Chapter 16 Transcendent
Early in the morning, Jack Clark followed the crowd into the school gate.
What caught his eye were the vibrant faces, both male and female, all seemingly hopeful about the future.
In Summer District at the time, everyone in high school was required to learn the Body Casting Skill, so even some students with a humanities focus were full of spirit and liveliness.
Such scenes occasionally gave Jack the illusion that everyone in this world was like a dragon.
Passing the humanities Teaching Building, Jack walked through the familiar Building B and arrived at Building C, whose entrance led to the first-floor office area.
Seeing Jack enter, the woman at the side office desk asked, "Which class are you a freshman in?"
"Class 3."
"Class 3 is under the responsibility of teacher Lori Parma, go to the third floor to find him, you can take the elevator up there," the woman said, giving Jack directions.
"Thank you," Jack politely expressed his gratitude and then took the elevator to the third floor.
This was a more spacious floor than the cultivation classrooms, extending over thousands of square meters, with nothing in the middle apart from the load-bearing pillars two meters in diameter.
The vast floor was lined with various pieces of equipment and high-tech products, with the space divided into dozens of individual cultivation areas of tens of square meters each.
At this hour it was early, and no students were cultivating.
Not far from the entrance, Lori Parma, who had been introduced on the first day, sat in his office, browsing on the computer.
Upon seeing Jack knock and enter, Lori Parma pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Class 3, Jack Clark."
"Yes, teacher."
Jack was somewhat surprised that he remembered his name, considering that they had only met once before, with the teacher merely introducing himself that day.
Of course, Jack didn't know that the teacher had reviewed the profiles of all the students at the start of the school term.
Lori Parma nodded in approval, "Good, full of vigor and Qi Blood."
"Being able to complete Foundation Establishment in half a month is a decent talent."
"Take this folder and read it. You have ten minutes. After that, I will take you to undergo Foundation Establishment," Lori Parma said as he pushed a folder forward.
Seeing this, Jack didn't hold back and sat down across him to take the folder.
From the slightly worn cover of the folder, it was apparent that many people had looked through it before, and inside were instructions about the upcoming Foundation Establishment procedure.
Foundation Establishment was the process of guiding Qi into the body, drawing in the Extraordinary energy drifting between heaven and earth.
In the past, the world had only various rays and magnetic fields, so ordinary people could not become transcendent no matter how much they cultivated.
Not until fifty years earlier did the New Era commence, alongside the appearance and subsequent disappearance of cracks with Giant Beasts, did endless streams of Extraordinary energy pour into Earth.
However, this energy diffused between heaven and earth, so diluted that ordinary people couldn't sense it, and only individuals with Innate Awakening could cultivate and grow stronger.
Facing this circumstance, some strong men and countries cooperated, and after years of research, they developed the First Generation Cultivation Method.
Subsequently, through optimizations and widespread adoption, they created the Meditation Method and Body Casting Skill that Jack and his peers practiced, which strengthened the body and sharpened the spirit respectively.
To further ensure successful foundation building, every First-class University constructed special Cultivation Rooms.
Within the Cultivation Room, the free-floating Extraordinary energies were five times stronger than the Outer World's, allowing beginners to feel and capture the Extraordinary energy more easily, drawing it into their bodies for refinement.
Theoretically, the first Foundation Establishment was a metamorphosis, meaning the better the foundation, the longer the state of foundation building lasted, and the greater the benefits realized.
Besides that, the document also contained many details to be mindful of, to prevent beginners from making mistakes that could lead to failed Foundation Establishment.
Looking at the youth who had put down the folder, Lori Parma spoke with gravity, "Have you finished reading?"
Jack nodded, "I have."
"Alright, follow me," said Lori Parma as he stood up, leading Jack Clark out of the office. At this moment, several elevator doors opened, and about a dozen students poured out.
Included among these students were Justin Welan, Crystal Lewis, and Matt Watkins, all of whom had established their foundations early in the class, as well as Freya Louise, who had completed her foundation building the day before yesterday.
Seeing Jack Clark, Justin Welan's face broke into a pleased smile, "Jack, you're finally here."
"Not bad, just a few days behind you guys," Jack laughed.
Justin Welan slapped Jack Clark's shoulder vigorously, clearly delighted.
"I knew you'd have no problems," he said.
Freya Louise, with her long hair tied back with a white butterfly ribbon, came over. Her pretty face beamed with a smile, and her beautiful phoenix eyes slightly narrowed, looking utterly charming.
Seeing that it was their classmate, Crystal Lewis and Matt Watkins also nodded slightly in greeting, to which Jack Clark responded with a smile.
Just as Justin Welan was about to say something more, Lori Parma interrupted, "Okay, you'll have plenty of time to catch up later. Don't delay everyone else."
Justin Welan gave the teacher a sheepish smile, "Right, Jack, you should go build your foundation quickly so that you can choose a True Martial Cultivation Method afterwards."
"Good luck!" Freya Louise encouraged with a supportive gaze.
After nodding and exchanging greetings, Jack Clark followed Lori Parma into the elevator. Instead of going up, they went down all the way to the fifth basement level.
Exiting the elevator, they found themselves in a corridor with closed doors on either side.
Jack Clark stood to one side while Lori Parma approached a kiosk that resembled an automatic vending machine, entered some information, and verified his identity. Then the machine ejected a card.
In the time it took Jack Clark to wait, several more teachers with one or two students in tow came down one after another.
"Go ahead, Room 15. Remember, you stay as long as you can endure."
"Okay."
Jack Clark took the card, found room number 15, and inserted the card. The thick metal door slowly began to open.
After Jack Clark entered, the door closed slowly again. Then the second layer, a white glass door in front of him, opened a crack, and a blast of cool air came through.
This was the phenomenon of high-concentration extraordinary energy flowing toward a region of lower energy.
Jack Clark didn't dare to delay and quickly stepped through the glass door, which automatically closed behind him once it sensed his entrance.
The room was small, about three to four meters long and wide, roughly ten square meters in area, with a faint white light shining down from above. Apart from that, there was nothing else; it was very sparse.
Whew!
Jack Clark took a deep breath, stood at the center, and without any fancy preparation, began his cultivation practice.
The basic requirement for foundation building is to perform the Body Casting Skill for half an hour at ten turns, meaning one must practice once every three minutes. The goal is to have one's Qi Blood steaming throughout the body.
The Meditation Method, on the other hand, is to make the Spirit Power more concentrated and pure, enabling faster transport of Qi Blood and capture of the free extraordinary energy from the outside world.
Now, as Jack Clark cultivated, the eighteen positions of the Body Casting Skill kept changing, his speed increasing rapidly, and his body's Qi Blood circulating faster and growing hotter.
After completing ten turns in a row, his body felt like a steaming basket, his Qi Blood exuding high temperatures, and his Spirit Power became sharper due to the activity of the Qi Blood.
He then sensed an almost imperceptible drifting 'energy' around him, faint, elusive, and intangible.
Now is the time!
Jack Clark's expression hardened as he performed the Body Casting Skill even faster. At the same time, his Spirit Power drew a thread of the external energy he had detected on his skin into his body.
Boom!