Book 1 – Second Chance
Chapter 9 – Pore Opening, and the Fifteen Freaks!
‘Here it comes! We’re about to get our pores open! I can’t wait!’ Thought Bailey as she immediately lined up shaking from excitement.
The lines started moving one by one towards the next room. The Ceremonial Hall.
Once they entered the ceremonial hall they were greeted by six towering statues.
To the center stood a mysterious looking veiled woman who stood on a Zhanmadao, surrounded by seven Jian short swords that hovered above her head the shape of a halo crown, her hands behind her back, her head tilted upwards making her look down on any before her, a complete feel of utter authority, and superiority emanated from her as she shined with a divine light blue luster.
To the left stood a gruff looking, scarred and burly baldheaded man. He wielded a mighty long sword in one hand to which he raised towards the skies, his crazed face shouting a warcry. A feeling of invincibility, and ruthlessness oozed from him as he shun with a vibrant lively green aura.
To the right stood three robed figures in a triangular formation equipped with long staves longer than themselves, hoods draping over their faces, a giant purple magical circle surrounded them that was filled with runes, and inscriptions. The figures were of two men, and a woman. On the right of the formation was an elderly woman who was hunched over, her face wrinkly, appearing weak, and frail as she held on to her staff for support, lest she fall over. The figure to the left was of an equally old man, with a beard drooping up to his knees which he stroked with his right hand, his face had all smiles giving an amicable feeling. The center figure was a relatively young man who appeared to be in his 40s at most, he had the most dominant look of the three as he gripped his mighty staff with both hands to his front as if he was casting a spell. Despite the differences of each individual figure, when looking at all three in the circle. The purple light shining from the magical circle gave whoever stared into it a headache as their brains would not be able to interpret the meaning of the symbols inscribed within. All that who looked at the circle would feel would be wisdom, and mystery.
‘Wow, those must be those founders the Madam told us about. The leaders of the Divine Pavilion, The Warriors’ Hall, and The Mage’s Order’
‘They look so awesome! I can’t wait to be like them!’
While Albi, and Bailey were admiring the statues, a figure suddenly appeared in front of them.
“Good afternoon ladies, and gentlemen! Welcome to the Pore Opening ceremony of Tri-Path Academy!” said the figure.
“I am administrator Marko, and I will be the one responsible for your ceremony.”
“The ceremony is simple enough for us Supremes, but still difficult, and dangerous for you mortals. Some of you have already attempted the ceremony before, but for the new ones I will give a rough quick explanation of the procedure, and purpose of this ceremony.”
“In this universe there exists three types of ephemeral, and intangible type of energies around us. Namely, Mana, Life Force, and Ki. These types of energies allow us to vastly surpass the limits of our mortal bodies, and reforge them anew.”
“Our mortal bodies however, are dirty and flawed. Unacceptable by the universe, and deemed inadequate for its favor. However through rigorous meditation, certain treasures, a force of will, and some luck, a select few came into contact with this energy, and after reforging their body, and having it be deemed worthy by the universe, they were born, the first Supremes. The issue they faced however was that they were far too old by the time they achieved the required qualifications, and their future growth was limited, so they devised a method for the rest of us to accomplish what they did, and achieve what they couldn’t. They themselves would open the pores of mortals, and let those mortals absorb the powers of the universe by themselves without achieving its favor.”
“From this, three schools of thought emerged. Warriors, Magicians, and Cultivators. Roughly speaking, Warriors strengthen their body by absorbing Life Force, and storing it within their hearts, remolding their body through precious materials naturally formed in the universe. They follow the thought that the strong have the rights to everything, and the weak are an unacceptable burden. If you are strong enough to take something ,take it. They see that if they can achieve strength, they would, regardless of the universe’s will.”
“Magicians absorb Mana, and store it within their brains, significantly boosting their mental acuity, and they follow the thought that knowledge is power, and that if they learn something, then it belongs to them, and that the end justify the means in the pursuit of knowledge, thus just like Warriors they also believe they shouldn’t be bound by the universe’s will.”
