The refreshing winter air was layering the scents of surrounding people, Caecus' nose picking it up.
He, who sat serenely in a corner of the public meditating rooms, was in a grand focus that was directed inwards.
'Come on.'
Steadily he kept trying to extend his soul essence's domain outside his body.
It only evinced itself as futile.
As much as he tried escaping his skin, nothing but bootless effort answered the heed of his mind's command.
'Useless!'
Gritting his teeth, Caecus stopped the stream of soul essence, and made it regress to his core.
The blind boy sucked in a few deep assuasive breaths of the atmosphere, then took out a cloth.
Laden with a lavender scent, the fabric was pressed onto the crown of Caecus' nose.
He inhaled deeply, absorbing the soothing scent.
Immediately his pupils dilated, and he felt his mind shifting into complete concentration.
Pulse slowing, he sat down, his legs resembling a lotus.
Stretching his palms outward, he directed his soul essence into them, expression apathetic.
Caecus had been practicing.
He had been trying to enter the Manifestation stage for a few days now.
Training had started the day after the combat with the second years, and this marked his fourth day of that training. The past days were preparation, but today, he planned to step into the next stage of Soul Control.
Gritting his teeth he imagined himself augmenting not a physical object, but the space before him.
The fruit of preparing these past few days was that he acquired a sense for the space around him, and today he willed himself to attempt augmenting that space.
Lavender helped.
Caecus felt his soul essence taking on a pointy shape, as if wanting to rip through his own flesh to augment the space before him.
Soul essence wasn't physical though.
Slowly but surely he felt it escaping the prison of his own flesh, bone and blood.
'Free… go free.'
As if responding to his command, his soul essence heeded.
It was free.
He was free.
Indeed, as the soul essence was a manifestation of his own soul, he himself felt free.
Liberty was the best way to describe it.
It was an unshackling, rapturous feeling, like the relief of a newborn who took his first breath.
His soul essence started pouring out at a faster rate once the thrall of his body released it.
It took color.
A beautiful color, which Caecus couldn't describe, nor know the definition of.
But when he felt it, he knew it was his.
Knowledge started pouring into his brain, knowledge about his concept.
The previously euphoric feeling turned into one of pain, as receiving information in a forced manner was never pleasant.
Jaw clenched, and teeth aching against each other, his previously outstretched palm clutched the temples of his skull.
Sea of Waves.
That was the name of his concept.
'Is it water based?'
His innate ability came right after, branding itself into his mind like a hot steel rod.
The pain lingered, so he lay there first, accommodating the reeling pain of his mind's screams.
After it settled down, he stood up, and left the cultivation room, itching to try out the innate ability he gained with his concept.
Taking out his soul phone he sent Nyx a message.
Me: Nyx, are you free? I got good news!
She didn't respond.
'Huh… probably must be busy then.'
Under normal circumstances she always replied to his texts without delay, as if she had the chat open at all times.
Caecus had planned to try out the innate ability in Nyx's private training room, since he wanted a peace of mind while doing so.
'The public training rooms it is…'
Stretching his arms above his head, Caecus strode towards his building.
After a few minutes of pacing on the stone pavement, he reached his building, and went to his room.
Changing into sports garments, his thoughts drifted.
Ever since she left, Amelia hadn't been responding to his texts.
At first he ignored it, as he figured that she must've been busy with work, after all she was assigned to a different area now. But now it was starting to worry him.
The ground changed, as he entered the metal elevator and pressed Floor -1.
When the doors opened once again, he was in the public training rooms of his own building.
A familiar boy was swinging his sword at a dummy.
Augustus, the boy who had confused him for someone's little brother at the library before he met Nyx.
Only now he sensed the bracelet of the training boy, and realized he was part of Aeternus, but judging by his soul density he was sure that it was on par with his.
'Probably a part of the main family.'
Hoping that he'd go unnoticed, Caecus slipped past him, and entered a separate room.
'Perfect.'
The air was smelling like sweat.
Drawing on the information that was now etched into his mind, he summoned his soul essence out of his body.
The pattern of the soul essence started to change.
It resembled waves.
The waves of his soul essence kept spreading out, in all directions.
And then he knew that his concept had nothing to do with water, or the actual sea.
When he activated his innate, he felt everything in waves.
Soundwaves.
Electromagnetic Waves.
Probability Waves.
Caecus' mind was flooded with information about the surroundings.
'Everything is in waves.'
Turning off his constant stream of waves, the downpour of information hadn't stopped, it was passive.
It was the probability.
There was no such thing as a set future, everything had a probability of happening.
He could sense that probability.
For example, he could sense the probability of the sword of one of the students hitting certain spots, and he could also feel where the probability was largest.
It was a confusing innate.
Nonetheless, a curiously versatile one. He didn't even comprehend the uses of it, but he could feel that they were endless.
Now he knew why people never disliked their own concepts. You never saw a person at the manifestation stage who disliked their own concept, they all loved it.
Why?
Because it felt like a part of you.