Damien entered his room which was a mess, exactly how he left it. He found Kemo cubed up in the middle of the room, so he activated him to get to work. Kemo realized he had nowhere to go now that he was being supervised. Kemo reluctantly began working to clean the mess while Damien sat excitedly on his bed.
This time he was able to turn the pages and read the beginning of the technique. After a precursory examination, he felt a little dejected to see that it was absolutely necessary to have Phoenix blood. He thought because of his extreme sensitivity toward the book there must have been something that he could take advantage of. Even then, he had already spent his credits, so he sucked up his initial disappointment, and tried to pry deeper into the cultivation technique.
‘This technique follows a particular path through the meridians that is quite tricky. Not only that, I have to control the density of what goes through them. It’s going to take a lot of control and finesse to navigate my Mana Mist correctly or the backlash will be intense.’
Damien’s insides reeled when he saw he could not make a single mistake. He was hesitant to even try as this circulation of the Mana Mist was supposed to ignite the Phoenix blood within the user. Even though everything in his mind was telling him this was a bad idea, his Flame Core kept riling up with each instruction he read. He wanted to enter his dream-state he had once been in to get some answers but no matter how long he tried or talking to his Flame Core in his normal state, there was no answer to find.
‘Okay, I’m just going to have to take the risk! But before that I should train my Mana manipulation and see if it’s even a possibility.’
For the next few hours Damien manipulated his Mana Mist to his liking. He tested his control down to the minutest details and was surprised to see exceptional results. After his few attempts it became natural for him that he questioned why he was so horrible in Rune Class. In reality what happened was that his vessel grew stronger and now he was able to clamp down on his mana. Now that his body was stronger, his control became immaculate. He felt absolutely sure he would be able to perfectly control his Mana Mist through the correct path. He shut down every one of his senses and remained in a blank state to reset his mind. He did not want to make a mistake because of a silly reason.
After taking his time to make sure his condition was perfect, Damien decided he would begin the process without care for the results. He pulsed his Mana Mist throughout his meridians, controlling it to the instruction. After a single perfect rotation, he felt no change in his body, so he continued on. After a couple more rotations, the Mana Mist mysteriously began to affect his blood flow, looking for the connection it needed. After it failed to connect to his bloodline it changed to a severe backlash of intense prickling pain. It was as if needles were stabbing every inch of his body, trying to self-destruct. Damien wanted to give in, but his Flame Core was dancing excitedly the entire process.
‘I don’t believe it was all for nothing! I’ll accept anything that happens!’
Only a few seconds passed from the initial rejection, but it felt like an eternity for Damien. Even his conscious mind was on the verge of shutting his systems down to protect him. He just gritted his teeth to continue and that was when his Flame Core sent out a wave of energy throughout his body. Instantly the backlash disappeared, instead now taking the path toward acceptance.
The Mana Mist which was rampaging now acknowledged him, fulfilling the conditions to begin the cultivation. The outside energies erupted into life, creating a vortex of Mana Mist ten times bigger than what Damien created in Wexley’s class. In no time his entire room was a shroud of white fog. Once the technique gathered all the surrounding Mana it could manage it started to bring it all inside his body straight away.
With no warning his body was swarmed with an over-inflation of rampart energies. Once again he was pricked with needles, but his Flame Core sent out another wave of energy. This time the Mana was calmed down, before evaporating in his meridians. His Flame Core kept pulsing every second sending waves of blazing energy to purify the Mana that entered his body. In the end, only a hundredth of the outside Mana that entered was left in his body. Even his preexisting reserve that he accumulated these last days had been depleted. He quickly stopped the technique in fright once he noticed.
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‘Most of my Mana Mist disappeared in my body and everything that I gathered was reduced to barely anything! Was this just a scam?’
Damien was quickly distraught at the situation and how could he not be? He had finally seen progress these days with Dao Magic and cultivating some Mana Mist in his body. Now with this attempt of a new technique, it seemingly depleted his reserves. Damien decided to anxiously check his Flame Core along with the rest of his body.
‘At least my core is doing okay. Let me check my Mana Mist. Wait… what is this?’
Damien found the lingering Mana Mist left in his body, but it was something completely different from before. This small amount was radiating more strength than the larger quantity he had before. Not only that, it also had a tinge of gold within the mist. It was as if the Mana Mist went through a qualitative change and that’s exactly what happened. The technique riled the bloodline of the phoenix within the host and used its powerful fire energy to purify every bit of Mana. The result was a Mana Mist of the highest quality. The only way Damien was able to achieve this was because his Flame Core acted as a substitute for the Phoenix Bloodline. Anyone else would’ve tore their meridians apart, rupturing their body from the inside out.
‘Isn’t this like, amazing? Just this little amount feels not only much stronger, but also more tangible than before! If I were to fill my entire Flame Core with this, I wonder what kind of power I would have.’
With not a clue of how his Flame Core was able to help him accomplish his initial success, Damien felt endless possibilities inside of him. His spirits were revamped as he decided he would continue to cultivate through the night. It was a technique of grand display that would be impossible to do in public without attracting all kinds of attention. Damien went through the entire night without an ounce of sleep. It was a constant motion of gathering Mana and purifying it endlessly. Kemo watched the grandiose sight all night with his eyes lit up. He watched the entire room go into disarray with the energy vortexes shifting the entire room.
By the time morning came, Damien was more energized than ever. He was only able to regain half of the Mana Mist he had, but it was worth the while. It was more potent than he could imagine and its resilience to usage allowed it to last much longer when using Dao Magic. Underneath his glasses his eyes were shining like two suns roaring through the sky. His body, blood, and muscles thrived in unity under the circulation of a higher-quality Mana Mist. It was identical to what happened when he ate high-energy food, but it was a constant source that never deplenished.
‘Maybe I don’t need to afford good food, but the taste is of another world. No! I can’t be distracted by such things… Maybe I can splurge every once in a while.’
Damien got up from his bed and exited the room with no change. He was already in uniform since he did not sleep. He met with Cal and Yuki down the hallway when he was closer to their first class. Cal was in a zombie-like state, but at this point Damien accepted it as a normal occurrence. Cal barely had the energy to speak, so his words were soft like a whisper.
“So how did it go Damien? Any success with that cultivation technique?”
‘I think I’ll keep the results to myself for now, so I can surprise them later.’
“I just went over the basics, and didn’t really make any progress. Maybe I was a bit over my head this time Cal.”
“I told you. But don’t worry, I’m sure there is something more suitable for you out there.”
Damien accepted the consolation while he was snickering on the inside. The day went on and Damien went through his painful lesson in Nora’s class. He was dismantled once again, and made to follow a dancing flow. He felt closer to the truth, but yet so far away. The rest of the day was the same, except in Wexley’s class he feigned ignorance about his strength and asked for special accommodations. Wexley happily agreed and led him to a private room where he could cultivate in peace. For the remainder of the class he used his new cultivation technique, doing his absolute best to reach new heights. Lastly, in Izil’s class he demonstrated a miraculous turnaround in his ability to produce Runes. He was praised heavily by their professor, but at the cost of having Cal angrily glare at him for the rest of the class. Before Damien left back to his room so he could shut himself in cultivation, he was reminded by Cal of their plans in the upcoming week.
“This upcoming week is our off-week. Me and Yuki were thinking of accepting a mission at the Student Outpost, if you wanted to tag along.”
“Of course! I can use the credits for resources and other things...”
‘…Such as good food!’
They went their own way as they each had their own agenda. Although as kids they would have liked to have fun and spend their days without worries, they were not capable of that. They each had their own goals and problems they needed to overcome.