"Listen closely, kid," Kujo-sensei's voice echoes in the pitch-black space, low and solemn, completely different from his usual carefree demeanor. "Lie still, do not move a muscle. Don't try to think or search for anything. Let your mind drift freely, and eventually, you will feel it."

  He pauses for a moment, as if letting me digest his words, then adds a warning: "The first time might be a total bust, which is par for the course, so don't get discouraged if nothing happens. Oh, and most importantly: Don't close your eyes."

  "Huh?" I ask blankly, my voice echoing into the void.

  "Watch out for falling asleep. That is a classic rookie mistake. It gets so comfortable in here that people start snoring immediately, and they wake up learning absolutely nothing except how to get skin as wrinkled as a prune."

  Footsteps fade away, followed by the dry sound of the sliding door, then a soft click. Kujo-sensei, Xiaolang, and Nanao have left, leaving me alone in this absolutely soundproof room.

  Darkness swallows everything. Only a dense, heavy blackness remains, devouring even the faintest ray of light.

  I relax, letting my body float on the saturated saltwater. According to the physics theory Sensei explained, the density of the water will support my entire body weight, making me feel like I am suspended in mid-air.

  That is the theory, but the survival instinct of a sixteen-year-old boy screams otherwise.

  Even though I know I will float, the muscles in my neck and shoulders unconsciously tense up. It is a natural reflex to keep my head from sinking. I tensely await a sudden plunge, my limbs flailing slightly in the unconscious search for a fulcrum. But there is no fulcrum. Only water, warm and viscous like oil, wrapping around my skin.

  It takes several minutes of mental struggle and continuous deep breathing before I dare to truly let go, allowing every muscle group to relax completely.

  In the very next moment, my worldview collapses.

  My sense of direction vanishes, making it impossible to distinguish up from down. Gravity seems to dissolve into nothingness. I feel like an astronaut whose tether has been cut, drifting aimlessly in a vast, pitch-black, and silent universe.

  "Focus, Kaito... Feel the aura... Feel the rusty faucet..."

  I mutter in my head, trying to strain every sense to search for that "leaking" sensation Sensei talked about. But absolutely nothing happens. My body feels normal, just slightly... lighter. Doubt begins to slither into my mind like a venomous snake.

  Did I miss a step? Or do I just have no talent?

  But remembering Kujo-sensei's serious eyes, I push away the negative thoughts, continuing to lie still and wait.

  When the silence outside reaches its peak, the noise inside my body begins to rise.

  Thump-thump... Thump-thump...

  The heartbeat. At first, it is faint, but in this mute space, it becomes as clear as war drums. I hear the blood rushing through my temples, hear the heart valves opening and closing.

  It feels truly bizarre. When the brain becomes aware of the heartbeat, it panics and orders the heart to beat faster. The sound echoes inside my skull, so loud I think my chest is about to explode.

  It takes a long time to regulate my breathing, forcing my heart rate back to normal. Then, when the drum in my chest subsides, another phenomenon strikes.

  Before my eyes, where there should be only eternal darkness, glittering spots of light suddenly appear. Blue, red, purple, yellow... they dance wildly, spinning like distant nebulae.

  I watch the internal fireworks display for a while, mesmerized. But then, those harmless lights start to transform.

  They distort, clustering together, weaving images from the depths of memories I want to forget the most.

  A smile stretching all the way to the ears.

  Bloodshot eyes as big as bowls staring through a glass window.

  Pitch-black, lanky arms reaching out from the shadows, crushing tiny creatures.

  Images of the giant Executioners and the swarm of Anomalies in the Beta Hell appear vividly, dancing before my eyes against the black background. Primal fear threatens to rise up, strangling my throat.

  "Calm down! Kaito, you have to stay calm!" I scream in my mind, trying not to let my body convulse. "It's just an illusion! Your brain is playing tricks on you! Inhale... Exhale..."

  I close my eyes to ignore it... wait, no, Sensei said not to close my eyes. I have to stare through the mess of illusions, trying to find that initial silence again.

  Gradually, those horrific images fade, dissolving into the void like sea foam.

