Hearing the call to gather, we walk towards the centre of the training grounds.
Sighs and celebrations can be heard as every begins to gather, some sigh with dissapointment, obviously they havent managed to reach the requirements to pass.
I see Callum with a calm look, he looks cold and aloof standing between everyone, but when he sees me walk over he slowly smiles, turning cheerful.
"I still have suspicions about this guy" I think to myself, but dont mind it too much.
"Did you succeed?" I ask, Callum laughs and nods.
"Luckily, what about you? I recall you chose one of the last ones..." hesitating he looks at me then at kruger behind me.
Looking at kruger, Callum can clearly be seen startled but hides it quickly.
"I thought his foundation had been virtually crippled?" Callum asks suspiciously
Seeing Callums expression, I just smile.
"Yeah, but it wasnt as bad as you would think" I don't intend to explain further, although curious how Krugers foundation was repaired, Callum doesnt intend to ask.
He too was going to pick Kruger as he wanted the technique he cultivated in.
He knows Kruger cultivates in an ancient technique that allows you to manifest saint force into solid states.
Seeing his damaged foundation, he knew it would be impossible for him to allow Kruger to advance even if you gave him decades, so he could only regretfully give up and change target.
We exchange a little bit of insights on how we helped advance our own partners cultivation, I merely explain some of the concepts of the Iron Spike technique but hide the core of it.
Callum too explains his own understanding of cultivation, I gain quite a lot of experience from listening to him, Callum himself is a high levelled Martial Artist.
Soon, the bald bearded man appears with a microphone in hand.
"Alright, The Exams are over"
"Would the respective guests please remain, we will be checking on your advancements during these few hours"
"As for the examinees, you're free to leave for today"
"Be sure to come to the scholar recruitment office in a weeks time to obtain your results"
"You may leave!" Coughing, the bald man walks off stage.
Hearing the examiner, everyone quickly scurries out of the testing grounds.
Some who are confident they've passed have begun heading to various clubs as they celebrate early, while those who know they've failed can only follow behind them, drinking away their sorrows.
"Well then Lucas, allow us to part ways for now" Smiling, Callum salutes before leaving, he has his own things to attend to.
Watching Callum walk away, I quickly call out to him.
"Hold on a second!" Waving, I gather his attention.
"You seem knowledgeable" having said this, I see Callum begin to grin.
Coughing, I continue
"Have you heard of anything that could help repair the soul?" I whisper in a serious tone.
Callums grin fades, his expression turns serious as his vision narrows, he scans me up and down with his gaze.
"Your souls damaged??" stunned, his eyes widen.
"Yeah" wryly smiling, I admit it.
"How? well never mind that, but to repair the soul is difficult" he stops for a couple minutes before frowning.
"The soul is very mysterious, fortunately I know of two ways"
"The first is to find a technique that cultivates the soul, they're called Soul Arts, but they're mostly extinct in the five kingdoms" Shrugging, he continues.
"The second way to treat soul injuries are treasures called Soul jades, they recover damaged souls and even strengthen them, they can be found in the upper echelons of the kingdoms"
"They're extremely rare, the lowest grades going for at least 100 Low grade spirit stones" laughing, he has an apologetic look as he answers.
A Spirit Stone can help you cultivate quicker, it also has the effects of restoring saint force, the only problem is, one low grade spirit stone would be equal to 1000 gold coins or 100,000 Silver!
"Soul jades" I mutter, I've not heard of them.
"Well Its fine, atleast I have some direction now" After thanking him, Callum then takes his leave.
I hear someone call out to me, knocking me out of thought.
"Master Flynn" Kruger calls.
"Drop the honoriffics" nodding, I turn towards kruger to meet his gaze.
"Sir Flynn, You've repaired my damaged foundation and given me a new lease at life" Kruger says in a serious tone.
"Ones cultivation is more important to ones own life, for this, I Kruger am in debt to you"
"If you, Sir Flynn, need help with anything then just call"
"I, Kruger, will be one to come running!" His voice doesnt waver as he is deadly serious about this.
Due to the damage of his foundation, he couldnt even use 20% of his overall strength, but now he not only has his strength improved, he can continue cultivating.
"Alright, alright" Shaking my head I pay it no heed.
Leaving the testing grounds, I head back to my house.
Its late in the evening, I continue deciphering and creating the foundations of a new cultivation technique, I have the theory and direction I want to go, so all I have to do is put it into practice.
