Abyss Draconis

"Yes."

"Suddenly, everything was going smoothly, but then, you fully lost consciousness and just fell backward."

"You remained unconscious for five minutes before finally opening your eyes. It was very sudden," she explained to him as Ryuk's head cleared and his eyes flashed with the memories of what he saw.

"So, did you find the Mental Veins?" she asked him, as his eyebrows furrowed before he asked:

"Tell me, are they usually very big? Looking like tunnels instead of 'veins' that you call them?" he asked her, watching her pause, looking at him weirdly.

"Some people have Aetheris Veins that are bigger than others. In fact, the bigger the Aetheris Veins, the better."

"But the biggest recorded are the size of pinky fingers. There's no such thing as tunnels for Aetheris Veins. No, they're never so big," she explained to Ryuk, whose eyes flashed before he turned to her.

"Let's try it out one more time. For me to confirm things properly," he asked, and she looked into his eyes for a while before she shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine. Sit up properly," she instructed, and just like before, Ryuk sat up properly, and she placed her hand around his head, helping him channel Aetheris.

Ryuk remained even more quiet this time and it didn't take long for him to find those blue dots that he quickly began to follow through the darkness.

Just like before, he soon found the end of the dark space and when he stepped inside, it was the same feeling and the same sight.

Him standing in the sky and looking below—blue-veined tunnels interlocking all around, and chaining them tightly were six ginormous dark chains.

But this time, Ryuk didn't pay much attention to that.

Instead, he focused on looking at the dots of Aetheris that had come in with him, moving into the veins of blue.

He watched as the light in the veins momentarily increased, banishing the dark aura surrounding the chains, albeit in a very small amount.

But it was instantly clear to Ryuk.

'There are chains holding my Mental Veins. There is no doubt about that. Perhaps this is what had stopped me from being able to sense Aetheris at all in the first place.'

'But it is clear: Absorbing Aetheris into the veins erases this dark aura on the chains.'

'If I absorb enough Aetheris, I will completely eradicate the dark aura on the chains and most likely destroy the chains altogether,' he mused to himself and without wasting any more seconds—

Ryuk focused instead on trying to reduce the dark aura with the help of Instructor Kiyona.

'I need to create a small space and break some part of the chains so that I would be able to sense Aetheris by myself and not always need her help.'

And like that, he focused—trying to absorb more Aetheris.

The sensation took quite some time, but it continued as more dots of blue began swarming into his Mental World, entering into his mental veins, and then the blue light from his veins slowly began increasing and increasing—the dark chains around it dulling in thier dark light before—

KAAA-CHAAA

The sound of a powerful breaking echoed through the area as Ryuk watched one of the chains crack into pieces, and then...

VROOOOOOOOOOM

Powerful blue lights instantly bloomed through the space as Ryuk felt something connect.

Instantly, his body connected with his physical form as he regained something peculiar.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing before in the garden—but this time, he could see the world much clearer.

In every single particle around him were blue dots of light, like the ones in his dark consciousness—and now, he could absorb them by himself straight into his Mental World.

Turning the side of his head to look at Instructor Kiyona, who slowly took her hand back—

"I can see the Aetheris now," he said, as her eyes beamed with light before getting furrowed.

"You can see them?" she asked, and Ryuk nodded, pointing to her.

"Yes."

"You're surrounded in this silvery dust of Aetheris. And they are a lot around your fingers..." he explained as he looked at her hands, and her eyes flashed in surprise.

"What? Is it not possible to see Aetheris?" he asked her noticing her bizzare expression, but she shook her head.

"It is possible. I too can see Aetheris."

"But that is an ability that can only be gotten after one has broken through to the Thoughtweaver stage."

"In the Lucid Spark stage, it is nothing but a feeling. It is never really so clear," she explained as Ryuk nodded his head slowly.

"I can see it though. I guess... lucky me then?" he replied, but then his eyes furrowed when he looked at the sky—and over, the sun was already setting.

They had taken so much time.

"Now that you can clearly see the Aetheris, it should be easy for you to absorb them into your Mental Veins."

"And speaking of your Mental Veins, have you been able to see their real size? How big are they?" she asked him as Ryuk looked at her before raising and pointing to his index finger.

"They are as big as this, once my sight was cleared."

"Wow. That's huge. It's advantageous as bigger veins means more energy capability to be stored."

"But bigger veins also mean slower cultivation speed because you will need more Aetheris to fully fill your Mental Veins completely."

"That would require more time in meditation than others, but it will be worth it in the end—if your Aetheris circulation speed is not too slow," she explained as Ryuk nodded his head.

"Tomorrow, I will see to getting you a manual to boost your cultivation speed, of course, on High Scholar Emeris Permission."

"But for today, we end the training here."

"Don't be late for class. And see you tomorrow, Ryuk," she said to hi before she rose to her feet and slowly walked into the distance, and he soon watched as her figure seemed to disperse into dots of light that scattered into the distance.

A faint smile on Ryuk's face as he waved at her disappearing figure—but once it faded away, Ryuk's hands, waving, slowly paused before clenching hard.

His slight smile slowly began to fade away, followed by the sound of teeth clenching.

"Bastards!"