‘I’ll be able to breathe fire out of my mouth?’ Tus nodded his head to Yarla’s question while thinking about the cool aspects of his abilities that he hasn’t begun to use.

“There is one thing that you need to go through first. That is to actively accumulate internal energy.” Yarla said.

“Actively accumulate?” Tus asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Yes. The second heart already has a nature to automatically take in the external energy to change into internal energy. However, this process can take long periods of time, spanning from ten days to a month or more. It makes life or death struggles even more severe. The amount of time it takes for your body to naturally accumulate won’t change when you increase the amount of internal energy you have through exercise, as the second heart would take in external energy at a faster rate to compensate.

“From what I’ve seen, for you to fully accumulate internal energy at your current level is around three days, mind-numbingly fast based on Erkshems’ average, but still not good enough, as you will probably burn through it in under a hour or so in an actual fight. This leads to active accumulation and there are two levels of complexity. The first level are the four states, or the four hyperstasis. They are baseline hyperstasis, automatic accumulation, half hyperstasis which is the slowest active accumulation, full hyperstasis which is the second fastest active accumulation, and the fourth state is finally stasis, or state of continuity. Stasis is the last level, and the hardest to achieve, as it is constant active accumulation whether or not you are conscious. The different states can be trained based on your own practice.

“The second level of complexity comes from the environment and is more of a support than anything else. For instance, take a look at Ruia.” Yarla paused for a moment, pointing at Ruia.

Ruia who has been sitting underneath a tree since they came out of the cavern had her eyes shut. A green fog covered and entered her skin through her pores. The green fog was being brought out from the grass and the trees.

Yarla continued, “Her attribute more than likely lies with growth, which is good for healing wounds and fighting disease through increasing recovery speed while enhancing the immune system. She is actively accumulating internal energy using the specific external energies being emitted by the plants as they grow.

“You carry three of the most basic, but also most elemental of all creation. Earth, water, and fire. Earth is the most abundant for you, with water being second, and fire being the scarcest. That should be obvious as the earth is just underneath your feet, while water is in the air. Fire is harder, but still very easy when compared with most other primary composites when trying to acquire. It lingers in the air like water, but much less concentrated.

“The reason why I’m telling you all of this is so that you can increase your training speed, as you won’t have to wait quite as long to get enough energy to actually use. I’ll now tell you briefly how to actively accumulate and more efficiently use your internal energy…”

Tus, who was growing bored due to Yarla’s seemingly incessant rambling, perked up his ears.

After another thirty minutes.

“…then you send it out through your skin. We’re not on a deadline, so start with earth, then move onto the others.” Yarla then walked away with a hint of cheerfulness before sitting and conversing with Worill, leaving Tus with his eyes nearly closed.

‘That woman can really, talk. A lot. Good thing she was silent most of the time in Froir, or else I would’ve died from my ears bleeding. Finally, I can begin.’

Tus straightened his back and fully closed his eyes. He slowly breathed in and out, trying to meditate for the first time.

External energy, as previously described, is ubiquitous outside the body. It comes in different forms, such as ‘earth’, and are not usually visible to the naked eye unless it becomes excited in some way. The active accumulation is simply targeting and attracting the specific external energies in the air that is wanted. They draw it in into their pores and the second heart then pulls it in to be converted into internal energy. To do so, someone first would need to recognize that specific external energy, and then attract it using their internal energy in a ‘passive form.’

To use the converted energy is also simple, but can be described as undeniably complex. To speak simply, all that is needed is a single thought. For instance, which part of the body to move it to, where to send it out, and how much. That is all there is to using it at a basic level. The methods merely make such thoughts more systematic and carry a abstractness that can be understandable. If it wasn’t, then no one, besides the most determined or crazy, would try to understand and use it.

So, Tus sat there for two minutes trying to focus on his breathing to clear his mind and sense the surroundings. However, the problems or irritations became evident very quickly. He got random itches on his head and other places, while all kinds of different thoughts intruded into his mind.

For someone who never sat still for a couple hundred years, such a thing was extremely difficult.