Chapter 56: Two Weeks
The day flowed by as Ain expected.
After Teacher Turner arrived, he briefly explained the incident before advising the students of the risks and safety measures.
During the Morality and Ethics class, the teacher deviated from the usual curriculum and prepared a special lecture with some intense thought activities. The main principles were centered around harm, including harm to others, harm to oneself, and right and wrong.
The thought activities presented them with hypothetical scenarios, requiring the students to provide input on their decisions if they were placed in those situations.
Ain could perceive the intent behind these, but he doubted their effectiveness. A few special lectures and thought activities couldn’t provide any reasonable resistance to the wicked, yet easy path.
The next two days passed in a similar manner, and the incident slowly began to fade away, at least for the students.
The group chat was still active, with various pieces of information appearing periodically. However, no one mentioned organizing any more group activities. It was as if the topic had become taboo.
After returning home from the final mandatory lecture, Ain practiced the alchemy spells and finished his body tempering training.
As he sat on his bed, Ain habitually scrolled through the messages in the group chat. Unlike the previous few days, today he found something of interest.
[The top 5 in the interclass competition will receive a meditation technique!]
Seeing the message, Ain paused for a second and read through the message one more time. After making sure he read it correctly, he focused his sight on the words “meditation technique” as a smile appeared on his face.
'Finally, there's a chance to obtain a better meditation technique.'
In terms of knowledge, the intraclass competition only rewarded him with a ring spell, which he had yet to redeem. Ring spells, like Haunt, which he had received for free, were useless until he reached Advanced Rank-1.
But that wasn’t the case for meditation techniques. Rather, it was the most effective way for him to increase his training speed. Ain had purchased core spells from the spell repository before, so it wasn’t like he didn’t consider buying meditation techniques. But even with the student discount at the spell repository, all meditation techniques were priced in the millions.
And this was already an immense benefit to the students because the few meditation techniques that were available on Cyberspace couldn’t be purchased with star coins. The only way to purchase them was to use energy crystals, which Ain lacked.
Star coins could only be used to purchase Rank-1 and some common Rank-2 resources and items. Anything beyond that required energy crystals. Although the meditation techniques available on Cyberspace might not necessarily reach Rank-3, as foundational knowledge for spirit tamers, their value was naturally great.
Ain’s gross income until now definitely surpassed a million, but it was still insufficient to purchase meditation techniques from the spell repository at the academy. Moreover, he couldn’t just accumulate blindly as he needed to purchase resources for his training as well.
But now, Ain’s need for a better meditation technique could be resolved with the interclass competition. Moreover, it didn’t cost him any star coins. This was the best outcome for him.
As for reaching the top five to be eligible for the reward? Ain wasn’t concerned. He could be certain that his progress surpassed everyone at the academy.
After training for over a month, as well as observing his classmates, Ain realized that his own talent as a spirit tamer was definitely among the best. He couldn’t reach this far just by relying on the minute adjustments he made to the Basic Meditation Technique and the common medicinal pills he consumed.
Some of his classmates had access to better meditation techniques and resources, such as Emil and Marius, who hailed from wealthy families that could afford mechanical spirit pets. Yet, Ain’s training speed still surpassed theirs.
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He was confident of reaching the top five and receiving the meditation technique.
The tweaks he made to the Basic Meditation Technique weren’t to the foundation of the technique, but to how he could apply it to himself for the highest efficiency. Any meditation technique the academy handed out would be better than the Basic Meditation Technique, and Ain could adjust it to himself once again for the maximum efficiency.
Now that he was aware of the reward, Ain was excited for the interclass competition that would take place in less than two weeks.
…
With a busy schedule, time went by quickly for Ain, and half a month soon passed.
During this time, Ain was diligent with his studies and training, making rapid progress. As there were no other spells to focus on, he mastered both Spirit Combustion and Telekinesis, which decreased the difficulty of making Rank-1 pills.
After two weeks of practice, he could now steadily produce high-grade Rank-1 Spirit Recovery Pills. He even accidentally produced a perfect-grade pill once, indicating an efficacy of at least 90%.
