After the drinking bout that the three had, I realized that doing so probably wasn't a good idea in the first place. 

Half of our party members were unconscious, with the only other person awake, Aurelia, still tipsy. She looked like she was about to pass out too. 

And so I did my best in guarding the two sleepyheads until they woke up. 

The two's snores rang the area. The combined noise from the two had somehow managed to make an even louder sound than the pangolin's screech. 

"How in the hell are these two snoring in sync?" I scratched my head. 

"Don't you fall asleep on me too, Aurelia. You guys started this, and I hope you can take responsibility for it."

"I apologize, my lord, but I am also feeling a bit drowsy." 

"Hngh... Remind me to stop you guys the next time you try to hold a drinking bout again. Nothing good ever comes from it." 

Yeah, maybe just a normal rest will suffice, instead of downing several bottles of alcohol, and then leaving the cripple to guard. 

Now that I think about it, there hasn't been a moment where I've been out of my siblings' grasp. I've always been carried everywhere we went, so sitting here, alone by myself, isn't very comforting. 

I let my hand run against the soft mud. Cool, unlike the mist. I still had the flashlight, so I wasn't getting blocked by the mist.

I then proceed to meditate. I switch my position to that of a sitted person and close my eyes. 

I do not worry for the monsters in the mist. They might sense me, but they will surely not attack me.

Instead, I focus on meditating. I take a few deep breaths, each mouthful of air at a warm temperature. It felt like I was breathing out, not in.

But I was able to steady myself. I then move on to emptying my mind.

The phrase "empty your mind" doesn't necessarily mean to just remove your thoughts, but to stop thinking entirely. 

The monks I've seen do this in my other world were noted to have been able to stay completely still for multiple days in a sub-zero climate. 

It was almost as if their spirit had exited their body, making them impervious to any outside interference. 

I too would like to reach that level of calmness.

I didn't think there was any science in it and just believed that the monks did have supernatural powers. 

My mind was soon plunged into a state of tranquility. I felt as if I was alone. Alone in this world, and I was free to do whatever I wanted. 

I imagined myself sitting in the middle of a lake. I was seated above the cold water and did not seem like I was going to fall in.

Various things threatened to remove my head from this peace, however. The sudden change in the wind would've been enough to make me think, and that wasn't good. 

The same went for here, except it was even harder. I wasn't focused on the wind changing direction, no. I was more concerned about the hot temperature. 

Through my meditation, I was able to somehow lower the amount of heat my body felt. It went from being baked on top of a hot pan to just being outside on a hot sunny day.

Not that there was much of a difference in it, both were still unbearable. 

The random increase in the heat had already brought my mind back to its body, and I had to find a way to reach that tranquil place once again.

I took three breaths. Just three, but they were able to calm me down. Two inhales allowed me to take in the hot air from the atmosphere and got the inside of my body used to the heat. 

The single exhale was quick, unlike the other two. My main goal was to remove as much of my breath as possible before I went back to get more air. 

One, two... three. And there, it felt like nothing was keeping me from achieving nirvana. 

The feeling of enlightenment that washed over me almost made me mistake myself for the second coming of God. 

I felt all-powerful. 

But instead of relishing in the fact that I reached this stage, I stopped. 

And allowed my thoughts to come flooding into my mind. 

This was it. Momentary calmness had allowed my body to feel "in the moment". Jandru had always told me to practice this, but I've never gotten down to it. 

And now I could see why. This feeling of omnipotence. 

Yet I knew this would not last forever.

This would only happen once. My body's first time in reaching "the perfect mind", and then I wouldn't feel like this again no matter how many times I tried to do it.

And instead of using it to fight some monsters. 

I decided to arrange my thoughts. 

Many things have happened since I arrived in this new world. Krodoa, the magical world. 

When compared to my old planet, you could say this was a "technologically advanced" planet. 

But I knew different. 

When put on the Kardashev scale, this planet wouldn't be classified as a Type I civilization. Now, despite it having noteworthy inventions such as phase gates, why was it still so low?

To accomplish my final goal, this planet needed to be at least a Type II civilization. And that was too far from our reach for now. 

The main users of energy in Krodoa were the humans. We primarily use energy from fossil fuels and mana.

This was the reason why. Krodoa had something that my planet didn't. 

And that was mana. A tiny particle that floated in the air. Abundant all over the world. Anyone with a Mana Core could use it to their liking. 

The people that had Mana Cores were also the cause of this. Since everyone has different types of it, different people are suited for different things. 

If Earth had this, I'm sure they'd be no better over there, either. They'd be fighting over it, with the higher-ups striving to find ways to monopolize every bit of it for themselves. 

That's just the nature of humans. I'm lucky enough to find that the humans of this world are different from my old world, wherever that might be.

Then again, nothing is stopping some person with a "genius" plan from taking power. I just hope someone's there to stop him.

Not me, that'd be too much work.

I took some more time to organize my thoughts, and to regain my composure. A few more deep breaths allowed me to retain the same clearheadedness I had at the start.

Soon the time had passed by. I did not bother to count, but it felt like it had been a good while. 

My reason for thinking so was that Aurelia came over to wake me up. 

According to her, Lucas and Andvari had already woken up quite a while ago. They were not yet sober, so she allowed them to rest.

Aurelia didn't want to disturb me, and so decided on waiting until I finished my meditation.

But when I showed no signs of getting up from my spot, (not that I could, but you get what I mean) she ultimately decided to risk it and tap me on the shoulder.

Which I was thankful for since I wasn't thinking of stopping. 

When I looked over at my older brother, and the dwarf beside him, I realized they weren't in much of a condition to move around. 

A surefire way to get sober! Aurelia, who thankfully was fully sober, in my command, had directed some of the cold rainwater onto Lucas and Andvari.

The cold, almost freezing liquid had woken them up from their drunk state, and soon they were able to move around normally, albeit they were still quite dizzy. 

But it was good enough. I gestured Aurelia to pick me up, and once the other two were ready, we once ahead went back into the forest of mist, to mine some much-needed Hellnite.