“The last school of thought is that of Cultivators. They absorb Ki, and store it within their Dantian. This strengthens their soul considerably, more so than the other two schools of thought, and also gives them a powerful body. Not usually as strong as Warriors, but much stronger than Magicians. Their boost in mental acuity lies in between Warriors, and Magicians as well. They however believe that we are not to shun the universe, nor its will, but rather strive to perfect ourselves, and acquire the universe’s approval through trial, and tribulation. They are the closest in thought to the First Supremes.”
“Now, if you are ready, I will apply spiritual pressure on you, and physically, and forcefully open the pores of your bodies that are clogged by the impurities within. It will be an agonizing experience as many of our repeat applicants can attest to.”
With this the administrator looked around the room towards those he either remembered from prior years, or those with semi-open pores around the room. All of them had horrified, yet determined looks on their faces.
“Once the ceremony begins, you cannot leave the area of the spiritual pressure. Once you do, you immediately fail, and would have to try again next year. The speed of which your pores open depends on the number of impurities your body holds, however, no matter how long you spend in, there should be no difference between any of you after all your pores are opened. To pass this ceremony you must have at least 70% of your pores open. You can try as many times as you want, granted that you apply, and attend year after year.”
‘That sounds very painful if these people had to quit year after year. I hope it isn’t too bad, but I can’t imagine it being worse than the white orb’ said Albi.
‘Don’t jinx it!’ responded Bailey.
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“Now, I will start by applying my spiritual pressure in an area in-between each of the existing lines you formed. Once you step in, the ceremony will have officially started for you. Let me warn you again. This can in a worst case scenario kill you, or leave you mentally disabled, and crippled for life. If you can’t handle it. Leave. Try again next year. Your life is more important.”
The administrator said this as a staff started to form in front of him form thin air, to which he grabbed, and lightly tapped on the ground. The area around the lines started to distort, and contort, and became much darker than before. Looking at it gave a terrifying tingling sensation as the body’s survival instincts would kick into overdrive telling people to avoid it, and run. Utter terror overwhelmed many who were in the crowd. The courage to enter such a dangerous place was the first challenge of this ceremony. After all the fear of death was the most basic, and innate feeling a mortal had, and it was a very difficult thing to overcome.
“You may step in now. Good luck!”
The people in the lines started to look around and talk in between themselves. Some were nervous, some already chose to give up, while many just stood around, and waited for the first person to walk in.
“Hmph, weak willed people shouldn’t have even come here. You should have stayed in your mortal moon, or begged your families to slowly open your pores for you.” The serpentine looking humanoid creature said with a hint of disdain as he was the first to step into the zone. Immediately however, his face changed, all the color drained from his body as he was physically forced to the ground with a loud thump.
“Hmph, that lizard faced bastard tried to sound so tough only for him to humiliate himself in such a way” said a blonde haired young man as he himself stepped into the zone.
After a few breaths, a few groans, and some loud screams the serpentine man managed to steady himself, and sit upright, and turned to look at the face of the blond man who said those things to him. The faces of everyone around changed as they felt disdain coming from the serpent man, and not wanting to lag behind they all started to enter the zone one by one.
‘Well, here goes nothing’ thought bailey as she stepped into the zone.
‘Damn that really hurts!’ said Bailey as she fell to her knees, her strength sapped from her.
‘Bailey, I don’t feel any pain in here. Try, and join me, maybe that could help’ said Albi to the struggling Bailey.
Bailey steadied herself, and sat down as she started to dissociate from her body as the ‘Bailey’ in the pond started to wake up
‘It worked! I don’t feel pain in here.’
Albi, and Bailey sat down in the pond, seeing that there was no problems with them maintain their current status quo, they proceeded to continue their Beastmen related debate from earlier which then evolved into a Lycanthrope vs. Vampire debate, as all they could do at this point was wait.
‘Hmm? It appears as though there are quite a few applicants that will pass on their first try this year.’ The administrator thought as his eyes scoured the room, and his vision hovered over eight people in particular.
A red haired girl who stood in a squat-like stance. Knees shoulder-width, hands extended, and back straight, with her core lowered, her eyes firmly locked on to the statue of the man with the long sword the entire time.
‘Hmm, that girl is sweating a lot, but her face is straight. She has a good tolerance for pain, and has high perseverance. She would make a good warrior.’ That girl was Zaya, Haler’s daughter.
He then looked at the same man that was also caught being late with Bailey, Shin. Although his body was trembling, and his eyes were distant, his face had a slight smile to it, as his mouth appeared to be drooling ever so slightly.
