A familiar refreshing feeling spread through Grey's body. The Density of his Profound Qi was clearly much greater than before as he had finally reached the 5th layer of Qi Gathering yet he could not help but feel slightly uneasy at the same time.
Due to how the [Thrarios Cultivation Manual] worked, the humiliation of Yan Ming's sudden attack with no way to resist had caused a mental block slowing down his progression, otherwise with his talent and superior cultivation method he would have long since surpassed most others in the academy even without the help of the pills that they may use to quickly increase their cultivation.
He felt a sudden urge to go challenge Yan Ming but he knew his chances of victory were not particularly great since Yan Ming had most likely already reached the sixth layer or perhaps even above that.
It was a contradictory feeling. One he knew that he could only be rid of with the necessary strength.
Suddenly an immense quantity of qi rushed into his arm. Pulsating from his shoulder all the way to his hand gradually forming a sleeve of a black and scarlet robe. Although it was clearly incomplete with it only covering his arm and its translucent state he could still feel that it posessed a colossal power in comparison to his usual self.
Punching into the open air, a loud bang resounded through the room. His energy however, was being rapidly drained to the point where if a normal person tried to use such an ability then their Profound Qi would quickly run out but since Grey could only use 20% of his total strength, his reserves were several times larger than others making such worries redundant to him
This was the first stage of the [Thrarios Cultivation Manual] which he assumed when unlocking the next stages, the scarlet and black robe would be completed before finally culminating in the [Bloodline Transformation].
Flicking his arm into the air, his Profound Qi stopped circulating to his arm resulting in the robe disappearing along with the large strength it possessed.
At this moment a loud voice rang out through the air "Grey! I challenge you to a ranking battle."
Walking out of his room Grey stretched his arms into the air and spoke while yawning, "What's a ranking battle?"
The several people around who were wandering if Grey would accept the challenge almost couldn't help themselves from laughing but with this spiky haired young man's repuatation they knew they probably couldn't protect themselves if he was offended.
One of them did start laughing but another immediately put his hand over his mount before whispering, "Brother, you can't laugh. He is known for being unreasonable. After someone laughed at him before he even went so far as to use the strength of his family to pressure them into accepting his challenge before crippling them."
The others face changed into a look of fear, "The academy didn't do anything about it?"
"He didn't break any rules what could they do about it?"
"You don't even know what a ranking battle is?" Said the spiky haired young man in disdain. 'I'm actually challenging a child at the third layer of Qi Gathering who hasn't even heard of a ranking battle. Truly losing face.'
Even though he inwardly thought this he still began to patiently explain, "There is a ranking for all students in the academy. By challenging others higher in the ranking you can take their position and naturally the higher up the ranking the more monthly benefits one can gain."
"Monthly benefits?" Grey asked with obvious intrigue "Such as?"
Knowing that Grey was interested, the spiky haired young man began to smile, "Grade 1 Spirit stones, Qi Gathering pills, merit points and more. How about it then do you accept?"
"And why exactly are you challenging someone with no ranking?" Grey looked at him emotionlessly for a second, "Actually never mind, I already know. What did Yan Ming give you."
After letting out an expression of suprise for a second he replied, "He gave me 3 Qi Gathering pills and 10 Grade 1 spirit stones."
'Hmm, If I had those then I could definitely surpass Yan Ming' Grey thought to himself'
"So much? Even the higher ranks of the Qi gathering ranking might only get that much every month." Someone in the crowd said.
"This Grey has offended Young Master Yan Ming. It's just a small amount to someone of his status."
"If I win then I get all of it, then I'll accept the challenge." Grey said.
Without much thought the spiky haired agreed. Not because he was stupid but because he never even entertained the idea of himself losing. After all, to his knowledge Grey was still at the 3rd Layer of Qi Gathering and without any backing there was no way he could raise his strength so quickly.
At the Qi Gathering realm there was no way for Profound Qi to leave the body and see the opponents realm. The only way one could see this was after they began to circulate their energy then you can infer from the density of their energy.
Soon after, they arrived at an arena in the centre of the academy and as Grey expected Yan Ming was seated on an exuberent golden palanquin nearby looking on with a haughty smile.