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Chapter 8: Mind

The white room was completely filled with small translucent orbs in the air. They were giving off a light rainbow color. Some of them were touching Leo's skin, producing a warm fuzzy sensation, as if he was home. He felt propelled to touch one of these orbs in front of him.

He poked at one of the orbs, and it started floating away because of his force. Now knowing that he could touch them, he decided to try and hold one of them. He grabbed one of the orbs and brought it to his face so he could see it. The orb quickly melted into his hand while he was looking.

Leo thought about what he had to do next. He assumed that he was looking at some form of magic. So now he would have to somehow gather that magic in his mind to make a star. So he tried to recollect the technique the tome inserted into his mind.

"I have to try and call out to the orbs and try to get them to gather around me. And then I have to... absorb them?" He recited out of his mind.

He guessed that the absorption was the melting of the orbs, so he started 'calling out' to the orbs. He thought for a while about how to call the orbs and decided to experiment. Since he was dealing with magic, he didn't know what to do initially. Eventually, he decided to just visualize the magic orbs floating toward him.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the orbs were closer to him than before and more densely packed. Since there was a positive change, he knew he was going in the right direction. He kept the thought in his mind and soon started noticing that his body was warming up. The orbs were getting absorbed automatically into his body.

Soon, he became aware of the magic in his body. He was able to move it in his body, but he didn't know where to store it. After getting them close, he recalled the next step from his memory - storing it in his mind.

He just decided to direct the power toward his head to see what happens. The power started circulating around his brain, and he suddenly felt more aware of what was happening to him. It heightened his senses by a little bit. It was noticeable though.

However, he didn't know what mind meant. Even though the magic was right there, he didn't know where to find the place to store it. The mind was not the same as the brain, after all. He opened his eyes and let go of control over the magic in his body.

Since he was starting to grow tired and didn't know what step to take next, he decided to stop meditating anymore. He had absorbed the magic power but didn't know where to store it. After deciding to take a break, he stopped forcing his mind to think about magic and let go. He found himself in the same white room, but the magic orbs were all gone.

But there was one new addition to the room. A door. He saw a door on one wall of the room that had appeared. The door was also white, with a golden door handle. It was extremely simple, and the door almost merged into the rest of the wall. It seemed like it was also made of the same material as the wall - pure, solid light.

He was very intrigued. The mysterious white space was already puzzling to him, but this made him even more curious about what the space was.

He walked towards the door and opened it. When he looked back, the door that he walked through had disappeared. However, he was less concerned with what he saw. He was more interested in what he couldn't.

"Wow."

He stepped forward into a field of grass. There was nothing for miles on all sides except grass. He knew it was grass, but it was not green in color. In fact, he just knew what was around him, but couldn't see anything. All he could see was pitch black, so he didn't know what color the grass was.

But Leo wasn't bothered about something like the grass. He was looking up at the sky. It was devoid of any stars like he would normally see. There was no light source, yet he knew exactly what was in his surroundings.

A thought flashed through his mind. He looked up at the sky. What if the sky was what he was supposed to fill up with stars? What if he was currently in his mind? He still had control over the magic in his body. He tried to bring it outside his body.

The magic came out immediately. But instead of orbs, it came out as a single cloud of rainbow light emitting magic. It was a cloud the size of a basketball, but it lit up the area around him. While it didn't affect his ability to see, it made the place more vibrant. The grass that the light was shining on was green compared to the rest.

Leo let go of control over the magic cloud. It slowly floated into the sky, and it stopped until it looked minuscule in size to him. The light that it emitted was so low the darkness had covered it up. He only knew his cloud was up in the sky but he could barely see it.

He didn't know what to do, so he decided to go back to the white room. But he didn't know how he was supposed to do that. The door had disappeared when he entered. All of a sudden, a door appeared in front of him. He stepped back initially due to the shock but immediately entered it.

He found himself back in the white room like normal. The door that led to where he had just visited was still there, right behind him. He looked closer at the white door. It had a golden engraving.