‘That boy is…enjoying himself?! Freak…But an interesting specimen to study…’ thought the administrator as his head moved on to the serpentine man, and the blonde boy whose eyes were interlocked with each other, their hatred towards each other was so apparent it wouldn’t even escape the blind.
‘Hmm, that serpentine does have a right to disdain humans…We really aren’t as tolerant of other races as we should be… I mean, imagine all the knowledge we can share amongst each other had we stopped our endless fighting, and cooperated with each other!’ thought the administrator as his eyes shined with a fanatical look
He then moved his eyes to the two lion-headed Beastmen sitting in the corner of the zone.
‘Those two must be a variation of the feline Beastmen race. They are famed for their strength, and strong will. I wouldn’t be the least bit shocked if they were to pass on their try.’
He then moved his head to the small hooded figure sitting in front of the lion Beastmen. As he couldn’t look through the cover they had, he decided to use a bit of magic to help him as his eyes started to shine in a purple light.
‘Oh, I see…That…is a thing I’d like to avoid getting entangled in if at all possible.’ Just as the administrator was thinking this, both Beastmen immediately turned towards him with serious expressions on their faces. The administrator waved his hands towards them apologetically.
He then moved to the last figure that had caught his attention.
It was a very feminine looking person whose body was completely limp to the point the administrator thought the body was dead over how relaxed it was. It wasn’t until his eyes started glowing that he noticed the presence of life in that body.
‘That girl’s meditation technique appears to be very advanced. Going completely numb despite all the pain she’s going through, she must have had a very good teacher at a young age. I wonder if I know that person…’ That ‘girl’ was of course none other than Bailey.
...
Time passed by, and many people had already withdrawn, and had to exit premises of the Academy. They were to return home, and try again next year. Those that left were given an option. Leave empty handed, or accept a handful of resources that would be helpful to their training. Those that accepted the resources had to sign a soul-binding contract by the university that they would either succeed in joining the academy next year, and pay off their debts by working for the academy, return the resources or pay their worth twofold, be doomed to a life of slavery, or being sold off as guinea pigs to help a researcher with their experiments.
…
After some more time had already passed, the majority of the people within the squares had already either passed the 70% success threshold started to exit the pressure zone, pleased with being accepted. As long as they slowly open their pores over time before choosing a path, and finalizing their fate, their progress wouldn’t be any slower than those whose pores were opened in one swoop.
There were also some who had semi-open pores that decided to stay in the pressure zone until they opened 100% of them.
Many of those who already exited turned around to the zone that still had a twenty people in.
“Those damn freaks. How can they endure opening their pores beyond 90% on their first try!? Are they even mortals like us?” one of the accepted applicants said to the others
“Right? Especially that lizard face, that freak who keeps drooling, and…Is that a corpse?!” Said another applicant pointing to the Serpentine man, Shin, and to Bailey.
“Freaks. All of them are freaks. There has never been more than 10 people opening their pores fully in the first try for a thousand years! I was happy with opening 89% of my pores, what the hell?”
The surrounding people kept talking between themselves while the administrator looked at the remaining twenty people with shining eyes.
‘Yes! Yes! This is what we’ve been waiting for! Even those I looked down upon at the start proved to have incredible willpower that drove them to this point. This is what the alliance needs more of to fight those savages…Especially after that incident a few months back…’
…
“Aaah” a loud exhale came from the serpentine man as he dropped to the ground as he felt the pressure around him had disappeared.
“Aww man, it’s already over?” said Shin as he looked slightly disappointed. This drew the ire everyone around him save for a handful of people.
Of those twenty, five had fell out just before reaching 100%, and only fifteen completely opened all their pores on the first try. Of these fifteen were the serpentine man, the blonde man, Zaya, Shin, Bailey, the two lion-headed Beastmen, and the hooded small person.
“Congratulations! You fifteen are among the few that passed through the entire pore opening ceremony on their first tries, and this class will go down in history as having achieved the 2nd place in how many people passed through their first try!”
‘Hmm? It’s over? I guess I’ll go back, and see what’s up’ said Bailey.
‘Alright, but our debate still isn’t over!’ responded Albi.
Bailey started to regain control, and as soon as she did
“W-What the hell?!” she exclaimed.