After discovering how to control the strange energy within my body, I continued practicing quietly for several days.
Maintaining that thin layer around my skin during meditation had become easier. Even when I moved slowly, the energy remained stable as long as my breathing stayed calm.
But something else started happening.
My control improved… quickly.
At first I assumed it was because of the years of preparation—training my body, practicing breathing control, learning to sense every small movement inside my muscles.
But even then, the speed felt unusual.
Movements that the older members demonstrated once were enough for me to understand the principle behind them.
When I tried stabilizing the energy while walking, the aura layer adjusted itself almost immediately.
When I practiced suppressing it, I could feel the flow moving inward, sealing itself close to my skin.
It felt less like learning something new and more like discovering a mechanism that had always existed.
Still, I didn't say anything about it.
I simply continued practicing.
I had been standing in the river again that afternoon.
The current pushed against my legs while I maintained the invisible layer around my body. My breathing remained slow and steady.
The energy felt stable.
Then a voice spoke from behind me.
(You learned to hold it already.)
I turned.
An older member of the clan stood on the riverbank. I recognized him vaguely from the settlement, though we had never spoken directly.
What caught my attention wasn't his face.
It was the pressure surrounding him.
A faint but unmistakable flow of the same energy.
So he could control it too.
He stepped closer and crouched beside the water.
(Show me.)
I focused on my breathing and stabilized the aura around my skin.
The man observed silently.
Several seconds passed.
Then he nodded.
(Good control.)
His eyes narrowed slightly, as if evaluating something.
(You discovered it on your own?)
I nodded.
For a moment he didn't respond.
Then he gave a small amused laugh.
(Interesting.)
That was when I learned something important.
I wasn't the only one in the clan who knew how to control this energy.
According to him, several members of the Kurta clan had always possessed the ability.
Not everyone.
But enough that the elders quietly maintained the knowledge across generations.
Some learned it through travel outside the forest.
Others awakened it naturally through training.
It wasn't something they spoke about openly, but it wasn't a secret either.
The clan simply didn't rely on it often.
Over the next few days I met several of them.
Five adults in total.
None of them were especially powerful fighters compared to what probably existed outside the forest.
But they understood the fundamentals well.
And more importantly—they were curious.
Training with them began almost immediately.
The first thing they observed was how I maintained the energy around my body.
One of them demonstrated the same technique.
His aura layer appeared smooth and stable.
But when I repeated it, something unexpected happened.
The energy around my skin adjusted itself almost instantly.
One of the elders tilted his head slightly.
(You adapt quickly.)
Another asked me to try suppressing the energy completely.
When I did, the layer disappeared.
But instead of struggling to maintain the suppression, I could feel exactly where the energy was being held inside my body.
Almost like closing a valve.
One of the men crossed his arms.
(How long did it take you to learn that?)
(A few attempts.)
The group exchanged glances.
They didn't say anything else, but their expressions changed slightly.
The next step was releasing the energy outward.
This was much harder.
When I pushed the energy outward, it created a heavy pressure in the air around me.
The first attempt was unstable.
The pressure burst outward unevenly.
But by the third attempt I began understanding the pattern.
The energy moved like water under pressure.
If I released it slowly, the flow became smoother.
If I forced it too quickly, it scattered.
After several attempts the outward release stabilized.
One of the elders raised an eyebrow.
(You analyze it while doing it.)
I hadn't even realized I was doing that.
But he was right.
Instead of repeating movements blindly, my mind automatically broke the process down.
Flow direction.
Pressure points.
Control points.
The energy behaved like a system.
And systems could be understood.
Training with them also brought another change.
The elders allowed me to accompany trade groups outside the forest.
Normally children weren't allowed to leave the settlement often.
But since I was already training with the adults who understood this energy, they considered it acceptable under supervision.
The first time I walked beyond the forest paths, the world suddenly expanded.
Stone roads.
Crowded markets.
Merchants shouting prices.
Travelers carrying weapons and strange tools.
But the thing that fascinated me most wasn't the people.
It was the books.
Trade towns had far more books than our settlement.
Medical texts.
Travel records.
Merchant journals.
Manuals describing different crafts.
Whenever we visited, I searched through them carefully.
Some I read there.
Others Dad brought back with us.
Slowly the small space in our cabin filled with books.
Evenings became long hours of reading.
Medicine.
Human anatomy.
Geography.
Accounts describing distant cities and cultures.
Every book revealed something new about the world outside the forest.
And every time we returned home, I continued training.
Meditation to stabilize the energy around my body.
Practice sessions to suppress it completely.
Short bursts releasing it outward.
Occasionally experimenting while performing my regular exercises.
Over time the adults who trained with me noticed something.
My control improved faster than expected.
Concepts that usually took months to understand became clear after a few demonstrations.
One of the elders finally commented on it one evening.
(You learn quickly.)
I didn't respond.
I simply continued practicing.
Because to me, it didn't feel unusual.
It just felt natural.
Like solving a puzzle piece by piece.
And the deeper I explored this strange energy… the more pieces of that puzzle began to appear.