3 days later.
Classroom.
" Good morning." Miss Noble stood behind the podium.
" Good morning, teacher!" The youths stood and bowed, before sitting once more.
" I want to begin teaching you all about inscriptions as soon as possible, but today, that is not what I will be talking about." She said.
" Then what are we learning!" Someone shouted enthusiastically.
" On your first day here, there was a question regarding why the creation of spatial objects is not possible while teleportation was." She said.
" Hehe, this might be interesting." A youth crossed his arms, his mouth forming an amused grin.
" Isn't it just going to be boring? Why is it important if you can't make spatial rings anyway? Haven't we lived up to now without them?" Another youth complained.
" What do you know!" Another youth berated.
" Can you boys be quiet!" A girl said.
" Hey, don't! They won't listen to you anyway! Don't create trouble for yourself!" The girl beside her whispered.
" You-" Before the girl could say anymore, Miss Noble's voice sounded.
" Quiet." She said.
" Yes." The class responded collectively.
" Back to the main topic. Do you all have any idea why making spatial objects is not possible?" She asked.
"..." The youths shook their heads in silence. Those who found the lesson boring could only bear with it until it was finished.
"...Could it be that there is a possibility of being swallowed or trapped in the space?" Silas asked.
" No." Miss Noble said.
" Pft!"
" Ha, Wasn't this guy supposed to be smart?"
" Can you guys not stop?" A girl asked.
" What is wrong with the question? If that really could happen, I hope it happens to you!" Another one said.
" You!-" The youth was incensed, but was cut off before he could continue.
" The next person to speak out of line. Strung up, beat with paddles." Miss noble said expressionlessly. She even motioned with her hands Like she was speaking to an idiot.
" Humph!" The youth began grumbling under his breath, while a glaring hole in the back of Silas' head.
" Suu.." Levi sucked in a breath of cold air.
' Thinking back on that beating makes me shiver. That bastard...' He thought.
' As for that guy...' He thought.
' What do you think, demon saint?' He asked.
'...I think that those girls don't want to help that book-worm kid in the slightest. If they did, they would stop defending the guy at every turn.' The demon saint said.
' Don't they know that saying? " Jealousy is the blanket that suffocates rationality".' He said.
' They are only children so that's to be expected.' Levi thought.
' Well, would you look at this! An extremely rare adult-child! Native to the backstreets they are usually abandoned in, known for their begging and thievery, it is indeed rare to see them out of their natural habitat!' The demon saint commented.
' When are you going to get off my back?' Levi asked.
' Ohoh! Temper! Watch your temper now! We both know how you get!' The demon saint said mockingly.
' Ha...' Levi sighed, as his lips unconsciously curled into a slight smile.
" The reason it is difficult can be summed up in one word." Levi focused as Miss Noble continued.
" Troublesome." She said.
"...Just troublesome? Not hard?" Someone asked.
" Then wouldn't making spatial rings be easy since it's considered as just troublesome?" Another one thought aloud.
" No, troublesome is the right word." Miss Noble said.
" Listen to my instructions and construct precisely." Miss Noble then said.
"..." The youths all became serious as they heard this.
In these past few days, Miss Noble introduced a very interesting exercise where, anytime she felt like it, she could instruct the youths to craft something with mental energy.
Multiple mental energy flames were ignited. Some small, some big, some bright and warm, and others dim and gloomy. In terms of gloom, there was a certain corner where the temperature even dropped.
" A shoulder-width cylindrical shape, bent on both sides, with the bent edges parallel to each other." Miss Noble said.
" At the end of both bends, long, flat ruler-shapes are to be fused, while the object should then be placed firmly on the table." She said.
" Wa-" Someone struggled.
" Aren't you talking a little fast today?" Another youth muttered as sweat rolled down his forehead.
" The flat shapes should go over the edges of your desks. Bend the excess around and under the table, then fuse the edges." She said.
" And lastly, on both sides of the desks, make two flat, ruler-like shapes and wrap them around and under both sides, fusing the ends once again." She said.
" Are you all done?" She asked.
" W-Wait, miss, I haven't finished yet!" A girl said as he hurriedly tried to finish the shape.
"...Too slow." Miss Noble spotted multiple youths who hadn't yet finished.
'...Why a railing?" Levi questioned internally.
Secured on his desk was a shiny black railing.
