The morning quickly slipped away. By the time Ren finally completed his gruelling practice, the sun was high in the sky, signalling it was already time for lunch.
Halfway through his endless stance transitions, Tsumugi had departed to attend to her daily maid duties, this time for the rest of the day. She had only left after watching him long enough to be completely reassured that he would honestly finish all two hundred repetitions without cutting corners.
And finish them he did.
Guided by his innate talent for swordsmanship, Ren's final few transitions were executed flawlessly. There were no wasted movements, no shaky wrists, and no stumbling feet. Every shift in his posture and every angle of the heavy oak blade was absolutely perfect. What would have taken a normal beginner days or even weeks of frustrating, repetitive practice to memorize, Ren had completely mastered in a single morning.
After grabbing a quick meal from the estate's shared dining hall, Ren hurried back to his secluded clearing in the woods. This time, he wanted to test different ways to manipulate his spiritual energy.
He remembered Kon mentioning that many Onmyōji channelled their spiritual power through a physical medium, like a sword or a talisman. If they could do it, surely, he could try it too.
Gripping the heavy oak practice sword Tsumugi had given him that morning, Ren focused his mind and attempted to push his spiritual power directly into the wood. To his absolute shock, he succeeded on the very first try.
Compared to the agonizing compression training from yesterday, this was as easy as breathing. What Ren didn't realize was that manifesting raw spiritual energy entirely outside the body and then compressing it like he had done with the floating sphere was as difficult as ascending to heaven for a normal practitioner. Because he had already mastered the impossibly hard method, funnelling that same energy into a physical container like a sword was basically instinctual for him.
Seeing the wooden blade emit a faint, shimmering glow, a joyous smile spread across Ren's face.
Eager to test its destructive power, he quickly approached the same thick oak tree from yesterday. With the wooden sword now coated in a dense silver sheen, Ren raised the hilt above his shoulder, settling into a flawless Vom Tag stance. He took a sharp breath and then slashed downward with all his might in a vicious Vor strike.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, the outer bark of the tree exploded outward.
However, as Ren looked at the actual damage he had caused, a deep look of disappointment slowly washed over his face. Although the impact was definitely stronger than yesterday's barehanded attempt, it was still far from sufficient. If this spiritually coated wooden sword hit a person's body directly, it might only cause a shallow, bloody gash. That was hardly enough to guarantee a win against a trained magician like Riku in just one month.
The problem wasn't Ren's talent; it was the fundamental nature of the energy itself.
Raw spiritual power was inherently inefficient against the material plane. If Ren knew how to bypass the physical body and strike directly at the soul, his highly compressed energy would cause irreparable, devastating damage, perhaps even extinguishing an opponent's soul entirely. But Ren didn't know the first thing about attacking souls. Only a dense, physical energy, like the brute-force mana Gensai had used to crush Kon, or internal life force known as Ki, could easily destroy physical matter.
This was exactly why traditional Onmyōji didn't use raw spiritual power for physical brawling. Instead, they used their energy as a medium to borrow power directly from the gods, weave elaborate illusions, or cast their senses across their surroundings. Unless one possessed a supernatural bloodline, like a Kitsune's instinctual ability to conjure fox fire, raw spiritual energy could barely scratch the physical realm.
What Ren didn't know was that the true reason Onmyōji channelled their power through swords was because those weapons were specially forged, mystical blades explicitly crafted to slice the soul directly.
Ren didn't have access to those kinds of soul-cutting swords. All he had was a regular oak practice sword, a beautiful steel blade he wasn't even allowed to use yet, and a large pool of spiritual power he had no idea how to properly weaponize.
"Sigh..." Feeling physically exhausted and mentally defeated, Ren slumped down onto the cool grass to rest.
'How am I even supposed to use this?' Ren thought, closing his eyes and trying to recall every single word Kon had said yesterday.
'Kon mentioned that spiritual power is used as a medium to communicate with the gods... but I don't even know where to begin. So, that's out. What about illusions? Do I just spread my spiritual energy into the surroundings and imagine things? But even if I did, how would I know if the illusion actually worked when there's no one here to test it on?'
He let out another long, frustrated sigh. 'Then what about... sensing?'
Suddenly, a spark of genuine inspiration lit up his exhausted mind.
'If I can expand my senses to read the flow of energy..., can I predict the trajectory of a spell before it even fires?'
Ren wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could easily outrun a blazing fireball once it was already shooting toward his face. But if he could sense the subtle build-up of mana before the spell was fully formed, he could simply step out of the way before the attack even launched, right?
'Riku is definitely going to improve over the next month,' Ren reasoned grimly. 'He has real teachers and infinite resources. He probably won't be stupid enough to chant his spells out loud like he did last time. I need to be able to sense his magic coming without relying on my ears.'
Sitting there in thought for a while, Ren decided to just stop guessing and try it.
He closed his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. Slowly, he began to project his spiritual power outward, letting the invisible energy seep into the surrounding woods like ripples in a pond.
At first, there was only plain, empty darkness. Then, slowly, the faint, wireframe outlines of physical objects began to appear within his mind's eye.
'It works!' Ren thought joyously.
