The following twenty days were dedicated to one thing.
Holy Energy.
Dean had spent the previous forty days improving his body, learning weapons, cooking, and working at the forge. The duel with Percival had shown him the results of that effort, but it had also revealed another problem.
His body was improving, his techniques were improving, his understanding of combat was improving, but his Holy Energy had barely changed.
That needed to change.
For him to be better and stronger that NEEDED to change.
On the first morning, Dean sat cross-legged in the middle of the training hall and closed his eyes.
The Spear of Dawn rested beside him. Since Spear of Dawn just straight up released tiny amount of Holy Energy all the time, it could and would help him get better.
He slowed his breathing and began circulating the Holy Energy within his body.
At first, nothing happened.
The energy was there, but it was difficult to control. Not literally. After all, Dean already knew how to control it. The problem was the reality of meditating was SLOW.
Like slow as HELL.
It moved through him like a thin stream rather than a river, gathering in certain areas before dispersing again.
Dean frowned. He knew it was way harder than cultivating the mana within his body, which made him mad.
"Again." he thought to himself.
He started over as he breathed in slowly.
Held his breath and then released it.
The Holy Energy responded to his concentration, moving through his body in small waves. He guided it toward his core, where he attempted to compress it.
The moment he applied too much pressure, the energy scattered.
Dean opened his eyes.
"That’s annoying." he said.
Maybe it was because the Holy Energy in his body was not Low-Level/Grade anymore. Still it was quite literally annoying.
He tried again, and again, and again but there was almost no change.
By midday, he had made almost no progress.
His legs were numb from sitting and his back hurt. This was harder than carrying heavy packs to train his body.
His patience was running thin.
Still, he continued.
He eventually learned that forcing the energy into his core was counterproductive. The more aggressively he tried to control it, the more unstable it became. Instead, he had to guide it gradually, allowing the energy to move naturally before collecting it.
That realization became the foundation of his training.
Training Holy Energy really was different than Mana itself.
The next few days followed a similar pattern.
Dean would begin his mornings with physical exercise. He ran several laps around the castle grounds, performed strength exercises, and spent time working on his core and upper body. He wasn’t trying to become enormous; he wanted a body capable of handling the power he already possessed.
He was already strong, after all. Holy Energy inside his body trained him since he needed to handle Spear of Dawn well.
Afterward, he would return to the training hall and meditate.
Hours could pass without him noticing.
Sometimes he would sit perfectly still for an hour and accomplish nothing.
Other times, he would suddenly feel the Holy Energy respond to his thoughts, and those moments became the most valuable part of his practice.
He began to understand the difference between possessing energy and controlling it.
The Holy Energy within him had always been somewhat wild. It was powerful, but Dean had mostly treated it as another resource he could draw upon during combat.
Now he was learning to shape it.
On the fifth day, he managed to keep a small amount concentrated within his core for several minutes.
He opened his eyes.
A faint golden glow appeared around his hand.
Dean stared at it.
"Finally." he said. He could feel the energy within his body and could see the one around his hand.
The glow disappeared almost immediately.
Dean sighed.
"Still terrible."
He continued.
By the seventh day, his routine had become almost mechanical.
Wake up.
Eat.
Train.
Meditate.
Rest.
Train again.
Meditate again.
Sleep.
The castle staff occasionally saw him sitting alone in the courtyard with his eyes closed, surrounded by an almost imperceptible golden aura. Others watched him lifting weights, running through the grounds, or practicing controlled movements with the Spear of Dawn.
Dean rarely explained what he was doing. He simply continued.
The physical training became increasingly difficult as he increased the resistance. Percival was pushing him WAY forward almost everyday, breaking his limits.
His muscles gradually became denser, and his stamina improved. He paid particular attention to his legs and core because he had realized during his duel with Percival that maintaining his stance.
A stronger foundation meant greater control.
That was the theory, at least.
On the tenth day, Dean tested it.
He stood in the training hall with the Spear of Dawn in his hand. Instead of immediately attacking, he closed his eyes.
Holy Energy gathered within his core. He allowed it to spread through his arms.
Then into his shoulders, down his back.
