He closed his eyes and tried to feel the Essence flowing through his body. He felt a rush toward his chest. It was like the sensation of cool water flowing down one's throat on a scorching day. No matter how much he had tried before, it had never worked; he had felt only pain. But now, the Essence flowed without him even trying—it was surely thanks to the necklace. As if responding to his desires, the device gathered the Essence in his body at his chest. The necklace began to glow.
However, he couldn't transfer the Essence from the necklace to anywhere else, no matter how hard he tried. He thought about the old man's words. "He talked too much, but most of it was useless," he muttered to himself. He hadn't understood what he needed to do. The man had only said that the mind and Essence must become one. He could control the Essence in nature at least a little, but he didn't even know how he did it. The things his mother had told him were mostly about transforming the Essence while releasing it from the body. She probably hadn't considered that her son would struggle so much with control.
The only thing Khaia knew now, as the man had said, was that his mind and Essence had to be one.
He regulated his breathing. Taking slow, deep breaths, he tried to materialize the Essence in his mind. He imagined it as a purple liquid—a fluid that responded to will. If the will was strong enough, this liquid could be commanded and ordered. For someone whose thoughts were currently filled with revenge and anger, imposing pressure was natural, but such states of mind only made control more difficult.
After a while, he opened his eyes.
"What is this? Am I blind? Everything looks purple in my right eye!"
He shook his head from side to side, blinking repeatedly. He calmed down when he noticed the tint gradually fading. With one hand on the ground, he rubbed his eye with the other. His breathing had become irregular. Once he calmed down, he was able to think clearly. He had likely gathered the Essence in his eye unintentionally. While trying to visualize it, he had focused too much on his head, and it seemed the Essence had gathered on his dominant right side.
When all the gathered Essence flowed back into the necklace, the vision in his right eye returned to normal. Through this, he understood a bit more about gathering Essence, but he needed to do it faster and more easily. He would try again by suppressing his emotions and maintaining a clear mind. Since he had only recently begun to experience these emotional states, returning to the void he was once in wasn't difficult. He calmed himself and turned his focus inward. Even though he still felt hatred toward the Emperor, his mind was empty.
He was good at suppressing emotions. Giving up on lying down, he stood up. He looked toward the sky. He had won the battle of wills against the Essence; he could do it again. With total determination, he imagined the Essence as a living being and tried to impose his mental pressure upon it. He attempted to gather it in his hand.
Finally, he felt a flow toward his hand. He could feel a presence there. He expected a tingling sensation or a coldness, but he felt only a slight weight. The will of a being.
He made a fist and slowly began walking toward a nearby tree. He knew he had to transform the Essence. He had thought of his plan long ago while imagining what he could do if he could ever use his power. His plan was to transform the Essence into kinetic energy, transferring that energy to atoms to make them vibrate at high speeds. When he hit the tree, the accumulated energy would be transferred to the tree's atoms, causing them to scatter.
Visualizing this, he swung his fist at the tree.
Pat—
Nothing happened. His hand hit the tree and just stayed there. He could still feel the Essence in his hand. It meant he hadn't succeeded. Without pulling his hand away, he released the accumulated Essence into the tree and transformed it into fire. The tree suddenly began to burn. Khaia immediately recoiled.
The tree had ignited, but it was a small fire. He put it out by hitting it before it could spread. He had run away thinking it would be a massive blaze from the initial flash, but it wasn't at all as he had imagined.
He had managed to transform the Essence, but in this state, it was useless. He needed to develop it further and know what he was capable of. He thought it was too early to produce his own technique. He put his leather garment back on. He sat on the grass and ate the last piece of the food he had brought while watching the sunset. He returned to the inn, went up to his room, and got into bed. Before long, he fell into a deep sleep.
He woke up and went downstairs to have breakfast. He needed to improve his use of Essence and his techniques; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to protect himself or achieve his goal. His father had written that the man named Khural would teach him things when he reached him. But he wanted to learn something on his own as well.
Wandering through the town, he looked at the shops. He looked more carefully at the shops selling books. On a book standing on a shelf in one shop, he saw a symbol he thought he had seen before. A symbol resembling the silhouette of someone with wings holding a staff. This was similar to the symbol in the books his mother had given him.
"Bookseller, what kind of book is that one with the winged symbol on the shelf?"
The bookseller had green hair, was short, and wore black leather armor. He was shorter than short. He looked like a dwarf.
"Son, that book won't do you any good. That's a Surface-dweller book. Let me give you this book, a book containing the Emperor's special techniques."
Khaia understood the reason for the symbol. By taking that book, he could obtain information about the Surface-dwellers and perhaps learn their techniques on his own. And he might learn more about his mother. He looked at the book the man was trying to sell. It looked very clean and unused. It was clearly a fake book—a book produced to trick children into buying it.
"No. It's obvious that this book is fake and full of useless techniques. I want the Surface-dweller book."
The bookseller's mood soured, and he looked at Khaia with disgust, scanning him from head to toe. "Son, that book is about Surface-dweller techniques. It won't be of any use to you if you don't possess Surface-dweller blood."
"Just give it to me and don't mind the rest. I just want to have information about the techniques."
The man reluctantly handed over the book. "The price is 5 silver, as written on it."
He realized that this book didn't hold any value here. No one wanted to buy it. The man's face looked unhappy because he was going to receive so little money. Khaia pulled 1 gold coin from his satchel and, after placing the book in his bag, walked away.
"Son, this money is too much, aren't you going to take the change?"
Khaia turned his head toward the man behind him and spoke: "No, keep it. I don't need it."
The man's eyes widened again, and he kissed the money before tossing it into the small chest under the counter.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Khaia gathered his belongings. He paid the fee for the inn where he had stayed the previous night, mounted his horse, and set out once again.
This time, his path would take him through a forest. He urged his horse toward the exit of the town.
From a distance, he spotted the old man he had spoken with the day before. Just as he was about to offer a greeting, he noticed the man talking to someone wearing a black hood and a mask.
This stranger was one of the the Emperor's hounds—the same kind that had come to his home.
He changed his mind and spurred his horse forward. Speeding up, he left the town behind and headed deep into the forest.