Sweat dripped down Seifr's face as he ran along the outer perimeter path. He would occasionally reach up and wipe the sweat away from his face, but he was beginning to do more harm than good because there was no longer a dry spot on his body. His clothes clung to his body, and his breathing was ragged. He had long since lost count of how many laps he had run around the entire campus.

After that first administrative day, the students in the 1st Class were not lead to any kind of orientation. Instead, they were woken up and ordered to immediately begin running and physical calisthenics. They would exercise their bodies to exhaustion, stop to cultivate, exercise, cultivate, in an endless cycle all day, every day.

The instructors were actually very good at recognizing the breaking points and limits of the younger students, and in between bouts of pure hatred and resentment, Seifr was impressed. The speed of improvement in the other children was astonishing, and a couple of the older new students had already moved on to the 2nd Class, which appeared to be more of the same, but with a little more classical instruction in their main building. It had been almost a month since the admission day, and Seifr was lagging further and further behind these other students, only advancing to the 5th Stage Common Realm.

He had no time to focus on friendship or pursue any kind of relationship with anyone. Supposedly this treatment would not last the entire time they were in the 1st Class. He had heard rumors that it was a tactic used by the instructors to weed out the ones without the necessary work ethic and willpower to succeed. Despite the grueling conditions, the instructors had never pushed anyone dangerously past their limits.

As Seifr ran along the path, his mind was entering a blank space that he had briefly experienced a couple times previously. His body would continue performing the actions, and he would be totally conscious, but at the same time all the pain and sensations would leave his body. He still had to gasp for breath, but he no longer noticed or paid attention to the burning in his lungs.

He felt his heartbeat pulsing through his blood in his fingers and toes. His tongue, of all places, went numb. His vision reduced to just the path in front of him. The previous few times this had happened to him, he had already been at the end of his exercise regimen. This time, however, he still had a ways to go.

"...Er..." He thought he heard something in the distance. He could not focus enough beyond the task at hand to put any thought towards it. As he placed one foot in front of the other, he started to see weird, bright streams of color in his vision. He had absolutely no idea what was going on. Was he going crazy? He could not stop to find out. One step in front of the other.

"...Fer..." The sound was more distinct this time, more urgent. It was attempting to intrude on the peace of mind Seifr had achieved in his run. The streams of color started to coalesce into a vortex, and then rushed towards his body. He could not avoid it even if he tried. It was not just everywhere, it was everything. The very fabric of reality appeared to be inundated with this strange color.

Seifr's body suddenly erupted with energy. It felt as if every cell in his body had suddenly caught on fire at a thousand degrees. He screamed out in pain as it pulsed along with his heartbeat. His vision at this point was completely black, but he was still conscious. There was nothing he could in this state. He could not move, he could not breathe, he could not even grasp a coherent thought.

"SEIFR!" A heavy slap brought Seifr's vision back to himself. He found himself sitting in the lotus position, surrounded by what seemed to be every instructor on the campus. Master Kveld himself was the man who had slapped him to gain his attention. Seifr was panting as he looked around in bewilderment. The pain in his body was gone, but he could still feel the occasional tingle and electrical shock run through his body.

Master Kveld eyed Seifr worriedly and checked his body for injuries. When he could find nothing out of the ordinary, he looked into Seifr's eyes and addressed the boy, "Are you ok, lad? You gave us quite the scare there."

Seifr had no idea what was going on, he did not even know where he was or how he had got there. His body slowly calmed down and his breathing gradually came under control. He looked back at Master Kveld. "Master, I really couldn't tell you. I have no idea what's going on. One minute I was running along, then the next I felt like I was on fire and started screaming. Then you slapped me and I woke up."

Master Kveld exchanged glances with some of the other instructors before looking back at Seifr. "Son, you stopped running thirty minutes ago and just sat down and started cultivating. You weren't supposed to be finished with your exercise yet, so the instructor tried to wake you. After you wouldn't respond to any kind of stimulus, he came and got me. It took me a solid five minutes to wake you up."

Seifr was completely astonished at what he was hearing. "Well, Master, I appear to be completely fine now. My body feels totally fine. In fact I feel better than ever. Wait a second!" Seifr's eyebrows rose to the top of his forehead as he examined himself. He was stunned to discover that his cultivation accumulation had not only advanced in level, but he had actually nearly advanced an entire realm. He was currently at the 3rd Stage Mortal Realm. When he woke up that morning and started on his run, he was only at the 5th Stage Common Realm with no indications of advancement any time soon.

