The next day came before he could even have a taste of a decent sleep.
RING!
The alarm clock on the desk set off, waking Bruce up from his short-lived nap. Annoyed, he groggily shoved the clock away, causing it to fall to the floor.
Thud!
The clock, as though teasing him, stopped ringing for a few seconds before starting again incessantly.
"..."
Bruce's mouth twitched as he finally opened his eyes. He rose from the bed, picked up the clock from the ground, and stopped its evil once and for all.
Click!
Taking a look at the desk mirror, he saw his messy and disheveled appearance. It was far cry from his usual confident image.
His eyes seemed dead, extremely tired. Without a doubt, the side effects of his training last night had taken a toll on his body.
He took a deep breath, staring at the air blankly for a while. Then, without warning, he suddenly opened his mouth and cursed loudly!
"Damn you, Cipher!"
He had barely gotten any sleep last night, mostly due to his own fault. He wanted to master "Mind Eye" as fast as possible, and the Cipher obliged.
To make it short and simple, he had experienced horrors that he didn't want to experience again. It almost broke his mind.
The whole trial was purely about him building up resistance towards psychic attacks and illusions, training his mind to the point he was almost numb to it.
It was like his experience in the Body Domain.
Except, the Cipher had lowered his pain sensitivity in the Body Domain, making it tolerable. But this time... there was no such option.
He had to experience it fully. Not even "Top-level Comprehension" could help him, as "Mind Eye" wasn't a skill that relied on a concept or energy.
Simply put, he realized quickly that "Mind Eye" was just a state of mind that gave resistance to psychic attacks and illusions after experiencing them continuously.
It wasn't a special skill or anything.
Everyone could have it as long as they suffered enough.
But it wasn't all that grim...
[The Infinite Cipher]
[Name: Bruce Ryker]
[Age: 16]
[Awakened Ability: Energy Extrasensitivity, Lower Immunity, Time Dilation, Transcendent Mind]
[Realm: Pre-evolutionary/Transcendent]
[Cipher Gifts: Top-level Comprehension, ???...]
Looking at his mastered skills, Bruce's mouth couldn't help but twitch. At the very least, his efforts and suffering weren't all for naught...
He mastered "Mind Eye" and even evolved it to its advanced variation, "Transcendent Mind" a much more useful skill.
[Transcendent Mind: Cogito, ergo sum. The mind is an extension of the self. Raise an avatar in your mind that you can use to attack others.]
Now, the skill had offensive uses. Bruce looked into his mind and saw a little transparent figure that looked like him.
That was his avatar. If he so desires, he can use it to launch psychic attacks on others or put them in various illusions.
'After its evolution, it's no longer under the mind domain but in the spirit domain...'
Bruce was surprised when he saw it. He didn't know skills could evolve and become entirely different skills afterward.
However, the question remained: was it worth it to suffer such hellish pain?
"Hell yeah!" Bruce clenched his fist. No matter what, he'll take all of his chances to get stronger.
That way, he won't die like a miserable piece of shit again.
"Still... won't you lower the pain, even for a little? I almost died back there..."
Unsurprisingly, the Cipher didn't answer him.
He suddenly remembered a quote from his previous life, "with no pain, no gain." evidently, the Cipher adhered to that logic as well.
Burying the matter in the back of his mind, he stood up and forgot about it. He went to take a shower and get a change of clothes.
Looking at the mirror, Bruce fixed his uniform and smiled at himself charmingly.
"Just so-so. Not as handsome and awesome as me back on Earth, then again... that's a high bar. "
After he finished his brief narcissistic monologue, he went outside the room and walked directly to the academy.
On the way, he coincidentally met with Comma and Fredo.
"Where did you sleep, man? We didn't lock the door for you all night. You should've told us you were going to sleep outside..."
Bruce looked at Comma, surprised. "Alright, my bad. I left my phone in the apartment so I couldn't tell you guys I rented a room outside."
"Hm?" Comma furrowed his brows. "You're moving out?"
"No, I just needed some privacy to practice my ability."
"... Huh? Why not do it in VR then?"
"I have no VR equipment, and I prefer practicing it in real life than in VR," Bruce said honestly. He didn't think that the Cipher would work in VR so he didn't consider it.
One of mankind's greatest technological advancements was Virtual Reality. It allowed evolvers to practice their skills without collateral damage.
It also allowed other humans to interact with each other, despite being light-years away from each other.
Comma dropped it at that and continued walking.
Since Bruce and his roommates were from different classes, they quickly separated from each other when they reached the academy.
'Class 1-A... 1-A...'
Bruce repeated in his mind. He went up to the first floor and walked to the end of the hallway. Finally, he stopped when he reached his destination.
In front of him, there were twin doors with a large sign on top.
[Class 1-A]
Without further ado, he pushed it open.
As soon as he stepped inside, he was greeted by a fragrant odor that made him pause his steps. It was truly sweet and aromatic.
Long, light purple hair grazed his face. He looked in front of him, immediately realizing the wonderful scent came from the hair of the person in front of him.
However, he couldn't help but find the person's back familiar for some reason...
As though hearing the door open, the person was taken aback and turned around. Her eyes suddenly widened in shock, while her cheeks turned rosy.
The first thing Bruce noticed were her eyes. Her gleaming pair of pupils that had the same shade of color as her aromatic hair.
There was a saying: the eyes were the mirror to the person's soul. If that was the case, then this person's soul was surely very beautiful.
But after he took a good look at her. He immediately recognized the person: it was none other than the girl he rejected yesterday, Natasha Raven.
Giving her a short, funny glance, Bruce shook his head and walked away. She liked the previous him, but that person was already gone.