"...Your second exercise is to pool your remaining mental energy together and make a sturdy wall. And keep in mind," She paused.
" The strength of those railings and mainly that wall will be directly related to your survival during these next few minutes." Miss Noble said.
' This lady...What is she up to?' Levi's eyes narrowed.
" What did the teacher just say?"
" Um, I think, I think she said something about our lives depending on these railings?"
"...Hahaha, we must have heard wrong!" The youths laughed at each other in denial.
Puft!
" You can't be serious..." The ignition of a green mental energy flame wiped the smiles from their faces.
" I don't know what you are doing, but don't do it." The youth's voice wavered.
" Don't say I didn't warn you about the consequences of not making a wall." Miss noble said, a glint in her eyes.
A strong wind suddenly lashed out, causing the youths to grab onto their railings.
This air blew some of them back and lashed some forward, while Blair was blown about like a flag, as she clutched for dear life onto her small railing.
" Mi- Cough! I can't-" She coughed as tears squeezed from her eyes.
"..." Miss Noble stood perfectly still.
In front of her, an unnoticeable ripple spread out.
' Oi, Oi, Oi! This crazy-!' Levi's expression changed as a terrifying thought came to his mind.
Zizizzi!
The sound of buzzing electricity echoed with the occasional crackling.
A weird sound rang out as a black spot suddenly appeared before Miss Noble.
' Brat!!' The demon saint roared.
' She actually tore a hole!!!' Levi's heart pounded as he released his Qi.
His right hand turned pitch black, as he stuck his fingers into the wall.
Black, string-like things also shot into the wall from his fist, securing themselves tightly.
The hole grew, as an incomparably strong suction force pulled everything in the room towards the spatial tear.
" Wall!!!" Axel shouted as it was the only thing he could squeeze out.
He was confused as to why no one reacted to him, but he did not yet know that the vacuum of space sucked up even sound.
Noticing that no one listened to him, he chose to lead by example.
His water-blue mental energy flame flickered, as he poured every last drop of his mental energy out in an attempt to create a wall to shield the entire class.
He was unsuccessful, as before he could solidify his mental energy, it was already being sucked into the tear.
He slammed his arm into the table, instantly smashing it in half, before leaping forward.
He turned in mid-air, spreading his arms and legs as he mouthed the word " wall" so forcefully that his eyes squeezed shut.
'!!' The other youths, although panicking themselves, caught his meaning after a few milliseconds.
They all released the remainder of their mental energy, attempting to create a wall.
Multiple semi-transparent mental energies pooled in the space between the podium and the front row.
'!!!' Just as they thought they would succeed, many of the railings on their desks dissipated, causing multiple people to lose concentration to fear or concern.
It may have been inevitable, but the mass of mental energy was sucked into the tear completely.
Axel, along with multiple others were pulled swiftly towards the tear, despairing as their last line to survival was cut.
"..." Miss Noble raised her hand, as she placed it on Axel's broad back, stopping him instantly.
Even the other youths who were not far behind him were frozen effortlessly in mid-air.
The tear spiraled, closing faster than it was opened.
"..." The youths sat silently, their ears ringing and their bodies trembling from both fright and fatigue.
As soon as Miss Noble released the glass-like coating of mental energy from their bodies, Axel dropped to his knees, slamming his forehead into the wooden platform floor.
" Thank you, teacher, for saving me despite my incompetence!" He shouted, his voice hoarse. He didn't lift his head, as a sticky red liquid squeezed out from under it.
" Get up." Miss Noble said.
" You alone were the most outstanding this time." She said.
Someone couldn't contain their anger.
" What most outstanding! Do you have shit in your head!! Are you trying to kill everyone here!?!" The youth raged as he picked up a large piece of broken wood, flinging it at Miss Noble with all of his strength.
Still present on his face were wet tears, but at this moment, his eyes were wide and bloodshot as he felt bubbling anger, even stronger than the fear he felt before.
"...The world is a dangerous place." Miss Noble said simply, as she stopped the piece of wood.
" Screw you, you crazy bitch!" The youth cursed crazily.
" You will accompany me to the disciplinary hall after class to receive your punishment." Miss Noble said.
" Fuck after class! I don't want to be anywhere near a mental case like you!" The youth madly left the classroom.
The other youths silently sat or stood as if in a trance.
Those who were pulled from their seats struggled to get up from the ground with their jelly-like limbs.
