Chapter 4: Chapter 4 - Breathing is Hard
As we pass the doorframe I found myself in a relatively cozy living room. A large red sofa in the middle of the room facing a fireplace, an indoor kitchen behind the sofa with a dining area to the left. This was all new to me. I've never lived in such a comfy place.
"Wait here Aurra, make yourself comfortable."
Ming walks towards another room and goes in. I start looking around some more. A lot of the furniture in the living room has red or another bright color. Anywhere I look my eyes are comforted and not looking at something bland. I plop myself on the sofa and felt the bouncing of the cushion.
All of these wonderful sights made me forget about my own pain.
"Here Aurra try these on."
Ming comes back with what looks like a purple dress, long black socks, undergarments, and purple fingerless gloves.
"Thank you, Ming!"
"You're more than welcome, Aurra"
I started putting on the underwear over my bandages as Ming held up the purple dress.
"This is a purple Vestido Cheongsam, a traditional dress of Qingming, but made more for traveling. Normally the bottom of the dress is tighter, but this one is loose for flexibility."
Wow...
Even this purple dress's designs are amazing! Etched with gold forming phoenixes on each side of the dress.
Ming helps me put it on and it fits perfectly! The left side of the dress is over the right side with buttons to keep it in place. The buttons reach all the way down to the middle of my right thigh as the rest of the dress reaches down below my knee. The sleeves come all the way past my wrist and there's even a hood in the back.
"Wow, this is so comfortable!"
"Here I'll help you put on the socks."
I dropped onto the sofa to let Ming lift socks onto my legs as I put on the black gloves.
"You look so cute Aurra!"
"Thank you again, Ming!"
"Alright let's go outside."
I follow Ming towards the main door and she hands me a pair of black silk shoes. I put them on and feel that the soles are flat and still support my feet really well.
Opening the door I see that the house wraps around to create this center area with a giant tree in the middle. The whole area is around 30 by 30 yards with a 10 by 10 yards grassy area in the middle surrounding the tree.
The tree in the center had peaches dangling from the branches. For some reason the closer we go to the tree the more clear my senses were. I felt all of my body's pain subside and each breath I took tasted sweeter.
"Is this tree creating the atmosphere?"
"Yes, it is a magical tree which absorbs the surrounding Qi and survives off of it. The extra qi it gathers is condensed and just left around it."
"Wait did you say qi?" Isn't this form of energy called mana?
"Oh right, in the kingdom of Gregordian they call it mana, but here in Qingming we call it qi."
"Qi, huh."
I wonder if people here in Qingming learn magic and principles of the world differently than in Gregordian. And if they do how much different is it?
"Come here Aurra sit down next to the tree. We can begin by letting you feel the energy."
I felt the qi moving around my body as I drop down onto the ground. How have I never felt this before? Maybe the qi wasn't this condensed anywhere I went in Gregordian.
"Here cross your legs like this." Ming crossed her legs with her right foot under her left.
"Then place your hands here." Ming moves her hands next to her stomach resting her arms on her thighs while her hands cup to create this circle.
Sitting down I followed the directions as well as I could and tried to feel the qi around me.
"Closing your eyes might help."
Closing my eyes I focus more on my surroundings and start to feel something.
"Once you feel the qi try and bring it into your body near where your heart is."
I struggle to pull the qi in. Why is this so hard? Wait I think it's working...
"Very nice Aurra! Keep that up while breathing steadily."
Huu, Haa. I feel strands of qi filtering into my body in small amounts like grains being passed through.
Chirp Chirp. There's a bird nearby...
Ack, my focus faltered for barely a second. Darn, the qi stopped flowing in. Why do I have to focus so hard?
"Hey Ming, how much qi can you absorb?"
"Hmm, a lot. But I can do it constantly whenever as if I am breathing."
"WHAT!"
I open my eyes and stare at Ming in disbelief. Then she starts laughing at me.
"Aurra this is just the first step, with practice you can do it too. While you do your daily breathing training I'll teach you some magic basics."
"Today let's talk about the different stages of magic."
Stages? Isn't magic categorized in tiers?
"Of course, the kingdom of Gregordian has a different way of teaching it, but here in Qingming we have a much better way of calculating a person's strength."
"Keep trying to gather qi while listening. If you can do that then you'll be closer to what we call: Perpetual Gathering."
Hmm, I can at least try. Hopefully, I can at least either listen or work on gathering and not just fail at both. Don't know if I don't try.
"Qi is in everything and everyone. You have your own qi inside of you which actually acts like a lifeforce. That qi is also sometimes referred to as ki and is usually really dangerous to use and that is why people gather the surrounding qi and use that instead. There is many different forms of using magic such as: magic circles, incantations, rune writing, and imagination. I'll go into details later, and there's some books you can read. There is a system of power in Gregordian, but here in Qingming we measure strength with how refined your ki center is. When cultivating qi to a certain point your ki will start to change and evolve growing stronger. These stages are: earth, wood, gold, king/lord, and god."
I wonder what stage Simul was in. I can kind of feel my ki near the core inside my chest.
"Each stages are further seperated by mastery levels of each stage. These levels are called steps from first step to third step and the last step witch is called the abyss step. All these levels can be seen with a special magic tool that shows a different color depending on the stage you are in, and the amount of light it gives off can be represented by the steps they are in. The order is brown, grean, yellow, red, and white for each corresponding stage. There is no way to actually tell someone's stage without the magic tool, so people here are given clothes by the empire to tell them apart and to show their status."
"What about you Ming?"
"What about me?"
"What stage are you in?"
"Oh, that's a secret! How much qi were you able to gather?"
Ah I forgot! I focused too much on what MIng was saying that I forgot to gather!
"Umm, a bit..."
"Haha, no need to worry Aurra I can see how much you have gathered. It's very hard to listen and gather at the same time when you've just started to do it."
Let me try and feel the qi gathering into my chest again. Ok I got the feeling down.
"Yes good! Let me start talking about the different forms of magic now."
Oh no, how will I focus on both? I can only try.
"Magic circles are the most stable form of magic along with rune writing. All different magic can be used for anything, but some are better than others at certain functions. Let's say you want to fortify a tower, then you would use a magic circle to create a barrier. Rune writing is most commonly used with regards to items and other people. An example would be enhancing a weapon or a person's body. Incantations and imaginary magic is quick and easy, but not as stable as the other ones. Imaginary is sometimes refered to as the superior version of incantations because incantations are helpful in visualising the magic, but if you can already do that perfectly the result is just imaginary magic."
"How you feeling Aurra?"
"I think I am starting to get the hang of it."
After listening to her talk about the different magic stuff I began to imagine the qi around me as rivers and they flow into my body.
"Very impressive Aurra! I didn't think you'll learn so fast while distracted by me talking."
"Hehe, thanks Ming! I tried my best to imagine my success!"
"I think you've gathered enough. Now it is time to do the magic part of magic!"
I'm exited!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone