Lyren no longer cared how long it had been since he fell asleep. He opened his eyes with a clear goal in his mind. There was only one way to make sure that he could light up all these patterns and that was increasing his cultivation and there was no better way to cultivate that depleting his reserves and replenishing them again and again.
And that was what he did. When he woke up, his core was right about fully replenished and he did not waste his time as he channeled all his energy into the pattern. The pattern glowed slightly and dimmed instantly. Then he began. The process was slow after all but there was no other way that he knew.
He knew only one way of drawing energy and that was from the rotation of the core. Well, it appeared that it was easier said than done. He had seen the core rotate at a very fast speed such that it almost vanished. He tried his best but he did not budge it.
Lyren was not going to give up here as he went on until he felt it move. It was like a tight screw finally turning slightly. Just that one small movement made Lyren feel a surge of Elyria through his palm from the atmosphere.
He smiled at this as that was a sign of progress. He did not want to think about his future or else he would be discouraged. Slowly and steadily, the core finally had the energy it usually had in itself. He was about to drain that energy when he finally had a thought.
The world around the core. Wasn't it also supposed to be filled with Elyria? This thought made his heart throb and he had come to realize that every time his heart throbbed, there was a very high possibility that he was right.
Lyren decided to fill the world too. The first stream of energy he drew was instantly swallowed up by the world. It was almost like he had not just sent a stream of energy at all. He did so again but the result was the same.
A long time passed before Lyren could actually feel energy in the world surrounding the core. It was probably after two days if he was not being mistaken. That was a very long time and he felt like he had just poured a drop into a bowl that had to be filled.
Lyren spent a lot of time cultivating and after a week, he finally managed to fill the world quarter-way. His idea of cultivation was once again shattered as he realized something. In order to advance to the next stage, he had to fill the world with energy.
This brought his into a dilemma on whether to continue using the energy he had gathered on the patterns or keep it. he could tell that he had almost ten times the energy he had few days ago.
He wanted to try whether he could light a pattern but that would ruin his progress. He was contemplating but he decided to do it anyway. Its not like he was in hurry to leave in the first place. He walked to the first pattern and placed his hand on the core.
He let the pattern draw from him and the pattern glowed the usual golden lighting p the surrounding. Lyren was shocked by the results as he was able to light it up and there was still energy in his core.
This came as a surprise to him and also as a way forward. He was now set in the cultivation path.
***
Time passed and in the dusky surrounding where only a hall and broken statues could be seen, there was a new variable. A twelve year old boy who was currently seated on the floor in meditation position with his eyes closed.
He would stay in this position for a long time probably weeks and later he would stand up and go to one of the patterns on the ground and light them up by placing his hand on their core. There seemed to be four rows and he seemed to have already worked his way to the third row.
A long time passed and one day, he stood up and went to the fourth row which had two patterns. He closed his eyes and seemed to try to focus on them and a smile could be seen on his face as though he had made a discovery.
Later, he placed his hand on the core of one of the two patterns and after a while, he drew his arm. There was a dry chuckle as though he had failed. Terribly at that. He then seemed to sit in front of the fourth row and close his eyes falling into a deep meditation.
It took a long time but on one specific day, the Elyria in the surrounding seemed to move towards one direction. Towards the boy. It seemed to gather around him and after a while, it started being drawn into his body.
When all was done, the boy went back to the fourth row's patterns and placed his hand on the core and he let out a chuckle again as he fell back into meditation. Time passed and once in a while one would see him suddenly light up all the first three rows' patterns and he would climb the stairs up to the 100th step.
He never seemed to get past it. He would spend sometime on it and later, he would come down with heavy steps straining himself such that one could think that he had weight on his back. At one time, he had come down running but it was like he was running slow motion.
His breathing had been ragged and he had fallen on his knees after coming down the first step. Every time he came down, there would always be a smile and his eyes were always filled with blood vessels as though he had been straining.
Not many people would continue doing the same thing if they knew that it was going to harm them. Only those who were insane could do that. Yet this boy kept doing so every once in a few days and he would go back to his meditation spending another several weeks sometimes asleep.
A while later almost a month, he had been running down the stairs in slow motion and when he fell on his knees supporting himself with his hands so as not to fall, he let out a laughter that clearly indicated he was crazy.
He then stood up with wobbly feet and went back to his meditation spot. It did not even take a minute before the Elyria in the atmosphere went towards him and it was suddenly quickly drawn into his body.
When he opened them once again, there was a white light that flashed in his dark grey eyes and his hair was suddenly thrust upwards by a sudden wind that came from the ground. He then placed his hand on one of the fourth row's patterns and it only glowed very dimly before he withdrew his hand.
He activated the first three rows and climbed to the 100th step. He did not stay for long as he went down and sat at the only pattern that could be described as the fifth row. He just looked at it for a brief moment and he instantly fell asleep for a very long time. A week actually.
Then, he opened his eyes slowly and looked around. He then stood up but he stumbled and fell on his right knee. One hand pressed on his forehead. It was likely it was dizziness that had assaulted him. It took him a while before he could actually look up.
His dark grey eyes seemed to have a cautious light in them and he stood up after five minutes.
***
"What a drag…"