  In this state of aimless drifting, the concept of time begins to melt. I don't know how long I have been lying here. Fifteen minutes? An hour? Or has it been a whole day? Past and future seem to lose meaning, leaving only the present moment stretching on infinitely.

  Slowly, the chaotic noise in my mind begins to settle like dust after a sandstorm. The hideous images of the Executioners vanish, worries about tomorrow's Math test or money issues evaporate with them.

  No past, no future.

  This is the first time in my life I truly touch the realm of... doing nothing.

  It sounds ridiculous, but humans rarely "do nothing" in the literal sense. Even when lying on the sofa, the brain is busy scrolling through the web or thinking random thoughts. But right now? My brain stops producing new concepts. My muscles stop tensing to fight imaginary gravity. I drift into nothingness, letting my consciousness bob on the invisible waves of the subconscious.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  I fall into a flickering state, half-awake, half-asleep, feeling weightless and wandering as if strolling through the most peaceful dream.

  And then, it appears.

  Perhaps not from the darkness outside, but from deep within my retinas, or from the core of my being.

  A stream of golden light, soft and weightless as gossamer.

  The ray is warm and spreading like the halo of dawn. I feel my body is no longer flesh and blood, but a glowing mass of energy. Faint rays of light continuously pour out of my pores, drifting into the vast surrounding darkness, carrying away my own vitality.

  "Ah... So that's it..." A thought flashes in my mind, slow and hazy. "So this is... leaking."

  Kujo-sensei's voice echoes in my ears, like a reminder from the real world: "Close the valve. The faucet is leaking."

  Reflexively, my will surges. I focus my thoughts, visualizing tightening an invisible valve, trying to force that golden flow to stop.

  "Stop! Don't flow anymore!"

  And then... Poof.

  The moment I try to interfere with my consciousness, the golden light is snuffed out like a candle in the wind. The floating, flickering sensation vanishes instantly. Pitch-black darkness and suffocating silence return, cold and unfeeling.

  The next sensation is total wakefulness. That divine lightheadedness is replaced by the heavy weight of a fleshy body bobbing on saltwater.

  Frustration and helplessness swell in my chest. Why? I clearly just saw it! I just touched the threshold of power, only to be kicked out.

  I grit my teeth, trying to force myself back into the "doing nothing" state once more. I relax my body, deliberately ignoring the heartbeat, waiting for that light to return...

  Clack.

  The sound of the door unlocking rings out dryly, tearing through the silent atmosphere.

  Snap.

  The ceiling lights blaze to life, so bright I have to squeeze my eyes shut, tears flowing from irritation. The real world crashes in violently and without warning.

  Heavy footsteps echo on the wooden floor. I squint, trying to adjust to the light, vaguely recognizing Kujo-sensei's familiar silhouette standing with arms crossed looking down, flanked by the two large shadows of Nanao and Xiaolang.

  "How was it, kid?" His voice booms in the large bathroom. "Feel anything, or did you just get a good nap?"

  After changing out of the soaking wet swimwear and back into my school uniform, I sit opposite Kujo-sensei, excitedly recounting the strange experience. The floating sensation, the hallucinations, and the moment the golden light appeared then vanished... everything pours out like a stream.

  Kujo-sensei listens attentively, nodding slightly now and then.

  "Not falling asleep on the first session, and even seeing the 'light source', is already very good. Better than plenty of guys back in the day who just went in there to snore. Everything must be built gradually; haste makes waste."

  "But Sensei," I frown, a lingering sense of grievance remaining. "Why did everything vanish the moment I tried to think about 'closing the faucet'? I was clearly very focused."

  Sensei looks at me, his eyes sharp as if piercing through my soul. "You said you 'tried' to think, right? When that thought appeared, did you tense up? Like putting all your will into it, gritting your teeth and ordering your body to close it? Or did your heart beat faster because of anxiety, fearing it would disappear?"

  I stare blankly. "Yes... that is exactly what happened. It's like you read my mind."

