"Right, gotta fix that one," Arin thought as he reached for the handle of his bedroom door. The handle creaked slightly louder than he would have preferred, and he paused for a moment, glancing back toward the hallway to make sure nobody had followed him. After everything that had happened in the clearing, the last thing he wanted was another group of relatives surrounding him with questions before he had even had time to understand his own breakthrough. With a quiet sigh, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Good, finally home," Arin thought as he entered his room.
Compared to the rooms he had seen in wealthy homes and important buildings, Arin's room was remarkably simple. It had a balcony that he had filled with plants, but aside from that, there was not much decoration or unnecessary furniture. The main room contained a two-person bed, a small amount of basic furniture, and enough open space for him to move around comfortably. The rest of his belongings had been placed in a separate room specifically meant for his clothes, weapons, and equipment.
That second room occupied a much larger portion of his living space than the bedroom itself. His clothing was not particularly impressive, as Arin had never cared much about fashion or collecting expensive outfits. However, he did own several valuable items that required proper storage and maintenance. The family's cloaks were among the most important of those possessions, and they needed to be hung properly whenever he was not wearing them.
His bows, knives, utility belt, and quiver also needed to be stored carefully. Weapons were not objects that could simply be thrown into a corner and forgotten about, especially when they were used regularly and could mean the difference between life and death during a hunt or battle. His quiver, in particular, had to be kept in a safe position so that the arrows would not become damaged or warped. As a result, most of the space in his room was dedicated to practical equipment rather than decoration.
For the rest, however, his room was painfully ordinary.
Every member of the family had been given roughly the same kind of sleeping quarters, including his parents. The Sonnenbergs simply needed to make the best use of the limited space available inside the family compound. There were too many people living within the compound, and providing everyone with luxurious private rooms would have been a waste of resources. The family had never been particularly interested in showing off through architecture or personal living spaces anyway.
"Right, let's get to meditating," Arin thought as he sat down on his bed.
He crossed his legs, straightened his posture, and began the first cycle of the family's breathing method. Now that he had successfully reached Stage One, there was an important task he needed to complete. He had to create an image of his bow and quiver within the strange space near his heart, using the new method to establish the foundation of his internal image.
At first, Arin thought the task would be simple.
He quickly discovered that it was not.
"Well, this is not easy," Arin thought as he circulated the first cycle of mana through his body while trying to construct the image in his mind.
The breathing method required him to focus on several things at once. He needed to maintain the proper flow of mana through his body, ensure that the circulation did not become unstable, and simultaneously form a clear and detailed image of the objects he wanted to place inside the space near his heart. If his concentration slipped, the image became blurry or distorted. If he focused too much on the image, the mana circulation became uneven.
It was an exhausting balancing act.
Arin had already decided what he wanted to create, though. He intended to picture his bow and a quiver filled with arrows, and he knew exactly which bow he wanted to use as the model. His thoughts immediately went toward the bow he had lost to the goblins.
"Those bunch of bastards," Arin thought bitterly.
Even now, he had no idea what had happened to that bow. It had been an important weapon to him, and losing it had left him with an unpleasant feeling that had never entirely disappeared. He had no way of knowing whether the goblins had destroyed it, kept it, or whether it had somehow survived somewhere beyond his reach. Regardless, the bow remained the perfect image for him to use.
As he continued meditating, Arin carefully pictured its shape.
The bow had a crimson-engraved surface that gave it a distinctive appearance, while the mana pathways embedded throughout its structure pulsed with a faint violet light. Those pathways were not merely decorative markings. They were an important part of the weapon's function, allowing mana to flow through the bow and making it easier for the user to channel their abilities through it.
Arin made sure to include every detail he could remember. He pictured the curve of the limbs, the texture of the surface, the engraved crimson patterns, and the violet glow traveling through the internal mana pathways. Beside it, he formed the image of a quiver filled with arrows. Unlike the bow, the quiver was relatively plain, with an ordinary brown color that lacked any special visual appeal.
"Okay, that was tiring," Arin thought once the first cycle finally began stabilizing.
He was not sure how the rest of the family members and recruits were going to manage this part of the technique. In his opinion, creating the first image was easily the most difficult portion of the entire process. It required concentration, patience, and an understanding of how the mana should move through the body while the image was being formed.
The reason Arin was so certain that others would struggle was because the breathing technique had been modeled around his physique. The way mana moved through his body felt unusually natural to him, almost as though the method had been designed specifically for his internal structure. Because the circulation itself required less conscious effort from him, he could dedicate more of his attention to forming the image.
For other people, the situation would likely be very different.
They would have to focus on controlling the mana flow while simultaneously attempting to create a detailed internal image. That meant they would be forced to divide their attention between two difficult tasks, neither of which could be neglected. Even though the technique had been rated as Rare, its difficulty was still significant, and Arin could now understand why.
