7 I Have A Lead.

Chung had left village 3 in a full sprint, exhausting himself before even reaching the entrance of village 2. Nearly hyperventilating, he wiped the sweat from his face and looked up at the distant entrance with a frown. Recalling the loss of his token, he trembled in rage. Picking up his pace, he began to speed walk.

…

Evening came.

Chung had passed by the School's founding statue and saw two guards before him. Although he didn't recognize these people, he didn't care. Nearing the two guards, with a face full of anger, he said,

"My name is Chung Bao, I'm the caretaker for Village 3, I'll be heading to my room, excuse me…"

With long strides, he attempted to make way through the archway and into the School.

"Don't you know a token must be presented before access?" Mazu sidestepped to block his path.

"Or could anyone without a token say the same thing as you?" Mazu stood his ground with his arms crossed and a steadfast look on his face as if saying, 'you won't ever get through unless I see a token.'

With an immense frown and much reluctance, Chung took out his guest token and threw it towards Mazu. In actuality, he prayed to god that through sheer luck, this guard would make a mistake and not recognize this as a guest token and as a real one.

Catching the token, Mazu looked at the number on it. For a split moment, an astonished look could just briefly be seen.

Chung noticed it and he almost couldn't believe it himself. 'There really is a god!' Chung fully believed that short look of astonishment was him seeing a true one star caretaker token for the first time! However, Mazu was thinking totally different things.

"Hahaha, so this is the guy!" Mazu instantly saw the number 55g on the back of the token, and knew that this was the guy who fought that boy Enzo's 'master'! With a slight look of schadenfreude, Mazu explained to the man before him,

"With just this token alone, I can't permit you access…"

"WHAT!?" Hearing this guards' words, which were the complete opposite of what he was expecting, he nearly tumbled over. He anxiously looked at the two guards in front of him with an almost pleading look.

"WHY ISN'T THIS TOKEN ENOUGH?" Exasperated to the utmost degree, he stared at Mazu and Ao Han hoping for a miracle.

Seeing this freckled guy's cat eye look, Mazu could only shake his head.

"I'll have to inform the holder of token 55 if he's expecting you as a guest…"

'NOOOOOOO!!!!' Stumbling back, a look of dread covered his face.

It was at this moment, Chung fully understood the meaning of regret. He couldn't accept that such a perfect life could end through one mere blunder. He had to get his token back from that kid! He would wait for his opportunity; no matter how long it took, he would get it back!

With a face full of dismay, Chung gazed up into the sky as if pondering his future. Suddenly, it was as if a glint could be seen shining from his eyes.

'It's been 10 months…since that elder spoke of the black cave…' As he recalled this point, a new resolve was beginning to form in his heart.

'For 10 months, I had been putting in my fullest efforts toward sensing my Core...eating, sleeping, training...Finally I had entered the beginning stages of Core Consciousness…'

His mind tinkered as he reflected on his past.

Mazu turned away from Chung to discuss something with Ao Han before asking this guy to leave for loitering.

Suddenly, Chung seemed to have reached an understanding of the world.

'Only strength matters! If I had enough strength, I could destroy this entire School, what would a mere token matter!?'

It was as though Chung was struck by lightning. His eyes widened, the same way someone who'd seen their parents die would. Yet they were tearless, reflecting the type of enlightenment he had received. When only strength matters, what use is emotions? What is sympathy?

Chung's lips slowly arched up, until a massive smile appeared on his face.

Mazu took a few steps back when he looked over and saw the face of the man. His curly red hair suddenly didn't seem as harmless as before. Ao Han instinctively grabbed his polearm upon seeing the look in his eyes. A look that could see through the typical and displace the distinguished. However their worry was in vain.

Chung turned around slowly, his whole body slouched over. Without a token for entry, he knew he would never get in and that kid could care less about him now. However that didn't matter to him anymore, he had been enlightened.

Neither Ao Han nor Mazu knew, something had been born.

__________________________________________________

Enzo had no idea that Chung had come looking for him and was turned away at the entrance. He had been solely concentrating on trying to sense his Core, however, it turned out to be more troublesome than he thought.

"Where is this thing!? Why can't I sense it!" Enzo felt a bit disgruntled with how this was going.

He had originally thought that since the sensing of your Core was the first step on the road of becoming a genuine elementalist, it wouldn't be that hard. However, contrary to his thoughts, that wasn't the case. Looking around at the walls and desk, he was beginning to feel as if he was trapped within a cage.

"Maybe this isn't the right place!"

Feeling that the environment was the problem, Enzo stood up and walked towards the front door.

