The next day, following the holiday, was the scheduled resource distribution day.
Athar collected his allotted quota early in the morning and carefully stored everything in his room. The cultivation technique, the storage ring, and the tallic card for the training hall from Angelica were all placed safely alongside the resources.
Having skipped dinner the night before, Athar felt a growing hunger and made his way toward the dining hall for breakfast. On the way, he ran into Ryler.
"Athar!" Ryler called out. "Where were you yesterday? Were you with Miss Angelica the entire ti? You did not co for the spar, and I did not even see you at dinner."
Athar replied. "Yes, I was with Master the whole day. And about dinner... I was too tired and fell asleep early."
Ryler nodded in understanding. "So... do we spar today?"
Athar scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"About that," he answered, "I do not think I will be able to spar this week. There are a few things that master has taught and I need to take care of. Plus, I have been neglecting my battle techniques. I need to put in so practice towards them."
Ryler smiled, placing a reassuring hand on Athar’s shoulder.
"It is alright. Sparring with you has already helped a lot. I will focus on my battle techniques in the anti too."
Athar sighed in slight relief. He had not wanted Ryler to feel bad after he was walking away from their previous arrangent.
"You should," he agreed. "And maybe, even if not daily, we could spar once or twice a week? Just to track our improvents."
Ryler’s face lit up imdiately.
"That is a great idea," Ryler said with happiness. "It will help us both see how far we have co."
With that, the two shared a quick breakfast and then proceeded to attend their classes.
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Three days passed in a flurry.
Athar had quickly adjusted to his new schedule. He attended the morning classes, and then spent the rest of the day imrsed in cultivating mana sense or practicing his new cultivation technique.
He had made slight progress with mana sense and felt that, in a few more days, he would be able to form a stable connection with the natural mana. Though he would still be far from wielding mana sense effectively, that crucial first step would be behind him. It would be a satisfactory achievent to accomplish that in few days.
He was also on the verge of mastering the Mana Assimilation technique, just a day or two more, and he would be ready to make a complete shift to the new thod of cultivation. And though he had not fully mastered it, he realised the vast difference between a yellow grade and Earth grade technique. After fully mastering the technique, he would be able to cultivate twice as fast as he was able to do with his basic cultivation technique.
Each evening, Athar would attend the combat class. He would have his dinner after which, he returned to his dorm and followed his night routine.
He cultivated using beast cores and then dedicated an hour to practicing the Phase of Illusion technique. This cut into his sleep, but he was willing to make that sacrifice.
He had already achieved a good enough mastery over the sword slash technique, so he did not wait long before moving on to the more advanced Phase of Illusion. Besides, this hectic arrangent would not last forever.
Once he fully mastered the Mana Assimilation Technique, he would free up a good portion of his day, allowing him to shift his battle technique practice to that ti instead.
During these three days, word had spread throughout the entire academy that Athar had beco the personal disciple of Angelica.
The shift in how people perceived him was imdiate and palpable. Where once the gazes of fellow students passed over him like he did not exist, they now lingered on him. The gazes were incredulous, curious, calculating.
And the little brilliant display he had shown in the spar against Angelica was equally responsible for it. And that display was also being considered the reason why Miss. Angelica had been willing to accept him as a personal disciple.
A lot of attention had fixed itself on him. So looked at him with envy, others with jealousy, and a few with open hostility. There were also eyes filled with greed. The kind that appraised, weighed, and plotted.
Several students had already attempted to befriend him, speaking with exaggerated warmth and friendliness. But Athar was no novice.
He could see through the thin veneer of their intentions. These were not attempts at friendship. They were attempts to extract benefits.
Being Angelica’s personal disciple ca with perks, and they knew it. The free access to training halls was just one of them. There were other privileges as well, for instance, Athar no longer had to worry about paying the dormitory fees after six months. That burden had been lifted the mont he beca a personal disciple of an academy instructor.
Although he had remained civil with such people, he had made very clear by his behaviour that he still preferred to remain isolated and did not have any intentions to mingle to much with them. And this has caused the resentnt against him to be increased.
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Athar sat quietly at the back of the classroom as Instructor Vale delivered his lecture. Today’s topic was survival strategies in deep forests and how to handle situations when one found themselves at a disadvantage, and the ntal shifts necessary to survive and overco precarious odds.
Athar listened with focused attention, absorbing every word. Survival, after all, was not just a matter of strength. It was often about foresight, patience, and timing. And that was what exactly Vale was trying to talk about.
After a couple of hours, the lecture finally ca to an end.
Usually, Vale would be the first to leave the class, with students trailing out behind him. But today, he remained standing at the podium, an unreadable expression on his face. A low murmur of confusion spread among the students. Did Mr. Vale wanted to say anything more?
Then Vale’s voice echoed through the classroom, calm but firm. "Everyone may leave."
There was a slight pause, and then he continued, his gaze locking directly onto Athar.
"Mr. Athar Voncruz, please stay. I would like to speak with you for a mont."
A faint tension crept up Athar’s spine. What did Vale want? He did not rember any kind of engagent with Vale even for once. He was surprised that Vale even knew his na.
Nonetheless, he gave a stiff nod of acknowledgnt.
One by one, the students filed out of the classroom, casting backward glances as they went. So looked curious, others whispering to themselves as they stepped outside.
Once the room was nearly empty, Athar slowly made his way toward the podium, his footsteps steady, even as questions swirled in his mind.
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[Thank you for reading. Rate, Review and Comnt on my novel. Also send the power stones]
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