Over the next couple of weeks, Hugh could do nothing but grumble about his current situation. He had barely moved, and even Heron was more active, getting him food every now and then.

  Hugh almost exclusively moved only when he needed to use the bathroom before returning to the center of the training room. In the time that had passed, he remained extremely weak with the slowest recovery he had ever had.

  It was during this period of recovery that Hatia had visited once.

  “Master Diosk is leaving temporarily. If you reach Encapsulation before he returns, go to the Nexus.”

  After that short piece, Hatia had left just as quickly as she appeared. Nothing else was explained and no other advice was given.

  Hugh didn’t have any idea how long he would take since whatever the pattern he made inside himself did was taking so long to recover from. The only thing he did know was that he felt a little better each day and knew that it wouldn’t take too much longer.

  Now able to move around without much pain, as long as the movements weren’t excessive, Hugh would mostly walk around the training room. It took a long time, but he didn’t have anything better to do. Whenever he left the training room, the lower amount of ambient energy left him feeling worse than while he was inside it. Having no clue what was going on within himself, Hugh could only do what felt the best.

  That was how another two weeks went by until one day he felt like all the energy was no longer being sucked into the pattern. Focusing inside himself, he was able to sense that he was correct. His body felt like a tree starving of water, but he was finally relieved by the rain.

  As he enjoyed the feeling of once again having energy, Hugh attempted to step out of the training room, only to find that the lower energy would still not keep up with the amount being pulled out from him. With a weakened feeling, he returned to the training room with a deep frown.

  It was later that day, that Hatia showed up again.

  “I’ve been sent on a mission and won’t be here for a time. Your documents are at the Nexus for when you reach Encapsulation.”

  Just as Hatia was about to turn and leave, just like last time, Hugh spoke quickly.

  “Wait!”

  Hatia paused her steps to turn back around with an eyebrow raised.

  “What is it?”

  Hugh ignored the impatient look on her face and asked what he wanted to know.

  “I feel weak when I leave this room. It’s like the energy outside isn’t enough to let me move around. How do I reach encapsulation when the energy here isn’t enough?”

  Hatia frowned. There was no way that the energy here wasn’t enough. When she had been progressing toward the Encapsulation stage, she had also stayed in a training room like they were currently in. At the time, she remembered feeling like it was more than she would ever need. Even the ambient levels of energy in the surrounding area were enough for her back then.

  With a little disbelief, Hatia took a step closer to where Hugh sat and sensed that there was no problem with the energy here. Then she reached out with her energy to get a sense of what Hugh had going on.

  Hugh forced himself not to move when Hatia approached, and wanted to react when he felt her energy scan him. He didn’t budge though, knowing she was just checking things out.

  Hatia found that Hugh was absorbing the ambient energy somewhere inside himself but almost none of it was in the rest of his body.

  “Can’t you slow the absorption into your center and let it spread into your body?”

  Hugh shook his head, “It doesn’t work. And when I leave this room, I don’t get enough and can barely stand again.”

  Hatia didn’t want to care too much, but her master told her to try and help him if he had any questions.

  “What happens if you get more energy?”

  Hugh had no idea what would happen so he just shrugged with his answer.

  “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just absorb it faster?”

  Hatia stood in a thoughtful pose and Hugh didn’t interrupt as he hoped for a solution to his problem. He didn’t mind training, but after being stuck in the training room for so long, it was not the only place he wanted to be. Even if the rest of the little house was the extent of a change in scenery. There were no windows in the training room either, so the symbols on the floor and the plain walls were so ingrained now that even his dreams were filled with them.

  Finally, Hugh noticed Hatia shift slightly and even Hugh noticed the slight hesitation.

  Pulling out a few small pills, Hatia held them out.

  “Here, take one and we’ll see what happens.”

  Hugh didn’t immediately do so and Hatia seemed annoyed again.

  “Just do it. They’re just energy recovery pills.”

  Hugh placed one inside his mouth and he felt Hatias energy sweep over him again. Aside from that, he also felt the pill burst open with tens of times more energy than his surroundings as his body seemed to greedily drink it up.

  Hugh almost instantly began to feel 100% before he felt it all quickly pulled away and into the pattern again. With each pulse of energy from the pill, Hugh felt better for a moment just before the energy was pulled out. This happened about fifty times before the pill was gone, leaving Hugh in almost the same state as before.

  Seeing the whole process, Hatias’ frown deepened as she went into thinking mode again, putting together the things she did know and what her master told her about the seal.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  With those words left behind, Hugh waited for only about ten minutes before she returned.

