Standing alone in the middle of the dense forest, Emery was deep in thoughts, thinking what he should do from this point on. Shaking his head, he proceeded to make his way back to the rave. After the patriarch had left, he honestly also wanted to leave this place.
Alas, the moment he returned to the rave, he was caught by Brutus and the other acolytes and forced to join the party. Emery obviously wanted to refuse, but seeing there were so many people who wished to know him better and noticing the numerous eyes watching him, he could only reluctantly stay at the rave until the event finished. It wasn't good for him to offend these people, after all.
It wasn't until the sun rose on the horizon that people started leaving, signifying the end of the gathering. Pack by pack began to leave to their own home, until there were only Chief Beowlf and his main pack at the area.
The academy acolytes left together, walking through the portal and returning to Zodiac City. After that, they split up and headed towards their own destinations.
The first thing Emery did when he arrived at the city was actually checking out the Bloodline Gene place mentioned by the patriarch. After scouring through the bustling streets of Zodiac City, crossing through countless alleys, he finally found the place.
It was a small place located in a shady corner of the city. Emery had quite a difficult time to search for it as its location was quite remote. Fortunately, he found it.
Alas, Emery's happiness did not last long as a board seen in front of the place brought cold water over him. The words written on it caused his face to twitch.
'Leaving for 10 days. Will come back on the 10th. - Bob"
Checking out the date, Emery realized that he could only return here later, after his second 5 days elite class training. Knowing there was still time in the future, he only sighed at his unluckiness and came later.
At the moment, Emery still had 4 days to spend, before his second round of mandatory class began. So, he decided to go cultivate in the origin room, taking advantage of every second of his available time.
After thinking for a while, Emery decided to start from the element he was most confident with, the Plant element.
That very same day, he made his way to the Plant Institute, Elder's Respite. Even though he had seen this massive tree quite a few times, Emery was still overwhelmed by the magnificence and fleur it exuded.
When Emery went into the institute, he saw Magus Erica in the main hall. She was one of the plant element instructors who was badly injured during the previous attack incident. He was glad to see her back to her former self.
After saying a short greeting to the female magus, Emery went to the acolytes who handled the entry into the origin stone room.
Unexpectedly, the moment the acolyte knew he was an elite acolyte, Emery was offered to stay in the room overnight, which was completely different to when he was a regular acolyte restricted to only 12 hours a day.
This was another benefit of being an elite acolyte. They were given access to use the room fully, similarly to a magus. Of course, the privilege was only similar, not the same.
Emery quickly asked the reasons behind such rules. Fortunately, the acolyte was kind enough to explain.
Apparently, the origin stone room was not recommended to be used for an extended period of time to those who had low talent. In the past, the academy found out that those people, who had low talent, would only receive detrimental results on their cultivation if they used the room too long.
Therefore, the academy made such rules to prevent unnecessary harm towards the acolytes and prevent wasting resources on those who could not use them properly.
After hearing the reasons, Emery immediately ordered four straight days worth of access to the room, which totalled the staggering eight thousands contributions points.
[8.000 contribution points used]
[146.650 contribution points left]
Before he entered the familiar room, Emery checked his status again, to keep track and compare the improvement he would gain for the next four days.
[Emery Ambrose]
[Battle Power : 47]
[Spirit Force : 185]
[Plant Spirit – Mid-Foundation]
[Water Spirit – Mid-Foundation]
[Earth Spirit – Mid-Foundation]
[Spirit Core of Darkness – Stage 4]
[Fey Bloodline – Rank 3]
[Acolyte Rank: 7]
The next milestone he aimed to reach was the rank 8, which meant he needed a total of 250 spirit force. Thanks to the B aptitude he had, Emery had prepared himself for the worst. This time, he came prepared.
He had two Spirit Foundation Pills in his hand. One he received as the reward for entering the elite class, while the other for successfully defeating the 10 third years acolytes in duel.
Making sure he was ready, Emery entered the room and walked towards the Origin Stone of Plant as close as he could. After reaching the point where he felt he couldn't advance anymore, he proceeded to sit cross-legged.
Emery took out one of the Spirit Foundation Pill out of his ring and swallowed the nail-size pill whole.
Immediately after, he felt a rush of energy building up inside his body. Without wasting any more time, Emery began to slowly channel it into his dark core, guiding it into the green-colored spirit element. He used the rich energy coming from the pill to aim for a breakthrough in his cultivation.
As Emery was concentrating on the floating stone before him, illusions once again began to fill his mind. This time, he found the illusion of being part of a forest to become even more vivid than before. From the previous small leaf, Emery felt its growth until it grew into a huge tree.
…
[Spirit force increased]
[Spirit force increased]
[Spirit force increased]
[Spirit force increased]
The first two days of his marathon went on very smoothly as Emery's spirit force successfully increased by a total of 4 points. Indeed, the uninterrupted meditation did help make the cultivation result much more effective.
…
Third day.
[Spirit force increased]
Fourth day,
[Spirit force increased]
Unfortunately, Emery only got an increase of one point per day during the next two days. He wasn't sure if it was because of the weakening effect from the pill or just the side-effect of doing long duration meditation.
[Total Spirit Force : 191]
The moment his time ended, Emery walked out of the origin stone room with a yawn. After all, it was tiring to continuously cultivate for four days. Later that day, he returned to his estate.
That night, as promised, he had planned to have a meeting with his five friends.
Julian, Thrax, Chumo and Klea, one by one, arrived at Emery's estate. From their current state, Emery assumed they were all just returned from their own personal training.
The five friends shared their results of each of their training. One particular result that caught Emery's interest was Klea, who used her Spirit Foundation Pill during her cultivation in the lightning origin stone room. Coincidentally, she also used the room for four days in the row, the same as him.
However, unlike his pitiful 6 point increase in spirit force, Klea gained three times that, resulting in the downhearted Emery.
Klea's result further encouraged him to find a solution to his problem, not wallow in it. Otherwise, he would be left behind faster than he ever thought.