The Tower

Steven returns to his dorm room with all the knowledge he had gathered. He could now understand the most basic concepts that affect the Cultivation of this world. But there was something that troubled him too much now.

He did not know how to gain resources, he understood that the city government would provide two Energon Crystals for the Scholarship holders every month, but he knew that this was not enough. The students from the cultivation families or with parents that were well off would receive a lot more resources because everyone knew that in this world Strength and cultivation will provide you with lots more resources in the future.

There was a saying here that a man spends all his wealth on his children for Cultivation without any regrets is because he knew that in the future he would gain lots more. Yes, this was true because when any cultivator completes his High School he would be offered jobs in Army, Alliance Protectorate or even Private Institutions which would provide a Big amount of resources at the beginning because in work there is a huge chance of death,

These resources were mostly much more in quantity than they would ever spend on their children because more talented and strong a Cultivator was the more resources he would receive. This rule was set up by the World Alliance decades ago for the protection of human interests, as cultivation resources were very costly, and if the people did not have the returns paid instantly then as you know Cultivation leads to many Life and Death encounters and Death is an easy occurrence.

Without such rules, the commoners and poor would never allow their children to cultivate, whereas cultivators in this dangerous world were in constant demand due to the excessive death rate. After all the resources received when completing high school could alleviate a poor family to middle-income ones, while raising the standard of living this had motivated their families to have their children to become Cultivators.

Now even Steven could feel the crux of this matter. Without resources, he could cultivate but would not be able to compete with Frank and others as they could use much better resources than him which were hundreds of times or maybe thousands of times more effective in Cultivation.

Though nature had Energon present in it naturally, the Energon was not dense in quantity as well as he had to purify the Energon before he was able to cultivate it. The better option was Energon Crystals but he still did not receive any and he will only receive two crystals every month which was far from enough. Even commoner families had more Energon crystals because their parents had a regular source of income and could convert their credits in the Crystal Watches to Energon Crystals from Banks.

The best resource still were monster cores, they were the ones with the highest level of purity of Energon with the very dense amount present in them. A low-level cultivator without talent could cultivate for a month or two using a Level 1 Monster Core. The dense amount of Energon present was the reason and it did not deplete easily so it could be used over longer periods of time.

And Steven did not have any of the resources that could help him Cultivate faster. He was starting to realize the importance of a Backing or families in this dangerous cultivation based world. The more he wanted to change his own destiny, the more he would need resources and they would determine whether or not he would become a high-level Cultivator or not.

A certain depression and agitation burned his heart. He could not even allow himself to fight properly with Frank much less take revenge on him. He really needed to come out with some way to gain a lot of resources otherwise even if he works hard that would all become waste, such is this world.

After coming to terms with his inner self, Steven freshened himself up and sat down on his bed in the lotus position. This was usually the most comfortable position for Cultivation used by most of the cultivators.

Relaxing his body up he started to spread his awareness to the environment near him using his consciousness. He started searching for the Energon particles in nature as per the steps taught by Mr. Marvik his homeroom teacher, after some searching he finally started sensing small red particles in the environment everywhere he tried, they were there in the Air, the floor, the trees and more.

This discovery excited him, he started to slowly attract the particles towards him and with some work, the particles started to converge near him. He slowly started to absorb the Energon particles, the first target of Cultivation was the Skin and so he started to concentrate the particles in the Skin.

Just as he felt like a change would take place, a stinging pain attacked him coursing throughout his body. All the particles that Steven had tried to concentrate on the skin started to move inside his body. A sudden bluish glow could be seen from his chest.

When he looked what it was he was surprised to find that it was the Blue Cat's Eye Locket that was glowing. He also observed that slowly the pain was receding while the Energon particles started to move towards the Locket which was absorbing them at an unprecedented pace.

The bluish glow increased while all this was happening, the light was getting brighter and more intense. Within seconds the room was fully filled with blue light and the light was getting out of control. Within minutes the room was glowing like a huge torch, but there was something odd about this no one outside of the room could see this, even though there was a window which was equally bright giving out the light of this same room.

Moments after, this light had disappeared out of this world and with it, Steven was also nowhere in sight of the room. Everything in the room was the same as before, nothing was out of place except Steven who was missing as though he was never present there.

*

A foggy world.

Steven who had disappeared from his room was currently in a densely foggy world. He stood at a place and was staring at something in wonder and marvel.

The thing he was staring at was a large tower; it was so large that even Steven was not able to find the top which was shrouded by fog. The tower was tall but creepy too. The bricks that made the tower were large and made of greenish stones maybe, they were not materials that Steven was aware of.

The tower also had a big arc like structure which was made of two azure dragon statues facing each other while their tails were fixed to the ground. Steven could not understand how this structure was even standing as there was a gap in between the Dragons mouths which meant that the structure was formed of two different structure which was supporting each other without any joints.

When Steven was busy checking out the structure of the Arc and the tower, loud roaring voices sounded behind him. He shivered like a scared cat and jumped off his feet in fear. Turning towards the sound he could see that there was only fog intense fog outside and there was nothing that he could see.

But something caught his eyes in the fog, he could make out some shadows which were moving in the fog while growling and roaring. He even felt like some fierce beast was looking him up as its prey.

"Rooooaaar"

An intense roar sounded out not far from him and he got more scared and in fear ran towards the Tower at full speed. When he reached the tower and turned to find if the creature that was roaring was still following him or not?

He found that the creature was still inside the fog and was not keen on following him towards the tower. It was more like it was scared of the tower for some reason. Steven got curious of the Tower but also felt scared, if such a ferocious beast was scared of the Tower then what kind of existence did the tower contain?

But there was nothing he could do as in front of him was a foggy world with ferocious beasts roaming, while behind him was a scary tower which had unknown origins. Both were scary in their own rights, and till now Steven could not understand where he was and what he was doing in this place? Who brought him here?

When he thought about these, he understood that his only option now was to enter this unknown tower. He went forward towards the Towers gate which was very huge wooden made doors. He banged the tower doors while shouting "Is there anybody there?"

"Roooaar"

There was no response from the tower but the fierce beast that was in the fog had instead roared with a louder volume. Steven had his hairs standing listening to the roar.

He quickly pushed the door of the Tower to push it forward, but it was very hard and immovable in its own rights. Steven was panting in sweat after trying to push the door while the beast outside was still roaring in between.

When Steven was nearly depleted of strength he thought of using Energon particles of nature to push the door. The instant his hand came in contact with the door while his body was also in contact with the Energon particles. And the door had a sudden reaction and without any pressure from Steven, it started opening on its own.

Steven was greeted with intense darkness and when Steven was thinking of not entering. His body started to move automatically.

"Thud"

With a thud, the doors closed the instant Steven had entered closing its doors for all the creatures outside. Even the outside world lost all its sounds when the door had opened. The fierce beast that was roaring at Steven had also run away from the vicinity of the Tower the instant the doors had opened. And now Steven was locked inside the unknown tower without knowing his future.