CHAPTER 6 - Mental Energy.

When everyone had finally settled in the wide hall which was the place where there yoga classes took place, their teacher, a middle aged guy called Zeke stood up from his seat. He glanced at all of them one by one and then mysteriously smiled.

"So, today is when you will all be informed about the basic and must requirement for one to become an elementalist. Well the theory class in afternoon will definitely talk more about this in depth and explain the process, but let me add my part to the explanation." He then loudly spoke, so that everyone would pay attention to his words.

And sure enough, everyone sat upright with rapt attention on his words. Every kid here shared the single dream of learning about the Elements and prana.

"You may or may not have already guessed so, but Yoga is one of the said so requirements to become proficient with elements." He answered their curiosity calmly.

"Or more specifically, mental energy is the one of the requirements. And yoga is just one of the ways to increase and cultivate your mental energy. Now you might think what this mental energy that I speak of is. Nothing special, it can be said to be simply the projection of a persons willpower. Greater is you willpower, higher will you be able to increase your mental energy level. This simple explanation will be all for today. Your job is going to be to ponder upon this and arrive at your own conclusions."

"Next I am going to teach you a special yogasana today. The reason why it is special is that it allows one to quickly raise a persons mental energy level. This is called the Ashtavakrasana or the eight-angle pose. You all have done the three-angle pose earlier, but this will be much more difficult than that. Carefully observe."

And the next moment, Teacher Zeke twisted into a pose that should not have been possible normally. But with the ease that he performed it, it was as if he did it in his every waking moment. Maybe he did do this every day.

After that was done, he then patiently helped out every student to correct their postures. And just like that an hour and a half later their class came to an end. According to Teacher Zeke, if you could properly hold the posture without losing focus and balance, then your mental strength would have reached level 1. He said that this posture required great strength, balance and concentration, all of which were required to be in sync for a person to be able to feel their mental energy.

Just as everyone was moving to leave, Teacher Zeke gestured at Azyl to speak to him.

"You could not perform as well as you have been doing in the previous classes I noticed. Is everything alright?" He asked.

Azyl did not notice the playful look in his teachers eyes and answered normally,

"I exercised a little excessively yesterday sir, I will make sure to work hard...." Before he could complete his sentence, he heard the sound of his teacher laughing.

"Kid you really are something to lit up that glasses-kun's fuse like that. I can't imagine how much you must have annoyed him to return with that red face yesterday. It seemed as if he was going to burst at any moment." Teacher Zeke laughed as he spoke.

Azyl was totally caught unaware when he saw this. He could not imagine such a reaction. But then he caught his surprise and looked at his teacher.

"Don't look at me like that. I am not reprimanding you, just don't do anything like that again. That guy is just too much of an earnest person I guess. He takes teaching a lot seriously so you should not do anything like this again. Anyways, now that I have taught you this asana, what are your thoughts about it? Are you going to practice non stop before the initiation test so that you can reach level 1?"

Teacher Zeke suddenly changed the topic after he was done reminding him.

Azyl thought for a second before he replied,

"I don't think I will do that. It would rally be too troublesome and hardwork for me to do that. I mean there are not that many who can actually achieve level 1 in just two days. Also it might not even make a difference and we don't know completely about other requirements yet either."

Teacher Zeke once again let out a laugh,

"So you are saying that you won't do it because you are too lazy to do it?." He asked.

Yes." Azyl beamed.

"Well you are right about not increasing your level with this asana I taught you today, even thought your reason is not really correct. Remember that anything that allows you to achieve your goal in a quick and hasty manner must be double checked to find if it has any drawback. Just like how Ashtavakrasana will lead to a weak foundation." Teacher Zeke calmly explained.

"Wouldn't that mean you taught us wrongly today? I'm sure many students are going to try this out today and why would you warn me like this about it?" Azyl was once again surprised. He was also starting to find this teacher much more favorable than before.

"Well what I taught was not wrong, after all I did mention it allows you to raise your level quickly. And if carried out in patience, it would be of no harm. But as it demands a lot from a person, its not easy to achieve the required level without straining yourself a little.

This is a way to measure students that are going after the seemingly quick and shortcut ways to achieve strength. If you can't be patient in cultivation, then there would be no point in striving to cultivate. The academy needs to know which students to nurture and those that should be decisively put aside. We don't have infinite resources after all. As to why I'm telling you about this? That is because you are entertaining" And once again he let out in a fit of laughter.

It really seemed that he was amused a lot, as he then quickly waved Azyl to keep moving.

But as Azyl slowly walked away, he could not ponder upon the words that Teacher Zeke had told him. He got a deeper understanding how the academy functioned as he continued to think while walking towards his next class.