbfounded expression on Erik's face.
***
In Izumi's room, while he sat on the bed, Erika prepared a device on the desk. A black box with a slot for a memory card—currently in her hand.
"Your supervisor sent some audio files to the DSSP Central. They were reviewed and stored on this memory card," Erika tried to explain, but Izumi interrupted with a comment.
"Your brother is pretty nervous…"
She was startled by that; she hadn't expected Izumi to care about it. He probably should—after all, he'd be living with Erik for the next month.
"It's his Burden. Remember the phrase?"
The phrase the Archangels chanted to Erik came back to his mind.
Your words are a gunshot…
"Erik has always been very blunt… Whenever something upset him, he'd say the first thing that came to mind—even if it made him a hypocrite later," Erika explained, plugging the audio player into the outlet.
"He hurt a lot of people by not knowing when to pull the trigger… That debt has come knocking now, with the Archangels."
Someone who fires words at others' hearts now has to understand the gravity of a stray bullet… Izumi reflected, hearing Erika adjust something beside him.
Erik's Burden seemed easy to deal with—but it wasn't. Understanding it was easy; changing one's personality, especially being so stubborn, would be the real challenge.
Unlike Izumi, who reflected countless times on his own Burden and the Archangels' message, yet still couldn't grasp what it truly meant…
"Done," Erika said, her finger hovering over a button.
A green light turned on beside the player, while a red one blinked rhythmically.
"Since this is your material, I'll start the audio and leave the room. Follow the instructions carefully, but you can rewind using the controller I left in front of you… Don't worry, it only has the rewind button. If you have questions, call Sir Kinney," Erika explained.
Seeing that Izumi understood, she smiled warmly.
"Good luck, Izumi!"
"Thank you!" he replied with a gentle smile.
Pressing the button after inserting the memory card, Erika left the room in a hurry and locked the door.
Ten seconds passed…
"Ten…" Suddenly, Kimisu's voice came through the speakers. "Hello, Izumi! The person who turned on the audio must've already left the room. After all… blindness, huh? Such a hassle, my godson…"
Izumi smiled awkwardly; being scolded by Kimisu always felt strange—like a second father lecturing him.
"Anyway… I'll only arrive on Christmas Eve morning. So I'm leaving this audio for you to start applying some techniques to advance your training. We won't have much time after I arrive, so hurry!" he said in a playful tone.
"If you hear some noises and notice I'm short of breath, don't mind it. I'm just taking care of a few things before traveling."
Izumi was about to ask something—the weakness in Kimisu's voice was noticeable.
"Let's begin… First, you already know this, but I'll go deeper. There are two types of energy for a Sefira… Prana, the energy within us, shaping our body and soul. And mana, the energy beyond us—the one that shapes the environment and the elements that make up the world."
Izumi nodded; he already knew this.
"The one we'll focus on now is prana. What I want you to do is the foundation of identification—you'll be able to feel your own prana and identify where it's stored in your body: your energy core."
"To do that, sit cross-legged… Keep your spine straight, close your eyes, and relax your shoulders…"
Closing my eyes won't change anything… Izumi thought, but obeyed.
"Now, rest both hands on your knees… Touch the tips of your thumb, ring finger, and little finger together, keeping the other two straight. Now, breathe deeply and slowly… Focus only on this concept: prana."
"For you, Izumi, what is energy? What is prana? Does it manifest as electricity, or something more… abstract? Think about it. Reflect on it. I want you to try to imagine how this energy manifests."
The audio fell silent.
Izumi felt air fill his lungs, then blood rushing through his veins. In seconds, his concentration was perfect; ambient sounds faded—only his breathing and heartbeat remained.
But he searched beyond that…
The heart pumps blood throughout the body; the prana core does the same. Izumi began to identify and separate energy from the physical body, like veins of pure energy intertwining with blood vessels…
He followed those veins as if they were a trail.
Walking into a forest of pure energy… then suddenly, a sea of stars.
The void Izumi perceived was illuminated by a current—like water, a river flowing into a vast ocean.
Heading north.
The fingers in contact pulsed, as if they had hearts at their tips…
Running through the wrist; passing along the arm… then circling the shoulder and returning in a distorted path.
"You will feel your energy discs spinning like a vortex… If you have more than two discs, you're likely sensing a line of energy connecting them. There is only one symbol that defines your path…"
The alchemical symbol…
The one representing one of the four primary elements.
A triangle…
"If it's a single triangle, you're bound to heat… But I doubt that, knowing who your father is. If it's an inverted triangle, there's no doubt…"
Izumi identified three discs: one on each shoulder, directly linked to a third energy disc at his navel.
The element that represented Izumi was the same one that composed the entire Kairen lineage.
Water.
"I want you to keep doing this day and night. That way, your energy discs will spin faster, which means your energy generation will increase exponentially. But you should be able to observe it now…"
Izumi felt warmth rise through his body, running up his neck and reaching the top of his head… It felt wonderful.
He felt light.
"Izumi…" Kimisu said, interacting almost directly with his student. "Open your eyes."
The command was received with full conviction.
Slowly, Izumi opened his eyes.
He couldn't fully see or identify everything, but it was a sign… Izumi had imagined prana as a current of energy, not pure electricity.
Thus, prana manifested as the form that had been trivialized over time: an aura. A thin blue aura, like a line drawn on blank paper, outlined the young man's entire figure.
He could see the shape of his own hand—his own body…
Then a feeling arose that he hadn't expected to feel so soon…
Hope.
"I…"
He waved his hands, incredulous. Then it sank in.
"I can see!"
Tears streamed from his eyes, which now regained some of the vibrant blue hue they had carried his entire life.
The window of the soul had come back to life.