Chapter Nine - Broken Record part 2

Thirty minutes later...

The remaining students were already taking their assessment to see what classes they would be placed in.

"Asante Bluefrost, twenty-five minutes! Pass! Regular! Magi Class! Speak to your student advisor if you wish to take additional testing."

"Robert Townswer, three minutes. Fail!"

"Rebecca Flowers, twenty minutes! Pass! Regular! Warrior class. Speak to your student advisor if you wish to take additional testing."

"Jeffery Banks, fifteen minutes! Fail!"

"Mia Maxwell, nineteen minutes, ugh. Let's just say you pass, but I'm going to recommend additional testing. Regular warrior class for now!" Scarlet Mercury called out yet another result. This was already the fifth, yet Lucky Riot still hadn't budged within the original pressure chamber. To reach the Warrior class, students had to endure at least 20 minutes within the original pressure chamber. For Magi Class, it increased to 25 minutes. Those who surpassed 30 minutes were eligible for the advanced class.

"Wow, that Lucky sure is holding out, my goodness," said Jeffery Banks, one of the students who had experienced the original pressure chamber and who knew Lucky from when they were little kids. He had never referred to Kasino as Lucky publicly before, but now that he was becoming a hot topic, Jeffery wanted people to know they were friends.

Humans were like this. They would accept you if others were willing to take you. They would also shun you if others didn't like you.

"It's unreal… I barely managed to pass, but he looks so relaxed!" Mia Maxwell chimed in as well. She had always looked down on Lucky from the bottom of her heart. A heart that throbbed when this new taller Lucky with more angular features walked through the door. Merely, once she discovered who this cutie was, she was instantly disinterested. Even more so once the teacher seemingly crippled him. She had also laughed at the time.

Only, it was rather hard to laugh now. Lucky's talent had already surpassed her own by far.

"Next, we have…" Scarlet Mercury kept calling students up like a robot. Magus Fair-Weather waved her hand, and one of the desks next to Margot Frenzy magically put itself back together just in time for Fair-Weather to gracefully sit down.

"Little kitten, do you care to chat?" Magus Fair-Weather smiled amiably at Maggie. Maggie blushed and nodded her head.

"Mn."

"I heard that Hur did a number on some Silver Mercury gangsters in retaliation for them targeting his little princess. How could this have happened if you were studying abroad?" asked Magus Fair-Weather with curiosity in her voice.

"It happened the day we returned…" Margot Frenzy replied in a low voice and gave the dean a re-cap of the event that excluded everything that shouldn't be said to outsiders. The youths had long since agreed on using this version of the tale.

"So, that's how it is…" Magus Fair-Weather played with her curls as she tapped the desk gently, "So the Riot boy managed to save you at the last minute. How exactly did he reach the sixth level in a year?"

"Him?" Margot Frenzy took advantage of this opportunity to glance at Lucky again, smiling sheepishly, "I'm not sure. Actually, this princess was not with him when it happened. We only met on the way back to school."

"Okay dear, enough about these men," Magus Fair-Weather smiled warmly at Maggie, "You had already awakened a star point years ago, so entering the advanced classes after this is guaranteed. Your little boyfriend seems to have made it so he too will be able to accompany the advanced academy. I, too, have resonated with the Vital Life Grand Star, like you. What do you think about becoming my direct student?"

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Meanwhile, Lucky Riot was utterly unaware of all these events. From the moment the array formation was activated, a torrential stream of origin force flooded the chamber and pressed down on him. It took every ounce of his focus to not cough out blood in the beginning, as he had hardly raised any defense at all.

This was called arrogance. Or complacency brought about by an increase in strength.

"Overconfidence is indeed dangerous," mused Lucky Riot silently to himself. Initially, Lucky grew concerned that he wouldn't be able to withstand this slowly increasing pressure for the next few hours. However, to his surprise, he felt the star pendant under his clothes heat up fiercely, while strange energy permeated his body. Through his perception, he tried to locate the origin. The source was… his spine?! "Sacred bone… is this my primal dragon sacred bone?"

Grandmaster Amen had mentioned that his Primal Dragon Sacred Bone was active. Could this be the result of that? Lucky felt appalled by this discovery but didn't currently have the luxury of investigating. If he lost focus, wouldn't he be crushed underneath the pressure of these pure origin forces?

This was no joke at all!

Right as Lucky was cursing himself as unlucky, the star pendant got hotter, and the strange energy transformed into a series of texts and runes that flooded his mind. At first, his head was splitting in pain, but slowly the pendant seemed to be unconsciously helping him organize this information. Now, a new chant had appeared in the recesses of his mind, along with information regarding said chant. It was as if they had always been there in the back of his mind.

"Primal Madness Sacred Exercise… is this… some kind of profound art? No, it doesn't seem to be so simple, though it is similar. Primal Yin and Yang Divine Circuits… Primal Satellite Veins, Innate Platinum Soul Bridge. What are these? Are they mine?" Lucky Riot couldn't understand what he was experiencing, but this information seemed to not be directly related to himself. However, Lucky was utterly uncertain why he felt that way. He couldn't help but think about his older sister Meri, but before he could focus, more information flooded his mind as if they were memories, "Primal Yin and Yang Circuits… Universal Prime Veins… Innate Prismatic Soul Bridge. This should be about me. Circuits and veins... no way, could it be?"

