Chapter 52: Eta rank

*Astral Mystic Institute– class 1–A.*

Sitting on my usual seat behind the class, I tried to focus on what the sorcery and spellcasting Instructor was saying. The keyword being ’tried’.

And it wasn’t only because the class was boring– which it was by the way. But also because my mind was somewhere more important. I was going to breakthrough to the Eta rank today.

We returned to the institute around 8pm yesterday. A supposed three hours shopping had taken eight hours. Not that I was complaining, since I also got to drive myself to poverty.

Anyway, the moment we returned, we were already being awaited by instructor Black in the mission hall. As he led us to give our detailed reports– which was more of a drag than anything else. One thing led to another, and suddenly, everyone from the first year to the third, now knew we got ambushed by heretics and still managed to make it out alive.

Alistair, as usual got the most attention. In addition to him being famous as a holder of an omega ranked physique, his fame would increase even more after this incident spreads.

Unknown to him, the fame would bring him more problems than good. It would drew the heretics attention towards him. Numerous attacks would follow after him. Not to mention Jayden that he decided to leave alive. Pretty stupid if you ask me.

Though I also wasn’t one to judge, after all, I kind of did the same. If I hadn’t left Ms present alive, Anastasia wouldn’t be here bothering me. God, just thinking about it frustrates me.

If I could go back to that time, I would be sure to give knock some sense into my past self for deciding to spare her.

“Alright. This marks the end of our session.”

Breaking me out of my cage of thoughts was the spellcasting Instructor’s calm voice. Right after she announced the end of the class, she left the classroom. This was the second sorcery and spellcasting class we’ve had since classes started.

All that bluster about wanting to learn sorcery, only to realize again the main reason why I had refused to learn it in the past. It was boring, and kind of goes through one of my ears, and out the other.

It was the last class of the day, so, letting out a sigh, I also stood up, and decided to head back to my dorm. Dion didn’t attend this class, so I was all alone. Save for the extra pairs of eyes following my every move.

–”Shhhh, don’t let him hear you!”

–”What? I’m not afraid of him!”

–”Yeah, I heard the only reason he survived was pure luck.”

What do you know? Extras never change. But I better not find who was spreading baseless rumors about me.

As I leisurely walked back to the dorms, my mind went back to combat class today. During today’s combat class, Instructor Black surprised everyone– excluding me.

Instead of the usual routine we went through the past week, the instructor changed the motive for this week. By the end of the week, he wanted every student to have increased their mastery in at least one of the techniques they practiced.

So, rather than pairing us up to fight, we were dismissed, and each given the freedom to train however we wanted during the duration allotted for the combat class throughout this week.

Instructor Black said he had a way to know if one had really upgraded their mastery, but I knew he was lying. Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to slack off. I must increase my mastery, both in the Mirage steps, and the Darkfell royal sword style in order to learn the third art.

Seeing Rose use ’Fall’ yesterday ignited my resolve to attain it.

Mastery of a technique is divided into; Beginner, Advanced, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, and finally, Perfected.

The Darkfell royal sword style however, is divided into four arts based on the four seasons. That is, spring, summer, fall, and winter. You’d have to reach advanced mastery to even be able to use the first art; Blooming spring.

Then reach expert mastery to use the second art; Summer blaze. Master mastery for the third art; Fall, and Grandmaster mastery for the last art; Blizzard vale. As for the perfected mastery, I haven’t heard anything about it, nor read about it in the novel.

It took me around half an hour to reach the dorms. I didn’t know the reason why the institute never made teleportation matrixes that lead from the dorms to the dome, and vice versa, but I kind of liked it. The long walk helped me unwind a little.

……

Calming down my mind, I sat my ass on the floor, with my legs crossed. I was still a little unfamiliar with the legs crossing part though. Sometimes I even wondered if that part was necessary.

As I drew a long breath, the outside world slowly went silent. All my focus went to the thumping aether core in my heart. I slowly guided a strip of aether through my body, while molding it into the shape of a blooming lotus.

The moment the lotus formed, I mobilized a torrent of aether that pushed it through the parhs of previously broken barriers, and towards the current unbroken barrier in my navel.

A small pop echoed through my body as the blooming lotus exploded against the barrier. That was the Dark lotus method, and, “Damnit.” My brows contoured into a grimace. Did I forget to mention that it hurt quite a bit?

But the pain was worth it. Another crack had added itself to the barrier’s collection of cracks.

I continued channelling, lotus after lotus, cracks after cracks. To be honest, by this time I had quite lost the track of time. Channelling was usually like that, and the more I tried, the more my aether was draining. The exploding lotus wasn’t giving me back my aether after all. After what felt like an eternity later, when I had almost run out of aether,

CRACK!

The barrier shattered with a resounding crack. A torrent of aether surged from my navel, way denser than what I had, and also much more than I had. It surged through my muscles bone, and every fiber of my being, before settling down in my aether core.

“So this is what it feels like.” I muttered, opening my eyes. It felt euphoric. From what I felt alone, I could tell my strength had increased. My mind had also become clearer. But none of these were comparable to the changes in my aether.

My aether felt denser than ever, more malleable, though it wasn’t double more than I had before, it’s quality had surely increased.

“Status.” I called out.

====Status====

Name: Damon Darkfell

Race: Human

Age: 18

Title : Third prince of the Darkfell empire.

Rank : Eta

Strength : Eta

Agility : Eta+

Stamina : Eta

Aether capacity : Theta-

Luck : Delta-

Charm : Alpha

Techniques: Aether reinforcement (Master), Darkfell royal sword style (Expert), Mirage steps (Expert).

Unique physique : Nexus prism physique (Omega rank.)

– initial ability: One of many [Create reflections of yourself to confuse foes. The strength of your reflection depends on the amount of Aether spent. You can seamlessly swap places with any of your reflections.]

“What the hell…?” my jaw hung in disbelief. My aether capacity had reached the Theta- rank? I’d be damned if I wasn’t thrilled.

The first thing that came to my mind after that was; “How many reflections would I be able to make with this much aether?” I’d to check to find out.

’Would I be able to beat Rose now?’ I mused. Because last time we got paired, she was swinging me around like a wrecking ball even though our stats were only a rank apart.

I wondered that because the stats showed on the status screen aren’t all that accurate. For example, a tall and buff man who has Eta- ranked strength on his status screen might overpower an average kid our age who has an Eta rank in strength.

There are other factors that contribute to that. For example, the status screen clearly stated that I had Theta- aether capacity, but if my body wasn’t strong enough to hold it, It’d only be Theta- in name.

Sure when someone ranks up, their stats will increase. But they’d only be at the lower levels of that rank. One would have to shift into it, especially through training, to solidly sit in that rank.

Anyway, it was time to test my new strength. With a mental tug, a reflection of mine appeared before me.

“Five percent huh?” I muttered. I liked the odds. It now took five percents of my upgraded aether, to create a regular reflection. Perhaps one day, I could even fulfill my dream of making a thousand me.

Just imagine it, a thousand me, or maybe a single reflection with the same amount of aether used to create a thousand me.

Muahahaha.

I might have been wrong when I said this ability was only utility based.

************

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT EVERYONE. AND DONT FORGET THE POWER STONES.

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