8 PM sharp, History Department, Teacher's Office.
Teacher Lina was still on campus, reviewing study materials and papers for her history students' upcoming mid-semester exam.
Teacher Lina hailed from the Greene family, which was once a distinguished noble family headed by an Earl in the past.
It was unknown what the Greene County did, but they suffered misfortune one instance after another until the Greene family declined, losing their fief, and moved into the capital.
Although the current head of the Greene family, Lina's father, held onto Earl's rank through the hereditary system, it has become nothing but an empty title without land, power, and wealth.
Lina Greene was hardworking and manage to become a history teacher at the Royal Crawford University at the tender age of 24. She continued to work hard in the hopes of making her household prosper once more.
"Ah! it's already so late!"
Lina suddenly released the time and decided to finish up work for the day to head home.
....
Leon did not have high hopes of successfully practicing the [Hegemony of Primal Chaos], but he did not want to give up before even trying.
One cannot hope to achieve anything if they do not even take the step forward.
The [Hegemony of Primal Chaos] had five stages before one gains full mastery over the technique.
In precise order, each stage requires one to gain mastery of the; five elements, space and time, life and death, destruction and creation, and finally primal chaos after fusing all elements from the previous stages.
Expanding his senses, Leon perceived numerous types of energies in his surroundings.
However, Leon only requires the energy of the world's five primary elements; wood, fire, earth, metal, water. Spirit energy was scarce, but the five elements were in abundance.
Leon used a simple breathing exercise to draw in the five elements at once.
All life could draw energy into themselves, but transforming that energy into power was a different matter.
Due to his limited ability, the elements Leon could draw in was limited. However, it was sufficient to practice the initial stage.
Following the manual's instructions, Leon began circulating the five elements through his body's meridians in accordance.
The human body is said to be built similarly to the structure of the universe and can be viewed as a small universe, as a microcosm.
The circulation path was attuned to the way of the universe. Leon grew increasingly familiar with each complete cycle and increased his circulation speed to refine the five elements.
'The next step will decide my fate.'
The next step was the hurdle that stumped many powerhouses, labeling the step impossible to achieve; the fusion of the five elements.
It was not clearly explained how the fusion would occur and only instructed to continue increasing the circulation speed.
Leon planned to do precisely just that.
The circulation speed continued to steadily increase until it reached an unbelievable rate.
At this point, sweat had already formed on Leon's forehead. He started losing control of the five elemental energies in his body.
If he let them run out of control, he would suffer severe internal injuries despite the minuscule amount of energy being circulated.
'There's no turning back now. It's all or nothing.'
His mental strength was depleting, but Leon was determined to succeed. Steeling his resolve, he continued to push his limits.
'For my father!'
Leon gritted his teeth, but the inevitable happened.
He failed to keep up with his circulation speed, and it started rampaging out of control, inflicting tremendous pain to his meridians.
Had Leon given up earlier, he would have only suffered some light internal injuries, but he did not. He kept pushing himself and reached a dangerous turning point.
If he failed here, the backlash might just kill him.
'Dammit! Father! Your son has failed you!' Leon's eyes started swelling up with tears.
Leon's mental strength was depleted, and the energy wreaked havoc in his body. His consciousness started fading.
In his fading consciousness, he revisited the scene of his father shielding him from the enemies' attack. His father exhausted all his remaining strength and dispersed his own soul to protect Leon's soul from shattering.
"Goddammit—!"
Leon roared back to life.
The incident was like hot oil being poured into a waning flame that transformed into a raging fire.
Leon drew strength from an unknown source and forcefully brought the rampaging energy back under control with renewed and unprecedented circulation speed in blazing anger.
'Was this the clarity before death?'
Leon thought for a split moment but no longer care.
Closing his eyes, Leon was exhausted in body and mind. The sudden burst of strength came briefly as it went.
While thinking that death would soon claim him, the energy circulating in his body reached consistency in speed, revolving on its own. It was like it had been tamed and no longer tried to spiral out of control.
The five elements started fusing before finally forming new energy, a strand of Grandmist Energy.
The strand of Grandmist Energy continued circulating through his body, swiftly repairing the damages to his body before resting in his glabella.
Leon was just a bit short in circulating speed, and the burst was just what he needs to succeed.
Under the cleansing and healing prowess of the Grandmist Energy, Leon felt like he was undergoing a sort of rebirth.
His body was partially remolded and became slightly more robust. Impurities were expelled from his pores, and a horrid stench slowly permeated the surroundings.