Original Circuit System!

The Original Circuit System is a complex circulatory system of Mystic Origin. It is comprised of Spirit Circuits or Meridians that interconnect with all Pressure Points within the body and hold the body's strength. Pressure points are swirling culminations of Mystic Energy within the body. If disrupted can cause serious harm.

Lucky suddenly remembered something he had learned from his older sister, years ago, during elementary school time. When he was around nine years of age, Meri Riot told him a story. Before the first brand of mystic wands were mass-produced, and before Magi came to be as common as clouds, it was the warriors known as sacred essence hunters who stood supreme in Avaria. However, the path to becoming a top-level essence hunter was far more complicated than becoming a Magi. For if you have the talent for magic, possess a wand, and a decent enough teacher, then learning to use magical energy was just a matter of time.

Most of the work in becoming a magus was mental. However, warriors had to have powerful bodies as well! In fact, if one were to take it a step further, essence cultivators were rumored to be capable of all kinds of magical abilities! Merely, their control over magical energy could never surpass a magus, not by a long shot.

Of course, to Lucky, this was all heresy. His mother had never once mentioned that essence hunters were inferior to magi, she barely even acknowledged magi as powerhouses.

In the past, the only warriors who could surpass the Hard Body Stage were those genius cultivators born with high-grade spirit circuits! Much like currently. Above high-grade Mystic Circuits were Spirit Circuits. Above Spirit Circuits, were then Heaven Circuits. Above Heaven Circuits, were Cosmic Circuits, which were still below Sacred Circuits, and at the top were Divine Circuits! Having divine circuits was equivalent to being a genius that defied the will of heaven. This was only possible with a divine bloodline!

"Is this a Sacred Art?! Could I become a legendary sacred essence hunter? What luck is this?" pondered Lucky Riot. He couldn't help but become excited. Lucky suddenly realized that he didn't know as much about his older sister as he thought he did. This was not unusual. In the first place, Meri Riot was five years older than himself. She was accepted into her sect when Kasino was still three-years-old! He naturally didn't understand her completely, he was just too young and naive before to notice.

Merely, how did she know about sacred cultivators? Lucky had never once heard this term from anyone else.

"Wait, Meri and I have the exact same blood running through our veins. Could big sis have also awakened a sacred bone?" once he thought up to here, Lucky felt so enlightened. He had a strong suspicion that the foreign divine circuit information that appeared before his own probably belonged to his older sister. A few years ago, the behavior of his sister had changed in many ways. If she had been going through a similar experience to Lucky's current one, then this could be easily explained. On top of that, he had the most definite feeling that the premonition he got earlier had something to do with his sister. He could feel traces of her aura at that time, "If Meri's a sacred cultivator, I wonder what stage she's reached?"

His sister was already 20-years-old this year, soon to be age 21 years. Meanwhile, Lucky had just turned age 16 the day before he woke up from his coma. This meant that his sister's birthday would happen in a couple of months.

Meri Riot once said that in the world of mystics, the Hard Body Mystic Stage was divided into ten levels. Tempered Flesh, Qi Refinement, Quenched Body, Opened Circuits, Mystic Qi, Mystic Aura, Perceptive Force, Inner Power, Mystic Form, and finally Evolution. After ascending from the Hard Body Stage, there was the Profound Orb Stage of the Mystic Essence Realm. After reaching this stage, a mystic warrior would be filled with powerful essence, force, and abundant vitality. Profound Orb warriors could have a life span of up to 800 years.

800 years!

This was much better than 200 years, which was the absolute limit of a Hard Body Stage mystic warrior's lifespan.

Lucky Riot currently possessed a cultivation at the sixth level of the Hard Body Stage, the Mystic Aura level. However, due to his rapid progress, his foundation was indeed unstable. Thus, after returning to the academy, he spent the last two weeks consolidating the principles of levels 3-5, all so that he could have a firm understanding and control over his own strength.

The third level, Quenched Body, had transformed his body into a vessel for converting origin power into essence.

The fourth level, Opened Circuits, awakened his meridians, allowing him to produce true force! The fifth level, Mystic Qi, allowed him to fuse his force into his mystic root to create an essence qi pool. This was a process that would have taken many people years, but Lucky had no choice but to finish it after several days. The reason? The new semester was starting.

However, he honestly didn't have enough time before. To his elation, the original pressure chamber had completely consolidated his strength successfully. Now his foundation was unshakable at the same level!

If others knew of this, they would definitely be shocked silly.

How was this still the waste that couldn't advance past the second level?

How was this someone who couldn't pass the assessment?

He even managed to utilize the assessment for his own personal growth!

After sorting out his thoughts, Lucky Riot realized he also had some cognition of how to practice this divine exercise. It was as if he had past experience in it, and before realizing it, he had already mastered this divine exercise. Although he could recognize that he had only received a portion of this divine exercise, making it the equivalent of a sacred exercise, he still had the Divine Dragon Tactics, Serpent Surfing the Skies, and the Water God Fist Arts. Lucky was now sure that all these arts were at least at the Heaven level, maybe even more potent than that. He was just too weak to bring out their real power!

