He knew that if he had stopped at four mana folding he would not be anywhere near the level of strength he was at now. It was when he went to fivefolds that things changed. The boy was sure he had broken a barrier that divided a human from something higher.
Putting these thoughts aside, Kayden began looking for the errors in his base. Right now, his focus was only on improving his use of lighting to an extremely high level, as that was the best way to improve his strength at the moment.
Mainly that he would not have the mana to cultivate to the eighth rank. He could even return to the city with the stone unusable, but the boy preferred to stay in the forest. As incredible as it may seem, there he felt a much greater inner peace than outside.
**
Almost** three months later, Kayden finally left the forest. His clothes were in tatters, and his first stop was a clothing store to solve this problem. After that, he went straight to the train station.
His destination was the house of David. The boy developed an idea during these months in seclusion that he wanted to discuss with the scientist. The process was smooth, as Kayden was now practically of legal age, and traveling alone didn't cause any fuss among people.
A few hours later, he was sitting across from David in the mansion's kitchen. The scientist hadn't said anything since placing his spiritual sense on Kayden. He couldn't find words for how surprised he was.
"Do you want to explain this to me?" Those were the first words David said to Kayden after long minutes of silence.
"When I woke up, I found my way, David," Kayden began to say fearlessly. He trusted his friend with his life. "We say that it helps me when it comes to manipulating mana." His sentence explained a lot to David, but countless other doubts also arose.
How did Kayden find out about this at such a young age? Not even he had come close to that until now. Even though he was curious about this, the scientist decided to keep quiet. Certain things shouldn't be asked.
"But that's not the subject I wanted to discuss with you, David," the scientist focused on the boy. "I want to exchange the mana heart cultivation method for resources with the king during the Sol academy trials."
*****
"For the next ten minutes, all participants will be levitated. Anyone who resists will be disqualified. You will be placed at a random point in the forest and must face each other until there is the right number of participants. There are 100 kilometers of test area. Every hour, 10 kilometers will be decreased. We will automatically move people off the edge and into the test zone. Good luck ".
A person completely covered in black clothes was levitated along with thousands of other people for the sun academy test. His only visible characteristic was that he was a katana wielder. Other than that, not even the color of his hair could be observed.
As soon as he fell to the forest floor, he started running. The guy didn't seem to care if he was noticed by other people. That seemed to be exactly his goal.
It wasn't long before he found a knight carrying a large club. Without even stopping in his run, he slashed directly at his opponent. His speed was extremely high and he easily managed to pierce the man's defense and remove him from the test.
This wasn't even a fight. It barely lasted a movement. The masked person continued running and this process was repeated several times over the next few minutes. Those who watched thought he was combined in these fights, as most of the time it ended in just one blow, almost as if the opponent gave up willingly.
Slowly, time began to pass and the masked man's kills began to increase. Within an hour, he had reached the ridiculous amount of 100 people, and in no time, he faced even a challenge.
He was facing his first real fight at that moment. His opponent was a teenage girl dressed entirely in black, with white hair and black eyes. His body was entirely toned and proportionate.
This girl was the daughter of a count and was considered one of the 100 greatest beauties in the kingdom. And even so, his opponent didn't even respond to his attempts to talk. And the worst thing was that she had a bad feeling as if she was facing someone who was holding back.
At the moment, the two of them were just utilizing their sword technique. The girl was like a snake, quick and ready to attack any mistake the guy made. On the other hand, the masked man didn't stop attacking.
His every blow was connected to another. There was no break. His movements were practically instantaneous. The girl was having difficulty defending herself from Kayden's blows, but she still had space to attack him.
Zush!
The sound of air cutting was heard by the two before an arrow stuck heavily in the girl's leg. With a groan of pain, she tried to move away from her opponent so he wouldn't take advantage of her vulnerability. But to his surprise, the masked man just turned towards where the arrow came from.
"Skirt!" A young voice came out from within the large amount of clothing. Seeing that no one moved when he asked, the masked man took off at an absurd speed.
Before the archer could even react and come out from behind the tree he was hiding in, a katana appeared in his peripheral vision. Thanks to his quick reflexes, he managed to roll on the ground and... appear next to a medical team.
The masked man was simply too fast for normal people to compete against him. The guy walked back calmly toward the girl he was facing earlier.
"Why did you hide your strength?" was her first sentence when she saw him emerge unharmed a few seconds after running against the archer.
"Our fight would have ended very quickly, I wanted to try to learn something from her" his tone was dry and harsh, it was practically a slap in the girl's face, and her ego was thrown in the trash.
"What are you waiting for to finish me?" the girl started to look at the masked man strangely.
"I'll take you to the end of this match and you owe me a favor" the masked man threw a contract to the girl. "the favor doesn't involve anything sexual" The last sentence was added seeing the strange look the girl was giving him.
" How far does this favor go?" the girl didn't want to get involved with something that could harm her in the future
"There are no limits, this is a once-in-a-lifetime test, so I know its weight and how much this negotiation is worth" his sentence was followed by a heavy silence between the two, in the end, it was broken with the girl accepting the terms.