It wasn’t a surprise that few hands shot up when Von asked who’d go first. But one hand rose higher than the rest, accompanied by a voice that shattered the stillness.
"Me! Me!" Karl shouted, his arm waving wildly.
"I want to go first!"
Adrian turned to look at him. ’Sometimes I forget he’s just twelve.’
Master Von’s gray eyes settled on Karl with a faint smirk on his lips.
"Since you’re so interested, come ahead, Karl."
Karl’s grin widened as he strode forward while the other Knights watched on with tension.
"Sit," Von instructed, gesturing to his mat at the center of the Dojo.
Karl dropped onto the mat, crossing his legs, his grin still in place as Von knelt before him, resting his hand on the other’s knees.
"Now I want you to relax your nerves," he said, his voice softening, almost hypnotic.
"Envision your mind as a river, flowing freely, its currents gentle and unending. Let your thoughts drift with it, smooth and unburdened."
Karl’s breathing steadied, the rise and fall of his chest slowing as he followed the instructions. His eyes closed and his grin slowly faded into a look of focus.
The Dojo seemed to hold its breath as their eyes were locked on the scene unfolding before them.
Von placed his hands on Karl’s head, his fingers splayed across his temples.
"Now," he said in a soft voice, "You will feel mana invading your river. Accept it wherever it flows. That’s your river and your Dantian."
Von’s hands began to glow with a soft white light. He closed his eyes and his face became a mask of concentration as he made the light course through Karl’s head.
For a moment, there was calm, the Dojo’s silence deepening as the mana flowed.
Karl’s expression shifted, a flicker of awe passing over his face as he saw his Dantian for the first time — a vast, shimmering river within him, its currents glowing with potential.
Then, the mana surged, a sudden burst rushing in like a flood breaking through a dam. Karl’s eyes snapped open, a scream tearing from his throat as the mana fused with his Dantian.
The sound was primal, echoing off the wooden walls as he slammed his fists into the floor.
The other Knights flinched and their faces paled. Some stepped back instinctively as Karl trembling with the agony of the bonding.
Adrian’s jaw tightened, his neutral mask holding despite the unease creeping up his spine. ’That’s the pain we were warned about.’
Von stood as if he wasn’t hearing Karl’s screams. Wiping his hands against each other, he said:
"While his Dantian solidifies, who’ll go next?"
No one stepped up at first, until a girl stepped forward with hesitation.
Her eyes continuously darted to Karl’s state on the ground but she took in a breath and continued walking forward.
"Come, Lyra," Von gestured to the mat as she came up.
After over an hour later, eighteen of the Knights could be seen on the on the floor.
Some were still squirming and screaming in pain, while others lay unconscious, mostly those who had gone first.
Only one Knight remained standing. Adrian had insisted on being last, not out of fear but because he had decided to observe.
But his observation yielded little. Von gave no indication of success or failure, his face a mask as he moved from one to the next, leaving each Knight to collapse in pain.
’I can’t tell if it worked for any of them.’
"Adrian, you’re still not ready?" Master Von turned to him and asked.
Adrian let our a breath before walking forward.
"Oh, yes," Von said suddenly, holding up a hand. "Take off your glasses."
Adrian blinked in confusion. ’My glasses?’ he thought, his hand pausing as he reached for them.
His eye condition was severe and he was barely able to see without them. ’Why does it matter?’ he wondered, but he didn’t argue.
He slid them off, the world dissolving into a hazy mess, and set them carefully on the floor beside the mat.
Adrian settled onto the mat next, and around him, the Dojo still echoed with the pained cries of the other Knights, but he ignored them all, tuning out the noise.
His focus narrowed as he mirrored the calm he had seen in the others.
’It’s my turn now,’ he thought as his breath steadied and then he closed his eyes, ending the torture of having to look at hazy figures.
Master Von knelt before him like others.
"Calm down," he said in a low voice that slowly faded as Adrian sank deeper into stillness.
Von began to repeat the procedure he had done on the others, he made his hands glow with mana and began to course the white light through Adrian’s head, a warm current that flowed like a gentle stream, building with each passing second.
"Visualize your stream... Flow with it. Be one with it," he said softly as he courses the mana through Adrian’s head.
Then, finally, after he was satisfied with the state Adrian had achieved, he introduced it with the moment of fusion his goal.
But unlike the violent surge that had felled the others, the mana hesitated, its flow stalling at the edge of his Dantian.
Tech Core flared to life in Adrian’s vision as a sudden notification cut through his calm.
[Alert: External Mana Influence Detected. Would you like to hoard it off?]
Adrian’s focus wavered, but he still caught himself and understood the message, mentally selecting No in reply to the System’s offer... and almost immediately after his choice, he felt it.
The mana collided with his own, a rush of energy that merged with his Dantian like molten steel blending with iron.
The sensation was electric pulsing with a rhythm that felt both foreign and his own, a dance of power that left him breathless yet exhilarated.
Just as the pain was beginning to set in, the system came to his rescue:
[Body Shutdown Initiated to Minimize Pain and Accelerate Fusion. Process Begins in 3... 2... 1...]
Adrian didn’t cancel as he knew it was for his benefit, and after the countdown, everything blacked out for him.