(First person POV: Venture)
I spoke with Flame about some unimportant things on our way back from the class, and many of them were about visualizing the Ether correctly.
I took a second look at the guard of the dorm, and I noticed strange looks from him as if he was watching me closely. I wasn't surprised previously, as he did that with Flame as well, but now his gaze focused on me.
'Did I do anything strange lately?'
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't find any reason. I only spent a day and a half at the institute and didn't do anything strange.
'maybe...'
I grabbed the black necklace around my neck and finally realized.
'Is it something famous?'
I thought about several possibilities, including that the necklace symbolizes something or an organization I do not know. It might be dangerous for me if that is true.
But I distinctly remember that the emblem on the necklace is exactly like one of the symbols in the mysterious cave as if it were an exact copy.
Well, I can't risk leaving the necklace in my apartment for some reason, and at the same time, I don't want to use the name of an organization or something I don't know about, anyway this necklace will probably give me a headache.
'I'm still a normal human...'
I'm clearly aware that I don't have any power to protect myself right now, so the idea of keeping a low profile until I can absorb an Ether might actually be a good thing.
The bad thing is that I already got some attention looking at the guard. The only person who could order the guard to watch me and had a clear look at me before at the same time is Mr.Alaster.
If what I'm thinking is true, there's probably an unknown person watching me, all of these thoughts may just be megalomaniacs, honestly, I would like that more.
I really turned heads on the first day and that can't be good in any way.
"Goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow."
We finished the lesson at 10 o'clock today which is way too early. It wouldn't be usual to finish this early of course. There are still a lot of extra lessons but they are on hold until all the students can take their first breath.
Currently, all first-year students have plenty of free time and the only job they have is to go to an hour and a half Ether lesson in the morning.
I planned to invest my entire day to try absorbing some Ether.
after I got home, I used a small part of the ingredients I had previously bought to prepare good and nutritious food.
Good food and body stability are the most important things to take full effect from absorbing Ether and not letting 90% of it get lost in the air.
Although I haven't reached the 10% absorption stage yet, I still think that good food can't make it difficult for me.
After only half an hour I finished eating and sat on my comfortable bed to try again. A calm environment and a clear mind are all I need. Although I got a calm environment, a clear mind is the last thing I have at the moment.
The good thing is that after a few hours, I started to forget about the necklace and started to progress steadily again.
.....
Since that day my daily schedule became very boring. I learned from Mr.Alaster the same things every day because some of the students had difficulty in understanding. I found that a bit annoying.
How could someone be so stupid? Absorption is like absorbing oxygen, except for some differences in weight and the way the body deals with it.
All you need to understand is the process of absorbing oxygen and then changing some basic things, this is how I understood the process within a few hours on my first day.
And though I was annoyed, I never broached the subject because I wanted no enemies to be created so early.
Another issue, since I didn't want to keep the necklace in my apartment due to some concern about the Institute's security system, I decided to keep it with me, but carefully conceal it under my clothes.
What worries me the most lately is that the surveillance around me has increased a lot, the traders in the market have become very wary of me but they are watching me closely at the same time.
Although the situation is not very clear, my feelings told me that the matter is not as simple as I hoped it would be.
I'm not going to hide that I regret a little bit about taking the necklace out into the sunlight but I realize that no one can change the past so the feeling of regret didn't last long.
Four full days have passed since I came to the institute, and I still feel that I need four more days.
As soon as I walked out of my apartment this morning, I found that Flame was waiting for me, unusually, with the widest smile I had ever seen.
I felt that he had changed clearly, the features of his face became clearer and he seemed more dangerous, the ether radiated around him with a burning aura that made me feel he was out of my reach. The ability to turn me into ash is completely within Flame's reach now.
The change cannot be described clearly at the moment because he absorbed the smallest amount of Ether, it can only be said that he developed in the race, towards another race that is not of human.
Flame started trying before me by a whole week, it seem that he had finally successfully absorbed the first beath of Ether, what I didn't expect was that it threw so much credit at me.
