Chapter 44: Prana

Several months had passed since Kai started school, and before he knew it, the famous Golden Week arrived. The girls took advantage of the break to spend time with their mothers and accompany them on trips, while Kai, as usual, decided to stay home and train.

In the garden of his house, Kai was sitting in a lotus position with his eyes closed, practicing a rather strange breathing technique while maintaining an En field of nearly 100 meters around him. It seemed as if he was desperately trying to sense something, but the only thing he could feel besides himself was the large cat sleeping under a tree.

After some time, Kai opened his eyes and let himself fall onto the grass with a defeated sigh. He was really starting to doubt that his theory was correct, but still, he called Sage to check the data.

"Sage, give me the data and a summary."

"At your service."

The winged light orb appeared next to Kai, and immediately, a hologram displaying detailed data of the entire process appeared in front of him, prompting Sage to begin explaining.

"No anomalies were detected during the meditation, and even the variation in aura empowerment due to the breathing was close to zero."

"Just as I feared... Could it be that 'natural energy' doesn't really exist?"

After letting out a disappointed sigh, Kai jumped up from the ground and began walking around the house. Lost in thought, Kai tried to decide whether to pursue new avenues to test his theory or, on the contrary, to discard it and focus his efforts elsewhere.

Since discovering that breathing enhanced his aura, Kai had been formulating hypotheses to explain the phenomenon, such as increased oxygen in his system and other ideas. But the one he liked the most and wanted to be true was that he was unconsciously absorbing natural energy.

Because of this, Kai had spent nearly a year focusing mainly on meditation, trying to imitate various practices from his past life that talked about natural energy and how it could be absorbed into the body to empower it. However, so far, he had not seen any results.

Without realizing it, Kai ended up at the door of his mother's "library," where her extensive collection of rare and valuable books was stored, bringing a small smile to his face as he decided to take a look inside.

Upon entering the room, Kai found an elegant two-story library illuminated by a warm light, with shelves that had glass doors with a technological look, capable of maintaining the necessary conditions for preserving the books inside.

An elegant tea lounge was In the middle of the room with various sofas, tables, and chairs, offering a relaxing and comfortable place to read. In one corner of the room was a small, stylish cabinet with different drawers, containing an electric water heater, various types of tea and coffee, and different snacks.

In the last years, the reading sanctuary his mother had created had been mainly used by Momo, who was an avid reader, and by Nemuri, who usually came to relax or seek inspiration or references for her books. Kai himself preferred it that way, after all, his mother hated wasting things, so if he left it unused, he somehow felt like he would be betraying her memory.

Without thinking much, Kai began to wander around the room, browsing the books on the shelves, noticing that there were books of all kinds and in different languages. Some evidently very rare, such as first editions or historical replicas of famous books, and often, original copies of books centuries old.

After wandering around for a while, Kai arrived at a small bookshelf on the second floor with books that seemed noticeably newer. This piqued his curiosity and led Kai to open the glass door of the shelf and take one out to open it. The first thing he read was a phrase in English that immediately caught his attention.

"[Prāṇa in Sanskrit means 'breath' or 'inspired air' and represents vital force or energy, therefore...]"

Filled with curiosity, Kai quickly skimmed through the book, realizing it was a book on yoga and Hindu mysticism that talked about the different chakras and their relationship with certain yoga exercises and breathing, or prana.

"Well, Mom was a yoga enthusiast, so it's not surprising she had a book like this, but talking about breathing... Should I try it? Well, it's not like I have anything to lose by trying, besides, I've run out of ideas anyway..." Kai said to himself as he checked a second book that talked about similar things.

"Well, it's time to try it out." Kai decided and quickly placed the book back on the shelf, then called for his reliable assistant.

"Sage, digitize all the books on this shelf, create a summary of each one, and establish a correlation framework."

"At your command."

With Kai's orders, the winged light orb appeared beside him and began to make each book float in the air, flipping through them at high speed before carefully returning them to the shelf. Meanwhile, Kai left the room and headed toward the gym.

Some time later, Sage reappeared next to Kai, who was warming up on a treadmill alongside Salem. The light orb quickly reported the success of its mission while emitting a light hologram.

"Sir, the objective has been achieved. All the books have been digitized, and the correlation framework has been established."

"Give me a summary based on the correlation framework about the chakras and their relationship with prana." Without stopping his run, Kai casually ordered, to which Sage immediately responded affirmatively.

"At your command. First, prana can be translated as 'breath,' and according to ancient myths, it represents a force or energy that permeates reality on all levels. Meanwhile, the chakras are energy centers where prana is concentrated in the body. More specifically, they seem to be aligned with the spine, although there is a slight discrepancy regarding their number, with some sources mentioning six, while others mention seven.

