Spirit Birth Realm

Two days after Heian Ciemnosc had shockingly met Lady Calisneia in some isolated natural zone within the Wrath Nihility Aademy's territory, where he still felt somewhat afflicted from the incident and bombarded with more mental shocks in his brain with these revelations. Heian Ciemnosc could finally attend classes again. He had gone directly to his dormitory to cultivate, though he wasn't honestly cultivating. Because his foundation was, as always, the most solid thing in the world... and his cultivation base had bloated above the limits.

He didn’t meet Elena. Nor did he go to the Saberbone Diabolical Club. It also seemed like Elena, Frank, and even that crazy Arla were avoiding him. The reason behind it is his need to stabilize his mind. He didn’t mind not seeing them, except for Elena, as she was so fun to be around, since he could study and prepare for his next cultivation breakthrough.

While Heian Ciemnosc didn’t know what his new and only Master would be helping exactly him with, he was too focused on his new classes. They weren’t too different from a Sub Student’s classes. The Assistant Teachers would be replaced by a Sub Teacher when it came to practices, but some Sub Teachers would also lecture the Students. Some Teachers would come every few days, or so was the information given to Heian Ciemnosc reporting.

A Student gets paid 100 Inferior Powerful Stones every 2 weeks under the Conflagrate realm. 1,000 Inferior Powerful Stones every 2 weeks when under the Crabstynian realm and 10,000 Inferior Powerful Stones every 2 weeks within the Crabstynian realm, Spirit Formation realm, and the Spirit Rebirth realm. Or 1 Supreme Powerful Stone, for that matter. If a Student was in the Second Step, they would be given 100 Inferior Neutral Stones. The cycle would repeat, but the realms’ limitation for this salary was naturally different.

Heian Ciemnosc had already been paid 2,000 Inferior Powerful Stones from the first day as a Student and after the 2nd week ended, where new Sub Students took place within the Wrath Nihility Academy’s Sub Students dormitories. Though it was nowhere as large as it was with Heian Ciemnosc’s entrance, there were still a few thousand new fresh this year.

There wasn’t a worry about the Students having too much money. A cultivator who cultivated fast would lose their way and lose all foundation. A Student refusing to delve into Craftsmaking was no Student of the Wrath Nihility Academy. Besides, Craftsmaking is one of the foremost factors for solidifying one’s foundation to a very stable and acceptable level as fast as possible, other than fighting like a crazy motherfucker, or training in the same way.

Craftsmaking was also incredibly useful for further solidification of one’s cultivation. Progressing in one’s Craftsmaking profession everyday was the same as cultivating every stage of every realm carefully and with a stable foundation. Which was, of course, why the ingredients for even basic startings of any Craftsmaking profession were many and costly the more they were bought.

Sub Student’s classes were the exact same every year. The redundancy was because Sub Students only needed to focus on their cultivation and understanding of the world they were being sent to, inside or outside the Academy’s territory.

But a Student’s classes repeated only after 2 years, meaning that whoever wanted to become a Leading Student had to spend at least 2 years as a Student. This time, Students didn’t need to bother about attending classes. It wasn’t taken strictly into consideration. It was all up to the Students’ whatever thoughts and ideas they might have.

The Academy wasn’t going around bushes or marathons of circles. The first class Heian Ciemnosc received was from a Sub Teacher, and more specifically, about Spirit Sense!

On the very first day, it was explained and exposed how Spirit Sense moves. The Sub Teacher placed a strange opaque array formation beside the desk, and then moved some objects. For the presentation, the Sub teacher allowed all Students to use their Spirit Sense, how the objects were moving, and how each one was ‘handled’ by a thing that didn’t exist. But thanks to the array formation, the thing that should only be sensed and not seen was visible.

One still needed to use their Spirit Sense to make contact with the array formation as their eyes were locked on the things moving around and their surrounding space. There wasn’t a problem with 12,000+ pairs of eyes mingling and entangling each other. They couldn’t send messages this way, let alone try to lewd each other out. As for attacking, it was impossible. Only Soul attacks could be harmful. And even then, they aren’t that lethal, just distracting in a battle or Craftsmaking process.