Leon fell back on the infirmary bed. He sighed in relaxation, dazed for a moment before breaking into laughter stupidly.
He achieved the impossible.
'This [Hegemony of Primal Chaos] technique really tests one's willpower to the limit.' Leon shook his head with a grin, not knowing a deeper secret to his success was concealed.
Screech—!
The door to the infirmary was opened. Light shortly shone into the room, parting the darkness randomly before resting on Leon's face.
"Hey, you! Campus hours are long over! What are you still doing here!?" A security guard questioned, finding trouble with Leon.
"Ah…. My apologies, I'll leave now."
Smelling the horrible stench exuding from Leon, the security guard's face quickly paled in disgust.
"Oh my god! What is that smell? Quickly get lost!" The security guard shooed, no longer interested in making things difficult for Leon.
Leon did not mind the guard's aggressive bullying and scurried off. It was a regular occurrence he had learned to tolerate as a weak person.
However, things will change from now on!
Grrr~!
Exiting the campus, Leon's stomach began rumbling in protest. He rubbed his stomach wryly. One cannot conquer anything on an empty stomach.
At the same time, Leon felt nostalgic.
When one reaches the Divine state, food becomes a luxury and not a necessity.
Reaching the Divine state allows one to shed their mortal body and construct a spirit body, becoming self-sufficient through the spirit body's ability of photosynthesis. As long as the world is not devoid of energy, hunger will become a foreign word to Divine state practitioners.
Smelling a pleasant scent drifting in the air. Leon followed its trail, leading him to a small fried chicken stand.
"Boss, how much for five chicken pieces?"
"It'll be ten Craws."
Craws; it was the currency of the Crawford Kingdom in the form of special papers.
Searching his pockets, Leon fished out a note valuing ten Craws precisely before paying the street vendor.
Smelling the fried chicken, Leon almost forgot the joy of eating. The taste was not comparable to the Divine Realm's spirit-enriched food, but it was enjoyable, nonetheless.
…
Lower District.
"Hey, big brother. That lady is gorgeous. Maybe we should… you know?" A young thug said lasciviously while staring at a beautiful lady walking home alone in the middle of the night.
Looking at where the younger thug pointed, the thug's eyes lit up. Licking his lips, the thug made his way over immediately.
.....
Lina was making her way home through a relatively remote road. Had it have been any other day, She would not have chosen such a road home.
She immediately regretted not keeping track of time when she was working in the office.
Just when her day could not get any worse, a voice called out to her.
"Hey beautiful, it's a fine evening, is it not? Why don't you come and play with us?" Big brother thug said lewdly while checking her out.
"N-no, thank you. I'm busy."
Lina replied nervously while trying to make her way around the big thug in a hurry. Unfortunately, her path was blocked by two other thugs.
Fear gripped her heart.
She was fearless in front of her students. However, in front of big muscular thugs, she can only cower.
"Hahaha. Do not reject us while we are nice. We promise to give you a good time."
Lina's hands were swiftly grabbed before the three thugs dragged her into a remote alleyway, away from the main road.
"N-no, please let me go!" Lina cried.
The thugs covered her mouth to prevent her from making noises, and only muffled sounds could be heard.
Coincidentally, Leon was heading home in the same direction. While he enjoyed his fried chicken, he suddenly heard the muffled cries coming from the alleyway up ahead.
'Ha… Whatever, it's none of my business.'
Leon had not familiarized himself with the world yet. It was best to be low-key and avoid inviting disaster upon himself—At least until he possesses the strength to protect himself.
He had little information about the experts in this world. However, he was sure that the strongest person was definitely not him. A little bit of progress was not enough to make him complacent.
Even so, with one single strand of Grandmist, Leon already possesses the strength equivalent to the first layer of the Body Tempering Realm.
He must treasure his life above all others, even if it means going against his principle to help the weak.
After all, his life was no longer his own, but also his father's, who died granting him a new lease on life. As long as he is still breathing, his father will continue to live on inside his heart.
Leon hardened his resolve and decided to walk off.
Unfortunately, after taking one step away, he suddenly froze. A String of words repeated itself in his head. It was the [Heart of Saint] mantra that his father once forced him to recite in his younger days.
Recalling the daily repetition of reciting the [Heart of Saint] mantra made him shivered. It had developed a sort of trauma.
"Sigh…. I didn't choose the good guy life, but it chose me."
Leon turned around and walked towards the alleyway.
