The night was quiet in the camp.
A soft wind moved through the trees, carrying the smell of moss and river water. Above, the sky glowed faintly silver, the moon half-hidden behind drifting clouds. Around the campfire, the other students slept, their breathing soft and even. Faint blue light came from the crystals they used to refill their flux, now resting beside them.
Rin sat a little away from the fire, his back against a tree. The flames danced in his eyes, but his thoughts were far away.
The image of the amber beast core still lingered in his mind the warm pulse, the living energy that felt so different from the cold, refined crystals of the academy.
The System was quiet, no voice in his mind now, just a faint hum behind his thoughts.
Rin closed his eyes and focused on the air around him. He could feel it a faint rhythm, like slow breathing. The forest was still alive even in sleep.
"Natural flux," he whispered. "It's everywhere… right?"
He placed his hand on the ground. The soil was cool and damp. Beneath it, he could feel faint threads of energy weak but endless. Not like the clean, sharp flow of crystal flux. This one moved like water, gentle but deep.
Rin sat cross-legged and began to breathe slowly.
He guided his own energy through his body, the way he had been taught at the academy. But instead of using the crystal beside him, he tried something different to draw from the air itself.
He focused, reaching out with his senses.
At first, nothing happened. Then, a flicker a faint pulse brushing against his fingertips. His body trembled slightly. The energy felt wild, hot, and free, like trying to hold fire in his hands.
He pulled gently, trying to let it enter his meridians.
For a moment, the flux responded.
Thin threads of greenish light drifted toward him, glowing faintly in the dark. They touched his skin and pain followed.
Rin gasped. The energy scattered, burning his veins like sparks of lightning. His control broke instantly. He pressed a hand to his chest, breathing hard. The wild flux escaped, fading back into the air.
"Absorption failed," the System's calm voice finally returned.
Rin winced. "Why?"
"Cause: insufficient synchronization. Data incomplete. Attempt again when further information is available."
Rin frowned. "Not enough information…"
Silence. The System said no more.
He leaned back against the tree, chest still rising and falling. The forest was quiet again, as if nothing had happened.
He looked down at his hand. A faint mark, glowing green for a moment, slowly faded away.
The energy had been real. too real but beyond his control.
He sighed and stared at the moon through the branches. "I'll learn," he whispered. "One day."
Slowly, sleep began to take him.
The Dream
Darkness shifted.
Rin found himself standing in a forest, but not the one he knew. The air was brighter, sharper the leaves shimmered with silver light, and streams of green energy flowed through the air like ribbons. The ground pulsed with life.
Then he saw them.
People not beasts, not spirits, humans dressed in old battle robes marked with strange symbols. Their bodies were surrounded by green light, the same wild energy Rin had tried to draw. It wrapped around their arms and legs, forming shapes like wings, claws, or blades.
They moved fast, too fast for normal eyes to follow.
Energy exploded when they clashed, shaking the forest and tearing trees apart. Each strike left glowing marks in the air. Their shouts echoed like thunder.
And in the middle of their battle, something floated a jade-like object, bright green, spinning slowly in the air. It shone with a light that made the whole forest tremble.
Rin tried to step closer, but the air itself resisted him. The energy pushed him back, heavy like a storm.
He saw one of the fighters reach for the jade. The moment their fingers touched it, the light flared blinding and powerful. Everything turned white.
Then came whispers.
"Those who follow the wild flow…
Those who reject the chains of false order…
Remember the Breath of the World…"
The words echoed inside his head like distant thunder.
He tried to listen, to ask who they were, but the vision began to break apart. The light fractured. The forest bent and twisted, fading into mist.
And then he fell down through endless green light.
Awakening
Rin woke with a sharp breath.
The fire had burned low, only a few red embers left. The others still slept. The forest was silent again, only the sound of night insects filling the air.
For a moment, he didn't move. His heart beat fast, and his body felt strange not weak, not tired, but… alive.
He looked at his hands. They glowed faintly, like after holding a crystal for too long. Inside his body, his flux stirred fuller, warmer than before.
He frowned. "Why… does it feel stronger?"
The System stayed silent. No message, no sound.
He focused inward, sensing his flux channels. There was more energy there not much, but enough to notice. It was smooth and steady, unlike the wild surge from before.
It felt… balanced.
Had the dream done this?
He shook his head. "Impossible. It was just a dream."
Still, he couldn't explain the increase. The System hadn't said anything, and that worried him more than the dream itself.
He tried to ask again. "System. Report status."
The familiar tone returned after a pause.
"Flux levels: increased by 12%. Cause: unknown. Monitoring ongoing."
Rin's eyes narrowed slightly. "Unknown?"
"Yes. No data found."
He wanted to ask more, but the voice faded again, almost like it didn't want to talk.
Something wasn't right.
He leaned back, thinking. The dream, the green energy, the strange words Breath of the World. It sounded familiar, almost like an ancient phrase. But he couldn't place it.
"System," he tried again. "Any record of something called Breath of the World?"
No answer.
Then, just a faint hum.
Inside the System's unseen space, a folder flickered open.
It was marked [Locked Archive // Wild Flux Data] something Rin had never been told existed. Inside, lines of code shifted, forming a title that no one could see:
"Breath Manual: Natural Resonance – Stage 1."
The System scanned the file silently.
"Access denied to user. Manual sealed until synchronization rate exceeds threshold."
The folder closed itself, hidden deep within the System's memory.
Rin knew nothing of it. He stared at the fading embers, trying to calm his thoughts. The air felt heavier now, yet peaceful.
He let out a long breath and looked toward the dark forest.
Somewhere out there, the same green light still waited alive, untamed, calling him.
He didn't know what it meant yet, but his path was slowly changing.
And the System silent and secret was changing with him.
The night passed quietly.
When morning came, Rin rose before the others. The mist was thick again, and sunlight fell in soft lines through the trees. He looked around, his eyes calm but sharper than before.
Something deep inside him had awakened, even if he didn't understand it yet.
The forest whispered again as he walked a voice only he could feel.
"Remember the Breath of the World…"
Rin paused, staring into the mist.
He didn't speak, but he felt the words echo inside his chest warm, alive, and waiting.