Ain consumed the pill and recognized a noticeable boost in its effects. Although the perfect-grade pills only had 10% higher efficacy than high-grade pills, their effectiveness increased by 50% compared to high-grade pills.
Ain wasn’t surprised by this phenomenon, as it was mentioned in the inheritance book. His attempt was only to confirm it personally.
He had no medium-grade Rank-1 Spirit Recovery Pills on hand, but he did possess a few medium-grade Rank-1 Spirit Condensing Pills from his first attempt at making them. After some practice, Ain could also create high-grade Rank-1 Spirit Condensing Pills, so the difference between a medium-grade and a high-grade pill’s effectiveness was tested using these.
Once again, the difference in efficacy was still 10%, but the high-grade pill was 30% more effective than the medium-grade pill.
From what he learned, the closer the efficacy was to 100%, the greater the increase in the effectiveness.
It made sense to him why stores wouldn’t stock low-grade pills, despite only a 10% difference in efficacy from medium-grade pills.
From this, Ain understood the true difference in pill grades. Medium-grade pills were the standard, high-grade pills were a treat, and perfect-grade pills were a luxury.
Other than the Spirit Condensing Pills, he also found formulas for other Rank-1 pills, including the Blood Refinement Pills he regularly consumed for his body tempering training. Furthermore, he found the pill formula for the Essence Heart Pills as well.
Ain planned to focus on the Blood Refinement Pills after the interclass competition. That way, he could reduce his expenditure on medicine. As for the Essence Heart Pills, he could learn the formula, but it was all for naught. The main ingredient was the reason for the pill’s rarity, and as long as he couldn’t acquire it, he couldn’t make them.
As he trained and studied, Ain kept an eye out on the Liberty Firm’s internal auction, but there were no more Essence Heart Pills. That being the case, he did learn a lot by glancing through the descriptions of the various items available. He encountered various mystical medicines and resources that were otherwise difficult to see elsewhere.
Regarding the AMD development, Ain didn’t make any significant progress. Rather than developing a new AMD, he spent the entire time understanding the cheap AMD he bought. At first, he found it a little tedious, but Ain eventually became used to it, and even relished the process.
His desire for knowledge had increased drastically after awakening Wisdom Root. Hence, the process of deconstructing and analyzing the AMD had become a new form of joy.
In the orphanage, Ain only possessed one toy as a child, which he cherished a lot. Unlike the other kids his age, he never dismantled or destroyed it, and never experienced that manic curiosity and thrill.
But what he couldn’t experience then was being realized now. He felt no different from a child who was mischievously dismantling his toys, looking at each individual part with curiosity.
As such, although the AMD development progress was pathetic, Ain enjoyed the process and learned more about technology and mechanics.
Of course, he didn’t forget his most lucrative source of income. Ain had made two trips outside the city during this period, and both trips were successful. He accepted multiple missions from the Spirit Tamer Association, focusing on smaller Advanced Rank-1 Spirit Beasts.
Although he had to head a bit deeper, his gains justified the risks.
Moreover, he was also better able to put the Order of Blood Origin’s presence into perspective. His conclusion was that it didn’t have any effects. The city was too large, and the surrounding regions were even larger.
No matter how crazy the Order was, they didn’t have the capacity to recruit without limits. In the two trips Ain made, he didn’t encounter any human hostility, not even from regular spirit tamers.
After today’s trip, Ain’s account balance reached a staggering two million star coins. He believed himself to have become accustomed to wealth, but he still visibly shook from excitement as he glanced at the balance. He remembered the knowing look the clerk at the Spirit Tamer Association branch gave him.
At the moment, Ain had just finished playing with the two pups before taking a seat on his bed. He scrolled through the group chat that was filled with messages about tomorrow’s competition.
It had been two months since the Spirit Awakening Ceremony.
In this short period of time, Ain felt like he had transformed, as if an old painting was being revealed by a small brush, slowly removing a thick layer of dust from atop. But the brush didn’t only remove the dust; it also painted something new on the canvas.
In just two months, Ain became an Intermediate Rank-1 Spirit Tamer, learned to make Rank-1 medicinal pills, and made progress in his studies as a spirit master.
The interclass competition was next, which was another springboard for Ain to leap even further.