13 The Cave Encounter.

Like a vampire emerging from his coffin, Chung slowly surfaced from within the ground, the sand and dirt pouring off of him like an overturned hourglass. He peered into the cave with a mysterious look on his face.

"Tailing me? I've already comprehended the rule of the world, you're destined to fail."

Standing up, he strided into the cave with unmatched confidence, as though nothing in the world would dare try and stop him.

...

Millard was nearing the end of the cave and was getting an eerie feeling.

"Something doesn't feel right…"

Having reached this point inside the cave, he would have at the very least felt the presence of the rhinestone. There would have been an aura left behind by it, almost like a residue. However he was nearing the very boundary of the cave, and felt no such aura which left him at a loss. Suddenly he felt another presence approaching him from behind. Millard's current realm was Core Guiding Pinnacle. At this stage, one would be able to guide the energy of their core outside of their body. Usually people who have reached the pinnacle of this stage would constantly keep a little bit of their core energy in the vicinity around them, as a means to prevent people from sneaking up on them. Thus he immediately felt it when someone entered his range of sense.

"Who goes there!" Millard immediately called out to whoever was there.

"Ah, mister have I inadvertently frightened you? I am sincerely sorry for this mishap." Millard looked down and saw a young man with a curly afro on his knees apologizing to him. He was caught off guard by how this young man reacted. He immediately waved to let him know it was alright.

"It's fine, I just wasn't expecting anyone else to be here." Millard eyed the young man as to get a better look when the realization struck him that this was the boy Elder Jao was looking for. So the boy decided to search for the Rhinestone on the very last day Master allotted him.

Any pretense of respect Millard had for the young man instantly disappeared once he realized who it was. The boy was a dead man anyways, so what was the point of putting up a useless front?

Millard was about to tell the young man something when he saw the boy in question abruptly throw his hands into the air.

"I HEAR IT...IT'S...speaking to me…"

Chung collapsed to the ground as though falling unconscious, however his eyes were wide opened as he pushed his ears to the ground.

Millard was at a loss for words, he even backed up a little in surprise. What in the world is wrong with this person? However in consideration of his position, he felt he had lost face by backing up, so he quickly spoke up.

"Hey kid, I don't know what you're doing here, but don't go around acting like an idiot in front of people you don't know, you'll get yourself killed."

Unfortunately his words landed of deaf ears, as the only thing Chung was listening to was the ground.

"Tsk, doesn't know what's good for him."

Millard thought as long as he doesn't kill the kid, it'll be alright if he teaches him a lesson or two.

Raising his arm in front of him, he slowly guided his Core Energy outside of his body, using his arm as a medium. Focusing hard, he slowly aimed some of his core energy towards Chung who was lying on the floor. Since Millard was a loyal subordinate of Elder Jao, he had access to all kinds of techniques from the School of Initiation. 'Burning Wind' This technique in question was a high level assault technique that could only be learned by those in the intermediate level of the Core Guiding stage. Through guiding your Core Energy, you can superheat it to burn the enemies who come into contact with it. This was exactly what Millard was planning to do.

Without even realizing it, Chung had already been submerged in Millard's Core Energy.

"I hear it…..it has acknowledged me...thank you...thank you so much…." Chung began murmuring nonsense and tears rolled down his eyes as snot began to bubble up like a kid blowing into his milk with a straw.

Millard looked at him with immense disdain.

"No one hears you, no one acknowledges you, and no one accepts you." Upon saying this, Millard clenched his hand into a fist.

"BURN!"

Like a spark meeting gasoline, a bonfire materialized before Millard's eyes as Chung ignited into a blaze.

Millard relaxed his arms and before he could scorn the young man, his eyes widened disbelief.

Chung, who was lying on the floor attentively listening to the ground whilst bathed in fire, impassively stood up like nothing had happened. His skin was scorched, and his afro was being burned away at a visible pace.

Suddenly, Chung looked directly at Millard and smiled a big toothy grin.

Millard instinctively backed up. Just what is going on, how can someone only at Core Consciousness Primary stage withstand one of my strongest moves!

