Samuel slowly woke up, after having what seemed to be a day-long rest, he still felt tired. His surroundings were suddenly different. Now he could not only feel the natural energy around him, but his body was absorbing that energy, though by only a portion of it. He sat on the floor again, "Let's see how is that barrier doing"; he murmured before he started to cultivate. After an hour or so, his eyes opened up as he smiled happily. Not only did he find that the barrier was no more on his soul foundation, but he also rose to soldier one star! He could jump into the next tire if he wanted to, but he thought otherwise; a few hours ago his foundation was of the lowest of its tire and if he does not let his body adapt to its foundation before levelling up again, his foundation might just crumble. He was not proud for even a moment. Soldier tire was a child's play. Cultivators at his age in his school are around warrior two stars or one star which worried him as he has to enter the realm of Knight in a year. This feat is only possible for the royal family, not to forget that he is just a commoner. For people like him, the Knight tire was a feat of their life. Thinking this, his head started to hurt.
He kept the book and the core on the table ." If I need to make it possible I must use these things" he said to himself as he took the book in his hand. The book had two pages and both were blank. "What help can this give me..."; he said as he kept it back on the table, leaving the book opened with its stark white pages fluttering. And then he examined the core. The core had a concentration of natural energy but it had his souls signatures.
"The only explanation is that my body absorbs this energy and when the masked man removed whatever that barrier was, it is forcefully seeping into my soul.." he murmured to himself unknowingly as the puzzles fell into pieces, although the biggest question in his mind was "Why did they do it ?"
"Didn't the lady say I have a fire-based soul? I wish I could learn more about it" he said. Suddenly the pages of the book shone a brilliant white light before turning dim. However this time, the pages were no longer blank, Samuel slid the book near him as he started to read.
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴. appeared in the book.
He was hesitant for a moment as this was something out of ordinary. But then again so were the people that came yesterday, he needed to be strong anyway so he thought he might as well use whatever he gets. "So which one is stronger?" he muttered to which new writings emerged on the book. Samuel read the book further.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯.
Witnessing such a magically peculiar book first handed, Samuel was speechless before deciding to use it efficiently.
"Tell me about fire-based affinity souls and how to enhance it," he asked and started to read the answer.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮.
"What kind of flames do I have?" he asked the book.
𝘗𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.
Taking a knife, he slid it over his index finger, pouring his blood, which got absorbed by the book the moment it fell. Samuel waited for few seconds before the book shined again.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘩'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭.
Reading this Samuel's eye dulled as he bit his lower lips, "Is there any merits of Blacksmith's fire?" he asked and read.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘰, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘵.𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭.
"Where can I find God, Touche, and France fire located?" he asked.
𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘦. 𝘌𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴.
Samuel sighed, it was time for him to see what the core does. He poured water into the tub as he waited for the water to release some steam. As soon as the steam started to come out, he went into the tube, his body did not even register the temperature rise. He was astonished to see that the water was denser with energy than the air was, the exciting part was, from the air he was only able to absorb a part of it while right now his body was absorbing all the energy his skin came in contact with, therefore strengthening his body! After a while, it was almost close to an hour, but seeing the progress of strengthening his body, a part of him wanted to continue to do that yet he decided not to, as he remembered the man specially mentioning the timing. Since he did not seem to have any ill intention towards him, he thought he should follow it.
When he came out of the tub he felt his body strength to be at par with his soul. "Time for me to step up into the next tire," he said while grinning as he immediately went back to his cultivation for his breakthrough.
Samuel decided to stay at his house and cultivate, he felt himself to be addicted to cultivation. It might be because he was never able to do it before and something he truly wanted to do.
Two months quickly passed away in days for him. The core was now completely dull stripped of any energies it had. "Time for me to check my tire," he said closing his eyes again, judging by the foundation of his soul he can roughly guess that he is around bottleneck to the one-star soldier, each tire has another lower star added to it, thus he was currently at warrior five stars.
The terrifying thing about all of this is that he was able to break from one tire to another in a day at this pace but even after continuing that pace for two months he hasn't even properly move a star up.
"How much time before ur scan is complete?" he asked the book.
𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺-𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴.
Hearing this Samuel decided he can spare some time and go to school.
For the past months Samuel was the school's main gossip, every day he is absent from the school they think of new reasons such as he might be too ashamed to come to this school now, it might be that this school isn't how it used to be in its prime but still it isn't so degraded that students like him could attend him.
The bigger question was how did he enrol into the school? There was written as well as physical exams one needs to participate in before enrolling. The only possible reason might be is that he belongs to some high noble family who enrolled him by the factor of money.
Even teachers were having doubts about this but unfortunately, the headmaster was as usual, away from school.
"I think he is a next to kin of some noble family who cast him out here," a girl said while a boy replied, "You girls and your fantasies, I think he is just a fraud living under the name and performance of some other student who gave the exams".
These discussions were taking place when Samuel entered the classroom.
For a moment nobody was able to recognize him and thought he was a new student. His body was more muscular his dressing sense had changed but most importantly, his hair was no longer black, the red hair gave him a piercing look and his red eyeball gave him a blood lusted look.
"Good morning class" greeted the professor as his eyes fell on Samuel. "Today as we planned we will try to emit our aura," he said, Samuel has heard about it from the book, it was a training to allow the flow of energy from one's body outside the world. Samuel had no problem with this as there was a more effective way to do this, outer realm manipulation, in this method one needs to possess a physical object and control it, the result is that he has to gain perfect control over his energy casting.
"Bruno, your turn," said the teacher as he focused but no aura was generated "keep trying boy, I know you have it in you," he said, next was Samuel, he was preparing to cast his aura as he heard, "Megaumi, ur up" professor said.
Samuel was completely cast away, suddenly Samuel no longer felt like attending the class as he firmly stood up and walked towards the exit door.
Normally the teacher wouldn't even mind if Samuel stays or leave, but due to his role as a teacher he can't let him slide "Brat, come back and sit in your seat" he said sternly to him while Samuel ignoring his words left the classroom.
This world is full of people like this professor, Samuel thought to himself as he sighed, he must become stronger to gain their recognition and respect
"Well well. If it isn't the four-star soldier tier kid" a student higher than his grade said putting his arms around Samuel's shoulder.
"You know, in a place at this students might tear you apart for their good, be blessed that you have seniors like us to take care of you" he continued while another student said "But bro, it will be too tiring for us to protect him all the time," the former boy said.
"Oh don't worry, I don't think he will leave us be empty-handed, right junior?" the grin was flashed on his face dulling Samuel who's mood was already sour. But before he could say or do something a gust of wind hit them all.
Samuel was the only one who reacted in time and connected his feet to the ground with mana as everybody else was blown away.
"Seriously? Bullying a new kid? That's low even for you" a boy said as he walked into view from the hallway