I decided it would be a good time to check on what, according to Jimo, was an inner space, or soul space. I chose not to bring it up, but I’m sure he got that I was hiding something. I learned much of what he said I would need for a decent start, but he also said everything was quite basic. As I went inside, I could feel the health of the place had improved. I looked for my core, my current pool of power and the basis of my current strength and all future growth.

  I first started with my tree, being that it was my true body, and that this was a Qi body according to Jimo. My tree was now flush with energy, but I didn’t find any particular area that would be considered a ‘core’. Most of the energy in my body flowed up from the roots, along the outermost layers of wood and up and out to the branches and leaves. Thinking about it in the nature of tree growth, I looked closer and found that there was a slight increase in density of energy, slowly ramping up, layer by layer towards the center. The gradual shift, made it seem almost invisible, partially because it wasn’t flowing like the rest, but also because each layer acts as a shield for the inner layer.

  I still did not see what would be considered a core, yes the Qi was more dense, but it did not have the aspects of a core. I decided to look more root-ward, knowing that maybe trees can survive off little but the root ball. I fallowed my absolute center down, till it ended I could feel that this is where the roots begin to split off from, but it did not have the feel of a core still. Taking a step back, I knew I had a beast core the tree I had saved should be feeding off of. Walking over to it I found much of the energy depleted, and the tree almost entirely healed of it’s wound. It would leave a rough scar, but it would not be causing issues for a wile at the least.

  I inspected the makeup of the core, and looked as how the energy was contained and tried to envision how it may have interacted with the body. I could see nodes where power like once flowed, a ridge where it likely used to attach physically. It was was wider than tall, and also narrowed towards the base. The energy held within did not feel in any way special, so I looked at the actual structure of what held the energy for any hints. This did really lead anywhere because it did not have a feel of anything that would cause energy to be contained inside. I pushed a small amount of my neutral Qi into it looking for any kind of reaction but it seamed to just fade away. I worried that maybe my fruit had been my core and that was why it was hard to find now.

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  Walking back to my tree, a sat and began to look deeper into myself, looking for anything. Then I left my Qi body and fully entered my tree and it was just there, in the center of my being, not truly a part of the tree at all, but some shifted part of me, there but also not. I went back to my Qi body and looked within it, and where the gateway is in the real, or outside world, there was a core dense with energy. I was pleased I have at least found my core, but I have noticed that time can feel different in here, so I shifted back outside to see if Jimo was done with his rest. Finding him still deeply, or so it appeared, asleep.

  I entered back into my soul space, and truly inspected my core now that I had found it. It was a ball of energy, that never looked to be still, flowing in a swirling pattern that never looked to repeat itself. Jimo said the entirety of this stage of cultivation is just learning to pull in more energy than my core could naturally handle, and finding a way to keep it there. He said there is little risk to it, and encouraged experimentation and to be accepting of setbacks, because they will at least show you what does not work. I decided to start in my true body to make sure that I had the best chance for my first try at this.

  Settling into my tree, I looked at my core, and how it spiritually interfaced with my body. It wasn’t truly there I had found, and wondered if it would be, like a beast core, if I were to perish. It was likely something I would never get an answer for. The first thing I tried was to just ‘push’ from all sides of the core, and this turned out to be outside of my skills for now. I couldn’t control my force and presence evenly enough to make any changes. Next I looked at the core some more, wondering if there was a way to just get it to pull in more energy, the energy looked to originate from my roots, travel up the trunk and to be pulled into my core. I had to release energy in small bits to even be able to see this happening.

  With this small bit of success, I figured I had spent enough time with this and returned to the real world. Coming to my senses, I found Jimo still asleep, but light was definitely coming from the water hallway. So I decided to just meditate as he had taught me for however long he would sleep for.