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Ever since Kikka, there was a major issue for Charles. His poor sensory ability, even though he was naturally able to perceive magic like everyone else. It wasn't any good and normally caused him issues. A good example of such an issue was when he was in Kikka. Due to his vision being cut in half and his poor sensory ability, his general abilities were cut in half due to the darkness that surrounded the town. This also cost him a lot when he ended up encountering mana beasts that resulted in being an illusion. That mistake, his inability to properly tell it was an illusion almost cost the lives of children. Sure, the silver mage was increasing his magical ability, but there was no point if he was still vulnerable to illusions and sensory-related magic. This was something he couldn't allow to happen again, he had to improve in all aspects, that included his flaws. His main weakness was his poor sensory ability and that was something the enemy could use as an advantage.
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Charles heard of an ability called Ki from multiple people actually, from the likes of Captain Ardere and Captain Zaven. From what he remembered it was different from sensory abilities. Of course, the talk about such a technique from those two was enough to get the silver mage's interest. It didn't take long for Charles to start researching about Ki, he found information about it, but by the looks of it such a technique wasn't common in the Clover Kingdom nor was it originated from it. As read more about it. Ki is an ability that consists of tapping into the natural energy that was found in all objects and living beings, this allowed the users to predict attacks in a similar way to mages with high sensory abilities. This is what he needed, even though learning and mastering Ki was going to take a while it was better to get started.
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In one of the many forests of the Common Region, Charles managed to find a peaceful place. Making sure they were no mana beasts nearby. The best way to tap into the natural energy and learn Ki was around nature itself, the forest was the best option. A black-haired young man with a ponytail tied to his back sat cross-legged, hands on his knees and his eyes closed. The best way to learn Ki was to meditate, achieve peace of mind, and concentrate on feeling his surroundings. They were not short-cuts the Black Bull would usually wish he could have, but right now he was forced to go through the procedure everyone who learned Ki went through. Starting off by relaxing his body, the silver mage began to let go of all stressful thoughts and things that would worry him, even though he naturally didn't care about a lot of things. They were still things he worried about, the well-being of his comrades and friends, all the people he cares for. His past failures, his laziness, his carelessness, none of that mattered now. This helped him relax a bit more and clear his mind of all thoughts that could get in the way of his meditation.
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Even though it would've been better for him to learn from someone like Ardere who was skilled in Ki. The Captain of the Crimson Lions didn't always have the time to train people, this time it was better for him to learn on his own and perhaps come to someone more skilled in it for advice later on. At least, if he started learning now he'll know the basics and learn whenever he meets someone who has more skill and experience.
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Charles carried on, after a while of letting all of this thought go. He began by taking deep breaths, inhaling, and exhaling. Allowing him to feel the air entering and exiting his lungs. Everything was silent, the only thing he could hear was the sound of the leaves from the trees that were blown by the wind. It was one of those extremely rare situations where he actually found in complete silence. It felt peaceful, it was something almost impossible for him to achieve in his daily life due to how loud and noisy the Black Bulls were in nature. Perhaps, aside from training Ki, Charles also needed some peace, to achieve peace of mind in order to get his thoughts and feelings straight. This training provided him with things that no conventional training would give him, the best part it wasn't physically demanding, but it sure required patience.
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About an hour passed, but it seemed like the silver mage found himself so concentrated he lost perception of time. His surroundings were beginning to feel different, even though he had his eyes closed and unable to see. He was starting to be more sensitive about what surrounded him, the grass being blown by the wind. Any sort of insects that were too small for him to see with the naked eye, he was able to pick them nearby to him. Even though he couldn't see, he felt things that he didn't normally see or feel with his magical ability. "So this is Ki, huh..." It was impressive, to say the least. This was his first time ever tapping into such things. Now what he needed to do was to remain concentrated, keep going where, and get used to feeling his surroundings like he was doing right now.
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As much as the Black Bull desired to remain concentrated this, unfortunately, would not last long. The memory back when he was at Kikka resurfaced. Everything in his mind became dark and now four shadow mana beasts made his way towards him. Suddenly they stopped being mana beasts and as soon as they entered a certain range he was able to see they were no longer mana beasts, but children. He didn't have control and he was about to attack them. "Stop..." He couldn't, he was about to do again what he did before. "STOP IT!" Charles suddenly opened his eyes again and he was able to see the light of the sun, but this also meant the silver mage had lost concentration and the peace of mind he achieved previously was no longer there. He was breathing heavily and breathing, this wasn't the first time such memories resurfaced. "Talk about timing..." The timing was indeed terrible, out of all times to have his PTSD triggered. This made him lose concentration, but then again he was just starting to feel Ki around him. It was normal that trying to remain concentrated for long periods of training would be very mentally taxing for him.
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Cleaning off the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead. The silver mage knew that he would have to try again, at least now he had an idea of what to do. So he hoped that trying it wouldn't take as long as it did last time. Try to close his eyes and empty his thoughts, focus on feeling the energy around him, and take deep breaths. If he emptied his thoughts this allowed him to focus on what he felt around him. Making it easier to tap into the natural energy that surrounded him. Charles was impressed at first when he tapped into what would be considered to be Ki, but that feeling was shut down when his memories from Kikka resurfaced. He wasn't unsure as to why it happened, though it didn't usually happy on those occasions, it mainly occurred when he was asleep. The only thing that he could think about what that the thoughts of guilt and regret eventually resurfaced while he was tapped into Ki and it only disrupted his concentration.
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"That's alright... Let's give this another try..." It was time to go again, Ki wasn't something he could master in a day, and without someone to teach him, it made it slightly harder to learn as he learned and deduced things as he was going. At least now he knew what would happen and he could be prepared for what was about to come. The silver mage closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles. He repeated the same process as before, emptying his thoughts. Especially the negative ones that could get in the way. The feeling of guilt, regret, and grief... Letting go of all of that. This time it took him less time to tap into the Ki Zone. Charles began to experience what he experienced previously, all living beings and objects that surrounded him. Even the ones that he couldn't normally feel or see with magic. Naturally, his eyes remained closed, but he knew what was nearby him. Each living thing and object had a different type of Ki, which made it easy for him to identify what was what. This pretty much felt like he had just developed an unknown sixth sense that not everyone possesses or even a seventh sense if feeling magic around him was considered a sense, to begin with. Now he only had to keep it up and not get distracted by the dark memories of the past. He was working to avoid that incident from happening ever again, the energy that he was normally not able to feel was pretty much always around him. The energy from the trees gave him a sense of peace and ease, this made Charles, the laziest mage on the squad to become more attuned with nature.
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[break]TL;DR put spells or whatever here