Suddenly, the cave began to slowly rumble, as though some sort of immense entity was burrowing up from within the earth's core. Before Millard could make sense of what exactly was going on, an androgynous voice sounded out from seemingly everywhere.

"Finally," The voice resounded "I've been looking for someone who suits my taste."

Boom!

The blazing inferno which engulfed Chung was immediately put out as an immense presence descended down crushing everything.

"Ugh..!" Millard reluctantly knelt down as he tried his utmost to withstand the pressure, however the other party was simply too strong.

"A mere ant of the Core Guiding realm thinks he can withstand my pressure. Foolish."

As though a switch was flicked, the pressure inside the cave was amplified by many times.

"Aghh!" Millard was crushed deep into the rocky floor, cracks were everywhere and if one were to look from the outside, the cave would appear to be struggling to hold itself together. Even the surrounding area was rumbling. If it weren't for the mysterious expert's kindness, Millard would have already been dead many times over.

Suddenly a silhouette materialized from within the ground as though a shadow. A purple star shined brightly on the silhouettes chest, stripping away the darkness of the cave.

Millard, covering his eyes from the stars glare, strained his neck to look up, but once he did was shocked to the bone.

"You….how could this be…" He simply couldn't wrap his head around what he saw. It was a purple star! One might never come across an expert of that calibre in their entire lifetime. Even the founder of their entire school was only at the very beginning of Cyan star. However, this man expert before him had one-upped their founder by who knows how many realms.

One had to know that a star could not be forged, they could only be passed down. Only white stars could be forged, but who would even give a second glance to someone with a white star? Rumor had it that when the founder broke through from Core Refinement into the First Stratum, a Cyan star descended from the sky, signifying his position in the world. Numerous people in the world were the same level as the founder, but those who could be conferred a star were only a handful.

Without glancing at Millard, the mysterious expert simply grabbed Chung and left. Obviously someone like Millard amounted to nothing in the eyes of the mysterious expert.

Millard himself didn't mind, he sighed in relief that he got to keep his life. When in front of someone of that calibre, whether he lived or died was decided based on that expert's whim.

Standing up, he realized that the expert barely used any power at all, he was simply toying with him. He didn't know why he was here or why he had his eyes set on Chung, all that mattered now was how he was going to explain this to Elder Jao.

…

Enzo and Lilaya were oblivious to the happenings outside of Village 3. Lilaya was still positioned in the middle of her guest room, trying her hardest to sense her Core and begin walking the path of an Elementalist. It was a miracle how she even got her position as a caretaker in the first place. Her father used to be the Village 1 caretaker, and he was one of the more talented Elementalists, however one day he ventured into the outskirts of Village 2 and got himself killed. The position simply fell into her hands. No one complained since being a caretaker for village 1 was simply a title without merit. The only real perk was better housing at the School and exemption from some small fees, but people rarely stay in their rooms and the fees were negligible, most elementalists were in the Yard of Reflection more than their living quarters anyways.

Suddenly Lilaya opened her eyes, but there was no excitement to be seen.

"Am I...really not meant to become an Elementalist afterall?"

Having been at the school for more than a year, she thought that it was only a matter of time before she soared to the top, however things have been going contrary to her thoughts. She had studied the ins and outs of the manual she was given and on numerous occasions consulted many fellow trainees in the Yard of Reflection, however everyone had said the same thing.

She was just about to give up when a soft voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Are you..training right now?"

Lilaya looked over towards her bed with wide eyes.

"Ah, you're awake! I'm so sorry you had to see such a sight back at the ceremony…" She was happy that the young boy had awakened from his shock, however she remembered what happened and felt bad that such a young boy had to witnesses the cruelness of the world.

"Oh, it's alright. It was no big deal. I'm more interested in elementalism. Can you tell me how I can know what level of training I've reached." When Enzo was unconscious earlier, he had kept dreaming about the various visions the spirit in his consciousness had showed him. He felt that he had improved greatly even though he hadn't put anything into practice.

"Huh?" She was surprised at how well the boy before her had taken the disturbance from earlier, however her surprise slowly turned into slight admiration. She sighed, grabbed her manual and stood up.

"Well, it's kinda embarrassing but I'm just like you...I still haven't reached the first stage yet," She placed the manual on the desk beside her and before she could begin her monologue she got interrupted.