This scene fascinated new and old Students still. The Sub Teacher demonstrated for about half an hour, showing all possible movements one can do with their Spirit Sense and how they can ‘fly’ or levitate through the air and become weapons without needing to be bonded to them, as one can with a graded weapon, armor or Artifact. This only demonstrated how vital lethal tools were even for Second, Third, and Fourth Step forces.

Even when going higher, tools are still one of the most used armaments for dueling, let alone a battle involving just a couple organizations or multiple. After the demonstration, the Sub Teacher asked any Spirit Rebirth realm to come over and have a try. After all, anyone with a Soul should be able to do that, though Heian Ciemnosc knew that was somewhat incorrect. Not only did Heian Ciemnosc form his Soul earlier than he could ever know of, as he had always known every moment he had lived. But he also had a particularly robust Soul, according to others.

Souls were still a rare thing to study, so Heian Ciemnosc couldn’t determine what kind of level or potential he was or had. But in the end, only a few Students at the First Step’s peak managed was to make a few pieces of paper tremble. A girl managed to send a fly through the window after it flew over to her, leaving everyone speechless.

Afterwards, the Sub Teacher stored the array formation and the objects. He followed his lecture by explaining the importance of one’s Soul and Spirit Sense when making it latch onto something or someone. Their Natal Spirit and Soul were fundamental to a cultivator’s awareness. Not having one of them right while trying to use them was deathly, so only the ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ limb should stay in use while the other is removed, simply let to rest.

And to scan someone, somewhere, or something. If one’s Soul was too powerful, one would be wasting too much energy using their Sprit Sense to their fullest. And if one’s Spirit Sense was too advanced for their Soul, in case their Soul was cultivated at a standard speed. Then one’s Soul would become exhausted, and that was even worse. Soul exhaustion was slowly regenerating, and it would considerably affect anyone of any Step gravely in any activity.

Balance was required for a cultivator’s awareness, and every single student of the Academy had it mandatory to have it figured out. Sub Students might not know much about the Spirit Sense; and Soul as Students, but blatant things do not need to be intricately known. This is how many missions or operations were carried out, with a more considerable majority of Students preceding over Sub Students to take care of them… for real.

The Sub Teacher then began teaching the Students the technique for placing all of one’s Spirit Sense’s use in one’s eyes. That way, though they won’t be able to immediately sense a threat, much less at lower Steps, they could see through things that regular Spirit Sense wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Everyone became excited upon hearing this, and as they learned the complex process, they trained for a little in silence under the Sub Teacher’s guidance.

Of course, from all of them, only Heian Ciemnosc didn’t need to be taught that. And even when he tried it, it seemed the same as he was basically already used to doing. The process was slightly different but more practical. It required one’s Power Energy to transform specific ‘drawings’ at one’s Psychogenic like a butterfly’s wings. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc’s ‘method’ was simply to want to do it. There was some difference, indeed.

For the rest of the week, the Sub Teacher taught the Students the many methods concerning manipulating the Spirit Sense. It involved the Soul, of course. But the central factor in this case, within this Spirit Sense’s classes, was it and not the Soul. The control one had over these things without sensing where they stood and blindly moving them were part of the mini-practices the Sub Teacher had all Students go through in his classes.

Besides Heian Ciemnosc, more than 100 Students with excellent control over their blinded senses by moving their Spirit Energy around and twisting it in whichever forms the Sub Teacher instructed them to. Although the Sub Teacher would always sweat trying to hide his embarrassing amazement whenever Heian Ciemnosc’s turn came, he still qualified him as a good seed like the 100+ other Students.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Other than lecturing and teaching the Students the utilization of Spirit Sense, the different available, helpful techniques, when to use them, with whom, and so on. The Sub Teacher taught them array formations to counter Spirit Sense and detection systems. Just like that. They didn’t need an array formation Sub Teacher to come and give them extra classes about array formations to counter espionage.

