Three years quietly pass by. In all this time, Acheron has been diligently cultivating and furthering his studies. Currently, he was already at the cusp of breaking through to the Revolving Core realm. He's been at what was considered the peak of Foundation Establishment for a long time. He has even surpassed what the average cultivator would consider the peak.
Besides energy cultivation, his body has also become much stronger. His mounstrous appetite wasn't for nothing. Through constant exercise and meat consumption, his physical strength has already broken mortal limits.
At the age of eighteen, Acheron was already taller than the average adult, being 190 centimeters and having muscles that were built to be athletic rather than bulky. His chiseled face radiated a mature charm that exuded confidence.
Even without the assistance of Qi, he could easily dwarf all other humans. All he had to do was use concealed bodyweights made from special alloys each day, all while devouring as much nutrient-rich food as possible. Acheron even started eating seafood and animal organs, the few most nutrient-rich foods known to non-cultivators.
Acheron has also learned to conceal and control his inhuman strength. In the spars he had with his father, he was forced to hold back, knowing he could foolishly injure him if he didn't pay special attention.
Because of the improved intelligence from the first genetic lock, merely after a few days of having a broken genetic lock, Acheron was able to surpass his father in martial arts, much to Xerius' surprise.
This was because of the fact that Xerius never went to an academy. Instead, he directly enrolled into the military when he was of age. While he saved a few years of training and was able to gain quite a few merits, he was still just an average foot-soldier in the end.
For the last three years, Acheron was forced to watch various videos of martial artists, including what the government disclosed of the warfront. This was the only way for him to learn new fighting techniques.
Besides all of this, he's also been frequently visiting the shooting range. At low realms of cultivation, guns would still have some use, especially the plasma-type weaponry. He didn't have anything to lose by learning either way.
After breaking through from the peak of Qi Gathering into Foundation Establishment, one must condense the gaseous state of Qi into liquid form. Through continous compression of Qi, one is able to reach the peak of Foundation Establishment.
What Acheron did surpassed the limits of the usual Foundation Establishment realm. From what he considered was the effects of having broken through the First Genetic Lock, he was able to keep condensing his liquidfied Qi way beyond what would be considered the peak.
As he was in no hurry to breakthrough to the Revolving Core realm, he decided to reach the limit of what his dantian could handle in the Foundation Establishment realm. Currently, the amount of Qi he had in his reserves could be considered over ten times what normal cultivators would have.
Sensing the pain and bloating coming from his dantian, he realized he's reached the limit. The feeling of breakthrough was appearing too. After considering his options for a few seconds, he quickly decides to head to the closest mountain range.
Breaking through to the Revolving Core realm would cause a mild commotion that he simply wouldn't be able to hide in the urban zone. He still planned to keep his cultivation a secret for now, only pretending to rapidly break through once he was in the academy.
This way, he would be able to masquerade as a genius, and obtain the attention and resources he needs.
Since it happened to be weekend, Acheron told his parents that he was going to hang out with his friends.
Taking the bullet-train, he manages to reach the mountain range in a few hours. After quickly bolting through the mountain range, he reaches a secluded part of the forest. He was already prepared to visit this location after finding it on the map.
Sitting in lotus position on the cold grass, Acheron concentrates his attention onto his dantian.
Revolving Core, similar to the previous realms, is just the compression of Qi into solid state. Solidifying the liquid Qi, one forms a small orb that has to be continously nourished. Once the Revolving Core is formed, the solidified Qi gains the property of attraction.
Similar to how a planet has the form of attraction called gravity, the Qi orb also begins to show gravitational properties, absorbing Qi passively.
Acheron immediately begins to focus his mental energy on the vast 'sea' of Qi, slowly willing it to come together in the middle of his dantian. This naturally required the assistance from the Qi present in the environment.
If a normal human passed by, they would be able to see a massive whirlpool of energy with Acheron sitting at its center. The whirlpool was about 20 meters in diameter. This was the 'small commotion' Acheron was expecting.
After about thirty minutes of hard work, the whirlpool finally begins to subside. Acheron could already see the not-so-small orb present in his dantian.
Surprised, Acheron could kind of feel he's unwittingly stepped into the intermediate stage of the Revolving Core realm, much to his delight.
Returning home, he begins to ponder which academy he should be joining. He already had a vague plan in his mind for what is to follow his graduation from the academy. What he wanted the most was to get into contact with a race or organization that openly spread the art of cultivation.
Thankfully, the Human Empire wasn't the only human-composed force in this galaxy. What Acheron was hoping for was to completely leave the Human Empire behind and defect to another, less-corrupt human force. Though he wasn't necessarily trying to limit himself to only human forces. He would gladly join a completely alien organization.
For that, Acheron first had to obtain a spaceship of his own, learn how to use and maintain it, and also increase his strength and cultivation to a satisfactory level. Otherwise he would be looked down upon and become a servant or something similar, maybe even a slave. From what he'd heard from the Human Coalition's propaganda, slavery was rampant throughout the universe, with strength being the only way to escape such a fate.
He's already researched the pros and cons of the three best academies. The third on the list was too far away from Red Gaia while also being mediocre amongst the three, while the second was very close but still second in the ranking. The first one was the best of the best, reserved only for the elites.
Thankfully, even if it was only for the elites amongst humanity's youth, he didn't have to reveal any cultivation in order to enter it. Merely passing the soon-to-come exam was enough to enroll, and Acheron was quite confident of passing it, even without revealing his cultivation.
As for his physique, he didn't plan to hide it. He wanted to reveal it and gain more attention. That way he'll be labeled as a genius with a strange physique. This way, his quick cultivation, which he'll gradually reveal, won't come as a big surprise to the higher-ups.