Cultivation for 7 days

Back at the dormitory Bran Ai sat in the sunlight thinking about what to do.

The grass, the tree's the calm wind it was all perfect with not a single sound around to disturb him.

'I want to explore this place a little but I don't want to get in trouble... but they all seem to be exploring on their own without care'

Some of the children formed groups before going their separate ways instead of returning to the dorms, they wanted to explore what this land of magic could offer not being content to simply sit around waiting for something to happen.

There being no rules telling them otherwise, why not take this chance to explore without repercussions?

If they get into trouble they could simply claim to be lost and in need of help, it wasn't an outright lie after all.

'How can they just go about everywhere like that? Do they not care about being kicked out? Why dont they worry... No, that's not right, I also got here without really thinking, so aren't they just... moving forward?' he had done some exploration himself after all.

"What should I do then..."

He looked towards the path leading into sects main area.

'Ah maybe I'm overthinking, I risked it all simply for a chance to eat and even if they've only given us one meal, this entire forest is here!' surrounding him on all sides were tall trees, some bearing fruits higher then he could currently reach.

He remembered the berries he ate yesterday, it was all a bit hazy honestly, it almost felt like a dream.

Bran Ai clenched his fists and stretched his legs, the sole's of his feet had started to bleed slightly.

'I've rested for a good while now, lets take another look inside the forest, last time I was a bit out of it, I want to explore it a bit more'

Birds flew from tree top to tree top, small insects flew about the air, small animals crawled along the ground disappearing into the shadows, towering tress and twisting roots impeding the way in.

'Strange, why does it feel so much easier now?'

He climbed over the roots with relative ease compared to before, having more energy to work with now it all seemed so much easier.

'Is it because I ate today? But that was a long time ago, just what was in that soup?' whatever the case may be he felt better.

Soon he arrived at the same patch of shrubs from before, the white flower towering above its surroundings had no changes.

'That flower is really odd, no insects seem to go near it' He decided not to get near the flower once again.

Entering into the bushes again, he started to look through every nook and cranny in hopes that he missed something.

'So difficult to see through all these leaves, how did I even find those berries yesterday'

He pushed through the foliage all the while sharp branches cut his body drawing blood, he didn't seem to notice this once more.

After searching for several few minutes he found a handful of berries on the other side, closer to the flower.

"Yes! finally"

He pushed his way forward as the branches scratched his body and clung to his clothes, with a forceful tug he freed himself and successfully reached the berries.

"These taste good! I wonder what they are called? Honestly tho... I'm lucky that they weren't poisonous" his wounds healed at a rapid pace while he stayed ignorant, he looked around craving for more before giving up when he couldn't find any.

'Lets go a bit deeper into the forest, I'm not too far away, should be safe'

He wasn't worries about getting lost, the area he walked through was considerably more dry then the rest of the forest.

Just in case he left a couple of broken branches and markings on the trunks of the trees he walked by.

Several hours later a figure came out from the woods, Bran Ai hadn't found anything worth mentioning.

'I don't get it, the forest has so many plants but no fruits or even nuts to find, what do the birds eat then? On right they can fly. What about those weird ground rat-looking things?' He was quite disappointed.

Entering his shared room, only one person had come back.

'The early sleeper is back first, or did he never leave? I can't remember seeing him at the gates earlier, did he sleep in?'

To Bran Ai this place was a new beginning, he couldn't possibly understand that people had other opinions.

'Ok let's be nice, just say 'Hi' and sit down'

He tried to greet his roommate but instead raised his hand awkwardly while no noise came out.

'Ugh what's wrong with me'

Sitting down on the mat, he pulled out the basic Qi gathering technique and started to read.

[The spiritual energy in the air is impure and mixed, while you can gather all the energy inside of you - not all of it will be useful to you. In general the Qi in the air is filled with wind, earth, water, wood and fire elements, even if you have a five element spiritual root it is recommended you find areas that have higher concentrations of a single type of spiritual energy].

'Areas with large concentrations of spiritual energy? how do I find that'

He skipped a few pages skimming them to find what he needed.

[Places with forest have high amounts of wood and water spiritual energy, Deserts have large amounts of earth and fire energy, lakes or rivers contain large amounts of water spiritual energy, while wind spiritual energy can be found everywhere]

'Oh I see... then what about here? it's a building made of rocks so it should be earth energy? but we are surrounded by a forest so does that make it wood?'

Bran Ai frowned, his own spiritual root consisted of Wind, wood, fire, and metal.

'I can probably get wind from pretty much all areas like this says, wood is from the forest, so I guess since we are surrounded by a forest I don't need to go anywhere, but what about fire? or metal?'

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen a fire anywhere since he got here.

The light came from the 'window', the food stalls he passed by didn't seem to use fire to cook anything, torches probably weren't used here it was always daytime from what he had seen.

'Ah again I'm thinking too much, it's better to just practice with what I got first before I think about anything else, there must be a reason they gave us these rooms after all, plus I can't tell the difference between spiritual energies anyway'

Bran Ai put the book down, slowly entering a state of rest.

The room was quite, both he and his roommate sat with crossed legs in a meditative position, neither payed notice to the other.

Slowly Bran Ai tired to pull the energy toward him.

'Come here, just a little closer'

The surroundings became quiet allowing for Bran Ai to fully focus.

'I got it! ah but I can't feel the energy inside me still'

Slowly the energy in the room moved on it's own surrounding each of their bodies under a constant influx of energy.

Bran Ai felt the change wanting to open his eyes before deciding not too as it would break his concentration.

'Strange, this feels different then last time, am I getting better at this?'

As energy kept gathering the walls of the room became darker while white lines started to appear from the top of the ceiling to the bottom of the floor.

Energy started to spin around them becoming dense enough for Bran Ai to feel it all around him.

'It doesn't feel warm like before, it's more heavy'

Suddenly the energy surrounding them crashed into their bodies forcing them both to perk up.

'Whats happening! I can't stop it!'

Bran Ai opened his eyes in panic, he looked at his surroundings and felt stifled.

'What, what's going on!?'

The boy on the opposite side still had his eyes closed, grimacing from the forced entry of energy.

Bran Ai looked at the lines on the wall and floor, a complicated layering of small and big lines created a complicated pattern that encompassed the entire room.

Bran Ai tried to stand up he wanted to leave the room, he was scared.

'I can't stand! It's like I'm buried under a pile of dirt...Earth! This is the power of the earth!'

Bran Ai came to a realization, the purpose of this room was not to simply house them, instead it was meant to provide them with access to the earths energy!

'I... I shouldn't leave, they want us to experience this, they did this for us!'

At least that was what he thought.

The truth was different to his expectations.

The boy across from him held strong under the pressure, he had set up this formation to quickly gather the power of the earth he needed.

This was not a formation set up by the sect to help them.

This formation was rather powerful, not in the sense that it was a heaven shattering formation or world changing, simply that it was to be used by people of at least mid foundation establishment, something considerably far away from Bran Ai's current point.

Well it was far better then whatever this sect had to offer them currently, the other boy couldn't be sure but he certainly thought so.

'Sorry kid, but I cant handle the force of this formation on my own. If you survive count yourself lucky!'

The boy used Bran Ai as a sort of living energy dampener, for his growth even if a few die it would all be worth it.