A man covered in metal was standing in front of a youth. The appearance of the youth didn't look very good, he had been beaten black and blue.
The young man lifted his head.
"You are shameless old man to beat your own son to such an extent!"
"Oh, you can still answer. It looks like you still have enough energy to continue practicing with your old father."
Kieran's face turned white. It was at this moment that he saw his mother through the house's windows.
"Mom, help me! Your husband has gone mad!"
His mother only glanced in his direction before turning her face away, heading for the kitchen without hesitation, leaving Kieran to his fate.
Sounds of small explosions were heard in the garden, followed by Kieran's cries.
An hour later, Kieran and his father walked into the house. After that hour of training, he was exhausted. His body was filled with aches, every move he made filled him with unbearable pain. Turning his head, he could see his father staring at him with a proud smile on his face.
"You're way too happy for a father who just beat his son."
"I call that educating your child!"
While the two continued to bicker, his mother called them over for dinner.
The table was filled with sumptuous meals. After sitting in his place, he saw his mother looking at him with a bright smile on her face.
"Congratulations for your double awakening, the academy informed us."
"Your mother was so happy when she received this call that the whole neighborhood already knows about it, but after all, it's normal coming from my son!"
His father looked at him with a big smile on his face.
Kieran's mother raised an eyebrow at her husband's words.
"Humpf! He's your son only when it suits you!"
Kieran couldn't stop a slight smile from appearing on his face before his eyebrows furrowed.
"Where's Ryan?"
The smile of his mother's was fading away.
"He told me he wasn't hungry. He wants to be let alone in his chamber."
'Is there really nothing I can do to help Ryan with this weird ability I have?'
He continued to eat with his parents while he was lost in his thought. After he finished his meal, he headed straight to his chamber.
He approached his bed and sat on it before accessing the Aegis Alliance network via his aurora collar.
Now that he had awakened his crystal seed, he could attract the crystal essence inside his body.
Using the crystal essence in the atmosphere was more complicated than simply absorbing it from a crystal core, especially at a time when most techniques had been lost.
Scientists have spent years and years of research to develop ways to attract the crystal essence inside the human body. After thousands of years since the creation of the Aegis Alliance, the alliance had come up with a free cultivation technique accessible to all citizens on the aurora net.
This is what Kieran was currently looking for to download on his aurora collar in order to access it whenever he wants, even when he no longer has access to the aurora net.
Once he found it, he looked for a martial art that could be used with his abilities but in vain. Almost all the new martial arts related to the use of crystal essence were priceless for people with low incomes, and the only techniques that were free did not teach how to move the crystal essence inside the body to get the most out of it.
"Buying a crystal essence manipulation technique is expensive. With my family's income, it will be impossible for several months. The only way for me to acquire one quickly would be to enter a rift. If I can't buy a technique, I'll have to learn by myself how to use my abilities and move my crystal essence for now."
Once the technique was downloaded onto his aurora collar, he wasted no time and started studying it.
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About ten minutes later, he understood the basics of this technique. He had to absorb the crystal essence in the atmosphere and circulate it in each part of his body before bringing it into his spiritual world to feed his crystal seeds. By following this path, the crystal essence would, at the same time, nourish each part of his body, improving his physical strength.
"The first step is to send my consciousness into my spiritual world inside my body."
He closed his eyes and crossed his legs, trying to feel the spiritual world inside his body.
Gradually his consciousness became blurred, and his vision changed. He found himself inside a limitless space, two crystal seeds floating inside.
"I succeeded!"
He concentrated again, trying to feel the crystal essence around him. Little by little thin dark blue crystal essence particles entered his body. Feeling a warm sensation inside him, he began to circulate the crystal essence that he had attracted throughout his body before bringing it inside his spiritual world to his crystal seeds as the technique had indicated to him. Once this is done, it would complete a complete rotation of the technique.
The roots of his seeds began to move upon contact with the crystal essence, absorbing the crystal essence like a bottomless pit. Finally he spent just over 5 minutes performing this first full rotation of crystal essence. Keeping his eyes closed, he continued to cultivate in silence.
Several hours passed quickly in this meditative state. Before he realized it, he fell asleep, giving way to his nightmares.
The same scenes reappeared again, the carnage in the plain, the river of blood, the laboratory, and the giant claw that pierced her.
