Ki Manipulation

Nessa arched a brow. "You're kidding right. That is like the most suspicious thing you could have said."

Professor Avery chuckled. "Look Nessa, there are a lot of things you don't understand. Things I'd like to explain but I can't. There was a reason I gave you the Autopad that day."

"Why did you give it to me?" Nessa asked.

Professor Avery bit her lip and suddenly took interest in a painting on the wall. "That's another thing I can't tell you. But you have to trust me. I have your best intentions at heart." 

'I'd be a fool if I trust you.' Nessa thought. 'But there's no harm in making you think that is there?'

"Alright, I trust you." Nessa said. "When do we begin training?"

"Meet me here an hour before dinner." Professor Avery said. "You do remember how to get here right?"

Nessa nodded. She had a good memory.

"Very well, see you then." The professor said and a moment later Nessa had walked to the door to leave.

"Oh, one more thing," the Professor added. "Make sure whatever you do, you don't miss lunch. In fact eat as much as you can before our meeting."

"Why?"

The professor shrugged and placed her elbows on the table. "You'd find out when you don't."

Nessa hated how the Professor didn't tell her anything but she didn't press the issue. Something unpleasant started bothering her the moment Professor Avery had given the advice.

'I'm so worried about eating in this world.' Nessa thought to herself. 'But how about in the real world. How am I surviving?'

Nessa decided not to think too much about it. One thing was certain however, she needed to get out of this world as soon as possible.

Nessa used the map and headed to her next class. The class was titled 'The Elements' so Nessa assumed it was where she learnt about the six elements Professor Avery had mentioned earlier.

The class was scheduled to hold for two hours, and Nessa was so close to being late. The moment she stepped through the door, there was a gust of wind, and it closed behind her. 

"You're barely on time," A masculine voice said from the teacher's podium. "Take a seat up front. I would really like to keep an eye on you."

Nessa couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. She strolled to a free seat up front and a moment later she was sitting and staring at the man. The man was as tall as he was wide. He was about 6 feet and he had long fingernails and shaggy long brown hair. He had a look on his face that seemed to say: I don't have time for anything.

"My name is Professor Hund." The man said. "And I'm going to be teaching you to grasp the basics of the Elements. Now who can tell me how many elements there are?"

Hands shot to the air.

"You," Professor Hund pointed at a girl.

"Six."

"Good. Ten points for answering my very first question."

A tiny digital 10 shone above the girls head then disappeared less than a secon later. 

"Now," Professor Hund continued. "You all already know there are six elements and what those six elements are. You also probably know how to access your Ki."

Many of the students groaned.

"Well if you haven't, too bad. Accessing your Ki is necessary for any magic to be performed but accessing your Ki is the easiest part of the entire process."

A ball of fire appeared over Professor Hund's palm. Suddenly it became water, and then a moment later pure black energy.

He had just used three different elements.

"This is basic magic," He continued, "which is why I'm not using any spells. To carry out basic magic, one must first of all access his Ki. But accessing one's Ki is the first and easiest process to actually perform magic. The second stage is Ki manipulation."

Professor Hund paused to enjoy the confused look on the student's faces. 

"Ki manipulation can best be explained by dividing it into three stages. One, Ki retention and two, Kiexpulsion."

A hand shot into the air and a pale boy got to his feet.

"But sir," he said. "You said there are three stages."

Professor Hund's eyes twitched. "Minus two points for trying to embarrass me falsely."

"But," the boy complained.

"And minus two extra points for trying to defend yourself."

It seemed like the boy wanted to argue but obviously he knew better.

"As I was saying before that unpleasant interruption, Ki manipulation is divided into Ki retention and Ki expulsion. Now, I want us to picture our Ki like a liquid, and our bodies like a medical syringe.

"When you put this syringe into the liquid;  that is similar to accessing your Ki. When you actually draw the siphon so that you can store a certain amount of the liquid in the syringe, that's Ki retention. However, when you inject the needle into an unhealthy person that's Ki expulsion."

Professor Hund had successfully made the students much more confused and he could see it on their faces.

"I'm going to explain this one more time," He said heatedly "When you open the door in your mind, and you access your Ki, the Ki leaks out of you into the world unless you are able to retain it. Only after successful retention can you expel this Ki into the world as one of the six elements."

Wow. Nessa finally understood the whole principle of using magic. Well, at least almost the whole principle. She had successfully been able to access her Ki. What she had to do next was stop it from 

leaking out of her body.

"So I would like you all to try retaining the Ki in your body. Any mage as skilled as me would be able to know if someone's Ki is leaking. Any questions?"

No hands rose to the air for a few seconds until a bold looking girl raised her hand.

"Excuse me sir I have one question, but it is not related to this lesson. Could you by any chance be an NPC."

Professor Hund's pupils constricted aand a vein stood out on his neck. His eyes were mad with fury but when he spoke it was with a calm voice. "I can't be half as unreal as something like that. Any more questions?"

The girl shook her head and sat down. Although she looked like she had a lot more questions.

Professor Hund returned to speaking with his normal heated tone. "Since I don't expect any of you to achieve such a seat after this class, I'm promising a hundred points to whoever completely retains his or her Ki. Begin."

Moments later Professor Hund sat on his desk and watched the students. Surely not even one of them would be able to achieve such a feat in a day even if he told them exactly what to do. Not even Van-Tyse 

had taken a day, and he was…

It took Nessa ten seconds to access her Ki, but there was one problem, she had no idea how to even retain it. Professor Hund hadn't even given any tips. She had to figure this out herself.

Professor Hund knitted his eyebrows. The girl he had asked to sit in front had accessed her Ki in less than thirty seconds and the Ki was far greater than someone who still had a red cursor should be able to achieve.

That was when he saw it, the orange cursor floating above her hair. 

'That's not possible,' Professor Hund thought then his eyes widened as he understood. 'Unless she had completed it. Bah, it doesn't matter. Although she is that skilled about fifty percent of her Ki is still 

leaking away'

Professor Hund cupped his hands and stared at Nessa with keen interest.

Nessa's body brimmed with power. She had tried her best to retain the Ki, but she couldn't help but feel about half of it overflowing. Then she had a crazy idea--she always did.

Ki access had to do with opening the door in your mind but who said that door had to be wide open.

Nessa stopped concentrating and immediately Ki stopped coursing through her.

'I guess I was wrong she's not talented at all.' Professor thought to himself as he stared at Nessa.

She however had a plan. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Normally it would have taken her ten seconds to access her Ki, but that wasn't the aim of this exercise.

She finally understood what Ki retention meant. Just like a syringe only holds the amount of liquid it wants to pump out, that's exactly what see needed to do. She didn't need to open the door so wide so she couldn't control the power.

She needed to open the door, even if it's by a fraction, so she can retain the limited Ki that flows through her. Nessa discovered that it was easier to open the door fully wide than to open the door partly.

It took her about thirty minutes of failure (sweat had started forming on her forehead) before she finally did it. She could feel the difference between full access and controlled access. Although the power still flowed through, the feeling was no longer euphoric.

Suddenly there was a loud crash like a chair had lost .its balance and crashed to the floor. Nessa opened her eyes and noticed that that was indeed what happened.

Professor Hund stood up staring at her like he had seen a ghost. A few paces from him lay the chair he had been sitting on.

"What's your name?" Professor Hund asked Nessa.

'Awkward,' Nessa thought before answering.

"Nessa,"

"Nessa," Professor Hund said. "I can't believe it but I'm afraid I have to grant you a hundred points."