"Solaris…. You don't know about Emerald Garden?" The man asked.
"No… Should I know what it is?" Solaris asked.
"Yeah…." the man said.
"…"
"…."
"So what is it?" Solaris asked.
"It is a school. Where we take awakened ones like yourself and teach them how to become powerful individuals." The man said.
"Oh… A school. But how can I join a school? I don't even know how to read and write." Solaris said.
"YOU DON'T?" the man asked with a high-pitched voice.
"No… Will that be a problem?" Solaris asked.
"Why the hell you don't know how to read or write?" The man asked.
"Because no one taught me…" Solaris said straightforwardly.
"Who is your sponsor again?" the man asked.
"I don't have a sponsor…" Solaris said.
"Then how the hell did you get money to buy the token?" the man said.
"That depends…" Solaris said.
"Depend on what?" the man asked.
"Will there be any problem if I said that I bought the token from the money that I stole?" Solaris asked innocently.
"…"
Solaris knew that it didn't matter to those people how he bought the token. He knew this because from his experience in the cultivation world, he knew that it didn't matter whether you were a thief, a bastard, or a cripple. As long as you have power, the world would bend according to your will.
Solaris was an expert at reading the facial cues of people. When Solaris came here he saw that man and how he treated the children. Not even for a single second, this man showed that he cared slightly about the well-being of the fainted children. But after Solaris's turn came, his whole personality took a 180-degree turn. He became nice and a little worried about his well-being.
Later that man tried to ask Solaris some personal questions about his life and whatnot. He asked them as he genuinely cared about the well-being of Solaris. But sad for him as Solaris had met these kinds of people before.
Solaris had seen these kinds of things many times over his lifetime. These kinds of people are very opportunistic. And this change in that man's demeanor would only occur when he had found a rare genius or something similar. And based on his reaction Solaris was someone special. That could be the only explanation for the change in his behavior.
…
After a few minutes, all the fainted students started to wake up. One by one they were sent out of the room. But some children were handed over a letter, while others left empty-handed. The middle-aged man also gave Solaris a letter. It was a sealed wax letter. He told Solaris that this letter is his entrance ticket to the school. He had to come two days later to the battalion's base with this letter. And then from there, they would go to the school.
That man also gave Solaris 200 bonze coins. He told Solaris to to buy some new clothes and take care of himself for the next two days. And said that he would meet with him again two days later. He then bid his farewell…
….
Solaris then came out of the hospital. As he came out of the hospital, Solaris started walking back towards the slums. When he reached the slum, he saw that the fire that he had started had taken some dangerous turn. Not only it devour his house, but it also devoured houses that were adjacent to his house. And around 60 people lost their lives in that fire. And most importantly Solaris's parents also passed away in that fire.
But Solaris didn't even bat an eye at what happened to the fire. He ignored the burned-down building and started going deeper into the slums. First, he went towards a baker from the slums and brought some bread and meat jerky. Then he started moving again deeper in the slums.
His final destination was the abandoned houses at the edge of the city. They have been abandoned for about 10 years or so. And after all these years, they have become the home for the junkies and children that lived on the streets.
Solaris knew about that place thanks to the boy's mom. There were times when she would sneak out there in search of drugs. Thus Solaris knew about this place…
Solaris reached a torn-down three-story building. There he straight away walked towards the top floor. On the third floor, Solaris climbed out of the window and started climbing towards the top of the building. That house had no roof so Solaris had to climb out of the window to reach the top.
Solaris then started eating the food that he had brought. After eating his fill, Solaris sat crossed legs in a lotus position and started meditating. During the test, the energy that entered his body penetrated one of the meridians nodes that was located in his hand. Thus with an opened meridian node, Solaris now could finally start cultivating this energy.
For an hour straight Solaris sat in that place and concentrated. After one hour Solaris realized that although that energy may have opened the meridian node of his right hand, it had only poked a small hole. So it was not opened properly. But still, this was a good thing as with this small hole he could start cultivating.
From this small hole, it would take a long time before Solaris could open all the 108 nodes of this body. But by then he would find a way to get his hands on silver needles.
So Solaris started concentrating on the small hole and tried to make it as big as he can. With his concentration, he pressed and pressed but still, the hole didn't become wide enough. But after spending around 5 hours or so, the hole finally became wide enough from which he could absorb the energy in the air.
But the meditating for this long took a toll on Solaris's body. His head started aching while his body also started aching because he was sitting in one place for more than 6 hours. It was then Solaris finally took a break…