Inside an all-white room was a young man sitting in a lotus position.
He looked to be in his late 10s, around 18 years old. He had light brown skin, pitch black hair, a slender face and a defined jawline. Simply put, he looked like the dashing knight in girls' dreams. His most prominent feature was probably his ears. It was pointed like an elf, but not as long. From this, one could tell that he was not human.
His body was also well-built. Even though he was sitting down, one could tell that he was tall from his stature. His muscles bulged beneath his shirt, but he was not hulking. It's more apt to say that his muscles were compact.
[https://i.imgur.com/W8z57kr.jpg]
To the right of the young man was a small dark-colored lion cub that was peacefully laying down. However, it suddenly opened its eyes at this time and looked at its Master beside it.
Then, as if the cub sensed his awakening, the young man opened his eyes.
"Finally, Rank 90 Awakened!"
It had been 10 years since he came to this world, and a lot had happened for him to reach this far.
Yes, this young man was none other than Joseph!
Ever since the day he arrived in Soaring Eagle City and first picked up the spear, Joseph had trained under Ragnar along with David. Isabella naturally agreed to it, after all, she was a Caster, not an Enhancer, and was also pregnant. And a year later, when Isabella finally gave birth to Sophia, she still had to take care of her new child, so she didn't have the time to teach Joseph.
Elves and other races that naturally have long lifespans have lower fertility rate. Hence why Joseph was so shocked when he found his mother was pregnant that day. Though, he doesn't mind it all, if anything he felt blessed to have another addition to the family. Sophia's arrival would keep Isabella company. After all, Joseph was training all the time.
Speaking of Sophia, just like any baby, she looked adorable and cute, but ten times more charming. It was clear that the genetics of the family were top tier. Naturally, Sophia was beloved by everyone, especially and strangely Garvin who seems to be already doting on her so much while she's still a baby. Looking back, probably the reason why he had confronted Isabella about Gui when they first reunited was because he was concerned. Alas, poor Garvin's inability to express his feelings just made him look crude.
Joseph had learned the basics of the spear from Ragnar, while his grandfather Garvin helped him refine his techniques and move on to a higher level.
Of course, Joseph trained his magic, he had learned the basics spells of an Enhancer like [Beginner Reinforce], and long ranged attacks that utilizes his eye and marksmanship like [Shadow Bullet]. There's also some utility magic he had picked up like [Clean].
Over the years, he didn't learn any new skills or spells, but rather he perfected his proficiency in all of them, as one should.
And although he already had his complete set of dagger-wielding knowledge, he still had to make his new body learn to perform this knowledge. He also did some tweaking here and there to make it suit this magical world.
When Joseph turned 10, the required age for school, he entered the Eagle's Nest Magic Academy along with David.
There, he expanded his knowledge and connections using his talent as he was apparently a "Blessed Child." It's also thanks to this title that he had gathered the support of the academy as they helped nurture him. He's even treated better than "Geniuses!" Of course, this also garnered him some hate. It's just that he really didn't care and he couldn't be bothered. These people also didn't try to provoke him because unlike their ego, they at least have half a brain.
Most of the time, Joseph didn't need to participate in anything other than classes. He didn't need to join any tournament or the like to obtain resources, the academy simply spoon-fed it to him. So he could dedicate his time into training. As for his sparring partners, they were the teachers and geniuses since no normal teen could compete against a war veteran. In David's words, he was OP, it's apparently short for overpowered.
Alas, Joseph didn't think the same as everyone else. Sure he acknowledged that his talent was great and he would surely become someone strong as he had vowed to be in the future, but he needed strength now!
His father's revenge was set in 10 years, and what he was lacking right now was time! What his father said about the revenge not arousing the wariness of the Royal Family was not absolute. After all, they didn't how deep the backer of the West Family was.
Joseph realized that just as he was getting stronger, so did the enemies. His opponents already got a head start from him just by being born earlier and older. Meaning, the only plausible way Joseph could compete and defeat the enemies was by getting stronger faster. However, even with the resources he's being given, it's still not enough!
Taking action whilst there's still time, Joseph researched the entirety of the academy's library. After literal years of combing through each page and scroll, he had finally found a lead. A lead that he then used to negotiate with the Dean of the academy.
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You see, there's an excerpt about there being a main faction, like a headquarters, that the academy was a subsidiary of. And where is that main faction located you may ask? Well, it's located in the Velinn Continent; a continent that was much bigger and richer than Novo Continent!
Included in the excerpt was the need for the academy to send talented recruits to the main faction every 10 years. The better the recruits the subsidiary sent, the higher the benefits they would receive. Naturally, the subsidiaries would do everything they can to boost their recruits' strengths. This could range from feeding them resources to prioritizing them with high quality education. More importantly, one of the ways that they boost the strength of the recruits was by a Time Warping Array.
A Time Warping Array increases or decreases the speed of time within its limited range. Take the white room that Joseph is currently in. It is one of the rooms that's covered by a Time Warping Array. For this specific Time Warping Array, the slowing of time is 1:10, meaning one day outside is equal to 10 days inside the array.
