Lady Ana sat at the dining table, helping herself to a healthy lunch.
Despite her being the only one, the table was filled with an assortment of dishes including meat.
Taking her time to indulge herself, she soon felt something that caused her to frown.
Taking a moment to ponder, she rose to her feet and walked to the floor-to-roof window behind her which had a nice view of the central district.
Glancing at the street below, she pursed her lips and the next moment, her red irises split, taking on a serpentine form.
Blinking repeatedly, a smile soon formed at the corner of her lips as she muttered. "...He broke the boundary."
She shook, barely keeping herself from exploding with joy.
After some celebration, she began to consider her next course of action.
It didn’t take long before she called out. "Mirabel!"
Soon after, a middle-aged lady wearing a maid’s uniform rushed out with her head bowed.
"Yes. Prepare a dress, I will be heading to the D.O.D."
With that said, she dismissed the maid and returned to the dining table, a brilliant smile on her visage as she muttered.
"I wonder what adventures await."
Alex and Nadia returned to the Sanders manor late at night, having spent the whole day together.
"Madam, you are back," Martha remarked as she opened the door to receive them.
Nadia nodded. "Is Uncle back?"
"Not yet," Martha replied.
Exchanging glances with Alex, Nadia didn’t say anything else.
With both stepping in, Martha closed the door behind them before helping Nadia with her bag and coat.
Alex promptly excused himself before making his way to his room to get change.
Nadia on the other hand wasn’t too surprised by his behavior after figuring out that he was a Mystic.
She wasn’t oblivious to that world despite not being a part of it and she understood why Alex took that step.
She couldn’t help but worry.
It made her wonder if she should take that path as well.
However, she decided to watch over things for now.
If the situation called for it... it won’t be too late then to make a decision.
After changing, Alex took the time to check the state of his body.
Due to how much change he had undergone, It felt like he was wearing a body suit instead of it being his actual body.
"It would be difficult to move ." He muttered, mentally creating the best exercise routine to help himself acclimate back to his body.
Heaving a sigh at the workload ahead of him, he got to his feet and moved to close his room window, only to pause as he glanced at the night sky.
The oval-shaped Nighteye with its three concentric rings stood out in the night sky, illuminating the world below.
It was beautiful, with a calming effect on the mind.
"Is there something else that one would see with their Spirituality awakened?" Alex pondered as he retreated from the window.
Though he was curious, he was also aware that curiosity killed the cat.
Some things were better left alone.
Without wasting any more time, he rushed down to the basement, ensuring to secure the door to not be interrupted by unwanted parties.
Finally, he got down to his goal for tonight; strengthening his bond with his pneuma.
But first, some light exercise to get comfortable with his body.
After more than an hour of workouts, Alex settled down at the center of the sitting room, seated in a lotus position as he began to meditate.
First coordinating his breathing with his heartbeat, he went ahead to make contact with his pneuma, activating his Spirituality as a result.
Immediately, he felt it.
The beautiful feeling that came with bathing in Aether.
His pneuma reacted to the sensation as it played around, moving as it tried to follow the path of the aether as it flowed unrestrainedly.
Alex immediately felt a sharp pain in his head, the same as this morning.
Of course this time, he was prepared as he began to recite the names of his wife and daughter, allowing him to keep a clear head.
This was only a temporary solution but it was enough after all, Alex’s goal wasn’t to dominate his pneuma since he wasn’t aware of how Meditation worked.
While calling out the names of his loved ones, he made his way...or rather his soma made its way towards his pneuma, establishing a faint connection with it.
At that moment, his pneuma no longer seemed as enthusiastic as before to move with the Aether.
However, the longing remained and Alex could feel it.
"So that’s how it is." He muttered.
The more the longing was allowed to fester, the more likely it was for his pneuma to abandon his body and merge with the aether.
With that, Alex bid his time, drawing closer to the pneuma while increasing the connection both shared.
While doing so, he didn’t forget about the other Spirit body in this illusory space.
Contemplating for only a moment, he decided to attempt something and made his way over to the encompassing darkness while pulling along his pneuma, who seemed quite unwilling to follow but because of the connection couldn’t arbitrarily do as it wanted.
Once he got close, he extended his consciousness toward the dark Spirit’s body but soon found himself being the one who dominated as his mental state dulled.
"This!!!" Alarmed by this, Alex immediately pulled away, exiting the illusory space entirely.
By the time he opened his eyes, his back was drenched in perspiration and his heart palpitated strongly.
"What... what was that?" He muttered in fear.
A simple experiment had nearly robbed him of his existence.
It wasn’t just a simple death, it felt like his existence was being erased and the dark Spirit body asserting itself as the replacement.
"Indeed, it might take me a bit longer to make progress." Sighing heavily, he did away with the fear and instead pondered on a few ways he could deal with the dark Spirit body as he couldn’t work on only one at a time, else the illusory space falls into unbalance, ultimately causing him to lose himself.