Boom! Boom!
Ramon felt the waves in his sea of consciousness become rampant.
His connection to this hidden world that was inside his head became stronger than ever before, and with this connection came more focus.
Totally focused, Ramon followed all the changes that happened.
In the Legionnaire Stage, his sea of consciousness was clear and transparent like any other sea. It was only when it came out that it became golden energy.
At the moment, this sea only filled 1/4th of its banks.
After months of cultivating diligently, the sea finally grew past its first tier and overflowed its bounds, about to climb higher into the second tier.
The golden sword hovering at the top right corner of the world of his sea of consciousness experienced no change as something magical happened.
As soon as the sea overflowed its previous bounds, Ramon felt all the pores in his body open up as he felt a mysterious connection to the energy of the world.
With access to the 2nd tier of his sea of consciousness now, astral energy was needed to fill the 2nd tier completely to increase the overall size of the sea.
It came swiftly like a waterfall watering a dry wasteland.
Whoosh!
With all his pores open, astral energy from the world was attracted into Ramon's Sea of consciousness as his body became akin to a sieve.
As astral energy rushed into his head, he didn't feel any discomfort, rather he felt a refreshing feeling like he was under the caressing hands of his mom as a baby.
The process lasted only a few seconds.
When it was over, the sea of astral energy in his sea of consciousness increased, now covering 2/4th overall of the banks of his consciousness walls.
After what felt like a long time, Ramon finally opened his eyes.
He felt refreshed and sharp, he felt even more powerful than before.
Another thing that he noted was that his overall astral energy increased, doubling its previous size. In terms of the overall walls of his sea of consciousness, this was an increase of 1/4th more astral energy.
Ramon now had more astral energy to use in battle.
"Hehe," He chuckled. "I love this feeling".
"Is this the joy of a warrior that the Fate Destroying Emperor spoke about?"
"The joy of growing more powerful". He grinned.
"I want to feel this feeling again".
"I want to keep on experiencing it".
"I want to experience it over and over again".
…
Almost at the same time that Ramon had his breakthrough in his room, in the same hostel, something similar happened in another room.
The 2 roommates were startled as they hid at a corner of the room, staring at their 3rd roommate like he was a monster as astral energy filled the room.
The boy at the center of their attention was a handsome 10-year-old boy with long black hair flowing down his shoulders. His long hair covered the right side of his face, preventing anyone from ever seeing his face fully uncovered.
He had an effortlessly arrogant look plastered on his face.
Sitting cross-legged, he also had his first breakthrough, becoming a mid-tier Legionnaire Stage Warrior but the astral energy that he attracted was far more than Ramon attracted during his own breakthrough.
Like his roommates knew him for, his facial expression remained emotionless but, in his mind, he was excited. 'Finally! I did it!'
'It worked!'
'The sacrifice was worth it!'
'Finally, I understand my specialty ability!'
'My specialty ability is not an active one like the others, it's a passive effect that can only be triggered when I breakthrough'.
'With every breakthrough, instead of the normal increase to the astral energy capacity in my sea of consciousness, I am supposed to experience 2 times more increase to my astral energy but with that sacrifice, it's even more'.
His eyes gleamed. 'With each breakthrough, I get 3 times more astral energy than any other astral warrior'.
'But in exchange, I take more time to cultivate and breakthrough than other astral warriors. Afterall, despite my talent, I took 8 months'.
'This is my gift'.
'This is my blessing from heaven!'
"Hahahaha!" Elmas laughed out loud.
"…!" His roommates froze in shock, this was his first time showing emotion.
"Hahaha!" Elmas laughed. "I am the blessed one of the heavens!"
…
While the breakthroughs happened, a certain reddish-brown haired beautiful lady stood before Lady Openda in her room.
A magic crystal hovered before them that showed the 2 students.
When Elmas' moment came, both of their eyes widened in shock.
Lady Openda's eyes narrowed. "2 times more astral energy is already pretty ridiculous for a specialty ability, but 3 times?!"
"This is already more than a specialty ability," This Headmistress' eyes narrowed as memories hidden at the back of her head in her past flowed, again rearing their ugly heads. "This is a sacrificial contract!"
"What?!" Sheila was shocked.
"Give me his admission file!" Lady Openda demanded.
Sheila did not hesitate as she went to fetch it, Lady Openda rapidly scanned through it as soon as she saw it. Written at the very end of the admission file was something that she did not pay attention to before now.
[Elmas Elden was adopted by the Elden family 5 years ago after discovering him wandering at the outskirts of Koala Town.]
"Adopted?" This lady's head instantly flowed into overdrive, her thoughts flowing and starting from this key word.
"Koala Town, 5 years ago…," Lady Openda voiced her thoughts out. "Koala Town is close to the location of that disaster that happened 5 years ago".
Sheila's eyes widened. "Limenade Town".
"Yes". Lady Openda looked ahead, rubbing her chin. "Who are you, Elmas and what is your motive for coming here?"
Sheila became flustered. "Should we apprehend him?"
Lady Openda became exasperated. "For what reason? Because of some speculations that we had? You're overdoing again".
Sheila blushed fiercely. "But listen to your tone, you sound so serious!"
"What if I sound serious?"
"I, ah…, ah…,"
"Yes?"
Sheila went red-faced and looked away. "Whatever".
Lady Openda chuckled. "He's still just in his first year, he doesn't pose a threat yet. We'll watch him more closely and I'll make my decision as time passes".
"The decision to snuff out a threat early or let fate take its course".
Lady Openda looked at him again, she focused on his face, at the part that his long black hair covered. 'What trauma did you pass through that pushed you into making such a cruel decision to yourself?'
…
The next day, the news of Ramon and Elmas' breakthrough spread through the academy among the first years, leaving Aegon under even more pressure.
This officially recognized Freya, Ramon, and Elmas as the best among the thousands of freshers who made it into Centerpoint Astral Academy this year.
Others returned to their normal schedules after but Ramon finally deviated, he had something that he needed to take care of.
He finally wanted to fulfill a side quest of his.
He wanted to visit Coca Market.