It was a bit chaotic for the next week as we got used to my grandpa being in the house. Thankfully, we had a guest room so we had just enough space. The first time I rushed down the stairs to find both my dad and my grandpa sitting in front of the TV watching the news l tripped, falling the last few steps. By now, I'm a bit more used to it.
"I must say, TV's are much better now than 20 years ago." Grandpa was saying as he watched the commercials, "Although the commercials are MUCH worse."
Chuckling, my dad yelled, "You're gonna be late again!" at me as I ran down the stairs.
"Learn to read a clock, I'm early!" I yelled back as I went into the kitchen to grab some toast and found a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast waiting for me. Grabbing it, I walked into the living room and gave my grandpa a big hug, "You're the best!"
While chowing down, the news came back on. "... and there's still no clues as to what happened to the reportedly 48 missing children from the bus. Forensic analysis has found blood that indicates the bus driver was dead for at least two days before it reappeared out of no where. Search groups that have been scouring the area have found nothing. Meanwhile, doomsday groups across the globe have popped up, proclaiming the end of days." The scene shifts to a crazy looking man in dirty clothes with his hair askew holding a sign saying, 'The End Is Near', "Don't you guys feel it? DON'T YOU FEEL IT?!?! THEY ARE COMING!"
My grandpa muted the TV over my dad's complaints. He must've noticed how my face was paling the longer the news anchor was talking. "I know this is new for you, but this happens every time. You did the best you could."
Sighing, I just nodded my head and said, "I just feel like I need to grow stronger. I thought I was pretty strong, and compared to what I was like just a couple weeks ago it's a world of difference, but it's just not enough. I need to start refining my mind too."
"About time you said something!" He jumped up in excitement and dragged me into the kitchen while my dad turned the volume of the TV back on.
"What do you know about mind refining?" He asked me, expectantly.
"Not much, just that you can refine multiple techniques at once, and that I have a general idea of what direction I want to go in." I said
His smile never faultered, "Alright, lets start from the basics. Only 8-10% of the human mind activates at a time. Even peak level dantian and heartforce cultivators don't use more. That's the advantage of mindscape cultivators, by refining their minds with a special technique they're able to unlock more and more of their mind."
"Got it, so eventually mindscape cultivators are able to utilize the entirety of their brain. No wonder high level mindscape cultivators are so feared." I said, in awe of the possibilities.
"Yes, unfortunately it's a slow process which takes thousands of years to unlock the entirety of the mind. Which is where targeted techniques come into importance, our family technique specializes in utilizing Elemental Energy outside of the body in a certain way that makes barrier techniques easier to activate, while also making them significantly stronger. It helps you unlock portions of your brain that control energy in that way, increasing your ability to learn and use those types of techniques."
"So, what you're saying is that a peak level mindscape cultivator can do it all, but before reaching the peak it's important to decide what you want to focus on?" I said, starting to get the gist of it.
"Exactly, another technique might make you more skilled at using tools, formations, etc... The most powerful of these targeted techniques are those that can be combined with another targeted technique so that you can pursue multiple strengths at once. Most people only pursue a maximum of three targeted techniques at once. For you, as a member of Storm's Refuge you'll be expected to train "One with the Storm" which allows you to fully activate 100% of the brain at it's peak, but can also be combined with up to three targeted techniques."
I started nodding, already getting excited to start cultivating. All those movies and books about people with foresight and telekinesis focusing around activating 100% of the brain have my imagination flying ahead. "Well, our family technique on barriers is a given." I said
He nodded, "Unfortunately, that's all you can learn from our family techniques." I raised an eyebrow at that and he continued out, "Almost everyone in our family has an incredible affinity to the Fire Element, so almost all of our abilities are based around fire. You won't be able to use any of them, so you'll have to find two more techniques."
"That's too bad." I said, sad that I couldn't learn the other family techniques.
*Bang*
The familiar sound of Rick's truck backfiring had me moving, rushing to put on my shoes.
"Wait." My grandpa said, stopping me as I was about to run out the door. He walked up to me, and placing his thumb on my temple, a massive amount of information transferring into my brain. "I can't stay here much longer, I'm needed in 2nd Chance." He said, looking guilty at having to leave after only a week, "That's everything you'll need to train our family technique." He smiled sadly as he waved me through the door.
*Ding*
*Mental transfer received, technique saved under secret family technique only accessible to those with Demitrov blood.*
Shaking off the message, I jumped into Rick's truck. "Did you hear about Beth?" He said as she focused on the road.
"No, what happened?" I asked, instantly concerned.
"Well, Matt asked her out on a date and she said yes. Then, she made him teleport over to Rafta to go on a date in the Colosseum with her."
Laughing, the concern instantly evaporated. "Wait, don't tell me!" I said, barely able to speak over my laughter, "She signed them up a two vs two tournament?"
"Worse, she signed them both up for the 1v1 tournament, and when she met him in the finals she ripped his head off!" Now Rick was laughing too, the truck rocking from side to side as he lost control of it.
"God, I can't wait to ask him what he was thinking. This is BETH we're talking about!" I said, shaking my head.
"I asked her a while back about what she looks for in a guy. She said he couldn't be more than 3 years older than her, and he had to be able to take her in a fight. Otherwise, she'd just walk all over him." Rick was smiling to himself as he spoke.
"Sounds like her, wonder who will actually manage to tame her."
By the time I reached the school, I'd almost forgotten about the conversation with my grandpa and the melancholy I'd felt while watching the news that morning. Quickly walking into the basement of the school, I couldn't help but marvel at the changes that'd taken place over the last week. All the seniors who'd received an implant had been early graduated except for the advanced class, which had been turned into a kind of bootcamp for those with enough potential. So far, only 50 of the original 100 members of the advanced class remained. Although, their spots had been filled incredibly quickly.
Apparently, all the major powers had at least one member representing them at the bootcamp while the medium and small powers fought over the remaining spots. At least, the turnover had slowed down after the first few days and just a week after it started, everyone was starting to show incredible progress.
After getting changed into work out clothes, I joined everyone in stretching while getting ready for whatever hell that damned viking had planned for us today. As we were chatting among ourselves, a familiar cough echoed through the room instantly silencing it. 'Seriously, how does he do that?' I thought.
"Just over a week, and everyone has improved greatly!" He was all smiles as he looked around at us, "Today's Friday, and we're going to do something a little different than normal today. It's been brought to my attention that some of you are finding it difficult to spend much time in MSE on top of this training camp. So, we're going to take a test today. If you pass, you'll have the next week off. If you don't pass you'll be having remedial lessons while everyone else is gone." An evil smile crossed his face as he looked around the class. "For those of you who do pass, we'll have another test when you get back and if you don't manage to improve, well..." He trailed off, the evil smile increasing in power.
Waving his hand dismissively, he vanished in a poof of smoke. A couple seconds later, another poof of smoke appeared and Cynthia Demitrov appeared looking around frantically. "He was supposed to be here! How could he hide from me for nearly a week, I'm gonna complain to daddy!" With another poof of smoke she disappeared again.
My friends and I found it extremely difficult to hold in our laughter, Grandpa had told me all about Cynthia's obsession with his wayward apprentice, and of course I'd shared it with all my friends. Watching the usually unflappable Principal be chased around and around the school on a daily basis helped get us through the torture of Alaric and Mr. Harmon's classes.