Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Negative Energy

Upon hearing the words of "Snow White Darkness," Stroph was greatly surprised and after a couple of seconds, a slight smile appeared on his face.

<Will I be able to use it at all? This was the first I'd ever heard of it."> Stroph wanted, of course, to learn how to use it, but he had no idea what he would need to do.

"Snow White Darkness" quickly replied, <Your new toy will help you, that's it, don't ask any more questions.> His voice was calm and somber.

Stroph said nothing more and simply headed home.

At home he was met at by Violet, who was cleaning at that time. Seeing this Stroph thought , <Darn it, how it`s happened that now she's doing the role of housewife? I need to fix it >

Violet didn't bother to ask about the huge case, Stroph was holding. So, he just calmly headed for the underground floor.

<Well, I'm ready, explain what, how and why>. Stroph couldn't wait to learn how to use the so-called "Negative Energy".

"Snow White Darkness" answered him immediately, <As you know, I absorb it from the slain creatures, and as I said before, the stronger you are, the stronger I am. I won't teach you anything at the moment, it's much better to do it when you're killing. On the spot, so to speak.>

It was silent for a while, then continued, <This toy, on your back, will be your trainer. I will partially give you the energy that I managed to collect during our short acquaintance... You should try to feel it and direct it straight to this weapon.> After the last words, it pointed to the case with one of its belts.

Though Stroph had listened to his companion, it only added to his questions. "How am I supposed to feel it? Much less direct it anywhere?" He was confused, everything was too incomprehensible.

<At least you can see it, ordinary people aren't capable of that, you shouldn't have been different from them, but either because of your eyes or because of our connection, you can see it, remember that incident with the woman...>.

Stroph immediately remembered their battle with Julia and, how a dark, faintly visible energy began to emerge right from under the rubble.

<Well, I remember, so what of it? > Stroph still didn't understand where the "Snow White Darkness" was getting at.

<You`ve cheered me up a lot, okay, let's at least try it, as they say practice is the best teacher.> Stroph decided to stop asking questions, since he didn't understand anything anyway, so his choice was to practice it.

"Snow White Darkness" didn't answer anything, and literally half a minute later, a thin black stream which looked like smoke began to come out of one white belt.

<So, I can see it, now what? > Stroph asked himself, then he decided to take his companion's advice and began to emit his aura.

But, as he expected, it didn't work.

<Hmm, the energy just pushed away from me, I emit the aura, and I push it away with it, well at least I was able to move it, that's good>.

Stroph didn't know how to make his aura flow back, not outside, but into himself. "Snow White Darkness" only taught him how to emit the aura, that was actually pretty easy. You just have to think about it and concentrate on your power. Of course, the more experienced and stronger you are, the scarier the result.

He could have asked his companion about it, but, Stroph decided to try it himself first, not always resorting to the help of "Snow White Darkness".

<So... I need to at least draw it to me, hmmm... what if I try to control the direction?> After these thoughts, Stroph started trying, but... it was all in vain.

A different direction came out each time. Stroph was throwing "Negative Energy" to the right, then to the left, then forward.

After a few dozen attempts, Stroph had finally lost all his patience, "FUCK! I'm fucking sick of this shit! Come here!" Stroph got really angry and just wanted to vent all his accumulated anger, but to his surprise "Negative Energy" headed towards his arm at lightning speed and wrapped itself around it.

As Stroph tried to figure out what was going on, there was a deafening laugh from "Snow White Darkness" : <HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, great, just great, you was able to pull it into yourself and so fast ! I'm starting to like you more and more!> Judging by the joyful exclamations, "Snow White Darkness" was very pleased with the situation.

Stroph, on the other hand, was still in a stupor, he didn't know how he had managed to do it.

Just as he was about to ask "Snow White Darkness", he heard still satisfied voice of his companion, <It's very simple my young friend, the energy came to you because you wanted it to!>

<Аh? I kind of wanted it before, and I wanted it very much, but for some reason it didn't work out.> "Snow White Darkness"` words struck him as absurd and ridiculous.

<Then you just wanted you would be able to attract it, but now, you wanted to attract it and nothing more, a pure selfish desire to do something, no matter what. That's what will help you control it.> The words of "Snow White Darkness" cleared things up slightly in Stroph's mind.

<But I thought you were going to teach me all sorts of poses for feeling external energy, calming the soul, concentration and attention.> Stroph couldn't imagine that it could be all about a selfish desire to achieve something.

<Leave that nonsense for others, you and I have a very different path!> "Snow White Darkness" told it loudly and confidently.

Stroph took the Lotus out of its case and tried to direct the energy straight into it.

He didn't know why he needed this particular weapon to do so, but it wasn't that important at the moment.

After a few tries, Stroph never succeeded. "Shit, I could barely draw it into my body, but I had to control it and direct it."

Stroph tried to calm down, get angry, leave it to chance, but even after an hour he had no luck. The "Negative Energy" was still swirling around his arm, and it was still there. After a couple hundred attempts, Stroph couldn't think of anything else and at that very moment he finally succeeded. In that moment he finally figured out how it all worked. <Okay, the whole point is that when I thought I was concentrating all my attention on wanting to control it it wasn't at all, something was still keeping me from just thinking about using the energy. Like "Snow White Darkness" said, it's pure selfish desire, no matter what>.

As soon as the "Negative Energy" started flowing into the Lotus, something incredible began to happen. The black cracks that looked like vines seemed to start to come alive, and they even seemed to move slightly.

<Boy, enough, you're already starting to suck the extra energy out of me.>

<What? But how do I stop it, I don't know.> Stroph was confused, the cracks kept filling up with "Negative Energy".

The next moment the blue lotus glowed brightly and there was a deafening explosion that completely destroyed Stroph's house...