"In most cases, when this happens, all one has to do is pull back and fall into meditation, or simply sleep, to recharge and clear the mind. An advantage of moving one's chi and wearing one's self out is the more one engages in this, the more one's mental strength increases. The more you can last in getting used to moving your Chi, which is important during combat."
Not waiting for John to speak, Sensei continued, "Now I will teach you a trick of Chi, a trick which brought about this whole lesson in the first place: Healing."
John felt a jolt of genuine interest, a flicker of excitement that even his heightened control couldn't entirely suppress. Healing. This was a direct answer to one of his most pressing needs, a way to mitigate the constant wear and tear of League life, and perhaps even accelerate his own recovery from the strain of his new power.
Sensei, observing John's subtle reaction, continued. "Healing with Chi is not magic, John. It is an act of extreme focus and biological efficiency. When the body is damaged, it expends tremendous energy to repair itself. Chi, your bio-energy, is the purest form of that energy. By guiding it, by consciously directing the current to a specific area, you can accelerate the body's natural regenerative processes. You become an active participant in your own recovery."
He shifted slightly, turning his head towards John. "Place your hand on a part of your body that feels fatigued, or perhaps a minor ache you carry. Most of you have many." His voice held a dry, knowing humor.
John who had plenty of places aching placed his on his stomach, mostly the area around his stomach, ribs included.
John closed his eyes, focusing inward. He felt the familiar hum of his chi, clearer now than ever. With Sensei's words as his anchor, he began to visualize the energy, not as a mystical light, but as a concentrated, internal current flowing exactly as Sensei described.
He felt a subtle warmth spread beneath his palm, a gentle thrumming that seemed to soothe the ache on his stomach. It wasn't an instant cure, but a distinct, palpable alleviation of the discomfort. The sensation was profoundly grounding, connecting him to his own internal resources in a way he hadn't thought possible.
But then, as he tried to maintain the flow, a problem emerged. The mental image of the current, so clear moments before, began to waver. It was like trying to hold a handful of water; the chi felt responsive, present, but refused to be held or directed with consistent intent.
He could feel it, but making it go exactly where he wanted, with the precise pressure needed for healing, was like trying to thread a needle with a thread of smoke. The subtle warmth would build, then immediately dissipate, his focus fragmenting. The ache on his stomach, briefly soothed, began to reassert itself, a dull reminder of his current limitation.
At the same time, the mental fatigue was even clearer. He could hardly grasp the chi and move it as he wanted to.
John couldn't help but think that maybe mental strength seemed to be a vital aspect in moving chi. He posed this question to Sensei. Sensei, who had been taken aback again by how quickly John grasped the healing trick, was drawn out of his thoughts by the boy's query.
Sensei opened his eyes, his gaze steady on John. "Indeed, it takes great mental strength to move Chi as you are going against the body's instinct. The body, for reasons still not fully understood, has always possessed Chi, yet it is something most humans rarely have the opportunity to get in touch with. It's almost as if the body wants to keep this energy to itself, a deeply ingrained biological resistance to external or even conscious manipulation."
He paused, allowing his words to sink in. "Then you have people like us," Sensei continued, his voice taking on a more profound tone, "who come into contact with this energy and seek to wield it. Of course, it takes immense mental fortitude to override that inherent biological resistance."
Sensei watched John, sensing the boy's internal drive to accelerate. "You John has shown to sense Chi with remarkable ease. You feel its presence, its pathways, far quicker than others. This is a rare gift, a heightened perception that bypasses years of meditative effort for most. However, perceiving the energy and commanding it are two different disciplines."
"Your body's inherent resistance to Chi manipulation, and the mental exertion required to overcome it, is a process of adaptation. Think of it like a muscle. You can understand the theory of lifting weights instantly, but you cannot suddenly gain the strength to lift a hundred kilograms without a long, consistent process of exhausting that muscle and allowing it to recover and rebuild stronger. There's no shortcut to that physical adaptation, no 'boom' of sudden strength. It's the same with your mental fortitude for Chi."
"You must continue to push your mind, to exhaust it by attempting to move the Chi, and then allow it to recover. Over time, that repeated process builds the necessary mental endurance and ingrained control. Your body will slowly, stubbornly, adapt to allowing your will to direct its vital energy. For me now," Sensei concluded, his gaze settling back into an almost timeless calm, "commanding Chi is simply a flex of will, an extension of my intent, because my body and mind have spent lifetimes undergoing that very process of adaptation."
With that, Sensei fell silent, sinking back into his own meditation. John, now battling genuine mental fatigue, followed suit, allowing his mind to drift into a meditative state for recovery.
As he recovered, he mused over Sensei's words. They provided a wealth of ideas for his own ability and how it could accelerate his Chi training. While Sensei emphasized the necessity of time for the body's adaptation, John was confident he could drastically reduce that period.
He now had two primary ways to push himself mentally. One was highly effective but incredibly taxing: adrenal manipulation on others. This wore him out quickly, far faster than simply sitting and trying to move his Chi.
His serene state, however, seemed to have a less immediate, but potentially powerful, application. It could likely hasten his body's adaptation to Chi, but the trade-off was a significant increase in his energy expenditure, demanding a proportional rise in food intake.
This currently served no practical purpose for John beyond making him appear even more unusual to the League. He needed to find a more efficient and less conspicuous way to acquire the energy spent when utilizing that serene state for accelerated adaptation. The challenge now was to bridge the gap between his extraordinary talent and the mundane biological demands of his body.
The day passed quickly, a blur of focused effort. John spent the remaining hours of the session not just recovering from mental fatigue but actively applying Sensei's healing instruction. By the time the lesson ended, he was confident he had relieved a significant amount of pain from two of his ribs, a persistent ache from a past training injury. The sensation of guiding the Qi to target specific areas, though still challenging, felt less like smoke and more like a viscous fluid, responding slowly but surely to his intent.
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