"Teach me."

Lucian requested.

"Sit."

Vivienne nodded and pointed at the floor.

"On the floor?"

"Yes."

"There are chairs."

Vivienne just looked at him and Lucian quickly sat cross-legged on the floor as he was told.

"Close your eyes."

Again, Lucian did as he was told without any cheeky remarks, his world darkened. Without his sight, the hall became louder, his own breathing, the faint hum of lights above, Vivienne’s steady heartbeat, the soft shift of fabric when she moved, he could hear it all.

The same was true with his sense of smell.

He could smell the clean air of the training hall, the faint metal in the walls and... Vivienne’s strong natural scent that he couldn’t help but smell more and more.

"Stop focusing on me."

Vivienne ordered.

Lucian opened his eyes in shock.

"How did you know?"

He asked.

"You make it quite obvious."

"I... apologize."

"Eyes closed."

Vivienne ordered, Lucian did as she told and she started speaking.

"Demons do not need to be taught how to sense Demonic Energy, they are born with it, to them, it is as natural as breathing, hunger, or moving a hand."

Lucian focused only on her words, Vivienne saw that, so she continued.

"Demonic Energy rests in three places.

The blood, the flesh and the core.

The blood carries it through the body, the flesh spends it and the core stores it."

Lucian’s brow furrowed in confusion.

"Core...?"

He asked without opening his eyes.

"Like in fantasy novels?"

"In what?"

Vivienne frowned.

"Nothing."

Lucian shook his head, Vivienne didn’t waste time either.

"A Core is not a physical organ, do not treat it like one.

It is more like... gathered demonic energy.

Now find it."

Vivienne ordered and Lucian...

He honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do.

"What should it feel like?"

He asked.

He needed something to work on.

Vivienne thought about that question for a moment, then—

"Warm."

She answered.

"It should feel warm."

Lucian nodded, he kept his eyes closed and tried to feel it.

At first, there was nothing, only his body, his lungs expanding, his heartbeat, the lingering pain from earlier training—

He ignored it all and looked for... warmth.

And he found it.

That uncomfortable warmth under his sensitive skin.

Was this it...?

He wondered.

This appeared ever since he drank that blood, this was what made his body as sensitive as it was, so it was highly likely this was it.

But it made no sense.

Core was supposed to be where his demonic energy gathered, his skin was sensitive, yes, it felt warm, yes but...

The warmth wasn’t... gathered here.

It was just spread.

This must be just the demonic energy that rests in the flesh...

Lucian realized it and since Vivienne had told him to look for the Core instead, he started looking again.

For several minutes, nothing changed.

The hall turned silent.

Vivienne didn’t make any sound either, she didn’t even move because she knew her movement would distract his senses.

She just observed him in silence.

After a while,

Lucian’s legs began to ache slightly from sitting, his shoulders felt too tense, so he loosened them.

Five minutes passed by.

Then ten.

But nothing happened.

And that made Lucian frown.

"I do not feel anything."

He complained.

"You feel too much.

That is the issue."

Vivienne pointed out.

Lucian opened one eye to look at her, Vivienne glared at him and—

"Close it before I do it permanently."

He closed it shut instantly and Vivienne continued.

"You are trying to sense every sound, every scent, every movement in the room, stop spreading yourself outward.

Demonic Energy is not outside, it’s inside you."

Lucian nodded at those words.

Inside him...

He pulled his attention away from the lights, the air, the walls and focused on his own body.

His chest, his stomach, his blood...

For a while, he couldn’t sense anything different—

But then he sensed it.

Something small shifted, so small he almost missed it.

A faint... pressure under his heart.

It wasn’t the heart itself, it was something... moving as it pumped his blood.

Lucian’s expression changed.

There it was.

The Demonic Energy.

Again, it wasn’t gathered like Vivienne had mentioned, it wasn’t the Core, it was... demonic energy inside his blood.

It originated from his heart and moved throughout the body as his heart pumped blood. Now this wasn’t what Vivienne had told him to find—

Lucian however, couldn’t help but be curious about how the demonic energy flowed in his body.

He observed it for he didn’t know how long.

He moved along with its path.

At first, he lost track of it, so he needed to start again and follow the same path again.

It happened more than a hundred times but...

That didn’t stop Lucian.

Lucian was someone who had worked on himself for as long as he could remember without getting any results whatsoever.

Failure did not scare him, he was already used to it.

So much that he could try and fail a million times and he still wouldn’t bat an eye—

Right now however, he didn’t have to try a million times, after about three hundred times, he finally managed to trace it—

And as he did—

He finally saw it.

The region where all the demonic energy was gathered—

Inside his lower abdomen, right below the navel.

"You found it."

Vivienne smiled.

Lucian opened his eyes and frowned.

"How did you know?"

"Your face is easy to read, we need to work on it later."

"Okay."

Lucian nodded, he, too did not like how she always seemed to know what he was thinking.

"But for now, focus on using demonic energy."

"I can already use it."

Lucian answered confidently. Vivienne just laughed—

"Don’t get ahead of yourself.

You have only learned how to sense it, that too, inside your own body.

Now you must learn how to move it.

Gather a thread of demonic energy into your right hand."

"How do I do that?"

Lucian asked.

"The same way you move your arm."

Lucian’s frown deepened at those words.

Vivienne looked at him and folded her arms.

"You did not learn how to move your arm by reading instructions, now did you? You wanted it to move, and it moved.

Do the same.

Demonic Energy should come naturally to you."

Lucian looked at his hand, then he closed his eyes.

Vivienne, standing a few steps away from him, nodded to herself, this should take at least a few da—

"Is that it?"

That was when Lucian spoke up and Vivienne—

She froze.