25 Unprecedented

Adam immediately sent his consciousness to his mind, and the scene that greeted him left him completely shocked.

Earlier when he used to send his consciousness inside his mind, he would always find himself directly inside the mysterious space of the white lotus. But now, it was something entirely different.

He found himself hovering above a water body, and in the center of the water body floated a pristine white lotus with three verdant round leaves around it!

After coming into contact with mana, the white lotus seemed to have undergone a transformation.

"This…" Adam was flabbergasted. He looked around and saw that the water body appeared to be boundless, almost as if it were a sea.

"Wait a minute." Adam's eyes widened in disbelief. "A sea!?"

Although the academy's Mana Extraction Manual only included knowledge relevant to a Rank 1 Magus, Adam recalled some of the bits and pieces of information about subsequent ranks that he had absorbed from the memory of the powerhouse.

"A sea.. a sea…" the youth muttered incoherently, his face filled with shock. "Impossible!!"

Right at that moment, Adam's consciousness returned to the real world when Edward called out to him. "Adam, you alright?"

Seeing the concerned look on his roommate's face, Adam nodded. "Y-Yeah, I'm okay. I was just overwhelmed by this new feeling."

"Okay, hurry up and move. I need to advance as well!" Edward spoke excitedly.

Adam got to his feet in a daze and stood at the side. Meanwhile, Elaine helped Edward through the ritual of becoming a Magus. Throughout the entire process, Adam remained absentminded.

He still couldn't come to terms with the unexpected gains brought to him by the white lotus.

This should have only happened when I advanced to Rank 2. But the fact that it happened now… It has to be because of the lotus! Adam thought incredulously.

The Magus' soul that he absorbed inside the white lotus not only contained vast knowledge and experience about herbalism, but it also contained some information about Magus ranks.

However, this information was not comprehensive because of the memory's fragmented nature.

"Congratulations, Eddie!" Elaine's cheerful voice brought Adam out of his deep thoughts.

Adam decided to throw the matter of this sudden development to the back of his mind for the time being. He walked up to Edward and gave him a hug. "Nicely done, Ed!"

Edward hugged him back and laughed loudly. "Hahaha! Adam. We're finally Magi! This calls for a celebration!" He came closer and then whispered in his ears, "I have some fine-quality wine back in our dorm room. Let's finish that bottle tonight!"

Adam definitely wouldn't say no to wine. He had developed quite a liking for it back when he tasted it for the first time with the mercenaries from the traveling party. Besides, he needed to calm the turbulent emotions in his heart.

To celebrate the joyous occasion, that night the two of them got viciously drunk in their dorm room.

…

"Damn it!" Adam cursed under his breath as he sprinted through the academy's main building's corridor. He screamed without turning back. "Run fatty run!"

"Wait… hah… hah." Edward struggled to speak as he ran after Adam. "W-Wait for me!"

The two friends had drunk like madmen last night. As a result, they were severely hungover and were already late for class.

Being late on the very first day of school…

Was really messed up.

After a series of twists and turns, the duo finally managed to locate their classroom. Both of them showed up in a haggard state, to say the least. Especially Edward, he seemed like he was on his last breath.

The professor, a middle-aged man with fiery red hair, was interrupted by the two's sudden arrival. He looked at them and frowned. "It's the first day of school and you're already late! By thirty minutes! Why the hell did you two even show up?"

Judging from the tone of the professor, he seemed really angry.

"F-Forgive us, professor. We got—" Adam tried to cook up an excuse, but was brutally cut off by the professor.

"Silence!" The professor roared. "I don't want to hear excuses. You two are to remain standing while holding your ears for the rest of the class."

"Y-Yes, professor…" Adam and Edward could only helplessly nod. They stood by the door while holding their ears. This elicited a round of hushed laughter from the rest of the students in class.

However, the professor didn't reprimand the class. After all, the whole point of the punishment was to make the two latecomers stand in embarrassment.

"As I was saying," the professor continued his lecture. "Rank 1 is also known as Mana Foundation. This rank consists of five minor stages that a Magus must advance through to be promoted to the next rank.

"The first minor stage is the Flesh Stage. Here, the Magus absorbs the mana in the air and thoroughly washes their flesh. Only when every inch of the flesh has been nourished by mana, can the Magus advance to the next stage, called the Muscle Stage."

Seeing that all the students were paying attention and taking notes, the professor nodded and continued explaining.

"The same happens in the second stage. Mana thoroughly nourishes all the muscles and tendons in the body until it seeps further in, at which point, the Magus advances to the Bone Stage where the cycle repeats itself.

"After the Bone Stage comes the Organ Stage and finally the Neural Stage. In the fifth and final stage, mana nourishes the brain and the nervous system. This results in the creation of mana channels that flow through the body."

A student raised his hand and asked, "Professor, if in the fifth stage mana directly nourishes our brain, doesn't that mean it is highly risky and very dangerous?"

The professor nodded in approval. "Precisely! The fifth stage is the most dangerous and the first major hurdle that a Magus faces. If something were to go wrong during this stage, then the Magus would become a vegetable with no hope of recovery!"

All the students gasped in apprehension. The professor, however, comforted everyone with his next words.

"That is why it is so important to receive proper guidance when on the path of a Magus. And you all, as students of Clover Academy, will naturally be taken care of. Always remember, kids. We can look far only because we're standing on the shoulders of giants."

For the rest of the class, the professor taught other basic points that a Rank 1 magus needed to take note of. However, no information was disclosed regarding Rank 2. After all, that was highly confidential knowledge.

But Adam knew exactly what happened after a magus reached the Neural Stage.

In order to advance to Rank 2, two prerequisites must be fulfilled. Firstly, the Magus needs to guide the mana through the mana channels and condense it at the center of their body.

The second prerequisite is the formation of the spirit sea which only happens after the brain has been nourished and enhanced by mana.

But thanks to the white lotus, Adam had already achieved the unprecedented feat of forming the spirit sea as a mere Rank 1 Magus!