  "Every rookie is like that, it's a common disease," he waves his hand. "The key to Aura Concealment is treating it as naturally as breathing air. When you breathe, you don't tense up and order your lungs to function, do you?"

  He leans forward, emphasizing every word. "Spiritual training isn't a Boss fight in a game, you can't just spam skills or flex your mana bar. The more you try to force it, the more psychological fluctuation you create, and that fluctuation blows away the fragile focus you just established. Just ask those two over there."

  Xiaolang, lying on his stomach on the sofa, lifts his head upon hearing himself mentioned, tail wagging.

  "Reo is right, kid," the wolf god smacks his lips. "Aura Concealment is as simple and basic as eating candy, but you mortals always overreact, worrying too much and ruining it. Mostly just weak mental fortitude."

  "My, someone is talking big," Nanao, sitting on the windowsill, glances down with utter disdain. "Using the Law of Radiance is also simple, basic as eating candy. Yet the other day when I taught it, some dog was fumbling around, unable to get it right forever."

  That’s because my affinity is Darkness! Get it?" Xiaolang bristles, his neck fur flaring up in frustration. "Attribute incompatibility, I'm not used to using Light element!"

  "You're just lazy," Nanao says, focusing on grooming his sharp claws. "Director Ariel practically spoon-fed us during that seminar, yet someone still spent the entire session face-down in a puddle of their own drool, only to crawl back and beg me for help later."

  Kujo-sensei looks at the two gods bickering, shakes his head in exasperation, then turns to me and shrugs.

  "See, told you. Those two don't know jack shit about teaching. They're only good at arguing."

  I chuckle, the tension from earlier dissolving completely. Luckily Sensei is here guiding me diligently; if I were handed over to those two, I would probably have been sent to the wrong coordinates of some Rank A Anomaly's lair to "fend for myself" by now.

  Speaking of which, I remember the story from earlier.

  "Sensei," I ask curiously. "So back then, could you completely Suppress Aura from that Rank A Anomaly's sight? Even though you said it was that hard?"

  Kujo-sensei falls silent for a moment, eyes distant.

  "Not really. How could a rookie like me reach that perfect state back then? I only reduced the leaking aura by about half, maybe 60%. But that was enough to distract the monster, making it unable to pinpoint my exact location in the pile of scrap metal."

  He lets out a breath, lips curling into a half-smile. "Lucky that Itsuki-sama arrived in time. You can't imagine how angry and panicked he was at that moment."

  "Angry?"

  "Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. A massive fox of roaring blue flames erupted from his body, hunting down that Anomaly and mauling it until it was scorched into nothing but ash. That was the moment it finally clicked for me. I spent so long thinking he was some heartless superior who saw us as disposable trash, but the truth is, he is just a clumsy klutz who gets flustered way too easily."

  Ring... Ring...

  The story of the heroic past is cut short by a phone ringtone. Kujo-sensei takes his smartphone from his vest pocket. The screen displays a video call from "Old Fox Boss".

  He picks up. Itsuki-sama's face appears on the screen, his fur looking a bit messy.

  "You guys okay?"

  Itsuki-sama's voice sounds... strange. Completely lacking his usual teasing tone, nor is it the commanding voice of a superior. It sounds very... relieved. As if he just had a heavy stone lifted from his heart upon seeing us still in one piece.

  "Everyone’s in one piece, Boss," Kujo-sensei says, his tone dry and steady. "With these two deities prowling the grounds, what exactly are you so paranoid about? A simple text would've done the trick, so you didn't really have to go through the trouble of a video call."

  Silence hangs on the other end for a few seconds. Itsuki-sama's smoky purple eyes stare at Kujo-sensei, then glance over at me, Nanao, and Xiaolang.

  "I was afraid..." His voice drops low. "I was afraid the person replying to the messages... wasn't you."

  "Huh?" Kujo-sensei frowns. "What kind of nonsense are you thinking? Who could fake messages on Solak?"

  Itsuki-sama doesn't explain, just gives a wry smile and changes the subject.

  Why... has Itsuki-sama become so paranoid and suspicious? Is the situation truly so dangerous that he no longer trusts even text messages?