Red mentally went over the things he had just learned. Learning there was a time limit for him to open his Spiritual Sea put a large pressure on him. Technically he still had 15 years to do it, but he was aware of how each Spiritual Vein got gradually harder to open. Progression would stop being measured in months and would instead be counted in years.

However, he realized he had ignored some crucial information too.

"How old is Narcha?" The boy asked.

"She's twenty years old." Eiwin replied.

"Is six years not enough to open her Spiritual Sea?"

When she told him about the age limit and how Narcha was close to it, Red thought she would be below it by one or two years, not more than five.

"Unfortunately, it's not that simple." The woman responded, at no point showing annoyance at the youth's curiosity. "You see, opening your Spiritual Sea is not the same as opening your Spiritual Veins. The difficulty of forcing through each acupoint may differ from person to person, but technically it's a simple process of accumulation. With a good enough supply of Spiritual Energy, anyone can open all their veins before they're 26, but it's not the case with the Spiritual Sea... Do you follow?"

Eiwin paused, staring at Red and the boy was confused at her question, but he simply nodded in the end. When Viran taught him things he didn't bother asking if he understood them. This lady, however, was clearly the more thorough type and looked as if she took joy in teaching him things.

"Good." She continued with a smile. "Basically, pure energy alone can't force your Spiritual Sea. Well, that's not technically true, but the results wouldn't be what you are looking for... Anyways that's beside the point - what matters is that you can't just throw energy at it and expect to succeed as you can do with a Vein Opening Technique. Here, I'll show you."

With that Eiwin got up. Walking around, she picked up a long stick and cleared a patch of dirt on the ground. With her newly acquired tool, she drew a large circle.

"Think of this as your Spiritual Sea. It is an organ inside of our bodies just like your heart and brain, and your Spiritual Veins too. However, it has a property that makes it very special." She looked up at Red her eyes shining with enthusiasm. "It doesn't actually have a form."

She trailed off, staring at him expectantly.

"...How so?" The youth asked when he saw she was waiting for something, showing no changes in his expression.

"Oh..." Eiwin looked disappointed at his reaction, but that promptly disappeared as she continued. "Well, it's hard to explain, but technically this organ exists in a different dimension to our own that we can't see with our naked eyes. However, certain parts of the Spiritual Sea can interact with the material world, like this..."

With her stick, she started to create small gaps within the edges of the circle.

"These spaces between the lines indicate areas that you can use to reach into your Spiritual Sea. However, these gaps tend to be very tiny, and they exist between a real and illusory state, so you can't touch it with your hands. There is, however, something that you can use to interact with these gaps. A special substance that is the foundation of how everything works in this world..." She trailed off.

"Spiritual Energy?" Red completed her sentence for her.

"Yes, you got it!"

She seemed excited that the boy had guessed the right thing, but Red felt like this was something even a child could figure out.

"Spiritual Energy can not only pass between these gaps, but it can also help widen them once it is through." She continued, erasing more of the circle. "As these 'gaps' grow, the barrier separating the Spiritual Sea from the material world starts disappearing, and the organ begins taking a real shape and appearance within your body. Once the barrier is completely gone, then you can say to have truly opened your Spiritual Sea and a world of possibilities will be presented to you."

Red thought to himself. These notions weren't easy to visualize. Different dimension? Illusionary barrier? Those were all descriptions that didn't invoke any kind of easy image into one's mind, but the boy felt like he understood the concepts at least. However, he still had a few doubts.

"You said that opening the Spiritual Sea is different from opening the Spiritual Veins, but isn't erasing these barriers also a process of accumulation?"

"That's right! It was what I was just about to get at." Eiwin's enthusiasm increased as her lesson continued. "Unfortunately, the barrier can restore itself extremely quickly. Erasing it is something that has to be done in one go, and failure in doing it means you have to start your attempt all over again."

Red started to understand where the difficulty came from. This wasn't something you could work on for a long time, but rather an obstacle you had to get through in one go.

"How hard is it?" The boy asked. Eiwin told him what needed to be done to open the Spiritual Sea, not necessarily how people went about it.

"Well..." The woman hesitated for a few seconds but looking at the youth's inquisitive gaze she still chose to continue. "The difficulty depends on two things. One of them is manipulating Spiritual Energy. You need to be able to direct the energy towards the position of your Spiritual Sea and funnel it through the gaps without losing control. It's something that requires extreme precision and a large amount of Spiritual Energy to do."

"But isn't one only able to control Spiritual Energy once they have opened their Spiritual Sea?" Red asked, confused.

Her explanation sounded like a paradox to him.

"You're correct." Eiwin replied. "Technically, one is only able to completely control it when they open their Spiritual Sea, but once all twelve veins are open you can have some small degree of influence over the Spiritual Energy that you inject into your body. However, in most people's cases, this control alone is rarely enough to accomplish the task."

"Most people'?"