Still, the benefits were already obvious.
Arin could feel the mana coursing through his body with a clarity and intensity that he had never experienced before. The technique truly delivered on its promise. The mana was not simply moving through him randomly or gathering in his body without purpose. It was being guided, filtered, and circulated in a way that made the entire process feel more refined and controlled.
"And the best thing is that we can finally manipulate mana in its raw form," Arin thought excitedly.
He lifted one finger and carefully guided a small amount of mana toward the tip. For a moment, the mana gathered there and began taking shape. A thin vine-like strand of mana sprouted from his fingertip, twisting upward into the air. Arin managed to make it climb approximately one centimeter before the structure lost stability and collapsed in on itself.
"Oh, that is going to need more practice," Arin thought, staring at the dissipating mana.
Despite the failure, he could not stop himself from smiling.
"But still, that was cool."
The sight of raw mana forming into something resembling a tiny plant made the entire situation feel much more like a fantasy setting than reality. Before mana had arrived, such a thing would have been impossible. Now, after reaching Stage One and learning the family's breathing method, he could produce a small structure of mana directly from his body.
"This looks much more like a fantasy world now," Arin thought.
He tried to gather more mana at his fingertip, hoping that he could fire it outward like a projectile. Unfortunately, that attempt failed even more quickly than the vine. The mana gathered at his finger, but he could not properly release it in a controlled direction. Instead, the energy dispersed before it could travel any meaningful distance.
"Sadly, that is not really possible yet," Arin thought.
He would need considerably more practice before he could manipulate raw mana with any real precision. The technique had opened a new door for him, but that did not mean he had instantly mastered everything behind it. His control was still crude, and his body was still adjusting to the immense increase in strength and energy that came with reaching Stage One.
"Wow, okay. I really need to get my power under control," Arin thought.
The realization became even more obvious when he shifted his weight on the bed. His body reacted with far more force than he expected, and he launched himself off the mattress instead of simply standing up. Arin landed awkwardly, caught himself, and stared at the bed for a moment.
He needed to adjust before attempting anything else.
Without wasting more time, Arin put on his cloak, retrieved his bow from the weapon closet, and prepared to head toward the training range. Everything else could wait for now. Before he could properly examine his new abilities or continue experimenting with raw mana, he needed to get his body under control. Otherwise, he would constantly be distracted by his own strength and risk damaging something—or someone—by accident.
The Sonnenbergs were currently caught in the aftermath of their breakthroughs, and they were not particularly concerned with the rest of the world.
The rest of the world, however, was experiencing something very different.
Across the globe, people were suffering from what could only be described as sensory overload. One major news story followed another, each more unbelievable than the last. The biggest story of all remained the actions of the Catholic Church, which had seemingly proven that God existed. Teleportation was not something ordinary people could explain, and to much of the world, it was an ability that could only belong to a god.
What happened after the teleportation was even more significant.
The White House and several powerful families in the United States were still debating how to respond, while simultaneously dealing with a public-relations nightmare. Nearly every terrible aspect of their country had been exposed in the worst possible way, and the rescue operation broadcast to the entire world had turned into something resembling a fairy tale. It was the kind of story that people would likely sing about for hundreds of years.
The situation was made even worse by the presence of approximately 250,000 highly trained soldiers within American territory. Those soldiers had arrived with the intention of taking matters into their own hands, and that was something the United States could not simply accept. The government was being forced to deal with a foreign military presence while also trying to explain why the crisis had been allowed to develop in the first place.
The media companies, meanwhile, were having the time of their lives.
They had more material than they could possibly use, and newspapers were being printed in enormous quantities. Some cities without reliable internet access were ordering so many additional copies that the publishers were struggling to obtain enough paper. Every new detail created another headline, another debate, and another opportunity to sell newspapers.
While the White House was practically having a meltdown, the Catholic Church was celebrating.
The entire incident had dramatically increased public support for the Church and strengthened its negotiating position with smaller countries. The Church had gained influence in places where it had previously struggled to be taken seriously, and its representatives were now entering negotiations with a level of authority they had not possessed before.
China and Europe, however, were still refusing to treat the situation in the same way.
China simply did not want to change its current position, while the Vatican's location within Europe created another problem. European Union delegates could easily point out that the Grand Cross had been awarded by the Trade Families rather than by the Church itself. That argument effectively pushed the Vatican back toward its original starting point during negotiations with Europe.
Elsewhere, the situation was producing better results.
Russia and India had more issues to consider than the other two great powers, and the Church's actions were already affecting their calculations. The United States, however, was not currently willing to speak with the Church at all. From the American perspective, the Church had invaded their country, and that was not something the government or the powerful families within the country were prepared to overlook.