"Okay," Ash said to the empty room. "Step one. Stop babysitting the loops."
He sat in the middle of the array and went through the idea out loud, because saying things out loud helped him think more clearly.
"Each loop runs in a circle. The energy goes around, does its job, and comes back to the start. So why am I pushing it the whole time? It should be built to run by itself."
The honest answer was that he had never trusted it. He had designed the entire technique, and he had never once let it run without watching every single step. The fear of making a mistake while cultivating—and possibly exploding—had kept him glued to the process. That was a habit, and it was costing him mental energy he simply did not have.
He started the skin loop and deliberately let go.
For the first minute he kept his spiritual sense locked on it, ready to jump back in at the first sign of trouble. "Come on," he muttered. "Don't fall apart on me."
