A few more weeks had passed, each day a relentless grind of physical conditioning and Flow refinement. Elias, now very close to fourth year in this world, bore the marks of Aina's tutelage not in lasting scars, but in the subtle, almost imperceptible way his small frame moved with a new found efficiency. His muscles, though still those of a child, possessed a wiry strength, and his reflexes had sharpened.
He had become significantly more proficient in the basics of Flow circulation, his Spirit-Domain a calm, vast estuary that he could enter and exit with ease. More importantly, he had learned the painful art of body reinforcement.
He could now, with focused effort, channel Flow to specific parts of his body, creating a temporary, resilient shield. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but it was enough. Enough to dull the sting of Aina's corrective smacks, enough to absorb the jarring impact of electric shocks from her metallic balls which she used to test his reactive reinforcement during his agility training. The force of the impact still hurt and the shocks still made him yelp, a sharp, unpleasant jolt that vibrated through his bones, but he no longer collapsed in a heap. He could take it, a testament to his progress.
One afternoon, after a particularly grueling session of reactive reinforcement drills, Aina led him through the open field they now trained at back to the serene garden. The air was cool, carrying the faint scent of damp earth and late-blooming jasmine. Elias, still buzzing from the residual Flow of his reinforced body, sat on a stone bench, trying to catch his breath.
Aina stood before him, her hands clasped, her gaze sweeping over the garden.
"Elias," she began, her voice calm, "you have learned to control the Flow within your own vessel. You have learned to make your body an extension of your will. But your understanding is incomplete."
Elias blinked, pushing aside the lingering ache in his limbs.
'Incomplete? What else is there?'
"Flow is not merely an internal energy," Aina continued, her eyes distant, as if seeing beyond the garden walls.
"It is the fundamental, omnipresent force that fuels the entire world. Every living thing, every stone, every breath of air, is permeated by Flow. It is the lifeblood of the world."
Elias frowned. He had always thought of Flow as something personal, something contained within individuals, or perhaps in concentrated ley lines beneath the Earth, as some of the older texts in the manor library suggested. But every stone? Every breath?Aina turned to him, her expression unreadable.
"Your Spirit-Domain, your personal Flow, is but a concentrated aspect of this existential Flow. It is the pond contained within a droplet, a reflection of the greater sea that surrounds us all."
As Aina spoke, a peculiar sensation began to stir within Elias's mind. His past-life knowledge, usually a source of frustration when it clashed with the direct, intuitive learning Aina demanded, suddenly sparked.He had managed to use his inherent skepticism to instead of doubt,try to link the logic he knew from his old world with the sometimes absurdity that came with his expriences here.
'Who knew that being a bookworm would slow my growth?I need to believe more.'
The words "fundamental, omnipresent force that fuels the entire world" resonated with something deep within his scientific understanding.
He thought of the universe he knew. The vast, empty stretches of space, yet filled with an invisible, pervasive energy. The expansion of the universe – a phenomenon driven by something unseen, something that pushed galaxies apart, creating more space, more energy,birthing stars and voids. He remembered theories of dark energy, a mysterious force accounting for the accelerated expansion, and dark matter, an invisible substance making up the bulk of the universe's mass, interacting only gravitationally. They were everywhere, yet undetectable by conventional means, influencing everything.
If those 'Unseen forces' where just the action of Flow,then all made sense!
Flow wasn't just energy; it was the fundamental force that governed the cosmos. It was the universal constant, the pervasive energy that allowed for everything, from the growth of a blade of grass to the very existence of planets.If he thought about it that way,then it made sense.A wave of profound, almost dizzying revelation washed over him. He felt a shiver, not of cold, but of intellectual awe. He had always been a skeptic, even in his old life, preferring empirical evidence to blind faith. So, he pushed back, internally.
'Maybe if I'm strong enough,I'll be able to do more than just punch him in the face.'
But… could it really be that simple? A single, all-encompassing energy? He was further interested in knowing more.
His mind pondered, pulling up other unexplained cosmic phenomena from his old world. The cosmic microwave background radiation, the faint echo of the Big Bang, a pervasive hum throughout the universe. The perplexing phenomenon of quantum entanglement, where two particles, separated by vast distances, seemed to instantaneously influence each other, defying classical physics. What if these, too, were manifestations of a universal Flow, an energy that permeated everything, connecting all things in ways science had yet to grasp?
If Flow was truly this universal, this fundamental, then…
'Does this mean Flow was in my old world?' Elias wondered, a new, unsettling thought taking root.
'Was it there all along, woven into the fabric of my own Earth, but we simply couldn't perceive it? Couldn't tap into it? '
'Were all those scientific mysteries just different facets of a universal Flow that our technology and understanding hadn't reached?'
'And if Flow was an omnipotent driving force, if it existed across realities, then how many other worlds were there? How many other Earths, perhaps, where people lived unaware of the pervasive energy that sustained them, unable to tap into the very essence of their existence?'
The thought was staggering, terrifying, and exhilarating all at once. His own existence, his transportation to Aerthos, suddenly felt less like a more awesome incident , divine phenomenon.
'Punching Deus in the face just became more difficult.'
Aina's voice, sharp and precise, cut through his cosmic reverie.
"Elias. Are you listening?"
He snapped back to the present, the garden, Aina's unyielding gaze.
"Yes, Big sis," he mumbled, still processing the immense implications of his epiphany.
Aina merely nodded, seemingly satisfied.
"Good. Because understanding is merely the first step. Now, you must learn to perceive it. To feel the hum of the world."
Elias looked around the garden, suddenly seeing it with new eyes. Not just plants and stones, but a vast, intricate network of pulsating energy, a silent, cosmic symphony playing all around him. He felt a tremor of anticipation. This was not just another lesson; this was a key to unlocking the world around him. The next step would be to truly feel it.