The scent of crushed leaves and old parchment clung to the air in Verdant Hollow.
Kael sat cross-legged on the wooden floor of the apothecary hall, a worn scroll unrolled before him. Beside him, Bren hunched over a mortar and pestle, his face tight with focus as he ground a handful of dried purple stalks into powder. Outside the open window, morning mist drifted through the herb fields, and somewhere in the distance, a bell chimed softly.
Master Elric stood nearby, arms folded. His gaze swept over the two boys like a hawk watching untested wings.
"You're not here to become warriors," he said. "Not yet. The flesh follows the core. Without a tempered spirit, strength is brittle."
He tapped Kael's scroll with a knotted finger.
"This is the foundation."
The script was dense, looping, and written in a style Kael had never seen. Some glyphs pulsed faintly if stared at too long. Others seemed to resist being read at all. At the top, no title was written.
"The Nameless Incantation," Elric said, answering the question before Kael could ask it. "An internal refinement technique older than this mountain. Its purpose is not attack—but resilience, clarity, and regeneration. If you master even a fraction of it, you'll be harder to kill than steel-plated men."
Bren raised a brow.
"It doesn't teach spells?"
Elric chuckled.
"It teaches survival. The rest comes later."
For the next hour, Elric demonstrated breathing rhythms, posture alignment, and subtle muscle locks that activated hidden channels along the spine and abdomen. The technique required silence, patience, and an unwavering mind—none of which Kael possessed in abundance.
Still, he tried.
He followed the master's motions, adjusted his breath, and chanted the silent syllables in his mind. At first, nothing happened. Then, on his fourth repetition, a cool sensation stirred in his gut and drifted upward like a stream of smoke.
It wasn't much. But it was something.
Bren, by contrast, grunted in frustration.
"I don't feel anything."
"That's because you're thinking too loudly," Elric said without looking.
Kael opened one eye.
"Thinking loudly?"
"Most children think in noise. Dull that noise, and the body will answer."
Elric stepped away, leaving them to practice in silence. A crow cawed in the trees. The air smelled of dew and crushed mint. Time passed in stillness.