"Keep the energy within you."
Chi-Long's voice moving through the room.
Even.
Unhurried.
"Make sure nothing leaks out."
---
Ha Joon and Eun Byol sat still.
Breathing.
The warmth in their stomachs present now without being called for.
Just there.
Learning to stay.
---
"All that power."
Chi-Long continued.
"Keep it within you."
A pause.
"But at the same time draw more from your core."
Another pause.
"Not too much."
"Take it slowly."
"Let it move through you."
"As if you are breathing it."
---
She let that sit.
Let them try it.
---
"This is the first step of mastering mana."
Her voice finding a different register.
Still flat.
But carrying more weight now.
The weight of something important being said simply.
---
"As you grow stronger you will continue to absorb more crystals. Develop your core further."
A breath.
"Once you reach a certain point you will be able to condense the mana within you."
---
She moved slowly around them as she spoke.
Not inspecting.
Just present.
---
"There is something important you must understand."
She stopped.
"Humans cannot create their own mana."
She said it plainly.
"We can only absorb it."
A pause.
"Think of it like a jug."
Her voice carrying no apology for the simplicity of the image.
"The bigger the jug the more water it can contain."
---
She let them hold that.
---
"Now think of a large amount of water."
A pause.
"Frozen. Condensed. Squeezed."
"Until it fits inside the jug."
---
Silence.
---
"That process alone is extremely difficult."
Her eyes moving between them.
"We learned this method from the dungeons themselves."
A breath.
"Inside the center of each dungeon you will find them. Giant blue crystals. Mana that has been condensed and crystallized over time. That energy pressed into solid form."
She paused.
"To do the same process within a hunter. To increase the quality of mana a hunter can absorb and contain."
Another pause.
"That is cultivation."
---
She looked at them both.
---
"This takes time. It takes hours. It takes repetition beyond what you think you are capable of."
Her voice finding its flattest register.
Its most final.
"You will learn this process."
A breath.
"And you will master it."
---
Ha Joon and Eun Byol lay on the floor.
Flat on their backs.
Chests rising and falling.
The sweat on their tracksuits dark and heavy.
Eyes at the ceiling.
The kind of breathing that has given up being quiet about itself.
Just moving air.
Just surviving the last few minutes.
---
Chi-Long looked down at them.
The two of them spread out on the cold concrete floor of the facility.
The white walls around them.
The single light above.
---
A long moment passed.
---
"You're not done yet."
---
Flat.
Final.
Almost gentle in the way the most certain things are gentle.
---
"Get up."