Since Joseph only discovered this in his fourth year in the academy and he needed to take care of the West Family by the time he was 17, he only have approximately 3 years to catch up with his enemies. So he immediately went to the Dean right after discovering this secret. As for why such a secret was in the library, it's for transparency and those who seek it, and Joseph so seeked.
Normally, the academy would only finalize their recruits when the students' are in their graduation year, then bring them to the Time Warping Array. So Joseph proposed that he'll for sure go to the Velinn Continent. However, he didn't say he would join the faction. Obviously, the Dean was smart enough to notice the implications of the wordings, but he didn't sweat the details since he was confident that Joseph would join regardless.
The Time Warping Array costs a lot of mana stones to operate, hence why they are only activated for a year in the recruits' graduation year. But since Joseph was a special talent that would certainly bring value to the faction, the Dean took the risk in investing in Joseph and activated the Time Warping Array early. He's betting that Joseph would do great things in the Velinn Continent and what's he's doing right now would pay off big time in the future.
As for the half of the cost of the activation of the array, since the academy could only shoulder for 1.5 years of operation at most, the Deans and others pitched in to shoulder it. Unlike other subsidiaries in other continents, their branch here is relatively poor. Again, the Dean is investing in Joseph's potential. It's not just his talent, but overall value. The Dean saw Joseph perform and he knew that he was making the right decision. That's what he believes, at least.
And as to not waste his hard-earned money, the Dean also had to choose the recruits much earlier. Fortunately, this generation's talents were better than previous generations and he didn't have a hard time picking worthy students.
Including Joseph, the Dean chose a total of 6 students. David was also chosen. Together, the students enjoyed the benefits of the array on top of their previous benefits. This was a do or die bet for the academy.
All in all, for Joseph, 37 years had actually passed instead of just 10 years because of the Time Warping Array.
This then brings us to the current situation.
The academy was built on top of a mana vein so the closer one is to the mana vein, the denser the mana. The white rooms were naturally at the core of the mana vein.
Joseph had just finished absorbing the dense mana in the surroundings and just digested his gains. Although one could absorb mana without sitting in a lotus position, the efficiency would be lowered. The lotus position opens up one's magic circuits and allow the free flow of mana.
Magic circuits determine ones tolerance in how much mana they can circulate at once. Everyone has mana circuits but like all in things in nature, Everyone is treated fair but not the same. Some have wider and robust magic circuits while others have narrow and weak ones. This results in different circulation speeds which then relate to one's talent. The faster one's circulation speed, the greater the talent, as they could progress farther in the same amount of time.
Likewise, each also have different quirks that's either brought by their race or techniques. Some have the innate ability to be good with their hands, some have good elemental affinities, some have more developed brains, some have greater physical strength, etc.
A great analogy for this is a young snake versus an adult man. The man is much stronger physically and more versatile with all his limbs than the young slithering snake. But the latter has venom that could kill just as well as the mans' strength. The two are treated fairly but not the same. It's up to the individual on how they utilize it.
Joseph looked at Titus beside him and patted the latter's head.
Titus wasn't idle over the years either. Joseph provided him with resources and his strength significantly took a leap. Now, he was already a Rank 83 Awakened Beast. Although he was weaker than Joseph in terms of Rank, beasts naturally have stronger bodies. Meaning, his actual combat power was only slightly behind Joseph's rank.
"Want some snack? We still haven't eaten ye–"
Joseph hadn't even finished yet but Titus was already nodding his head like a chicken pecking rice instead of a lion. Titus have completely opened up to Joseph by now, even to the servants of the family. His character development made Joseph proud, feeling the same as if he had seen his own "son" grow up over the years.
Joseph took out two peaches from his storage ring, giving one of it to Titus and eating the other. He then stood up and made his way out of the white room. Upon exiting into the corridor, the surroundings seemed to have warped a bit and a sense of time suddenly going faster came to his brain. Though, Joseph was long accustomed to this type of feeling. After all, even with storage rings, it's impossible store 30 years worth of food and resources. He and the others had to come out from time to time to replenish their stock.
At the same time, he saw the other doors open. This was no coincidence as neither Joseph nor the other students wanted to leave the white room on their own accord. They were forced to leave this same moment because their final session had just ended.
It was then that a group three, composed of a handsome young man and two beautiful women came to Joseph, with the young man calling out to the latter.
"Joseph!"
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.
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[A/N: I did a huge overhaul in the power system since I basically didn't take into account the age of the characters and how fast they cultivate before. Anyways, nothing really changed plot wise, but the previous power levels I've put have been changed. An example would be the Rank 7 Mortal experts in the Prologue, they are now Rank 90 Mortal experts and so on and so forth... Here's the list of Chapters I've updated – Prologue, Chapters 1, 3, 6 and 7]
[Lastly, please don't flame me for not updating as frequently as other novels like those with 15 chapters a week...]