"Yes." A troubled look appeared on her face as she shook her head. "However, this brings me to the second thing. Talent."

Using her stick, she drew another circle into the dirt.

"You see, people have different levels of sensitivity towards Spiritual Energy. That sensitivity can help you not only in opening your Spiritual Veins, but can also assist you in opening your Spiritual Sea too."

"You mean to say that talent can also help you in controlling the Spiritual Energy and breaking apart the barrier?"

When he thought about it that way, it made sense. If one was more sensitive to that energy in their body, they would obviously have an easier time controlling it.

"Yes, but that's not all..." Eiwin trailed off again.

Red was able to notice the woman's hesitation. For some reason, she had begun to falter when the topic turned towards talent. Was she worried about how this information would affect him? Even if that was the case, Viran had already crushed his spirit multiple times when they were in the mines. The youth doubted anything he learned would be able to put more of a damper on his expectations.

"Please, continue." Red tried to reassure her, something he wasn't sure he succeeded thanks to his emotionless voice.

"...Alright." Eiwin nodded. She began to put a few gaps within the circle's edge again. "You see, the number of natural gaps in this barrier also differs from person to person. So an average individual might only have a few tiny gaps that she has to find and use to open her Spiritual Sea. But for someone more talented..."

She began to erase even more parts of the circle until it was full of holes. The original shape was almost completely gone.

"The barrier might barely exist at all, making the process of opening their Spiritual Sea much easier."

Red stared at her drawing in silence, absorbing the information.

"...So if you are talented not only are you better prepared to open the Spiritual Sea, but the barrier itself is much easier to break?"

"That's... Correct." The woman replied. "But it's okay, you know. Just because you are not talented it doesn't mean you can't open your Spiritual Sea! Plenty of people have done it before, and there are even pills that can help you with it."

"Since when do you know how talented I am?" The boy asked.

"Ah..." Eiwin didn't know how to respond, and her expression turned into one of embarrassment.

It seemed she was just being polite earlier when she said his progress was pretty good for his age.

"It's fine." Red continued. "I'm aware of my average talent, but I'll still try to open my Spiritual Sea, no matter how hard it may be."

He didn't mean to make her flustered, so the boy tried to reassure her. However, instead of returning to normal, the young woman looked at him with a strange expression.

"...Is there a problem?" He asked when no further response came from her.

"I didn't notice this before, but you're quite mature for your age, aren't you?" Eiwin replied.

The youth frowned. Had he given his disguise away? He was so caught up in conversation that he had completely forgotten to keep up a more naive facade.

"It's okay." She smiled after noticing his expression. "Some kids can grow up before their time, much more so when placed under terrible circumstances. I just find you to be a significant contrast to Allen."

Red relaxed after realizing the woman didn't intend to question him further.

"Who's Allen?" He asked, using the opportunity to shift topics.

"He's the apprentice of the Guild Master. You two should meet, I'm sure you would be good fri-"

"Who's ready for a restaurant meal?!"

A familiar roaring voice suddenly interrupted their conversation. Eiwin's expression immediately worsened as the two of them turned to stare in a certain direction.

From between the trees, the figures of Narcha and Rog revealed themselves. All kinds of meats and pouches that they didn't have with them when they departed could be seen held in their hands and strapped to their backs. They were both beaming from ear to ear as they approached the camp, faces full of joy like Red had never seen before.

The hunter himself didn't even greet the rest of them as he went to light the bonfire. The warrior, though, approached both Eiwin and the boy while showing some type of meat in her hand.

"Do you see this?" Narcha laughed. "Venison! And high quality at that! Who knows who those poor bastards stole it from, but now-"

"What are you doing?!" The younger companion interrupted her with an outraged cry.

"What do you mean?" The warrior looked confused. " I'm just showing you what we have for dinner!"

"Look at yourself Miss Valt!"

Narcha did as she was told.

The woman was completely covered in blood, her leather armor coated in a fine crimson sheen. Parts of her face were also smeared, and not even her hair was spared. Red could see some bits of gore mixed in amidst the mess and the smell became even stronger once she got near them.

"Oh." The warrior recognized her appearance. "I forgot about this."

"Of course you did!" Eiwin continued to scold her. "Go wash yourself first before you join the camp!"

"Are you kidding me?! It's the middle of the night, and you want me to go into that river?!" Narcha replied, full of indignation. "Is this about the kid again? Look at him! He doesn't even seem scared!"

Red had seen worse.

"It doesn't matter, you stink of blood!" Her companion didn't budge. "I won't let you spend one more second in this camp in that state!"

"Fine!" The warrior grumbled, dropping her things onto the ground. "But you're cooking!"

After dumping all the weight she was carrying, Narcha turned around and wandered off into the night.

"Hah!"

Rog's voice caught their attention. Turning around, the boy could see the first sparks of a flame being formed.

"Come here, kid!" The hunter called to him. "Make yourself useful for something and watch the fire, will ya."

That was certainly something Red could do.