The Sub Teacher also taught the Students the great aid of knowing all of this for Craftsmaking by bringing a few Craftsmaking smartasses to the front and showing the class the difference between using and not using Spirit Sense. One half used Spirit Sense, the other didn’t, through the whole process and to manipulate the ingredients and steps of the procedures.

Heian Ciemnosc was fascinated, even when he was chosen to make some elementary Theriac pill without Spirit Sense, he observed as the opaque array formation was once again set up and twisted his Spirit Sense into a curve to come out of the space he was in and look at the other side like the rest of the Students did. Once again, someone sweated bullets, holding those praising screams in with tons of willpower.

The week was spent in his bedroom studying, not bothering to go do some odd jobs. If anything, he was a Student, and if he would be doing some mission, he would have to notify the Academy so the ones responsible for writing the lessons could send a copy later to them depending on the days they were gone.

It wasn’t the same as being lectured by a teacher, but it was everything the teachers taught. The copy was written by hand, with some array formations that mimicked a few events during class that required one’s eyes to see, and a detailed explanation followed. It was as helpful as going there for oneself, but it was not the same. Besides, one couldn’t ask the notes themselves in case of any doubts and would have to rely on fellow Students.

Such was one of the hardest things about being a Student and one to do missions regularly. But still, that was just how life gets to be, and for the Academy to show the Students they couldn’t get what they wanted, how they wanted it, when they did, and to what extent in the end, was a great humbling and preparation for whatever could happen in the future.

The week went by fast, and before Heian Ciemnosc knew it, he had to stop studying over his own notes and make his way to the southwest of the Academy’s territory. Evans had been moved to a nearer Fauna-housing section to his dormitory, so he took a flight with the boy at the ground level. He didn’t have Elena to evade the law and get away with it anymore… for now.

. . .

Whistle~. Heian Ciemnosc felt familiar as he stood before a remarkably small, thin, and diminished cabin. It was barely 2 meters wide and about a meter long. There was some dark green grass to the cabin’s sides, but a wide patch of orange dirt separated it from the green. Behind it was a spring that formed a little lake less than 20 meters in diameter.

The lake was of a turquoise color, but the walls below the water surface were greenish and swampy. It was still, like time stopping altogether. Only in the middle had the spring’s water come out. It had to be a strong current as it continued to sprinkle water and splatter about in the middle of the lake. Even then, only that tiny spot in the middle was moving. The rest remained still, not affected for even a centimeter by the sprinklñed water from below.

Step, step, crrnk. Heian Ciemnosc walked towards the mini cabin. His shoes on the dirt felt differently. It was like the earth was trying to hug him and get him relaxed as he stepped onto it. Feeling the same thing he did when he came out of here, Heian Ciemnosc patted the Covert Space bag where he stored Evans, as it was the only way for the stupid bird to enter that place again, and entered the cabin.

When Heian Ciemnosc closed the cabin’s entrance door, the earth outside rearranged itself as if finished with its job. On the other hand, Heian Ciemnosc walked into the little building and descended the stairs for 20 steps until he found himself stepping on the same black, empty floor as before. After walking for 2 minutes, he found his Master already standing and observing to the right as if contemplating… anything he was plainly unaware of.

“How has the Academy life as a Student felt for you?” Her soft voice reached his ears. Heian Ciemnosc was surprised, and his eyes widened for a moment, his eyes darted around fidgety. After thinking for a second, he half knelt with his left knee and greeted her. “Disciple greets Master, responding to your question. Well… I have been having fun.”

“Hmf,” Lady Calisneia harrumphed positively. Heian Ciemnosc took it as a cue to stand up and looked at her as she was 30 meters away. In just an instant, and as she turned around, she reappeared before Heian Ciemnosc’s curious and heavily scanning eyes. Her dimmed eyes looked at him and nodded, “Mn, you are indeed a good student. Getting your teachers to feel troubled without making trouble is a relic of a skill.”