Master Kveld smiled and chuckled softy when he noticed the expression on Seifr's face. "Heh, so you finally noticed. I must admit, even though it's only at the beginning realms, I've never seen nor heard of anyone breaking through so many stages at once. Your hard work has certainly paid off and come to fruition. I know that typically one advances to the 2nd class when one attains the 5th or 6th rank Mortal Realm, depending, but we're going to go ahead and have you move on over. Take the rest of the day off, then report to the 2nd class hall tomorrow morning for some classroom instruction." Kveld patted Seifr on the shoulder and then stood up straight. He signaled to the other instructors, and they returned to their previous duties. Only Seifr's 1st class and one of the 2nd class instructors remained behind.

"Seifr, you scared the hell out of me, but seeing as how everything seems to be fine, I guess congratulations are in order?" The 1st class instructor, Instructor Beil, had a strange look on his face. It looked like a mix between panic and relief. "But in the future, try not to advance in such a spectacular fashion. The normal method will do just fine, ok?" Instructor Beil maintained a lighthearted attitude about the situation, more for his own benefit than Seifr's.

Seifr scratched his head in embarrassment as he stood up. "Yes, Instructor, I don't think I want to do that again."

Instructor Beil smiled at him one last time, then departed to continue his duties overseeing the other young students. The other instructor who had remained, the 2nd class instructor, stepped forward. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and was at the 10th Stage Profound Realm. The earlier classes were instructed by the lower realm instructors with very few exceptions.

"I am Instructor Nalai. Quite impressive to advance so much in such a short time. I am lead to believe that you were only at the 4th Stage Common Realm when you arrived here three weeks ago?" Seifr nodded his head in confirmation at the question. Instructor Nalai's eyebrows raised slightly. "Well, as Master Kveld said, you can take the rest of the day off. Go and clean yourself up, then get your new tan robes. Actually, reverse order. Go get the robes first, but don't put them on until you wash the sweat away. You can maintain your bunk and chest at the dormitory in the 1st class for now. It's not absolutely necessary to get you moved over until we get an influx of more students."

Seifr got the impression that Instructor Nalai had a sense of humor from the way she told him to get washed up. She had an amiable expression on her face. He would describe it as an almost smile: not quite a smile, but not quite not a smile. Even Seifr's own head was spinning at the mental image he was giving himself.

"Yes, Instructor." Seifr gave a short bow and then turned to walk off towards the East class. This was definitely a sudden event that surprised everyone.

~

Kveld stood at the window in his office looking out over the campus grounds. His office was located on the top floor of the central building. It was rather spacious and took up nearly a quarter of the whole floor. To be fair, his office was attached to his quarters, also. Only the most powerful instructors had their quarters on the fourth floor, and there was one set of quarters reserved for "distinguished guests." Kveld's quarters were fairly spartan, and his office likewise reflected that personality trait. Kveld had lived a long time, and his desire for worldly possessions was waning.

Kveld tapped the glass of the window absentmindedly as he watched the students and instructors go about their day. His vision was drawn to a particular student, one who had certainly astonished him this day. He was lost in thought contemplating what his course of action should be in light of what had happened.

"So are you going to tell me what that was all about? My skin was all itchy and it felt like my Spiritual Energy accumulation was being pulled away," a voice interrupted Kveld's thoughts. Another man was in Kveld's office. He was sitting in one of the cushy chairs with a leg thrown over one of the arms and swinging back and forth. He appeared to be in his early thirties and had an apparently irreverent attitude, which would have shocked anyone from the school if they had seen it. Not just anyone from the school, pretty much anyone from the province would find it hard to believe the audacity of such a man.

Kveld continued to stare out the window, tapping the glass slowly. He sighed gently and spoke to the other man without looking at him, "A student caused a ki vortex." Kveld had not been entirely honest with Seifr earlier. It was true the instructor was on his way to find him, but Kveld was already almost there, alerted by the ki vortex he, but nobody else, could see.

At the words Kveld spoke, the man threw his leg back straight and sat up in the chair in astonishment. "A student caused a ki vortex? Are you sure?" The man sounded skeptical.

Kveld chuckled as he turned to face the unidentified man. "That's not all. The student in question is a 15 year old boy who was at the 5th Stage Common Realm." Kveld walked over to take another seat. The other man continued to stare at the spot where Kveld had been standing, unable to process this information. "The last time I saw a ki vortex, it was a sand dragon making a breakthrough to the Heaven Realm. This phenomenon is not easily achieved. If that kid had been at the Sky Realm, this ki vortex would have been many times stronger even than from that dragon, and it would have physically manifested as gravity. It could have possibly affected the entire city."

"Do you think anyone else noticed?" The man appeared slightly anxious.

Kveld snorted as he replied, "You're at the 3rd Stage Sky Realm, and you only felt an itchy feeling on your skin and a pull to your dantian. There isn't anyone else powerful enough in the city to have felt it at the distance they would need to be to go unnoticed by me. But if anyone asks, it was something I was doing."

The man finally refocused his attention on Kveld sitting across from him and nodded before asking, "What are you going to do?"

Kveld tapped the armrest with his finger as he contemplated the question. "I don't know."