Again Kieran's emotions fluctuate constantly until he suddenly wakes up.
"I'm still having the same nightmares... The headaches have stopped, so why do the nightmares continue?"
Using the aurora collar, he checked the time. He still had a few hours left before getting up, so he decided to resume meditation without falling asleep this time.
Three hours later, he woke up with the sound of his alarm clock, he opened his eyes slowly while inspecting his body and could feel that he had become a little stronger than the day before, even if the difference was small.
"This feeling is great. After spending all night cultivating, I don't feel any fatigue. I wonder how much crystal essence I absorbed after cultivating overnight."
Focusing on his crystal seeds, the golden halo appeared again in his right eye.
[ Kieran Arvost]
[Crystal Seed Status (1):
Name: Wolf Transformation
Refinement Rate: 1.0016/100]
[Crystal Seed Status (2):
Name: Giant Transformation
Refinement Rate: 1.0012/100]
[Crystal Essence: 2.0028]
"..."
"A whole night of cultivation to increase my crystal essence by only 0.0028, it will take me years using such a method to breakthrough to the next rank. No wonder everyone uses crystal core to progress. Unfortunately, crystal core is expensive. I can only get it myself if I don’t want to burden my family."
His family doesn't earn enough nova credits to afford such an expense. His father's team was extremely cautious. With his expedition team, his father only made between 5,000 and 6,000 nova credits per month. A single Iron rank crystal core was worth 500 nova credits.
He came downstairs to be greeted by the sight of his parents and Ryan having lunch in silence. Joining them, he had lunch before leaving for the academy with his brother.
He moved closer to Ryan before he started talking.
"Hey, Ryan..."
Ryan's angry voice stopped him before he could even begin to talk.
"Don't talk to me!"
Kieran was surprised by his brother. Looking at his face to the side, he didn't know what to say in this situation.
"Don't talk to me…" Ryan whispered before running away.
"Ryan..."
***
The classes had changed since the awakening day. Every afternoon the students would have training on their abilities. Even if the teachers did not have the same ability as the students, they could always try to guide them in a certain way.
In a training room, 45 students from class 3-4 stood in front of their teacher.
“Today, we are going to see the different uses of the crystal essence and how to use it to improve your physical prowess and the power of your abilities. The crystal essence is not only there to nourish your crystal seeds, you can also control it. At your current level of cultivation, the uses you could make of it will be limited, however, learning to control it early will help you get a better base."
The teacher raised his arm in front of his students when a blue light began to emanate from him.
"Feel the crystal essence inside your spiritual world and circulate it inside your body. By concentrating the crystal essence in a specific area of your body, you can increase the power of your strikes or your body's resistance to the impact. This exercise will take time before you can perform it while moving freely."
The teacher continued circulating the crystal essence around his body to show it to the students.
“Improving your crystal seeds abilities follows a similar principle. When you activate your ability, releasing your crystal essence through it will increase its effect. Today you will be training in pairs on using the crystal essence through your body and your abilities."
The students scattered in the training room. Kieran moved into the corner of the room with Thomas. He started to try to circulate the crystal essence inside his spiritual world in parts of his body as the teacher had shown it but without any result.
"It's difficult. I feel like the crystal essence is barely moving inside my body."
"Yeah, it will move even slower if you don't focus on it. I don't know how you're supposed to use it while moving."
"Do you want us to try and exchange some blows?"
"Okay do your best Kieran, I won't hold back."
"All right!"
A smile appeared on Kieran's face before two illusionary seeds appeared above him, and he began to transform into a giant wolf. In front of him, Thomas had grown black scales all over his body. He tried to direct some of his crystal essence towards his hind legs before pushing himself forward, sending his huge paw towards Thomas.
Seeing this huge paw coming towards him, Thomas felt a huge pressure. He quickly crossed his arms in front of him before trying to circulate the crystal essence inside them when the paw hit him with huge strength, throwing him back before landing in the wall.
*klang*
The sound of metal against metal resounded. Thomas got up before facing Kieran.
"Damn, what's that strength you got? You almost ripped my arms off!"
"You can talk. I almost broke my paw giving you that blow."
The two started laughing.
"Let’s do it again."
"Come on, Kieran."