Terran only stopped reading when he noticed the sun peeking over the skyline. He had read into the night and now into the next day. In that time, he had read 3 entire books, granted, they were surprisingly short. A little too short as they all contained various versions of the same information while lacking many details. He had only taken a break to complete his dailies, doing some exercise and bantering with his roommates.
It was possible information had just been poorly recorded. After all, at one point humanity had completely fallen, resigned to farms. But that did not change the fact that events seemed to be just as poorly recorded after they had gotten back on their feet.
"Oh right, the quest!" Terran paused, remembering why he had been determined to learn about the past in the first place. He had read for over a dozen hours without stop and gained a general idea of his world's past. Armed with his new knowledge, he directed his thoughts toward his system without wasting another second.
"System, was Gaia's fall due to her treasure being stolen by the angels?"
While he believed it was a genuine possibility that there was indeed a correlation. He knew he was still lacking crucial details. Even so, what was the harm in guessing?
Instantly, a text box appeared in front of him.
[Does the User wish to submit this answer?]
Terran nodded, quickly agreeing without hesitation.
"Shit." Terran could not stop himself from cursing at the system's underhanded actions. "Could you not say something before I wasted a submission?" The system had not even told him if he was on the right track. Incomplete? How was he supposed to know when he had gathered the full story? Now he only had two chances remaining.
< User did not ask.>
This response left Terran speechless. Based on the system's track record, he doubted if it would have even told him if he had asked in the first place.
Although it was frustrating, there was simply nothing he could do about it. With this in mind, instead of worrying, Terran chose to freshen up before his second day of classes. Today he had a politics class in the morning followed by a course on training and developing blessings.
His first class took place in an auditorium. It wasn't long after he arrived when the roughly 300 seats were filled completely. Upon arrival, the professor started his presentation immediately.
Maybe it was just because of his lack of sleep, but he felt awfully bored despite being so excited about learning. Apparently, he was not the only one as he spotted several other students sleeping or playing games on their phones.
Terran felt that most of the presented information was either obvious or useless. That being said, he managed to learn the government was a monarchy, or at least that it was ruled by a king. The class dragged on but eventually came to an end.
"A king, huh? Who would be insane enough to want so much responsibility?"
Apparent or not, Terran in no way felt he had his own life under control. How could the idea of being in control and responsible for millions sound appealing? As for caring about how the government and politics were structured, he could care less. This was a fact for anything that didn't impact him directly. The only opinion he had was that it made sense there would be a monarch. This was because there were still many things Terran didn't know about his dying world. However, the one thing that had been made clear was that individual power held great value.
As for his mindset, it was unknown whether he was born with such small amounts of compassion for those unrelated. Still, that knowledge would not change any of the current circumstances. With no way to know, it was a waste of time to think about.
With one class under his belt, Terran moved on to his second class. He would be lying if he said he was not curious about how it would be taught. Weapons training was very hands-on, while politics was a standard lecture. Blessings training would most likely be hands-on, but he could not imagine how it would be run. From what he understood, blessings varied greatly. Too greatly, in his mind, for a single class to encompass everyone.
While he had not confirmed this, Terran believed that the more one used their blessing, the more powerful it would become. Just as a bodybuilder trained their muscles. This was because, over the years, he had noticed that his healing had quickened at an alarming rate. In this scenario, the rank of a blessing stood as genetics, if only incredibly exaggerated.
However, a class where students consistently exerted their blessings to the max simply did not make sense. For starters, how would someone with a blessing like imp's claws practice? Would they morph and unmorphed their fingers over and over again? Or would they sit down wearing a constipated expression and try to push the blades out further? Terran could not help but chuckle at this thought as the image of Jonnie sitting crisscross applesauce while attempting to shit blades out of his hands filled his mind.
On a more serious note, it was very probable that many students had hazardous blessings. How would the school contain these?
Terran's other theory was that they would just practice combat with their blessings, but he quickly dismissed this idea. Many blessings were not combat-focused. How would someone with Sophie's blessing compare to even Jonnie's? It was forcing someone unarmed to face someone with blades. This example only included F ranks. How would this scale with someone with a C, B, or even an A rank combative blessing?
He continued towards his class with interest, and it was not long before he arrived.
Entering with a quirky smile due to the lingering image of Jonnie, Terran was met with a surprise. In front of him was an open room with about 30 yoga mats laid out. There were already several students sitting in what looked to be a meditative position. By chance, the few students that had already arrived were all female.
"Ah shit, did I enter the wrong class? I better get out of here, I don't want to be the only guy in a yoga studio, I'd get labeled a pervert and my career as a student would be over!"
Terran was about to leave, assuming that he had entered the wrong classroom, when an older womanly voice called out to him.
"Ah, you must be the new student. Come over here so I can explain how this class works."
Turning his attention, Terran noticed an older teacher with strikingly silver hair. Awkwardly, he made his way over, still believing he had entered a yoga studio. But the woman's next question made him realize he had been wrong.
"Hello, Terran is it? My name is Silvia. Have you ever experienced blessing training?"
With curiosity replacing his previous awkward expression, Terran shook his head. "No, I've never trained my blessing. Unless you just mean using it."
Silvia smiled back. "No, that will not do for training. While repeated use can have some effect, it is very ineffective for breakthroughs." Seeing Terran's curiosity, after a slight pause, Silvia chose to continue. "In this class, you will be attempting to enter trials given to you by your god."
"Trials?" Although it was the first time Terran was hearing anything about this, he remained calm. This was because he had never formed a bubble dictating what was normal and what was not. Without a bubble, there was nothing to pop.
"Yes, when you enter a trial, your mind and soul will leave your body and you will be transported to a scenario. This scenario is different for everybody. Some experience their past, others report they visited an entirely different world. However, everyone will have to overcome a great tribulation where your mind and abilities are pushed to the limits. This is not all, it is important to understand that while completing a trial comes with great benefits, there is also a risk. If you die in your trial, your soul will be placed in a temporarily weakened state. This means you will not be able to use your blessing for anywhere between a day to a month. Additionally, trials can have great psychological effects depending on your experience. While these effects are not always bad, there have been a few cases of blessed losing their sanity."
Hearing these words, excitement grew on Terran's face. He did not think very deeply about the consequences of death in a trial. This was because the description of his only blessing stated that it could not be inactivated by any internal or external force. At the same time, the psychological effects were even more of a joke to him. Terran had known his screws were loose for a long time, and he was not afraid of any screwdriver.
Meanwhile, he was excited. While most people would revisit their past experiences to overcome trauma, revise their actions, and gain a deeper insight into their blessing, Terran wanted something else. His past was a gaping void, and now he was being told there was a possibility he would get to revisit it.