Moreover, yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline that seeks to unify the body, mind, and spirit. It has different branches, but the ones primarily related to prana and the chakras are two, which consist of a mix of breathing exercises, physical postures, and some mantras to activate and balance the chakras."

Sage explained in its typical flat and synthetic tone, which greatly piqued Kai's curiosity, leading him to add.

"Well, those discrepancies are common in ancient beliefs, where many people throughout history have had a hand in them. But the idea that prana is an energy that permeates reality is somewhat similar to 'natural energy,' which interests me quite a bit. Alright, show me what I need to do to try out this yoga and 'activate' my chakras, and let's go with the version that has seven; I like that number better."

"At your command."  The light orb responded, then displayed various holographic screens showing different explanations and images of people performing various postures.

"Mmm, they don't look particularly complicated. Let's get started." Kai turned to look at the large cat before continuing, "And you, go play over there; I'm going to be busy."

After the large cat meowed in understanding and settled in a corner of the gym, Kai quickly analyzed the information provided by Sage while looking for a mat, which he placed in the center of the gym. He then stretched a bit before asking.

"What do I need to do first, Sage?"

"The first step is pranayama, which involves controlling your breath, and there are different methods. Which one would you like to try?"

At Sage's question, Kai thought for a moment before responding as he sat down on the floor. "The best thing to do is to try them all, one by one, and then decide which one is the best."

"Understood. The first one is Nadi Shodhana, which involves..."

With Sage's guidance, Kai tried each of the breathing styles, but ultimately, the one that somehow felt best was the first one. So, he decided to stick with that one. Since this style required breathing through only one nostril at a time, instead of using his hands to close the other, he directly used his aura, which made it even better.

"Alright, let's go with this Nadi something. What's next?"

Once he felt somewhat accustomed to closing one of his nostrils with his aura, Kai asked Sage who immediately responded while displaying images of three yoga postures: one of a person standing on one foot with arms extended, another of a person arching their body backward with arms extended, and the last one of someone performing a squat.

"The first step is to activate the Muladhara Chakra, which is known as the root and is located at the base of the spine. According to the books, the best way to do this is by using the tree, mountain, and garland poses, along with the LAM mantra."

Following Sage's instructions, Kai assumed various postures while chanting the mantras and breathing through one nostril at a time, repeating the process several times since he didn’t feel anything unusual. However, just as he was about to give up and dismiss yoga altogether, he suddenly heard a distinct clicking sound in his mind, which made him open his eyes in surprise.

"Sage, did something happen to my body?" Kai asked while trying to check for anomalies in his body, causing Sage to start glowing in various colors before reporting.

"Your physical state is perfect. The only change is a slight increase in your aura, but it was minimal. Would you like to begin more precise tests?"

At Sage's question, Kai simply shook his head, then stretched a bit as he spoke.

"No, it's not necessary. Let's keep going. What's next?"

"Understood. The next one is the Svadhisthana Chakra, located below the navel. For this, you'll need the Cobbler's Pose, the Reclining Cobbler's Pose, and the Goddess Pose, along with the VAM mantra."

"Alright, let's get started."

Kai spent the rest of the day performing the poses and reciting mantras, making sure not to move on to the next chakra until he felt that clicking sensation, which eventually led him to the seventh and final chakra. He sat on the mat while Sage explained.

"The last chakra is Sahasrara, also known as the Crown Chakra. For this chakra, there are three poses, and as for the mantra, you can use the AUM mantra or remain silent."

"Okay, let's start with the first pose."

With great agility, Kai quickly placed his head on the ground and lifted his feet into the air, standing completely on his head, then recited the mantra with concentration. After that, he took the lotus position, and finally, the corpse pose, which was basically lying flat on the ground.

After repeating the same process for a while—longer than all the previous chakras combined—Kai somehow felt that he was on the verge of achieving something, that he was right at the edge, but for some reason, he couldn't quite grasp it. So, he decided to stay in the lotus position and meditate in silence, while letting his aura and Haki flow slowly through his body in sync with his breath.

Some time later, Kai somehow felt disconnected from the world, while his mind emptied of any fleeting thoughts, entering a unique state of concentration. This allowed him to sense his aura and Haki with incredible clarity.

Driven by curiosity, Kai decided to channel his Haki and Aura through each of the chakras, ensuring that each one was “balanced” with the same amount of Haki and Aura, until he finally reached the seventh.

But when his aura and Haki reached it, he immediately regretted it, as he heard a powerful click in his mind and started feeling himself weaken rapidly. He tried to stop immediately, but at that moment, his mind went completely blank, and he immediately fell unconscious onto the mat.