Finn planned to test each of his new methods for a few hours each. A more concrete schedule would come about as he had a better understanding of what his day to day would be like. He soon arrived at the field and he breathed out in relief when he felt that the field was unchanged. He found a spot after a few minutes and sat down before he began clearing his mind.

He decided to go with the soul method first as the information was fresh in his mind. The first step was to form a soul core. This could be done by meditating on the nature of your existence and when your understanding of yourself was at a high enough level, it would form on its own. The text mentioned the process could take anywhere from a few months to a few years depending on the person, and most people started their soul forging efforts later rather than sooner.

It wasn't long before Finn fell into a meditative state and he begun questioning himself. Who exactly was Finn Atelier? What did he stand for? What kinds of values did he truly believe? His eyebrows furrowed as he sat cross legged with his eyes closed. The questions were simple but he found that the answers weren't coming to him as easily as he thought.

"I am Finn Atelier, someone with dreams of reaching great heights," he said in his mind.

However, immediately after he said it, doubt started to creep in and his statement started to crack. Was that really true? He couldn't truly say that it was. It was something his mother had repeatedly said, but was it something that he really wanted? He thought back to his years of living with his family. It felt so hollow, like he was just going through the motions. It was a fact that he never really wanted to be a merchant, but he wasn't exactly opposed to it. It was just something he had to do and he had never questioned it. It was his lot in life.

Before he could come to a conclusion on that front, his thoughts moved in another direction. He had decided earlier that he would work to become a respected person, that way he could improve the lives of others. It was a noble idea, but now it felt... wrong. He had witnessed the strife of those in Athen, but could he say he really cared about their problems? One of his goals had been to not become like them for sure, but he had never thought about helping them out.

Again his focus shifted. How could he say he had dreams of reaching great heights? He hadn't really tried yet. He was content with the idea of being a merchant for so long, but it hadn't really concerned him if he became renowned. He had settled on just being average. Enough to get by. There had always been an excuse. It was just his lot in life, his family had run the business to poorly before him, it was too hard to be anything more than average or something else was always holding him back.

His thoughts went this way and that, covering a wide variety of subjects but never coming to a conclusion. He was confronting a lot of ideas within his head, a lot of which made him uncomfortable. He would chance his focus again and again until a thunderous sound broke him from his introspection. He winced at the intrusive noise that seemed to shake his very core and he felt the his thoughts dissipating into nothingness.

He opened his eyes and his expression quickly turned to one of shock as he noticed the sky was dark. He felt liquid dripping down his forehead and raised his hands to wipe it away only to realize he had been sweating profusely. He shakily got to his feet and took a look around. The field was mostly empty at this time and Finn was glad that no one seemed to take notice of his wretched state. The bell was the curfew signal so Finn started to make his way over the dormitory. He felt hungry and was mentally exhausted. Luckily for him both of his problems could be taken care of without breaking any rules.

Finn thought he had missed out on dinner but was suprised to see the cafeteria still open. It was in the same building as the dorms and while it was required for students to be in the building after curfew, it wasn't stated that they had to be in their own rooms.

The cafeteria was just what you'd expect. There were enough tables and seats for every student if needed but it was pretty unlikely that everyone would be eating at the same time. Everyone would have a different schedule after all. He didn't see Avo and could only guess that he had already retired to his room. He found an empty spot and dug into the heavenly meal he had picked up.

It was a plate of fine pasta, topped with a savory white sauce and some crispy meat along with a side of steamed vegetables. It was so delicous that it cemented the idea in Finn's mind that this first day had been fake in a way. They were allowing everyone to get a taste of the good life before it was all taken away and he could only hope things wouldn't be too bad tomorrow.

After finishing his meal, he headed to his room. On the bright side of lodgings, every student had their own room in this academy. On the other side, the rooms were very small. If you walked in, there was a small wardrobe on your right, followed by a bed. On the other side there was a desk and table, but it was so close that the chair nearly touched the bed. Finn noticed that the bed was raised so there would be space to store things underneath it, but that was all there was to the room.

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He opened the wardrobe and counted all of his bags. They had been taken by staff when he first arrived, to be checked for contraband or whatever they did before they dropped it off. He also found a box he had never seen before and it had the schools emblem on it. He set it aside for later and headed to the shower. Another downside to everyone having their own rooms was that every other facility would be shared. It was unfortunate but who didn't have their own tribulations on the path to power?

After Finn returned to his room, he opened the box and it contained a token along with a short note.

"Infuse energy into the token," it read, and Finn did as he was told.

A few seconds later, information appeared in his mind. He could see an image of the headmaster followed by a message.

"Greetings again students," it read, but Finn could swear he was hearing the headmasters voice as he followed along. "I hope you have enjoyed your first day at the academy. However, I regret to inform you that things will be different tomorrow. We have allowed all students to have a taste of what is usually only available to the upper echelon of students. Work hard and show your worth and these benefits will once more become available to you."

After he had finished reading the image and the message disappeared from his mind, replaced by new information, detailing the tokens use. It was a far cry from the systems he was used to using in Athen but it was similar enough that he had no trouble browsing its contents with his mind. Apparently this token was given to all students and operated as an ID, among other things. Going to classes, making breakthroughs and completing successful hunts would reward points. These points were attached to your identity and could be spent on various perks like the meal he enjoyed today or access to the private meditation rooms on the field.

Going to classes also rewarded points but ultimately it wasn't required. There was also a leaderboard function and the token itself was a key that gave access to certain facilitied including your room. It also had a message function but he would need to add contacts in person before he could talk to anyone.

Finn held the token in hand and fell back onto his bed, feeling much better after a meal and shower. He thought back over his day. It was unfortunate that he hadn't gotten a chance to try the energy absorption methods, but he had no idea his soul forging would take him out of it like that. Furthermore, his soul forging experience sure was something. He had never really meditated before and it had had been an eye opening experience in all the wrong ways. Here he was, a 20 year old man and he realized he wasn't really sure who he was.

Still, he wanted to get back into it as soon as possible. What he had gone through was intimidating but he felt it would be super rewarding if he dealt with all those discordant thoughts, not only for his soul forging efforts but just for his own sake as a human being. He would have to set up a schedule but it was useless thinking one up now. Things were sure to be different tomorrow and he needed to know what exactly changed before he tried to make any plans.

In another room of the academy, Onuphrius Grozdan sat on a comfortable mat, trying to cultivate. He had fucked up at the sect. If only that bastard would know his place, he wouldn't have had to cripple him to make his point. Now he was sent to this infernal place to head over rabble in this 'academy'. The room heated as his anger grew at the thought but he calmed himself when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Oniphrius commanded, and the visitor entered.

It was Sekhar, one of the junior members sent to help run this farce. Sekhar put his hands together and bowed toward Onuphrius in greeting.

"Report," Oniphrius said, waving at him to rise.

"All students have left the field and energy levels have been restored to standard levels of operations," Sekhar stated.

Oniphrius nodded in understanding. It had been a truly treacherous day. He had to act as if he cared somewhat about the academy and found himself rambling on to those students and even he was unimpressed with his performance. He left as soon as possible to relieve himself from that suffocating atmosphere but his quarters were barely any better. His cultivation was stalled in this place, even more so when the accumulated energy was being diverted to those students in the field.

"Good. Redivert the energy flow to the staff building," he stated and Sekhar left to complete his task.

It was where the energy usually went, but the tradition of amplifying the students environment on the first day couldn't be ignored. He relaxed after a few minutes when he felt that the energy levels had improved. Six months. He just had to last six months and he could leave this wasteland and return to the sects headquarters where he belonged.