"Actually I just want to know if there's a place I can go to gauge my level." Enzo quickly restated what he wanted to know, as to avoid reliving the happenings with Ruen.

Lilaya was caught off guard, but quickly regained herself. With a light chuckle she explained,

"There are two such places here, you can either head to the Promotional Plaza, an Elder there will test you to see if you qualify for the successive star or I believe there is an array at the practice grounds which can also test your level."

Enzo's eyes lit up.

"Amazing! This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks." Enzo jumped up and was just about to leave when he felt that he should repay the lady before him for her kindness.

"I heard from an Elder here that a shortcut to achieving Core Consciousness is to meditate near Lucid Lake. I don't know if it true, but it's worth a shot." With a smile, Enzo quickly left her room and headed towards the practice grounds.

Watching the boys fleeting figure, she pondered on his departing words.

"Lucid Lake huh? Now that I think about it, the lake is capable of calming one's mind. Why haven't I thought of cultivating there before?"

She immediately grabbed her manual and raced out the door.

…

The School of Initiation is divided into four different main areas, namely the Yard of Reflection, Practice Grounds, Reception Pavilion and Living Quarters. Within those main areas are sub areas, an example being the Promotional Plaza near the Reception Pavilion. Since the Reception Pavilion has more status than the Promotional Plaza, it doesn't get to be a main area in the school. It is simply underneath the umbrella which is the Reception Pavilion.

Currently Enzo was making his way to the practice grounds. Luckily, the practice grounds were situated close to the school's living quarters, as to make it easily reachable for all of the school's disciples. It wasn't long before the practice grounds appeared before Enzo's eyes.

Two massive stone walls stood up high amongst variously placed artificial trees. A thin entrance gate sat in the middle of the two walls, managed by a single attendant. He served to regulate who entered the practice grounds and who left them.

Seeing a disciple approach, the attendant at the gate walked forward slightly in preparation. With a light smile and gleeful gestures, the attendant motioned towards Enzo.

"Greetings fellow disciple, I figure you are here to enter the practice grounds, correct?"

Noticing the attendant, Enzo smiled back.

"That's right!"

Hearing the confirmation from Enzo, the attendant nodded his head jubilantly.

"Ah, fellow disciple you've arrived at the perfect time, our School's practice grounds have nearly been maxed to capacity! With a majority of top disciples returning from their venture to Winterville, most of them had decided to assemble in the practice grounds to share the knowledge they had learned."

Enzo nodded his head slightly.

"I see!"

This didn't come to a surprise to Enzo, it made sense. After returning from an exclusive journey, the weaker disciples would surely be eager to hear about the top disciple's experiences and learn what they could from them.

"All I need to see is your identity token."

"Of course." Reaching into his pocket, Enzo retrieved his token and handed it to the attendant.

Receiving the token, the attendant was about to start his procedure when his eyes widened slightly.

Interesting!

"If I may ask, what is your age?" The attendant asked.

Not at all bothered by his question, Enzo looked up and answered,

"I'm thirteen."

"Thirteen you say? That's younger than I had originally assumed. I didn't think someone so young could ever hope of getting into this School," The attendant was a little shaken by this understanding. "The previous youngest disciple to enter the School was Kase, he entered when he was 15 and survived here since. Now he's holding the number one position…" The attendant clearly held Kase in high regard.

Enzo didn't take his words too seriously and frankly wasn't listening that much, he was actually starting to get impatient.

"It's so impressive to me, you being in a caretaker position at such a young age and all…You know, you could be the very next Kase! You're so young after all, so make sure to train hard! "

Enzo was just about to interrupt him when the attendant energetically gestured his arms.

"Alright then! let's get your number recorded so I can admit you into the grounds!" The attendant turned around and placed Enzo's token up against a certain part of the rightmost stone wall.

The wall actually possessed many engravings inscribed on its surface. It was definitely an array created by Headmaster Ghazan.

As quick as it had begun, Enzo's token was soon back in his hands.

"You may enter. Don't worry about reporting back to me when you leave, the moment your token leaves the ground, the array will inform me."

Walking past the attendant, Enzo entered into the grounds.