" Now, after that demonstration, who can tell me why it is troublesome?" Miss Noble asked.
"..." The youths were silent, but they could now sympathize with how that guy left.
" The problem is after opening a hole in space, it is almost impossible to do anything more with it." Seeing that the class was silent, Miss Noble explained.
" That was a very small hole I opened, but inside was potentially infinitely large. Nobody I know of would be able to shape infinity, much less tether it to a fixed shape or object." She said.
" And if they could, said object would be destroyed by the space's force directly after, maybe even causing a disaster." She said.
"..." Some of the youths caught their breaths, but were still jittery and decided to keep silent.
They had unconsciously developed a grudge as a result of this demonstration, but Miss Noble's next words were like buckets of cold water splashed on their faces.
" While I did intend to speak about the troublesome nature of space, I also wanted to give you a life lesson." She said.
" All of you are now cultivators. You do not have the capabilities of the people in the cultivation department, and you probably never will." She said.
" But regardless, you are cultivators. You all seem to have the misconception that cultivators are lofty and without worries, but you are wrong. Very wrong." She said.
" You will not have the comfort of peace that the common people have, however little." She said.
" Every place you go, danger will follow you." She said.
" The sooner you accept that fact, the more days you will live to see in your lives." She said.
" And trust me, while tears in space hardly open naturally, many other dangers will be looming over your shoulders." She said.
" So these few years that you are here, treat them like gold. Work diligently and learn how to protect yourselves. Class dismissed for today." She finished, before leaving the room.
...
A few minutes later.
"!!" Levi got up loudly, alerting the class.
He walked unsteadily down the stairs.
" Is he okay?" A girl questioned weakly.
" Are any of us ok right now?" A boy sneered.
" No, I saw it! That guy...while everything was going on, his entire arm become black! It was even hard enough that he could stab through the wall with his fingers easily..." Heil said weakly.
" What?"
" Stop spouting nonsense." A boy furrowed his brows.
Everyone was tired, but this guy still had time to look for attention.
" If you don't believe me, look beside his desk...Look at the holes and cracks and see if I am lying." Heil said.
" He's right..." The youths mumbled.
" There were even...even these black strings growing out of his arm, keeping him secure by his seat," Heil said.
" He also released a bunch of qi and only pro-No, never mind..." Realizing what he was about to say, Heil hurriedly stopped himself.
But who wouldn't be able to finish what he wanted to say by themselves? ' He released a bunch of qi and only protected himself.'
While they were all struggling to help each other, he was protecting himself. Detestable!
Their anger also stemmed from the fact that while they forgot that they could try to protect themselves with what little qi they had, someone they looked down upon was able to think rationally enough to do it at that time.
"..." Levi wobbled down the stairs, disregarding all gazes.
" Hey!" A youth grabbed his shoulder, shouting in an unhappy tone.
Boom!
"..." Levi had only intended to slap away his arm, but instead sent the youth flying, causing him to crash through a table.
" Y-You..." The youth looked at Levi in horror, before passing out from either fear or pain.
"...Is he really alright?" A girl asked weakly.
" Who could be more ok than him?! Didn't you just see him slap someone away like a fly!" A boy reprimanded.
" But, no...Look at his eyes!" she pointed with a shaky finger.
" W-hat..." The youth's face paled instantly.
" Huff!" Levi panted loudly as veins bulged across his body.
His hand was still black as he held it tightly, hobbling towards the door.
His eyes were unfocused and his pupils were as slim as lines.
When he slapped the youth away, a pungent murderous intent exploded from his body.
" What the hell is wrong with that guy..." A boy clenched his sweaty fists.
" How freaky..." A girl muttered.
" Do you...guys think that he's going to...Die?" Someone asked in a small voice.
"..." The youths all went silent, but no one dared to go up to Levi.
Levi left the room, sweating profusely as he walked slowly.
" Someone! Go look for a teacher! Tell them about this situation and...That guy!" Someone shouted.
It took a while for them to react, as the words bounced around in their empty heads.
Someone feeling a little better than the others ran out of the room shortly afterward.
...
In the hallway.
Levi walked, slouching as he clutched his arm, sweating from pain.
'Get...Away..' He thought.
' Away...from prying eyes...' He thought as he endured excruciating pain.
' Can't...let anyone..see!' He thought.
Reaching his limit, he dropped to his knees weakly, before curling into a ball.