However, his celebration was short-lived. He quickly realized he wasn't satisfied with this basic level of sensing. At this blurry resolution, simply opening his eyes would give him a much better view of the field. If he wanted to dodge lightning-fast spells, he needed to see the energy behind the attacks. So, he gritted his teeth and concentrated even harder, pushing his spiritual power past its current limit.
For a long moment, nothing changed. Then, suddenly, his perception of the world exploded.
Vibrant motes of glowing light violently burst into his vision, filling the dark void of the surrounding space. They drifted lazily through the air like glowing dust.
'What is this? Is this... Mana?' Ren thought in absolute wonder.
As his new senses adjusted, the dull outlines of the trees and grass shifted as well. The structural boundaries of the plants were still there, but now, he could see that the flora itself contained those exact same glowing motes of light, pulsing faintly with life. He wasn't just feeling the physical shapes of the world anymore, he was literally seeing the raw energy that powered it.
Then, a sudden thought hit him: 'Could I actually control this energy?' Using his sheer will, Ren extended his spiritual power like invisible hands, attempting to herd the glowing motes of light together.
'Hm...' He frowned in deep concentration. Although his spiritual power could influence the motes, they were incredibly stubborn and difficult to control. Like trying to push magnets with the wrong polarity, he could only force the ambient mana to drift sluggishly in the direction he intended.
Gritting his teeth and pushing his mind to its limit, Ren slowly gathered a small cluster of the glowing motes, pulling them directly toward his chest. He wanted to try absorbing them. If he could pull ambient energy into his body, could he forcibly expand his own stunted mana pool?
Deep down, despite his newly awakened spiritual power, Ren still desperately yearned to cast real magic. He wanted to wield the flashy, powerful spells that the rest of his family used. But more importantly, he was being practical. The Ritsuzen was a magical clan; if he possessed more mana, he could secretly steal their techniques, read their books, and use their infinite resources.
Conversely, his resources for learning how to use spiritual power were exactly zero. If he could figure out how to absorb this mana, he wouldn't have to stumble blindly in the dark anymore.
Slowly but surely, the cluster of glowing ambient energy reached his chest and began to seep directly through his skin.
Pulling his scattered spiritual senses back from the surrounding woods, Ren turned his focus entirely inward. He wanted to examine his own body to see exactly how this foreign, wild energy interacted with his internal system.
'Huh?' Frowning in confusion, Ren watched through his mind's eye.
The moment the ambient energy entered his body, it began to react strangely with his dense spiritual power. Even more concerning, tiny, thread-like tendrils of the foreign light started reaching deep into his physical core, acting like hooks seemingly trying to pull something else out.
As he focused his senses on that deep, central core, he suddenly detected a few microscopic drops of a completely different energy hidden away. It felt distinct, far heavier than his cool, flowing spiritual power, yet entirely different from the wild, glowing motes he had just absorbed from the forest.
'Is that my mana?' Ren guessed. It made sense; it was by far the tiniest, most pathetic reserve of energy residing within his body. It was undeniable proof of his notoriously crippled magic pool.
But if that tiny, heavy puddle was his actual mana... his brow furrowed in deep concentration as he watched the glowing tendrils dig into his core.
'Then what in the world is this ambient energy I just absorbed?'
At that exact moment, a tiny, groggy voice echoed in his mind.
'Ren-chan?' It was Kon, whom Ren had assumed was still trapped in a deep, healing slumber.
"Ah! Kon! You've recovered?!" Ren gasped out loud, his voice thick with sudden surprise and overwhelming joy.
'Ah... Ren-chan doesn't need to speak out loud to communicate with me. You can just project your thoughts,' Kon explained weakly, his mental voice still sounding incredibly drained. 'And no, I haven't recovered yet. I just... I sensed something strange just now...' Kon fell silent for a long moment, seemingly trying to grasp whatever faint sensation had pulled him from his sleep.
Then, suddenly, the little fox let out a deafening mental shriek that nearly split Ren's skull in two.
'AHHHHH!!! What is this?! Is this... Natural Energy?!' Kon's sheer, unadulterated panic was entirely understandable. Simply sensing the ambient Natural Energy of the world usually required years of gruelling, deep meditation. To actively absorb it as a beginner was considered downright impossible.
But honestly, at this point, shouldn't we all be totally desensitized to the absurd level of talent Ren has been showing?
Kon's shock only lasted for a brief moment before it completely transformed into overwhelming joy.
'Ah! Ren-chan is going to become a Sage! Hehehe!' Kon giggled in absolute excitement, completely forgetting about his lingering injuries.
Then, seemingly coming to his senses, the little fox quickly tried to rein his soaring joy back in. 'No, no, no, don't get too excited, Kon. This is just the beginning. There is still a long, long way to go before Ren-chan actually becomes a Sage. Hehehe...' Although Kon mentally reprimanded himself, he was still bubbling with incredible happiness over the absurd progress his student had made in just a short time.
Sensing Kon's radiating excitement across their mental link, Ren also smiled a little. The fox's joy was infectious.
'Then... Kon, what exactly is this Natural Energy you are talking about?' Ren gently cut into the little fox's racing thoughts.