Through his legs as he kept the flow steady.
The golden energy eventually reached the spear. The weapon responded.
A thin radiance appeared along its surface.
He opened his eyes.
The glow was considerably stronger than before. It was a tiny difference but it was stronger than before.
He thrust the spear and the spear struck the stone training wall.
There was no explosion.
Instead, a deep crack appeared in the wall.
Dean stared at the crack and looked at the spear he was holding.
He smiled.
"That’s better."
His control over the already existing Holy Energy within his body was way better than before. Also one couldn’t miss him growing way faster than one can imagine.
It really was good.
He spent the rest of the day trying to reproduce the result.
It took him another thirty attempts before he could consistently channel the energy into the weapon without losing control.
Well...not losing control. It was just he couldn’t pass one point. The Spear of Dawn itself was putting a limit about how much he can do.
The spear was saying him "This is enough, you are NOT strong enough."
The next improvement came from meditation.
Dean had initially treated meditation as a way to increase the amount of Holy Energy he possessed.
He eventually realized that this was only part of it. Meditation allowed him to understand the energy itself.
He could feel its density, its movement, the points where it gathered and the places where it weakened.
He discovered that his core wasn’t simply a container.
It was more like a furnace.
Holy Energy entered, circulated, condensed, and returned to the rest of his body. Once he understood that, the process became much easier.
Instead of forcing more energy into the core, he began circulating what he already had repeatedly.
Each cycle made the energy slightly denser. Slightly cleaner, and way easier to control.
By the fourteenth day, Dean could maintain the circulation for several hours.
He could also train physically while keeping a small amount of Holy Energy flowing through his body.
That made his workouts considerably harder. His muscles burned faster. His breathing became heavier.
But his recovery improved.
Holy Power was not only helping him recover his strength but also his stamina.
The energy seemed to assist his body once the circulation became stable. Dean began experimenting with it during combat practice.
He would reinforce his legs before moving, strengthen his arms before striking, spread the energy across his body just before taking an impact.
The results were promising, although exhausting.
There was still a limit.
If he used too much at once, his control deteriorated. Dean had learned enough about himself to recognize when that was happening.
He stopped before reaching the point of injury. The final six days were spent refining everything. He no longer needed complete silence to meditate.
He could sit beneath the open sky, ignore the sounds around him, and enter the same state of concentration.
He also stopped measuring progress by how much energy he could produce.
Instead, he measured how little he wasted. That became the most noticeable improvement.
Before, Dean could release a large burst of Holy Energy and overwhelm something weaker than himself.
Now he could use a fraction of that amount to achieve the same result.
The Spear of Dawn was showing that he could achieve this and maybe this was why it was saying Dean wasn’t strong enough for it.
Since he already had another way.
The spear was alive and even Dean knew that.
On the twentieth morning, Dean finished his final meditation session. He remained seated for several minutes after opening his eyes.
The training hall was quiet, his breathing was steady.
A faint golden aura surrounded his body.
It wasn’t overwhelming and it surely didn’t fill the room.
But it was stable. Like very stable. Something he couldn’t achieve all these days.
Dean raised his hand.
Holy Energy gathered around his fingers without effort. He closed his fist.
The glow disappeared.
His body felt different. Stronger, and more conditioned for the Holy Power Energy.
More accustomed to the energy running through it.
Dean looked toward the Spear of Dawn resting against the wall.
He picked it up.
The moment his fingers wrapped around the shaft, Holy Energy naturally flowed into it.
He almost did it without even wanting it. It was instinct.
The weapon responded with a soft golden radiance.
He smiled.
Twenty days wasn’t enough to master Holy Energy, he couldn’t even reach to the Mid-Grade Third-Level. He knew that.
There was still a considerable distance between where he stood and where he wanted to be.
But now he had a foundation. A way bigger one which he can use comfortable.
He could train from here and he could build his fighting style entirely from it.
Dean rested the spear against his shoulder and walked toward the exit.
"That’s enough for today." he said.
Twenty days of meditation.
Twenty days of physical conditioning.
Twenty days of learning how his own power worked.
Tomorrow, he would start putting it to use.
It was the time for the next dungeon.
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