Leaving his room, he stood in front of the lake that was right by his quarters. Staring into the clear lakewater, it was as if his mind had sped up, yet also slowed down. Noticing the effect of Lucid Lake, he couldn't help but sigh in praise,

"This really does have a good effect! However will it help me with sensing my Core?" Wondering if this lake would help him, he took a seat in front of it and slowly let himself slip into a deep state of meditation.

…

'W-where...am I…?'

Ruen laid within a world of pitch blackness. Bright lights would occasionally pass by, but they would always be too far out of reach. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he knew that it was extremely hard to think straight in this place.

A single mote of light began to flutter and move closer to Ruen's arm. He saw it and tried to lift his hand to touch it, but whenever he tried to move, weakness would suffuse his body.

'Just what is going on? Where have I ended up?'

The last thing he remembered was being encircled by that Orion elder's squad of assassins. With no other choice, he had to use the Echelon's final Galaxy talisman forged by Cota Nomida himself thousand of years ago to enter the void to escape. However, he gravely underestimated the strength of the voids' spatial turbulence and got his skin lacerated and nearly died. If he had stayed within the void for even another hour, he probably wouldn't have another breath in him. With that, he blacked out and only just recently had he found himself in this predicament.

Ruen closed his eyes in order to stimulate all of his senses to try and get a better feel for his surroundings, when he suddenly sensed a warmth coming from his pants pocket. The warmth grew greater and greater until he saw a bright cyan light emerge out to float next to him. It slowly formed into the shape of an aged man, with a long white beard.

If Ruen could move right now, he would definitely have already knelt 100 times already.

"I am the last strand of consciousness left behind by Cota Nomida before he chose to leave our world and walk the Eternal Path…" The consciousness formed from the remaining power of the founders bead spoke with aged weakness, as if it only had a limited time before it would disperse.

Ruen was astonished. The final strand of consciousness has appeared! That would only happen if the bead had found it's chosen one!

"So you are our Echelon's heir for this era?" The consciousness gazed down at Ruen. The calm gaze was almost intimidating in a way.

Ruen couldn't nod, so he could only say,

"Senior, I am indeed that person."

Hearing Ruen's words, the consciousness looked away and spoke with a tiny bit more weakness,

"You are currently trapped in your own consciousness. When you used my Galaxy talisman, you didn't possess enough strength and nearly died. In an attempt to stay alive, you forcefully tried to break through into the 3rd Stratum and trapped yourself within the confines of your mind…"

Hearing the consciousness' words, Ruen's eyes widened. He remembered now. Feeling the lacerations from within the void, he knew that if that kept up he would ultimately die, so he forcefully tried to breakthrough and failed, trapping himself inside his mind.

"The 3rd Stratum is the toughest stratum to overcome. It took me one hundred years to cross it's stages, and should only be attempted when one is truly ready. Although you had no other choice, that shows you have utmost determination and decisiveness and are indeed worthy of being from the Echelon. I will help guide you out of your unconscious state, with this, it will be considered payment for protecting my bead for so many years…."

With those words said, the old man gently knelt down and put his finger to Ruen's chest.

Feeling the consciousness' finger, he felt a warmth penetrate through his entire body. The finger then slowly began to move in a formation.

"Guide the energy of your Core to follow my finger, this will break the seal heavens put on you for failing your breakthrough. However, this will only work once. If you fail again in the future, the seal will be superimposed to such a height that even someone who reached the pinnacle of the Eternal Path would struggle to break that seal…" His voice was so weak that it was nearly impossible to hear at that point.

However Ruen heard and was stunned. The Eternal Path. Even for someone of his calibre, that was far out of reach.

Focusing in on the consciousness' finger, Ruen slowly guided his elemental energy, following it's path strictly.

Time slowly passed.

Beads of sweat rained from Ruen's forehead. The consciousness' formation was massive, blue lines made from Ruen's elemental energy interweaved and connected together into an intricate array. A formation from someone who had reached the peak and entered the Eternal Path was no joke. Ruen's mind was just about to collapse when a shattering sound reminiscent of chains being destroyed filled his mind.

That must be the seal!

Ruen felt his body lighten, his past strength resurging back from within his Core. He sat up with an excited smile. He could tell his state now is nearly the exact same from before he entered into the void!

He looked up to thank the old man, only to find that he was now only a wisp of foggy air.

He stood up and bowed to the consciousness. If it weren't for him, he might never have awakened and triumph over his previous misstep.

Seemingly knowing Ruen's intentions, the wisp motioned for Ruen to follow and turned in a direction.

Knowing his path hasn't yet ended, he followed the wisp with a new goal in mind.

"I'll reach the Eternal Path and search for Cota Nomida. I must thank him personally for saving my life…"