“Master…” Heian Ciemnosc commented unceremoniously, but his Master lifted her left hand and swung it from before her stomach to her left. “Tell me the 7 Existential Sixth Step organizations lording over the 7 Universal Lands after reciting the Steps. Do so while sitting cross-legged, close your eyes, send your Power Energy to your Psychogenic and Dantian Links. Do so individually, too.”

Rustle, swift.

Heian Ciemnosc let his body drop. His knees folded, and he directly sat cross-legged. Semi intertwining and intertwining his fingers as he does, he closed his eyes and started moving his dark Power Energy as his Master instructed. Once he got to that, he began elaborating.

“The First Step, the Mortal Step. This Step has 13 realms, and they all go according to the evolution of a mortal being to cultivation. From gaining an impossible physical strength… to flying and creating one’s true Soul, commanding the forces in the world at one’s will and far into the distance. It is often mentioned as the beginning of all cultivation. It is a peak anyone can cross, but not within a Minor Kingdom.”

“The Second Step, the Defiant Step. This Step has 11 reams, which are the full integration of one’s body to the world. It is called the Defiant Step because it is the beginning of separating a cultivator between mortality and opening the doors to Godhood. Through this realm, the more one advances, the more they understand their role in the world. Anyone can break away from the Defiant Step. But in a Middle Kingdom, it will be difficult unless the Kingdom’s nature accepts such an advancement.”

“The Third Step, the Non-Mortal Step. This Step has 7 realms, and every single one is the long passing and understanding of the world, not just of one’s role in it. If the Defiant Step opens the doors to Godhood, within the Non-Mortal Step, one walks through it. It requires one to travel the world, to know it, and be known by it, but pure energy is still the primary factor to cultivate. However, Godhood isn’t just given to those who walk the walk. They take it!”

“The Fourth Step, known as Godhood. This Step has 10 realms. Every realm is coursed via remaining within a Kingdom. In that Kingdom, one grows their own force. It can be in any way. The world and nature accepts anything as long as it is truthful to one’s purpose and goals. The more a God or Goddesses progresses, the more their Godly Energy becomes purer and purer… Cultivation still requires pure energy, but it is by far the most expensive and bountiful of all Steps.”

“The Fifth Step, Becoming. This Step has 4 steps that one goes through. But to become… a cultivator has to have found their Essence, and they would have attained it. Only then can one have their Links, Soul, and Seed form their being. A being is capable of impossible things, but still within laws and reality, they can at most play with such things.”

“The Sixth Step, simply known as existence. This Step is reached after a being goes through all those steps, successfully forming the acclaimed Phantom Image to cover their world. They can bend reality and laws at will, unstoppable in the world. This Step has the last 3 steps a cultivator has to go through to become the peak existence of the whole world… Only the most powerful with several peak existences can vie for the Existential Sixth Step seat.”

“A Sixth Step organization becomes an Existential Sixth Step organization after forming a Universal Land with at least 4 Existences. And an existence’s Spirit Sense is that of a whole Existence.”

“Master, err… what Step are you? Can’t tell, I’m sure you’re not even a Third Step cultivator, but abov-” Heian Ciemnosc looked at his Master once he finished this part and opened his eyes to say. But his Master, Lady Calisneia, looked at him as if she knew he would do that and sent him a cold, expressionless, light smile that soothed him. “Don’t stop reciting and moving your Power Energy. And don’t get distracted.”

“But… one day… sigh~, you may get to know that,” Lady Calisneia’s voice became impossibly soft. The moment left Heian Ciemnosc speechless, but he closed his eyes slightly afterwards and continued to do as asked. He trusted this Master… as this Master had him recite unmistakable knowledge first thing as his Master. Though from his words, it was indeed more knowledgeable and broader than anyone of his cultivation base would have said so. In fact, even higher.

…