Talking is easy, but doing is difficult.

  Rowan was glad to have a direction to work towards, even if he had very little idea on where to start. At least working on creating this new sensory technique would be less risky than focusing mana on his eyes.

  Unless he somehow loses his sense of self again.

  Rowan's body shivered at the thought. Fortunately he had the Mother Tree in front of him. If anything, he could rely on her if something went wrong. It may be a bit shameless to rely on the Mother Tree all of a sudden, but since she brought him back to normal once, she should be able to do it again? She showed the technique to him in the first place so she wanted him to learn it, right? Otherwise it would make no sense.

  After contemplating for some time, Rowan decided to give the technique a try. His body had rested long enough and he had enough mana to experiment with.

  The first thing Rowan did was gather his mana. He remembered how the Mother Tree stores up mana each time before releasing it. That was actually the easy part. His mana control had greatly improved over the years. The skill had improved naturally as he carried out the mana exchange every day. Injecting mana and circulating the mana within himself for the last five years.

  Rowan would be surprised if he didn’t improve after repeating the same action over and over again.

  It didn’t take long and once the mana charge was ready, Rowan prepared to inject it into the ground. That was the second part of the plan for learning the technique. After that, he didn’t really have a third part planned. He would first see how the first attempt goes and planned accordingly. He would take the approach of trial and error afterwards. Rowan didn’t expect success on the first attempt anyways.

  Rowan observed eagerly as his mana made its way under ground. It pushed its way through and then…dissipated.

  Huh, that was not the result I was looking for.

  Rowan had been expecting his mana to spread out at least a little bit. What he didn’t expect was that he would stumble at the first step of release.

  Rowan scratched his head and decided to try again. Was the amount of mana he used too little?

  Rowan took a deep breath and tried again. He began to control his mana and released it into the ground. This time, a slight increase in the amount released compared to the first attempt.

  Rowan observed intently as the mana sank into the ground and…dissipated.

  From this try, Rowan was able to discover two things. One was good news and the other was not.

  The good news? The attempt lasted longer than before, about a few seconds longer, which meant he needed to increase the mana amount he used.

  The bad news? He was still stuck on the first step as he was unable to create a ‘pulse’ like Mother Tree had. His mana merely sank into the ground and then disappeared.

  Rowan decided to try one last attempt, but this time he was going to inject all his remaining mana. Hopefully this will give him more insight in what he needs to work on.

  Third times the charm right?

  It took a few seconds. Rowan circulated all his mana into hands and then released it into the ground. The amount of mana he released this time was at three times compared to the previous attempt. His body was already feeling the fatigue as the mana drained from his body. It had been awhile since he felt his body empty of mana. If this attempt failed, he would have no choice but to rest and wait for his mana to recover naturally.

  Rowan watched as his mana flowed into the earth, sank deeper and deeper, and then…dissipated.

  Rowan's eyes widened in surprise and stared. What was he doing wrong? The mana he infused into the ground had lasted longer again, but overall it had been the same result.

  Rowan sat there crossed legged as he meditated to recover his mana while pondering what was the problem. At this point he was sure if he continued to pour mana into the ground, no matter the amount, he would get the same results.

  Something was missing and he just didn't know what.

  It didn’t make sense to continue the experiment until he figured what he needed to change. Otherwise he would be squandering his mana and wasting time. Perhaps it was too early to conclude that he was doing it the wrong way just after three tries, but that was what his instincts were telling him.

  In the end, Rowan decided to ask for help.

  “Mother Tree, what am I doing wrong?”

  As usual, the tree had no response to his question.

  Sighing, Rowan injected some mana into the tree after he decided his mana had recovered to a decent amount. He focused his senses, trying to learn what was the difference between his attempt and the Mother Tree.

  And this time, Mother Tree had a response.

  Or rather lack of.

  As Rowan infused his mana for the mana exchange, he noticed something different immediately. Usually when he infused his mana into the Mother Tree, the mana would easily be absorbed. His mana would move along like a stream into the tree. This time, his mana didn’t flow as easily. It was strange as Rowan had to make conscious effort to push his mana into the Mother Tree. It felt as if his mind was pushing a ton of bricks uphill after each passing moment.

  Why was it so different this time around?

  Then it hit Rowan what Mother Tree wanted to show him.

  Could it be? The answer seemed so... stupid to Rowan that he almost wanted to dismiss it right away. However, seeing as he had no other idea, Rowan decided to give it a try.

  What was the answer to Rowan’s current problem?

  Intent and control.

  Rowan once again focused his mana into his hands. The amount he decided was less than the third attempt, but more than the second attempt. This time he focused on the image of the mana sinking into the earth and spreading outwards. With anticipation, he released his mana into the ground.

  Rowan watched eagerly as his mana poured downward and then ... spread out.

  His mana didn’t go far, rather the mana spread out in a circular fashion for a diameter of one foot. It wasn’t much when compared to what the Mother Tree achieved, but this attempt was a resounding success.

  Why was this time so different? What Rowan did the first three times was the equivalent of dumping water into the ground. Water would sink downwards and would go left or right since there were no other forces controlling it. Whenever Rowan carried out the mana exchange, Mother Tree had been responsible for control, except the boy never realized it. He had always taken for granted that his mana moved naturally into the Mother Tree. It was not until today that Rowan realized she been responsible for the heavy lifting of the mana exchange. The Mother Tree wanted the mana to flow into it and made actions so that it would happen.

  Previously Rowan had the idea in his mind, but he never enforced it into his mana. The mana that left his body had no goal. Now wonder it disappeared shortly afterwards. The answer seemed so simple after Rowan achieved successful results.

  Now that Rowan knew the direction for his technique, it was time to fine tune it the only way he knew how.

  Practicing until he got it right.