Large pearls of sweat were rolling down Foster's forehead and bare chest. He had taken off his shirt and the jacket of his gi, since his whole body was sort of heating up as he was in the middle of this. Or well, at least part of his body was. Right now, Foster only managed to get started on the flow of mana within his arms and legs. And it was only a one-directional flow, even then. He was just moving the mana out of his limbs the way that the book told him to. But just that was enough for his body to feel like he was sitting in a sauna.

According to the book, that was just a normal side effect of setting up an incomplete flow of mana. Luckily, that also meant that he would have a direct way of knowing when he managed to establish the intended flow.

"You still not ready?

" Lynol asked with a groan. Him and Octer had gotten to starting their normal practice after all, since Foster was going to take a while. But once he was ready to start his meditation, they would sit down with him and they would all do it together.

"No, I'm still not ready.

" Foster replied immediately, looking at his notes that he had propped up on his bag. He was trying to extend the flow through his body 'star' by 'star'. It was progressing steadily, but at least it was progressing. Foster had no idea that he could do something like this. But luckily, since it didn't seem like he originally have mana, he knew how to point it out in his body quite easily. If you had something weird moving around inside of you at all times, anyone would be able to do that. But even then, it was tough to take control of, even if he was getting better at it by the second.

It took about an hour for him to even establish part of the flow in his limbs, and then another two hours to spread his control through his whole body. While he was moving the mana around, he became so much more conscious of every part of himself. He could feel his internal organs inside of his torso, he could feel his heart beating inside of him, even though the heartbeat was as light as Foster could get it. It even seemed like he could feel the traces of when he was stabbed or shot a couple times. He was aware of everything that made his body unique.

And then, Foster finally managed to close the circle of the flow, by connecting the two major 'stars' in his lungs together. At the end of the day, this was still a breathing technique, so having two concentrations of mana in his lungs made quite a bit of sense. However, the moment the flow was completed, Foster felt the heat disappear in just an instant. Until now, it felt like he had spent a few hours in a sauna, but now, he had stepped out of it and plunged right into an ice-bath. To him, it seemed as if the pearls of sweat covering his body were just going to freeze in an instant.

Making sure to keep up this flow the whole time, Foster read the rest of the instructions in the book written by Thiodrus,

"Alright... here we go... 'Once the flow has been established, draw deep breaths into your lungs, bringing them to their full capacity. Hold your breath for ten seconds, and breathe out until there is no more air to give. Repeat'. Sounds simply enough...

" Foster muttered. He did as instructed, and pulled as much air as he could into his lungs, trying to hold it there. It was fine up until the five-second mark. After that, all hell broke loose inside of Foster's body.

It felt like ice fell right into his lungs. He forcefully pushed all the air out of them and leaned over in a coughing-fit. Of course, the flow of mana that he just managed to establish was starting to fall apart as well, making his body heat up again.

"Fuck...

" Foster let out annoyed. His whole throat was hurting now, and even swallowing was hurting. This was all for nothing, that method clearly didn't work,

"Seriously, why did I expect that a literal skeleton would know how to breathe..?

"

Lynol handed his friend the bottle of water that they brought to the room, and Foster quickly drank something, trying to calm his throat down a bit,

"I can just teach you my meditation technique for now. Clearly, that one isn't working for you.

" Lynol suggested. Foster thought about it for a moment, and swallowed the water finally. He thought about it for a moment, and then let out a deep sigh, unsure about what he should do. But for some reason, it felt a bit weird. Not sure what it was, he let out another breath, and touched the lower part of his throat confused,

"It feels... a lot easier to breathe.

"

"...was it hard for you to breathe until now?

" Octer asked with a wry smile, and Foster slowly turned his head toward him,

"I... I did a lot of drugs in my time. Breathing could have been easier...

" He admitted, and Octer looked down at him with a wry smile,

"Right... Erm... you don't do drugs anymore, right?

"

"I haven't done any hard stuff in... a year, maybe? Either way, that's not important. If that did something, then maybe I just need to try again?

" Foster suggested, closing his eyes again. He tried to repair the mana flow in his body before it completely unraveled again. Luckily, he could fix it relatively easily by concentrating on the more important points of focus within his magic circuits. Once more, Foster took a deep breath, trying to hold the air in his lungs for ten seconds.

Again, after five seconds, he could feel incredible pain in his lungs, getting stronger each second. But then, at the tenth second, it became bearable, as Foster slowly let the air escape his lungs, pushing it out of his lungs. It still hurt to breathe like this, but at least it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. He quickly got used to it, and before he knew it, breathing like this became comfortable, and even relaxing. It was a steep decline from excruciating pain until this point was reached.

Slowly, starting to breathe normally again until he knew what to do next, Foster picked up the book,

"Now... 'Once you are able to breathe like this in a relaxed way, you can begin the meditation technique. Notice, this breathing and mana circulation technique is only useful in correlation with regenerative meditation or relaxation. It will lower your physical capabilities during its use, making it useless for combat'... Yo what? Then why did I spend literal hours practicing this..?

"

Lynol sighed, and started to sit down again. It seemed like Foster was finally ready to start his meditation, after all,

"If it's a regenerative breathing technique, then it's going to improve your general health. If you keep using it, it might as well increase your physical ability. And considering that you're supposed to fill your lungs to your limit, it might help raise your lung capacity too.

"

"...Fair point.

" Foster replied, looking at the meditation technique that was illustrated on the page. He pressed the soles of his feet together and straightened his back. He pulled his shoulders back and pushed his chest forward, while pressing his palms onto his thighs, as if he was pressing them flat onto the ground, even though he wasn't supposed to exert pressure. Only barely enough to make sure that he was sitting still. And then, he started to breathe.