  Pulling out a bottle of pills, Hatia instructed.

  “Master stated you just need energy, and it seems like these pills are fine. Here are a bunch of weakened energy restoration pills. Don’t take more than one at a time. You should probably only use them when you need to leave the room since they don’t last long and are of poor quality. I’ll be back once I finish my mission, so don’t wander around. There are still others here.”

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  Hugh was surprised to receive something and thanked her as she quickly left once again. It was a huge temptation for Hugh to not just swallow all the pills Hatia gave her right now, but he figured that if he took them all now, then he would only suffer later whenever he wanted to leave the room.

  Another two weeks passed and Hugh took the pills sparingly, especially after taking one that only lasted several pulses in comparison to the one Hatia had given him first. Hugh was finally relieved though as he was no longer feeling weak when leaving the training room. Even Heron was finally happier that Hugh was no longer injured.

  The only problem was that Hugh felt like he had returned to the same strength from right before he made the pattern. No matter what else he tried again, nothing seemed to work and the only route he could see was the second pattern on the seed.

  After spending so much time in a weakened condition, Hugh really didn’t want to go through that again if he didn’t have to, as he wondered if he should just go to the Nexus now instead.

  Maybe they would know something more?

  Having thought on it for a while, Hugh left the training room to go ask Heron what his thoughts were.

  “Hey Heron.”

  Heron grumbled a bit before answering.

  “What is it kid?”

  Heron’s grumble before answering told Hugh that he wasn’t in the best mood today. Since he had learned that bothering Heron when he was like that often meant he was upset for one reason or another. It would always result in a stand-off-ish feeling so Hugh decided not to ask.

  “Nothing. Just wanted to see how you were doing. I’m going to get some fresh air.”

  Heron grumbled again in his reply, to which Hugh wasn’t able to discern, let alone bother attempting to.

  Opening the front door, Hugh stepped out and took a deep breath. The scents of the surrounding grass and trees made Hugh feel more alive. While the smell was different where he was, it still reminded him of the little village he grew up in.

  Looking around and finding the place just as empty as the first time he came, Hugh began walking toward where he remembered the Nexus was, the whole while, wondering how his mother, father, and Gris were doing.

  It wasn’t long before Hugh found himself standing in front of the door to the Nexus. With a deep breath, and exhale, Hugh reached for the handle and stepped inside as he felt a strange sensation passing through the door. While it didn’t impede him any, it somehow left him feeling more bare.

  Once inside, Hugh looked around. To his surprise, the insides weren’t as embellished as he had guessed. If anything, they were quite spartan, yet the simplicity gave a feeling of elegance with the sharp white floor, and thick solid red lines that matched the roof’s color that demarcated different segments of the place.

  There wasn’t much to note with the plain walls as everything seemed to bring your attention to two places. One was a sort of board, with text scrawled across it, and the other was a reception desk where Hugh saw the first other person here aside from Sir Diosk and Hatia.

  The man looked old, like an elder of sorts. He had a long white beard and hair pulled back, falling behind him to match. He wore a robe of sorts, that only had white and red on it, with a symbol he was unfamiliar with on his left chest.

  As Hugh inspected that elderly man, the man looked at Hugh, as if to take his measure.

  The man soon brought his hand up to clear his throat before speaking.

  “Ahem. I guess you must be Hugh.”

  Hugh didn’t know why he had to cough first, but just went along with it.

  “Yes elder, I am.”

  The man immediately lost his composure, clearing his throat again. Hugh began to wonder if being old meant you would need to do that before speaking each time.

  “Ahem. There’s no need to call out my age, young one. Just call me Dolnma.”

  Seeing that there wasn’t anything else Dolnma wanted to say, Hugh asked a question.

  “Elder Dolnma, I was wondering if you could help my situation.”

  Dolnma coughed again and Hugh wondered at what age he would have to start coughing before every sentence he spoke.

  “Ahem. No need to put the elder in front, just Dolnma is fine.”

  Hesitantly, Hugh thought back to how some of the older generation liked to be called in his past life and asked again while changing his address slightly, “Ancestor Dolnma, I wanted to know if you would be able to help me?”

  Dolnma cursed the kid in his mind. Sure, the kids are respectful, but what’s with the addressing me every time in a way that points out my age. I’m not even that old, Diosk is older than me!

  Another cough, and Dolnma cleared his throat once again, regaining composure.

  “No Elder, and no ancestor. I’m not your ancestor, and I’m definitely not that old either!”