Now, Lucky would even get to learn Divine Skills as well!

In the world of martial arts, most things were divided into general categories of Profound level, Mystic level, Spirit level, Heaven level, Cosmic level, Sacred level, and Divine level. Above divine, there was even the fabled celestial level. Things were further divided into high, mid, and low grades. If Sacred level items were rare, then Divine level items were virtually unique!

No need to mention the Celestial Level, these just didn't exist in the current world.

Only the legends of times long forgotten practiced Divine Arts and Skills. Lucky himself had only ever seen profound level skills, and nothing more powerful than this. Sacred powers were said to capable of ripping apart the fabric of space. The might of divine skills, which were a tier higher, could well be imagined!

"The {Primal Madness Sacred Exercise} is a foundational exercise that specializes in training the body using essence cultivation. With it, I can refine the heaven and earth origin energy into my mystic essence root pool, and from within the mystic origin root, it would produce a Primal Essence Qi Sea, a super rare attributed essence force!" Lucky Riot marveled as he considered this art. It was a powerful tool in the foundation stages, such as the level Lucky Riot was currently at. His sixth level Hard Body was already past the stage where his origin root could completely transform into liquid essence qi. Now was the perfect time to do so.

Lucky operated the {Primal Madness Sacred Exercise} for two hours before a yin and yang diagram started to form in his fist-sized mystic origin root, located right beneath his navel. The diagram looked like two dragons dancing around a golden pearl. After developing, the diagram started to slowly rotate, as the origin qi pressing down on Lucky rapidly surged into his body through his pores into his pressure points. Lucky felt ecstasy as his body was purified by the origin qi.

The absorption speed of the original forces within the original pressure chamber was plain terrifying! Lucky could actually feel his level progressing slowly. One had to know, at Lucky's current level, he could train for months on end and never once experience this feeling. He needed outrageous amounts of energy in comparison to his peers, or he simply would never level up. However, he had also yet to encounter any cultivation bottlenecks like other students would often meet. As long as he refined enough essence correctly, he always broke through without trouble.

He may not know if things would always be this way, but he currently didn't consider leveling up to be very difficult. Only very tedious. Before, he equated this to his low talent. However, now he was no longer convinced of this. The only thing difficult for Lucky was accumulating enough energy to breakthrough. His body was like a bottomless pit. Initially, Lucky feared the seventh level hard body was exceptionally far away.

This fear had just been washed away by the original pressure chamber.

The origin energy became a stream of milky white mist that spread through his flesh, muscles, meridians, and even his bones. He could actually feel his body growing more robust by the second. To become a sacred cultivator, one must purify and strengthen the body diligently. This is how you train the body to produce essence. Lucky Riot was currently tempering his internal body and mystic origin, and his mystic origin was generating a powerful essence strength in the form of Primal Essence qi.

This primal qi rotated around his spirit circuit system for thirty cycles before any essence was produced, and even then, it was only a small belt worth of essence.

This lasted for an unknown time, as Lucky immersed himself in the world of his own body. As the students watched this scene, they couldn't believe their eyes. An hour ago, Lucky was thought to be on his last leg, sweat dripping from his forehead. However, now he looked to be glowing and healthy like he was full of robust life-force. He simply looked better than before he entered. To the shock of Scarlet Mercury and Magus Fair-Weather, even Lucky's life-magnetic field was expanding.

As experts, they knew the reality of the situation.

"The life-magnetic field expanding could only mean that Kasino managed to breakthrough in the chamber." Magus Fair-Weather sighed softly.

He did not resemble the other students taking the assessment at all.

Many students still couldn't believe their eyes. Was this still Lucky Riot, after all? Had he secretly been cloned and replaced?

However, most of them had long since become numb to this freak Lucky. The students remaining were more worried about their own prospects. After all, this assessment would decide their futures.

"I… I… I…" Scarlet Mercury was standing in a daze. She looked as if her soul had left her body, as she muttered in low tones, "How… how could he possibly… how.."

There were currently four students remaining who had yet to complete their assessment. Margot Frenzy and Kenneth Royale had yet to enter an original pressure chamber. Aubrey Graham was now approaching the halfway mark to her second hour within.

While Lucky Riot… had already spent five and a half hours inside!

Not only that, but his cultivation boundary seems to be rapidly approaching the next level!

"Teacher Mercury, I think… that it is safe to assume young mister Riot has completely reset the record! Renzo Frenzy's record at both the sixth and seventh levels is broken by a boy who just entered the sixth level! This is sure to be big news for Nibiru City. A new genius has been born, and he ranks among the commoners at that," said Magus Fair Weather cheerily with her sweet voice.

A commoner genius?

Scarlet Mercury felt like dying where she stood. How would she explain this to her husband, Vino Mercury? She was going to have to be this brat's private maid! A servant maid at that! With the slave collar on her neck, couldn't this brat Kasino do anything he wanted with her?