Jack didn’t go back home but let the cart take him to the training ground.

He didn’t think much about what he had told the principal, even though he suspected the Corvus’s magic wouldn’t have dissipated that simple. He had sent a message and sought out what he needed. Now, the only concern in his mind was his own condition.

The exhaustion he had experienced today had shown him his need for more practice. He had heard a lot about the awakening ceremony when children reached their tenth birthday. Many believed the future of the individual shall be decided at that very moment of the ceremony, but Jack thought otherwise. Without good fundamentals, any major improvement on the body from the ceremony wouldn’t be sufficient to improve one’s potential. Jack would rather believe in this philosophy from his previous life than entrust his future to a mysterious ceremony, the nature of which he himself, and all other premier sources of information that he had gotten his hand on, couldn’t truly grasp.

Jack warmed up with his regular stretching moves. Looking at the stakes lying about before him, Jack was startled. The things he was going to do wouldn’t be any better than torturing every single muscle fibre in his body. He had always mocked this method; now, when he was more fragile than ever, he practiced it.

“Xerath wouldn’t have to hear about this,” Jack muttered.

With that being said, he jumped onto the two lowest stakes on the field. The surface of these two was much larger than the rest. They were called the two starting points, and they would remain so as the exercises progressed in their complexity.

The first practice was that of balancing on the pair of stakes while his upper body moved, leaning forward and backward. Sometimes he would turn it up a notch and do some full-body off-balance leaning with one leg, summing up to a total of twelve different moves.

It was impractical for Jack to perform all of them on the first day, not only because of their difficulties but also Jack’s stamina. Some positions automatically activated his mana manipulation, exhausting him faster. This was Jack’s target and the magic of Xerath’s training method. This cycle of attrition and regeneration would improve the speed and intensity of his mana manipulation. Between each move, Jack took a ten minutes break and practiced his breathing regulation. Just like that, around ten times, he would reach his limit of exhaustion and stop.

Jack looked toward the mansion and saw the setting sun on the skyline. So many times had he seen this, but he was still marveled by the spectacle. The sky was like an enormous blanket, spreading out and hanging by the scattered clouds as the wind caressed his sweaty skin.

After sitting down, Jack took out some crumbs from the crystal that the principal had given him. As he curled his legs, his eyes closed shut, his fingers brushed the crumbs, and his mind proceeded to perform the mana-absorbing meditation that he had always practiced ever since his awakening.

A rustling sound came out from his hands as a blue wave slithered around his fingers and toward his nose. Jack breathed in and attempted to navigate it all over his body, but he only managed to guide it to his heart, lung, and stomach. The rest, he gave up and let his body deal with it naturally.

Same with drinking the tea earlier, he felt so much better. The difference, though, was about sufficiency. It wasn’t enough, not by a mile.

“I better find more ways to get those mana crystals!”

Jack asked father Abraham for some mana crystals during dinner.

“What do you need them for?” Abraham asked, signaling Jack to give him the mashed potatoes.

“For training,” Jack said. “They would help me a lot if I could absorb them in the right amount.”

Abraham stopped and looked toward his wife. His fingertips rubbed each other as he was thinking. He didn’t give any immediate answer and simply returned to his beefsteak.

“So, how was your day at school?” Sophie asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“I was accepted to the senior class,” Jack said, his eyes still on his father, “the principal has seen it approved.”

“Really?” Sophie’s voice was full of excitement.

She was about to drop her dining ware to run toward Jack’s seat on the other side of the table and probably give him a big hug when Abraham raised his hand up, holding her in her place. He knocked his eating knife on the edge of the plate, his thumbs and index finger on the other hand still rubbing each other as he knitted his brows.

“You said the principal approved it?” He asked, not looking at Jack. “You asked him to do that?”

“Yes,” Jack said, “with my own competence.”

The answer was to avoid any suspicions that were going on in Abraham’s head. There were secrets that Jack reckoned he shouldn’t let his ordinary merchant of a father know too much about.

Abraham then dropped his stuff down like Sophie. Only now did he lean his body facing Jack.

“What type of crystal do you need?”

“Type?”

“You don’t even know about the types, but ask for them anyway?” Abraham laughed.

Jack was still quietly waiting for an explanation.

“There are three types of common mana crystal used in magic, Jack. The lowliest of them are the Lesser Crystal, the second one is Medium Crystal, and the third is Higher Crystal. There is also the Supreme Crystal, which is extremely rare, so rare that maybe even the Emperor doesn’t have much in his possession, I bet you.”

“And they are rare enough to make you so pondering?”

Abraham smiled reluctantly.

