Damien activated Kemo so he could clean up the mess he made from the experiments he was doing. Kemo reluctantly accepted the job he was programmed to do while Damien grabbed his things to leave. Not many students were up at this time of day and if they were, then they were highly motivated to progress. Along the way to the chambers, Damien somehow got lost. He pulled a map out of his inside pocket, but couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. Reading a map was something he was never taught to do as well.
“I should be around here, so if I go that way I should be going to the Cultivation Center.”
Damien began to walk as he read the map in multiple ways that he did not even realize he was on track to collide with another student. They collided and it sent all the books the other student was carrying across the floor. Luckily Damien had l gotten used to his strength over the past week so he did not cause harmful damage. Damien quickly dropped his map and saw that he had put a girl her age to the floor.
“I’m so sorry! Let me help you.”
He began by grabbing the books and when he reached for the last one, she had also gone for it. Their hands touched for a few seconds and that was when Damien pulled back with a blushed face. He handed her the rest of the books while averting his gaze.
“Thank you for helping me. I’m Gloria and you are?”
Damien finally looked at her and saw a short girl with an innocent round face. She had brown hair with her bangs covering her forehead. Her green eyes were watching Damien, expecting a reply.
“I’m Damien, and there’s no need to thank me. I was the one who bumped into you because I wasn’t paying attention.”
Gloria giggled at his response before she gasped noticeably.
“You’re the one everyone is talking about! I should’ve realized from your hair and glasses. You were looking at a map weren’t you? Are you lost?”
Damien was embarrassed to admit it but it was the truth. He nodded in agreement while avoiding direct contact.
“I was trying to find the Cultivation Center, but I am not sure how to read maps.”
“Everyone gets lost here! It’s bound to happen, so don’t worry, okay. The Cultivation Center is down that way and when you see the fountain you turn left. It should be straight ahead, you should see it.”
“Thank you and I’m sorry for bumping you! I’ll see you around!”
Gloria waved him goodbye with the sweetest smile Damien had ever seen. She watched him off until he was no longer visible. She went her own way and turned many corners until she was in an isolated area where no one ever came. She pulled out a small object which she then put close to her mouth.
“Regional Leader, I have made contact with the main suspect. What should be my next course of action?”
She then held the piece to her ear. A cold, raspy voice emerged from the other side.
“Good work Star #013. I want you to observe but not overly engage. We have #001 on it already and I don’t want to cause any unnecessary friction or the Lord will be upset. Plus I just found out the suspect has a strong tail that I can't even handle. Until we have confirmation that he is the target, we must wait for reinforcements to arrive.”
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“Reinforcements will take years to arrive. Do you believe we will be free after the Lord’s plan is a success?”
“We are not here to think of such things. Do your job. Report only if necessary.”
The cold voice cut away and Gloria returned to normal, like she was any other student here. On the other side of the campus Damien had finally arrived at the Cultivation Center. Here there was more student activity where you can find the freaks who do nothing but work hard. Everyone had a serious aura and no conversation was heard. They did not even care that Damien, someone whose name has been tossed around the entire academy, was there.
‘This is a nice environment! Everyone minds their own business.’
Damien went inside the building where he found a directory that led to different sections. The Cultivation Chambers were on the second floor while the Battle Chambers were on the third floor. This time he did not get lost on the way and reached the reception desk. There he met an elderly man with long braided hair. The elderly man took his request for a Cultivation Chamber and took 100 credits out of his account. He instructed Damien on how to enter and what precautions he should take. After all was said and done Damien was sitting calmly in the middle of the chamber.
It was pitch black inside the chamber, where you could not even see a hand an inch from your face. No noise seeped through, it was just a perfect state of calm. Damien could feel and hear every single bodily function occurring in his body from his blood pumping, to the movements of his organs.
“I can already feel the dense Mana all around me. It’s pressuring my entire body. That man told me I have the day or until the Mana reserves have been used up, but that it is exceedingly rare for a student to even finish the reserves in a day. So I need to start right now!”
Damien cleared his mind from everything with his self-created breathing technique, which was his common routine he has now set for himself. All of his thoughts were focused on the Phoenix Breath Technique and allowing it to control the outside Mana to its will. Damien could not see the Mana Mist forming around even if he tried but he could feel the weight placed upon him multiplied a dozen fold, like he was resisting the battering of a waterfall. If this were Cal he would’ve been slammed against the floor, but Damien’s body has been growing non stop after he received the correct nutrients as well as a cultivation technique that was compatible, even though it should not have been.
The entire time Damien stayed focused on his task and carefully followed the predetermined path the Mana needed to follow through his Meridians. Everything was going amazingly well, the Mana flow was nonstop and the amount he gained was more than he could do in a month. Damien felt bliss the entire time as he witnessed his reserves be filled with Golden Mana Mist. The conversion rate from regular Mana Mist to its pure counterpart was around 100 to 1, so it was a miracle to see constant progression today.
Time passed by while everything was going great. Damien was nearing the halfway point of his reserve when he heard something shatter. It was a piercing sound that resonated throughout the quiet chamber. Damien no longer felt the Mana circulating on the outside as well.
“Let me go talk with that receptionist, there must be something wrong with this chamber.”
Damien arrived back in a flash to talk with the elderly man. The man was surprised to see Damien so quickly since it had only been a couple of hours.
“Are you already finished for the day young man? It’s understandable since you are very young, but you shouldn’t be wasting your credits so lightly. They have many uses that are important for your development here.”
“No sir, that is not it. The chamber is the one done with me! It stopped working out of nowhere. You need to come fix it quickly, please!”
“Slow down young man. The Heaven Crystal was probably dislodged somehow. I will come check it out with you.”
They arrived back at the chamber where the man illuminated it with a simple rune spell. He pried a couple panels off the floor revealing a Rune Code Diagram sequenced into a power source. The elderly man froze the moment it was all revealed to him. His hands shook in horror before it infected his entire body.
“Uhm… did you happen to hear something shatter in your cultivation?”
“Yes that’s exactly right sir! Something must have gone wrong. I still have all day to cultivate!”
“Y-you… you have already finished your time.”
“Wait, what is that supposed to mean? Are you trying to scam me?”
Before Damien could continue his whining, the man put his hand out to stop him. He signaled him over to his side and pointed at a broken crystal with its shards scattered over the diagram.
“See that young man? That was a Heaven Crystal that powers this chamber. After a day's use it will automatically regenerate its power with the help of this Rune Code. This allows it to be reused for all the students because they are not capable of draining it quick enough to break it. Remember when I said it was exceedingly rare to finish the reserves? Well I meant it in a way where it had only happened once before in this academy’s history.”
Damien finally understood what he had done. He had ruined a Heaven Crystal and possibly been disciplined for it.
“Sir, no, elder, am I in trouble? Because I did not mean for this to happen. I can repay you if that is what it means!”
“Relax young man. You did nothing wrong. This is the price the academy pays to bring forth a new generation! In fact this was a 4000 year old record you just broke! You are to be rewarded with 2000 credits, but to stop you from intentionally breaking it again, you are only to be rewarded the first time you break a specific record. Subsequently after that, you would just be cementing it further without reward.”
Damien froze from the shock when he heard 2000 credits. There was so much he could do and will do to further himself down the path he has chosen.