I work up untill the early hours of the morning.
Having taken out the unstable and harmful elements of "The Dark Arts", Its lost its high grade mortal rank and become a low grade mortal rank martial technique, Although weaker than the original, its now flawless.
Using it as the foundation, I fuse my Dream attainments and my own mental energy insights into the contents. Combining each of their strong points together, a new martial cultivation technique is born.
"I'll call it, Nightmare Arts"
The initial stage of the Nightmare Arts has two effects.
The first effect>Sleepless: I only need 2-4 hours of sleep each night.
The second effect>Dreamer: In theory, I should be able to enter and exit my dreams at will. I shouldn't be stuck unlike the previous time.
"This Nightmare Arts Is completely opposite as to what a cultivation technique is supposed to do"
"Usually you gather saint force to cultivate your astral core".
"But now, I gather Saint Force and turn it into mental energy, this energy which is of a higher level than the saint force gradually circulates my body, replacing all of the remnant saint force."
Looking at the 3-D model in front of me, my astral core is no longer pure white as it had been when filled with saint force, its now gradually turning a dark blue.
I begin cultivating the Nightmare art.
I feel a rush of saint force from the surroundings immediately gather around me.
I watch on stunned as a vortex forms over my head, funneling massive amounts of saint force directly into my mind palace.
I gather Saint Force a hundredfold faster, No, a thousand fold faster than I usually would, A day of cultivating would be the equivalent to three years of my old cultivation.
After each circulation of the Nightmare art, my mental energy converts the saint force into a higher energy, slowly inserting this energy into each of my meridians, gradually heading towards the astral core.
Not long after, my astral core no longer contains any saint force as its been replaced with the new higher order energy.
"This new force that's combined with mental energy and cultivation, just what is it?" frowning, I suddenly have an insight.
"This energy that has entered my astral core has the essence of mental energy, they're placed on par with one another"
"It can no longer be called mental energy unlike the substance in my mind palace, the moment my mental energy enters my Astral core, its a completely different form of energy"
"Origin Energy!" I whisper, This is the new term I arrange for this higher order energy.
Jumping up, I get into a stance and throw out a simple punch, I can hear the wind tear apart as it parts way for my fist.
Boom!
The room shakes lightly as a shockwave bounces off the walls.
Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, I look at my hand, its gone a little red due to my physique unable to hold the power that the origin energy provides.
"Tenfold the power increase!"
Grinning, I cant help but think, Due to my limited Dao concepts, the current Nightmare Art is still technically a Low-Grade mortal art.
Even though it can generate the same amount of power as a peak-high grade Mortal Art, this is mainly due to the origin energy, not the Art itself!.
"Once I gain more knowledge of cultivation and gain a deeper understanding of how the way the forces work, I can slowly work on upgrading it, Just what are its upper limits?"
With this, my confidence on succeeding on the next experiment has risen exponentially .
"Risks should be taken when needed" Standing up from my desk, I take the wooden sword from the side.
Sitting above my bed, I hesitate before determination fills my eyes. I begin circulating my Nightmare Art, I activate the dreamer ability.
Within moments, I fall into a deep slumber.
Opening my eyes, I see the familiar room but somewhat different. A strange mist permeates the air creating an eerie atmosphere.
Looking around, the entire room is in view due to my sitting posture.
"As expected, I still cant move!" I casually think to myself as I attempt to move any part of my body.
"Although I cant move, I'm able to circulate my Nightmare Arts"
"The experiment can be considered a success" Slightly happy, I know I should be able to exit this place when I need to.
Just to be sure, I activate the dreamer ability again.
I feel my surroundings blur as I find myself awake back in the real world, the deathly atmosphere no longer lingers.
I cant help but secretly celebrate.
"Lets start my next experiment" Activating dreamer again, I enter back into the dream world as I begin concentrating on my left pinky finger, I try to move it.
Half of my concentration is on my surroundings, Who knows when those monsters would come back.
Glancing towards the doorway, I see shadows of animals pass by now and again, quiet whispers slide under the cracks of the door as they enter my ears.
Ignoring it for now, I look back at my little finger.
I make an all out effort and achieve some success, my pinky finger curls and straightens again.
The moment I succeed, the doors handle can be heard twisting, soon after the door slowly creaks open.
The moment I hear the door begin to open, I immediately activate the dreamer ability and appear back within the real world.