The sun was beginning to set by the time Gaius finished venting his emotions. The first thing he noticed was what essentially amounted to spiky balls within his lungs — after trapping in that chilly energy hours ago, he had not breathed out a single time.

Was there any relation between the level of destructiveness exhaling such energy out had and the duration that said energy had been trapped within his body? He didn’t want to find out the hard way; not with so many people still around him.

To his dismay, Instructor Aziz didn’t notice his plight. In the first place, they hadn’t interacted for long, and Instructor Aziz had noted Gaius as the silent type, given that he hadn’t spoken much in the way of social matters and niceties.

He did, however, give Gaius a look of praise as he handed out the military’s cultivation manual, assuming that the twelve-year-old boy, as he was still doing breathing exercises even after the session ended, was being very diligent. Of course, all that was premised upon him not hearing Gaius’ inner voice cursing at him.

The first thing Gaius did after the Instructor pointed out their new lodgings and dismissed them for the night was to find a deserted place. He had been holding in that damned chilly energy in his lungs for hours on end, and even with his pain nullification techniques, his nerves had been on fire for the past hour.

He looked around once more, ascertained that there were no one within sight, and then tilted his head upwards and outwards. Gaius exhaled, and a tingling sensation ran through his body, from his lungs all the way down.

At the same time, a thunderclap reverberated all around the campgrounds. The earth shuddered, and as whatever Gaius exhaled shot up at what seemed the speed of sound, the sky lit up as esoteric symbols blotted out the stars.

Gaius’ eyes widened, and he scrambled for the nearest tents as shouts and sirens tore through the relatively silent night. Trails of light shot up into the skies, clearly intent on chasing down whatever that had broken out of the camp. He could hear men cursing as they forced combat gear on, and troop commanders shouting and roaring.

By all accounts, Gaius felt that he had destroyed a good night’s sleep by accident. The level of security in this camp was unexpectedly stringent, however. This place was clearly intended to house people like him — the homeless and the poor — which shouldn’t require camp security measures that even mobilised people capable of flying.

Hell, Gaius didn’t even know that people could fly in this world, but judging from the usually-clear skies, people able to fly were definitely up there on the rarity list.

What did the authorities have in mind when they set up such measures, and why?

It didn’t take long before Gaius came up with the answer.

Infiltrators. But what exactly was in this camp that would entice hostile nations to send in such high value targets?

There was nothing that came to mind. If these people wanted to infiltrate the camp by using the government’s channels to enter the military, there were surely better ways than entering through the group that would be the most scrutinised by the authorities.

Shaking his head, Gaius peeked out.

Patrols had doubled, even tripled. Even more soldiers with armour on were lined up in ranks of five, singing marching songs as officers and sergeants yelled at them. Darkness had been driven away by hundreds and hundreds of torches, and military aides dashed around with bags. From afar, Gaius could even see individuals donned in dark uniforms split up, presumably scouts, dispatched to provide early warning against incoming enemies.

Gaius checked his surroundings, and after waiting for the tenth patrol to pass by, he slipped into the shadows. His new quarters were not too far away, and within ten minutes, Gaius had slipped into the tent designated for trainees. His heart was slightly pounding, but that was all. He'd done this enough that he knew what nerve signals to send.

He didn’t draw any attention from the tent full of sleeping children. Making his way towards his bed, Gaius suddenly thought of Nakama. What was she doing now, especially with the camp at high alert? Was she walking around, her curious eyes staring at the contingents of men? Or was she curled up on her bed, frightened?

An urge to find her rose up within Gaius, and it took all his mental stamina to quell that thought. It would be too risky to find her now. No matter how much he wanted to assure his trembling psyche, his efforts to stay low-key would be for naught if the camp patrols found him suspicious.

Gaius sat on the bed after brushing whatever sand and dust that were stuck on him when he snuck towards the tent. Sighing inwardly, he took out the manual that Instructor Aziz had given to him, and opened it. It was only three pages long. The first one depicted a diagram of the human body, the second one a single mnemonic, and the third a blank page.

“Flood the throat with the energies of the heavens; temper the guts with a searing flame. Shatter the blockage of the heart with a decisive blow; soar to the skies with a single step.” Gaius read the mnemonic out loud, and then flipped back towards the front page. He wasn’t dumb enough to start cultivating right now — the Instructor just wanted them to read through it and think about it.

Gaius repeated the mnemonic a few more times, and then turned to the last page. There was something curious about the blank page. He couldn’t believe that the military would give out manuals that had their last page completely empty. It was highly possible that there was some secret to it.

Invisible ink came to mind immediately. The lights in the tent, however, were hung too high for Gaius to take down easily. He could move the bed to gain enough elevation, but that would be too conspicuous.

He looked the blank page again, and decided to sleep instead. Today’s events had taken a lot of stamina from him. It didn’t take long before darkness clouded his vision.