System vs Rebirth

Noel was meditating in the middle of a snow field.

“It seems that you can withstand the cold.” The Arctic Queen squinted her eyes. “Mind Separation. While the concept is simple, the process is not. Try to circulate your energy in the opposite direction.

“Let the energy in your right body flow to the left side of your body, while the energy in the left side of your body flows downwards.”

Noel tried to do it. Because of his habit, the flow gradually turned into a vortex in a counter-clockwise direction.

“That’s not how you’re supposed to do it. Create two individual flows that, even if they touch each other, they won’t merge.”

Noel’s eyebrows twitched. He followed her instruction, but the moment the energy from the right side touched the energy on the left side, it ended up fusing with each other and creating a single flow.

“Imagine this snow is built up inside your body. Using it as a bridge to avoid that flow.”

‘A bridge?’ Noel was a bit confused. He thought a wall would suffice, but when he tried creating a wall, the flow from the right simply got blocked completely. “…”

Noticing the messed-up flow of energy in Noel’s body, the Arctic Queen raised her voice. “A bridge!”

Noel fell silent, wondering how to do this. A bridge was good, but it would be hard to create a bridge. After all, if there was just a single drop of that energy touching the other, it would definitely get linked to the other.

Even so, he still tried to do it. He tried to block all the flow with a ‘wall,’ which forced the energy to flow to the top of the energy that went downward.

As he predicted, the energy ended up touching each other due to its nature being similar to gas instead of liquid.

“The veins are like tunnels in your body,” the Arctic Queen added.

When she mentioned veins, Noel suddenly realized something.

‘Instead of creating a bridge, should I just use my veins to let the energy flow? Like a water pipe…’ Noel tried this method. He was having a hard time since the veins had to be isolated completely.

Still, it was much easier than to make an imaginary bridge. He then encountered a problem. The veins in his body ended up getting connected to each other. If he let the energy flow to that vein and reached the other one, there would be no stopping it.

But he got another idea.

‘How about using that wall to block the veins leading to that section?’

Noel tried to block them. It was a bit hard to control the moving veins, but he managed to do it after a few tries.

However, the flow of energy was soon disrupted again.

“!!!” Noel’s body shook. The problem this time came from the flow that went downward. There was an influx of energy that ended up disrupting the flow that went to the right.

The veins’ position might cause the energy that went to the right to not enter it, but the same couldn’t be said for the other one.

‘No. I should be able to handle it. If I block it as well…’ When he blocked that path, he realized that another wall had disappeared.

“Kh.” Noel gritted his teeth. When he just focused on this one, the other disappeared. He had to maintain his focus on both of them at the same time.

Due to the difference in flow, he had to split his mind to do it.

‘Is that the essence of this circulation method? To train my consciousness to split its focus…’

Noel fell silent for a moment. ‘Normally, if I want to use my elements, the energy will be influenced by that element. When I infuse another element, it’ll just clash with each other. As a result, I can’t use my two elements at the same time.

‘But if I can separate them like this, it’s possible to use two elements at the same time. And I now understand that I can split my focus so that one can emphasize speed while the other one remains on the element.

‘I can realize this easily, but that’s because the Arctic Queen teaches me about it. I can’t come up with such an idea on my own.’

As if seeing through his mind, the Arctic Queen said, “It seems that you have found out the true meaning of my circulation method. However, don’t be complacent yet.

“What you touch right now is only the tip of the iceberg. It’ll become increasingly difficult once you add elements, abilities, or even your transcendence power. And you have to be able to control the energy flow in all directions.

“And that’s only for the inner part… For you to complete this basic training, you will need to control this snowfall using your spiritual energy. That’s why this is a perfect place for you.”

“I see.” Noel’s eyes remained closed. But he finally understood the training she was talking about. There was one question though. “But is it necessary for me to go without clothes? I mean, I can endure this freezing temperature because of my spirit, but I can’t see the reason for this in the training.”

“Ahem.” The Arctic Queen looked away, causing Noel to open his eyes and find her embarrassed face. She said, “This is just for me to learn human anatomy. I need to see the difference between you and other people in this kingdom.”

“…”

…

In another part of the kingdom, Andreas was roaring. “Graaaahhhhh!” His eyes turned bloodshot as all the fur on his body were standing. His energy burst out of his body in an explosive manner.

Not far from him was Anna, who was doing the same.

“Khhhh!” Anna’s reaction was milder. However, unlike Andreas, who was releasing pure spiritual energy, there were some lightning sparks occurring in her energy.

“What are you doing? You can’t release your element. This Circulation Method is to break your physical limit, so it can’t get influenced by your spirit or its element.” Old Ru shouted before turning to Andreas. “You too! Don’t get taken over by the circulation method! Keep your rage under control.”

And they were not the only ones who got berated by Old Ru. He turned his head to the other side while tossing a small pebble to the sword. “You too! Don’t fall asleep! I know how comfortable my circulation method is, but that’s for you to resist that comfort!”

Now that Old Ru had decided to be sincere in their training, even the original Anna, who was residing in the sword, wasn’t spared from his Spartan training.