  Hugh was surprised and wondered if Dolnma had on a disguise.

  Dolnma kept speaking, “If you have to call me something, just call me senior Dolnma.”

  Dolnma looked at Hugh’s reaction and saw he had a strange look on his face, wondering where this kid grew up to keep addressing people like they were old.

  Hugh felt weird that Elder Dolnma wouldn’t want to be called in a respectful way since he was so old, and instead wanted him to use the informal senior. Which was much more direct in pointing out somebody was older than themselves.”

  “Um… Senior Dolnma, could you answer a question about my cultivation?”

  Dolnma was finally happy that Hugh didn’t call him Elder or Ancestor and ignored Hugh’s question.

  “Good, good. Come a little closer to the counter so I can check on what Diosk saw in you. He’s been complaining about his positional requirements for quite some time now, so I guess he’s probably relieved that he found you.”

  Under his breath, Dolnma continued as Hugh slowly stepped closer. “Bastard doesn’t even stop by anymore, just sending Hatia over. It’s like he’s forgotten that I’m his martial uncle.”

  Hugh could only make out parts of what Dolnma was saying as he approached, but he heard martial uncle, and was unfamiliar with the term so he asked.

  Dolnma retorted, “Where are you from that you don’t know that? Actually nevermind, it doesn’t matter. I’m Diosk’s master’s sworn brother. That makes me his martial uncle, and for you, that would mean I’m your senior martial uncle.”

  Hugh thought about it for a second and figured it sorta made sense so he didn’t question it.

  “Alright, let me see your wrist, I want to check your condition.”

  Hugh held his arm out and Dolnma grasped it quickly, feeling his pulse for a few seconds before Hugh felt a little energy enter him through his wrist and slowly move around.

  After a short wait, Dolnma let go and asked, “All the energy inside of you is continuously getting absorbed into a seal. What’s going on with that?”

  This was the first time Hugh heard that term and Dolnma saw the confusion on his face.

  “You didn’t know you had a seal in you? No, wait. Don’t answer that. It’s absorbing almost all the energy you take in.”

  Hugh watched as Dolnma seemed to go into thought and eventually interrupted him.

  “Eld… Senior? Do you know how to get rid of the seal? Or what I can do to progress?”

  Dolnma snapped out of it.

  “You’ve come to the right person. Though I’ve never seen that particular seal before. I can tell that it needs a lot more energy, or maybe just enough of a higher quality. Follow me.”

  Hugh watched as Dolnma turned and headed through a door off to the side and then followed as they walked down a hall.

  “If all you need is more energy, then the seal will eventually break. It looks like you’ve started the process since it isn’t pulling everything out of you completely anymore. If the seal was trying to activate, then you would be left without any energy at all, and whatever it was trying to do would have already happened.”

  Hugh kept following as they stepped into another door, only for Hugh to find himself in a familiar-looking training room. It was more than twice the size of the one he had been using and the patterns on the floor look much more complex as well.

  Dolnma turned around only to find Hugh studying the floor.

  “Oh? Do you know about spirit diagrams?”

  Hugh looked back up and replied honestly, forgetting the earlier conversation.

  “No Elder Dolnma. I was just trying to compare the difference from the one in my training room.”

  Dolma almost fell over being addressed as elder again.

  “Listen kid, I’m not an elder. No more elder, ancestor, old man, or anything like that. Just use senior. Now, go sit in the middle of the room before I change my mind.”

  Hugh was alarmed at Dolnma’s reaction, especially since he had released a little of his energy with it, stunning him for a brief second.

  “Yes!”

  Hugh quickly made his way over to the middle of the room and sat upon it like he had the other room, immediately feeling a difference he couldn’t exactly place. Aside from that, his body finally began to feel like it was gaining strength again, a little at a time and a smile appeared on his face.

  Dolnma watched for a few minutes before nodding in satisfaction and leaving with a few words.

  “Come back out to the front once the seal is released and is no longer absorbing all your energy.”

  Hugh settled down and began to pace his breath. He could immediately feel the energy in the surrounding and was aware that it wasn’t just more dense, but different somehow. He couldn’t place it with his limited experience with such a thing, but he knew it was definitely more than just a little more dense.

  Feeling pretty good, Hugh soon sank into a rhythm of absorbing energy once again and the pattern inside taking it in. Unknown to him, Senior Dolnma was waiting just outside, keeping an eye on him with a minuscule amount of energy he kept extended out through the walls into the room.

  Seeing that Hugh began right away, he nodded and walked away, back to the front.