"Leo"


Chapter 9: Trouble

Leo touched the engraving on the door. He opened the door again and peered through without leaving the white room. After fulfilling his desire to look at the landscape again, he closed the door after seeing the familiar darkness.

He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but he was very confident that he had just accessed his mind. This meant that he had finished every step before forming his first star. Of course, he didn't have enough magic power accumulated. But he had sensed magic, absorbed it into his body, and gathered it into his mind. He was very pleased with himself.

He was also tired after that much mental activity. He didn't feel like doing any more work for the day, so he decided to just rest. He closed his eyes again and felt the white space breaking around him. He didn't open his eyes for the rest of the night.

He woke up very early the next day. The sun hadn't even risen yet. When he woke up, he felt more refreshed than the rest of the week. Even though he was 'sleeping' throughout the week, he was always in the white space trying to focus his mind. For the first time though, he had properly slept. He got up and stretched a little.

"Now let's see if I was dreaming or not," he muttered to himself.

Daphne was still sleeping, but he wasn't planning on doing anything loud. He was going to first try and meditate again, and then see if he could gather magic. After all, a dream was different compared to the real world.

He sat down in the lotus position and took a deep breath. He started concentrating on the thought of magic. Unlike the first time, he had encountered magic this time. So he knew exactly what to envision when thinking about magic. He didn't take anywhere close to the time he took the first time to sense magic.

He opened his eyes and he saw the room had magical orbs floating around. However, the number of orbs was vastly less compared to the white room. He started calling out to them. They converged toward his body slowly and melted into his body. After his attempts finally gave him success, he decided to continue meditating until the morning when he would have to go to work.

He continued meditating for around three hours and was able to enter his mind to store all of the magic he had absorbed periodically. While he was in the middle of meditating, he heard a loud thud on his door.

He snapped to the real world when he heard the thud. Daphne had also woken up to the sound. He heard the thud again.

"Open up!"

He went to the door and opened it. On the other side were two men. One of them had a book and a pen. He crossed something out in the book.

"You guys live here?" The other man asked him. He was wearing black clothing and a golden chain that dangled out of his neck. The other man was also dressed the same way.

He nodded.

"This place is now under the protection of the Blacktooth Gang. You will have to pay monthly protection fees from now on to live here," He told him.

He sized the man up. There was no way he could beat the man up even if there were three of him. On top of that, there were two of them. The only option he had was diplomacy.

"I am willing to pay the fees. But I won't be able to pay a lot. I make 5 Star coins a day and spend all of it on food. I am a kid after all." He said.

The man sized up Leo and looked inside. He saw Daphne but no one else.

"Orphans? Figured. So the rate for two people is 400 Star coins each. 800 Star coins to stay. Come up with the number or leave." The man said. He didn't care about his situation at all.

He scowled inwards but held it in. He smiled at the man.

"Is there any way I can pay a portion now and the rest on another day?" Leo asked.

The man laughed. "So you do have the money! How about this? Keep the money and give us the girl. We can sell her for at least a few thousand Star coins. Maybe even more. You can live here for two years if you give her to us."

He wanted to punch the man but held his hand.

"You joke sir. I can afford 100 Star coins now. I will try to go to Valkyr's Forest and try to find some valuable herbs." He said to the man.

The man looked down at him who was barely coming to his chest. He grabbed the coin in his hands and left.

"I'll be back in a week." He said while leaving.

Leo closed the door the minute they left. He looked at Daphne.

"Sorry, you had to see that." He apologized to Daphne. Meanwhile, Daphne's eyes had tears threatening to fall out.

"Don't go to the forest. You could die. How would you be able to come up with 800 Star coins even if you went once? We can try to go somewhere else." Daphne didn't want him to go back into the forest.

He smiled and walked towards her. He hugged her and patted her head.

"Don't worry, silly. I'll be fine. Don't cry. I've done it once and I can do it again." He consoled Daphne. After a while, she calmed down.

"We should move away from here." She said resolutely.

He shook his head. "You just wait a week. I will sort everything by then."


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