He told me that after heeding my advice, his pace of progress changed dramatically and he ended up finishing it much earlier than expected.
I realized that Flame is actually very talented, but all he lacks is confidence. If he had all these things, he would become a terrifying person in the future.
or maybe that is only what he wanted me to believe...
I immediately congratulated Flame with real joy and noticed some changes in him, it seemed as if he had become a superhuman, his thinking and comprehension speed increased greatly, but his physical strength did not change much, perhaps he became physically better by only 10%.
This only means one thing, Flame is a vanquisher! Although he hasn't learned any skills yet, he told me that he would start learning immediately after getting a skill book. It seems that the institute is offering one free skill as a gift for every student.
There are two ways to get more skills, and Flame told me about them immediately. The first way is to pay a lot of money to the institute, and the second and better way is to get one of the first places in one of the classifications of the coliseum.
Even with the very expensive registration fees, there are still many other ways to profit for the institute. All markets here are obligated to pay 50% of their profits to the institute in addition to the skills library.
Nothing can be expected for free...
Time passed quickly after that, and Flame told me that another person named Ace from another noble family had absorbed some Ether a whole day after him. Ace was the person who caught my attention on the first day and was standing right next to Flame.
Ace is a vanquisher too.
Flame had chosen a level 0 skill called 『Rapid Spark』, I have to admit its name is quite silly, but Flame explained to me that its true power is quite impressive, and he only breathed an Ether once, so a level 0 skill reaches its limits.
Flame called me today in order to see the Rapid Spark that I had mocked earlier. I must admit that I was very surprised. With just a flick of his finger, a giant fire was ignited in the stone ground with a heat that was couple times more intense than normal fire at least.
With this skill, Flame is able to kill me in less than a moment, and the terrifying thing is that he can implement this skill a lot before his energy runs out.
After taking the first breath of Ether, the cells build a kind of store that did not exist before, and the Ether can be slowly replenished there. Unfortunately, this ether does not increase, so people still need to absorb Ether every now and then to become stronger.
The bad thing is that the absorption of Ether puts great pressure on the cells, and we must wait for them to absorb the terrifying amount of it.
the duration of this absorption is determined according to the person's talent. The absorption process can be accelerated with training or fighting as well, but talent is an important factor.
It seems that Flame is very talented, so he is able to inhale Ether once every 7 days, which is much better than the worst talents that require more than a month to absorb a small amount.
....
'When would I succeed..'
It's been a whole week of training and I still fail weirdly every time. I made a certain mistake during the last 3 days and I just fixed it. If there is another mistake I may not be able to keep the same spirit...
My chest suddenly swelled as a huge amount of ether slowly gushed out. The ether successfully passed the stage of the lungs and was stored in the blood.
My heart tried to pump blood continuously, but it barely moved. After a lot of full pumps, I felt like my heart was about to explode, but the blood finally moved.
This is the problem I faced in the past three days, which is that my heart does not have the necessary muscle strength.
Although I passed this stage, I did not celebrate yet. I still have two stages ahead of me, the difficulty of which exceeded a simple muscle weakness.
Unconsciously, my mind became working at its full capacity and my concentration reached a level I never imagined I would reach at all, all the expressions on my face disappeared and all that remained was complete calm.
A steady, precise amount of Ether was pumped into each and every one of the cells of my body and I never thought this could be achieved with my concentration.
The penultimate stage is over and all that remains is the last stage. The amount of ether that I inhaled is too large, and the cells do not have enough room for it, and I simply cannot leave it. I may suffer dozens of internal wounds if I did this.
My heart continued to pump blood with my might only, even though it was about to explode, the pressure of Ether on the body is unimaginable without experiencing it.
I lay on my bed at the same moment the excess Ether came out and began to breathe oxygen non-stop. I felt such a wonderful feeling that the best massage in the world is powerless in front of it.
I felt my heart beating with a higher force than usual and my limbs began to receive an abnormal force, my body became many times stronger!