Darius lamented his poor fortune as he arrived at what was supposed to be a police precinct. This was Ethereal Forge Academy! The Jewel of their empire. You would expect their law enforcement to be a bit more…there.

There was a patch of nothing in front of Darius. Grass was everywhere making this seem like a park, but the place which that supposed to be precinct was just grass. Darius' instinct told him otherwise. It told him a crucial piece of information, in fact. A dozen gazes belonging to lifeforms stronger than him were currently on him. Darius was stunned by this. There was no malicious intent so he had no need to panic, but what was he supposed to do here?

"Is this a test of some kind?" Darius asked himself. He felt all gazes jolt a bit when he said that out loud. In particular, their gazes, or rather their focus on him, intensified the instant he uttered the word 'test'.

This in turn caused Darius to sigh. What was he supposed to do? He had little to no experience regarding Spiritknight matters. Who knew what strange rituals these people partook in in their free time?

After experiencing their tests first hand, Darius already had a dislike for the Spiritknight community. They were far too spartan! Darius thought that such a crude method of testing was ridiculous.

But he didn't want to waste any more time on such thoughts. So Darius decided to do what he does best.

He walked, hammer in hand the whole time. He lifted his hammer to the skies and channeled a bit of spiritual essence.

Boom!

A thunderous boom and shockwave emanated from his hammer outward. This was a little trick Darius had learned from studying those books. His thunder affinity was high. And thunder was in essence sound. The sound made by lightning when it moved.

Darius' mind was sensitive to the soundwaves he had unceremoniously dispatched.

"There!"

Darius' vision was placed…back he started.

The little test he had done was like sonar, allowing him to find objects in the surroundings. He could only detect large objects or structures at the moment, but his proficiency was improving for a man who was countryside hick a few moths ago.

Darius walked forward a bit and reached out, only to feel something solid blocking his path. His hand had been stopped by an invisible wall of some sorts. Darius once again employed a little trick and released some spirit essence into the environment.

'This is a metal!'

Darius' high metal affinity allowed him to detect metals once they made contact with his spriritual essence. It was something he had learned from fusing the knowledge from Controlling Power and Spirit Arts in Essence.

The boy was a smart lad. Even in mandatory education he got good grades. He was a naturally intelligent lad. Especially his eye of discernment. The Matron always joked that he would make a good detective. Little did she know how right she was…

When there is a metal, a hammer and Darius, only one thing will happen.

Ting!

A resonation occured when Darius lightly tapped the metal in front of him. Darius creased his brows and focused.

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

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Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

For the next five minutes Darius kept doing the same thing over and over again. He could feel the gazes on him intensify on him, but he couldn't care less. He was extremely focused on what he was doing. Even if a fly landed on his eye he would not lose focus.

Eventually Darius stopped. He raised his hammer as spiritual essence gathered. He was far from being able to ascertain what this building was made off. All he could tell was that it was some sort of alloy that reacted to spriritual essence. That's all Darius needed.

The light taps were tests. He was testing how the alloy reacted to different frquencies. Normally one would use machinery to even begin the process, but Darius was different. If one was to ask old man Laporte what he loved the most about Darius he would undoubtedly say his perception.

This level of control was boyond the old man's understanding. If all one had to do to increase their perception was hit an anvil with a hammer then Spiritsmiths would be as common as clouds. No it was not that simple.

Darius had figured out the frequency required to disfigure the alloy. Lightning spiritual essence gathered in his hammer as his power concentrated. Darius was still far too inexperienced to understand the implications of what he was about to do. Not a single iota of essence escaped his body, so his observers could not tell what he was up to, well all of them except for one.

Darius then performed an action he had performed millions of times, perhaps even billions. Bringing his hammer down.

To his shock there was no boom, no noise no nothing. A brown hand was gripping his hammer just before it landed.

"No need to do anymore young blood. You passed the test."

Darius looked at the figure that had effortlessly stopped his essence infused strike.

Long dreadlocks that reached his waist. Long lanky arms and a tall slim build. His dark brown skin was shimmering with a somewhat metallic sheen which only lasted for a moment. His big round eyes starred at Darius while smoke escaped the wooden pipe in his mouth. A woolen hat with red, yellow and green horizontal lines collection a large bunch of his locks. The image of a strange leaf was plastered on his hat.

His entire body released a feeling of rest and relaxation, which in stark contrast to his red eyes.

Darius tried to pull his hammer back and fced no resistance, "Excuse me, you are?"

The lanky man acted as if Darius didn't exist and took a few puffs of his pipe, "I n' I be Ja Mun Ro. Your guide. Nice to meet you young blood."

Ro smoked into Darius face, which caused the latter to wave away the smoke. Much to his shock, Darius immediately started coughing violently. It took a full minute to stabalize himself.

After his evolution as a spiritknight Darius was well aware of how resilient his body had become. Normal smoke should have done nothing to him. Which begs the question. What the f*uck what Ja Mun Ro smoking.

Darius wanted to ask but something funny happened to him. A strange sense of euphoria gushed out out of his brain all over his body. Darius had never felt so…high. He felt like if he reached out with his hands, he could capture one of the clouds in the sky.

Ja Mun Ro observed this and puffed once more, "Irie."

…

"Why did he stop the boy?"

"Hey don't look at me, I got no clue either. Boots, what do you think?"

"..."

"Boots is right, Ro has the strongest perception among us, he probably sensed that something was going to happen."

"No way, there was nothing in that hit. Ro caught it easily."

"Exactly, Ro caught it easily, not you. Technically speaking Ro outranks us all. Whatever happens he will take the heat. We shouldn't be bothered with this anymore. Dismissed!"

Multiple voices in the room chimed in, "Understood."

…

In the midst of his euphoria Darius felt something was off, so he gathered his concentration and slapped himself. Still nolthing happened. Darius was well aware that the smoke from the Ro was what caused this, but he didn't even know what 'this' was.

Darius steadied himself and gazed at Ro wearily. Ro laughed and said, "Don't worry, that just helps you calm down. If it was something lethal would I be smoking it?"

"Tell that to mortal alcoholics." Grumbled Darius as he shook his head to regain his clarity. Mortals was the term used when referring to ordinary people who did not or could not use spriritual essence.

"Haha, you have a good sense of humor, just like he said you would young blood." said Ro as he slapped Darius' back. Much to the former's surprise, the latter stood strong. Ro raised a brow but quickly returend to his look of serenity and peace.

Darius gradually got used to this abnormal state and kept some distance between him and Ro. Ro shrugged and called a taxi with a whistle. A shuttle similar to the one Darius had gotten on to get here arrived within ten seconds.

"Any acknowledged student of the academy has access to the shuttles places all over the academy in different areas. Where you can go is naturally restricted according to your year and qualifications. Follow me young blood."

Ro beckoned Darius in but Darius couldn't get rid of the bad taste in his mouth. This reminded him of the first time he travelled with Lionel. Darius shook his head and wearily got in. Ro smiled and said, "Let's go to the spirit theory auditoriums.