"Now I will guide you to the meditation room."
A young man had been standing behind us without our noticing.
By the looks of him, he appears to be around fourteen or fifteen years old.
Since I'm about five years old, he looks especially big to me.
His race isn't a plain human, no, he has antlers like a deer.
And the most notable point is his arms.
He had none from the shoulders down.
Perhaps they assign people who can no longer fight to do odd jobs.
As we follow him, we pass by a group of other boys on the way.
They look one or two years older than us.
Such a group was heading in the opposite direction, toward the training ground.
Our guide briefly follows them with his gaze before quickly returning his focus forward.
His actions revealed a sense of lingering attachment.
***
The room we arrived at was slightly dim.
Instead of windows, shutters were fitted in the window frames, blocking direct sunlight.
Nevertheless, enough light entered to see each other's faces.
And we could also see the figure of someone already in this room.
"Welcome to the meditation room. Shall we begin the 'qi control training'?"
The man was wearing a robe, but unlike the adults I'd seen so far, his face was visible from the hood.
So it seems hoods don't have to be worn.
And then, pupils with vertical slits, and scales visible on his cheeks. Probably a snake-person.
"Now, please sit wherever you like."
Where the man pointed, round tables with four chairs each were arranged, like a scene from a restaurant or café.
However, instead of food, candles were placed on the tables.
We each take a seat nearby.
Besides the seat I took, a boy with cat ears, a girl with dog ears, and a boy with long ears sat down.
The boy with long ears was close to what I imagined an elf to be.
The man goes around lighting the candles in front of us.
I check the expressions of the children around me.
It seems they don't know what we're about to do either.
"The goal of 'qi control training' is to draw out the power of qi. I want you to stare at the candle flame and try to feel the power moving within you."
The man explains in a gentle tone.
"Place your hands lightly clasped on your knees, in a posture as comfortable as possible... breathe slowly, inhale—, exhale—, inhale—, exhale—... yes, that's good. Now, direct your consciousness inward..."
While letting the man's words flow through me, I sharpen my senses. Concentrate, concentrate.
Then, even though I can see and hear, everything in the outside world begins to slide through my brain like noise.
Unnecessary things are expelled from my head, and the remaining tactile sensation becomes keen.
(Is this it?... No, this is just my heartbeat.)
Deeper, I go deeper.
However, as if I'd buttoned my shirt wrong, I couldn't find what was called qi. Maybe it's not something I possess. Such anxiety passes through me.
To begin with, what is qi?
I had been imagining a magical energy that probably didn't exist in my previous world, but even that might be wrong, or worse, they might be calling some religious super-scientific mysterious energy "qi," and I was completely consumed by doubts.
Feeling stuck, I release my concentration, and information from my surroundings enters my vision again.
Shaking off the afterimages caused by staring at the candle flame, I move only my eyeballs to look at the elf boy in front of me.
The boy, with half-closed eyes, gazes at the swaying flame, while the air around him seems purified, as if time has stopped just for him.
"!"
Strangely, I feel a tension that makes it hard to breathe.
Indeed, this is understandable to call it "qi" rather than a "magical" power.
"Can you sense it? That he's emitting qi?"
The snake-man, who had placed his hand on my shoulder without my noticing, whispers happily.
Ah, I understand all too well, I'm forced to understand. Not just the elf boy, but you too are emitting a different kind of presence.
"He has talent."
The man was smiling with narrowed eyes.
It's a smile that makes it hard to read his inner thoughts, but those words felt like they were mocking those without talent.
I make an ambiguous smile.
"...You still don't understand, do you?"
After gently stroking my head with the hand he had placed on my shoulder, he turned away.
***
"Let's end here for today."
After confirming that the candles in front of the children had gone out, the man said this and ended the "qi control training."
In the end, I couldn't grasp the sensation of "qi." However, it wasn't that something was missing, but rather a frustrating feeling that I was overlooking something.
"I'll give the excellence award to you."
The coin was given to the elf boy. He had emanated an unusual presence during meditation, so I couldn't help but accept it.
"Now, go have dinner."
When the man clapped his hands, the children showed surprised expressions, thinking it was already dinner time.
I was surprised too.
I thought only about two hours had passed, even though we must have started around noon and continued until evening, which should have been 5 or 6 hours.
But feeling hungry, I stood up and felt dizzy.
...I see. Indeed, a considerable amount of time seems to have passed.
Perhaps out of habit from my previous life, I loosen my stiffened body as I head to the dining hall.
Oh right, if I give the coin to the Sister, I can get meat.
Meat would be welcome to regain the weight I must have lost from fasting.
I want strength to venture into the undoubtedly dangerous outside world. One can steal techniques, but the body, which is the source of power, can't be obtained overnight.
I'll take as many excellence awards as I can during training.
I don't intend to slack off.
***
After dinner, the children wipe their bodies with wet cloths. It seems a river flows nearby, so water isn't a problem, but they probably don't want to go to the trouble of heating it each time.
Buckets of water were distributed to each room, and we shared them.
It was then that I noticed the tail growing from around my tailbone, and scales on the sides of my torso.
"Hey, you were in the Self-Reflection Room until yesterday, right?"
"Hm? Yeah."
As I was wiping the scales on my tail, a boy from the same room speaks to me. Gently tracing between the scales feels kind of nice.
By the way, there were three children in this room including me. One is the small, horned boy speaking to me now, and the other is a girl with cat ears.
Since I slept in what seemed like an infirmary last night, this was my first group room since receiving the "baptism."
"Nyah."
The cat-eared girl was already asleep. Indeed, after moving the body that much, one would get sleepy.
It's almost unnatural that we weren't overcome with sleepiness during the subsequent meditation time.
"It's amazing you could stay in such a dark place. I only lasted 2 days."
"Is that so."
The simple difference between him and me would probably be whether we conserved energy or not.
"I guess having a big tail helps you last longer, huh?"
"It's probably just because there are more beast-people."
Beast-people refers to all races that are mixtures of animals and humans. My snake-people and the girl sleeping there, who is of the cat-people race, fall into this category.
Also, those with few distinctive features, like humans in my world, are apparently called "human-race" in this world. "Human" seems to be a general term for all races living as people, including beast-people.
His horns don't have animal-like qualities, but they seem similar to what we call "oni," so perhaps he's of the oni-people race.
Since he didn't object to my statement that he wasn't a beast-person, this guess seems correct.
"You think so? But you know, there's someone with a big tail still in the Self-Reflection Room, right?"
"...I didn't know that."
At those words, I react slightly.
No, it's not me who reacted, but the owner of this body.
Apparently, the she with the big tail is a traumatic subject for him.
Searching through memories, it makes sense.
She and the boy were raised in the same chamber until their "baptism," but because they had many superficial similarities, he was often made to interact with her.
However, even though they might look similar on the surface, they are actually quite different.
After all, there's a big difference between a snake, which is an animal, and a dragon, which is a mythical species.