“It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but the amount of crystal we can afford will be used to pay for your awakening ceremony, even though it seems even that won’t bring much effect.”

“ABRAHAM!” Sophie yelled.

Abraham put his hand up and calmed her. Without turning his head around, he continued speaking.

“But, the fact that the principal has allowed you to join the senior class today means he saw something in you. I know the man, we may be friends, but he will not give out biased judgments.”

Jack nodded. He understood his parent’s concern about the future. He was one of the weaklings who bore the Corvus name and as such, his actions were constantly monitored, even by the two persons who wholeheartedly loved him. Perhaps, the thing that worried them the most was the day he would be taken from them.

“I won’t return to them, no matter what they did. You can be sure of that.”

Jack gave Sophie, who was relieved after hearing his words, a cheerful smile.

“So,” Jack continued, “what’s the value of a crystal, father?”

“Commoners can’t do any transaction with something higher than a lesser crystal. And lesser crystals themself are quite hard to trade for. One reason is that it costs one thousand gold coins.”

Jack couldn’t help but roll his eyes in response to his father’s words. One thousand gold coins are enough to buy a piece of land the size of his training field. Was it then that he had just had a cup of tea worth a hundred gold coins? Based on the crystal size the principal held, he reckoned it had been a lesser one. He knew they were valuable, but he hadn’t bothered looking into their prices until now.

Jack suddenly recalled the chest that Edward had brought with him from the Corvus’s place when he had been cast out. Inside was jewelry that the Corvus called “farewell fee” to make sure Jack would have had enough to afford his commoner lifestyle. With some quick calculation, he estimated that selling all the jewelry could give him about fifteen to twenty lesser crystals. Those wouldn’t last long with the training intensity he had in mind.

Seeing Jack contemplating, Abraham ground his teeth and decided.

“I can afford you one crystal every week.”

“One more from me,” Sophie stood up, her eyes full of expectation, more than Jack had ever known.

Touched by the actions of the two, Jack smiled.

“I really want to kiss you both right now!”

“Give me a break, but Sophie doesn’t seem to mind at all!”

The next morning, Jack returned to school, following a new study schedule sent last night by the principal. This schedule was heavier than that of a normal student, but Jack knew these were the extra times for him and the principal to exchange the previously discussed matters.

Jack’s morning class was about Theories of Factions. The teacher was a young lady, about twenty-five years old. Her loose brown hair was trimmed neatly, dotted with chalk powder, from head to shoulder. Her face and body were thin, her back a bit hunched, her eyebags covered in a deep black. She wore a decorated robe like that of the principal, but instead of golden outlines, white ones.

She stepped onto the podium as her emerald eyes quickly scanned the class, stopping right at the end of it, which was Jack’s seat.

“I can’t possibly understand why the principal has given me another one without the mind for studying.”

Jack pretended he didn’t hear that. His hand reached into his bag for some books, putting them on his desk.

The teacher grumbled so loud that even Jack could hear the clanking of teeth.

“You should listen to her and take your stuff to the front row,” the fat kid beside Jack leaned his head, whispering.

“Too late now,” Jack shrugged.

With a voice full of irritation, Julia started his lesson about the factions. Though annoyed, her method of teaching and interacting with students was decent, though most students would rather choose to listen than talk back because of her fearsome reputation. Thanks to the exchanges, Jack was able to grasp some more information about the Maester faction.

Julia was a Maester, a faction known for its herbal and medical research, digging deep into the essences of natural substances. The foundational knowledge, extraction, and application of essences all came from the works and research of the Maesters. So was the ever-desired awakening ceremony, for it was also the work of this faction.

As far as Jack knew, no faction was without a dark side. The Maester’s ability to prepare deadly poisons was no inferior to their ability to save lives. A high-ranking Maester, a Crusader perhaps, could poison the whole population of Oxdale, quietly and undetectably.

“Jack,” Julia said loudly, “could a special student such as yourself tell the class about the strength of a Maester?”

His lips flicked, for this was one of those situations he had read in his dream, a classic situation in web novels. An inferior student, somehow managed to find themself in a higher class, was about to taste the first strike of the new hostile environment. He could sense some antipathy pairs of eyes from the other students.

Jack smiled, pushing himself straight up, drafting a speech inside his head about a malevolence and cunning force, ever diplomatic, always putting their interests above everything because everyone needed and feared them. But, as he stood on his feet, he couldn’t stop his smile.

“Welcome back, buddy!” Jack eagerly said.

Ignoring Julia menacingly heading toward him, eyes red and teeth gritting, all Jack could see now was a golden bordered board appearing before his eyes.

System Installation Complete

Initializing…