Fatigue was not the first thing Aris felt when he closed the door of his room behind him…
It was the silence.
A heavy silence, as if the walls themselves were watching him… as if the day that had passed was not over yet, but still hanging in the air, waiting for something.
He walked forward with slow steps. His body was still throbbing from the exhaustion of the fight, but deep inside… something else was moving.
Something he did not yet understand.
Suddenly—
the system spoke.
It was not a voice… but a presence.
The battle has been analyzed.
The differences during the use of spiritual energy have been analyzed.
Postures… contractions… neural signals… unconscious reactions have been analyzed.
Deficiencies have been identified.
A brief moment of silence…
Then—
Transferring information to the host's awareness.
At that moment…
everything exploded.
It was not as if knowledge entered his mind…
but as if his mind opened.
A flood… a torrent… a storm of awareness rushed into him without mercy. Images, movements, angles, mistakes, corrections—
every moment of the fight was replayed, not as it happened…
but as it should have happened.
His body trembled.
Not from pain…
but from precision.
Every muscle… every tendon… every neural signal began to change, adapt, rearrange itself as if it had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
His breathing quickened.
Then slowed.
Then… aligned.
And without awareness—
the spiritual energy began to move.
He did not summon it… did not force it… did not resist it.
It…
flowed.
As if it knew the path.
As if it… had been waiting for him to understand.
His nervous system adapted, aligned, surrendered to that new rhythm, and little by little, the feeling began to change…
It no longer felt like he was controlling external energy.
But…
like he was controlling a part of himself.
Ten minutes passed…
or perhaps a moment.
When Aris opened his eyes, he was not the same person who had closed them.
He exhaled slowly…
a long, calm, deep breath.
At that moment—
the air around him trembled.
Small sparks of light began to form, shining, fading, then returning, circling his body as if drawn to him…
No…
as if they belonged to him.
He felt them.
Every single one.
They were not just energy…
they were sensation.
Strength… speed… clarity.
His senses expanded.
His reactions became lighter.
And his body…
became faster than he was used to.
He slowly extended his hand…
and it responded.
Without resistance.
Without chaos.
Without that annoying fluctuation that had always chased him.
For a moment…
he smiled.
A faint smile, barely visible.
Then he whispered to himself:
"So… this is it."
But that was not the end.
It was the beginning.
He did not stop.
He did not allow himself to.
He sat… then stood… then began again.
This time—
gravity.
He raised his hand and focused.
Before, this power had been stubborn… heavy… as if it rejected him.
Now…
it responded.
Slowly at first…
then with greater confidence.
The air in front of him compressed.
The ground beneath him trembled lightly.
It was not strong yet…
but there was something different.
Something… frightening.
Even he felt it.
Control… being born.
The next day—
the training hall was as it always was.
Noisy… harsh… merciless.
The children trained, fell, rose, repeated…
as if they were machines that did not know how to stop.
But Aris…
no longer saw them the same way.
He saw details.
Angles.
Mistakes.
And differences.
From a distance…
there was someone else watching him.
The trainer.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Then—
he disappeared.
In a moment…
he was in front of him.
Very close.
Close enough that the air between them froze.
He looked at him… in silence.
Then said, in a tone that did not hide his surprise:
"Oh…"
He paused briefly.
Then continued:
"Your control over spiritual energy… has reached this level of mastery? In just one night?"
Aris did not answer.
He did not need to.
Because what surrounded him…
answered.
The energy.
Its stillness.
Its purity.
Its harmony.
The trainer said nothing more.
Instead, he turned…
and called out:
"Lin Mu."
It did not take long…
before the two were standing in the arena.
Lin Mu looked at him, and his eyes held something new this time.
Not mockery.
Not absolute confidence.
But…
caution.
"Young one…"
he said slowly.
"This… is not the same flow I saw yesterday."
He stepped closer.
"It is no longer chaotic."
Aris looked at him calmly and said:
"Thanks to you."
Lin Mu smiled.
A faint smile.
"Forget that… we are almost from the same generation."
Then he added, his voice more serious:
"But if this is your level now…"
He paused.
Then smiled again.
"It will not be an easy fight."
A moment of silence.
Heavy.
Steady.
Then—
they vanished.
An explosion of air.
A sound of impact.
The two appeared in the middle of the arena, fists colliding, energy bursting around them like spirals of light. The ground beneath their feet cracked with fine lines.
Lin Mu was fast.
So fast that his afterimage lagged behind him.
A strike—
a turn—
a side kick.
But—
Aris did not retreat.
His body moved with strange smoothness, as if he anticipated the strike before it came, as if he saw what had not yet happened.
He avoided the first.
Absorbed the second.
And stopped the third… with one hand.
The air exploded.
Sparks of light scattered.
Lin Mu's eyes widened.
For a moment.
And that was enough.
Aris stepped forward.
One step.
But it was—
heavy.
Gravity decreased around Lin Mu.
Or perhaps…
it increased upon him.
His body faltered.
His balance broke.
And in that moment—
a strike.
Simple.
Direct.
But…
perfect.
It hit his chest.
And without a loud sound…
he fell.
Silence.
One second…
two…
then sound returned.
Breathing.
Footsteps.
Aris stood there, his chest rising and falling slowly.
Not because he was tired…
but because…
he felt.
Everything.
As for Lin Mu…
he stood up.
Slowly.
Then laughed.
A clear laugh, full of excitement.
"Hah…!"
He looked at him, his eyes shining.
"This is what I am talking about!"
He clenched his fist.
Then said:
"Again… little brother."
As for Aris…
he did not answer.
He did not need to.
Because at that moment…
he understood only one thing—
This path…
will not stop.
And whoever walks it…
either becomes stronger…
or is crushed.
There is no place for anything else.