Chapter 15. No Escape

A week had passed. Alaric was holding his hand together. On the floor was a scroll opened. He sat in a meditation position. His eyes tightly shut. Many had told him against it but he had decided to do it. Even Rey had tried to dissuade him. What the scroll had written on it was a technique. A meridian opening technique. Sweat permeated from his shirtless body as he grit his teeth. Who knew it was going to be this painful?

This was the second day he was in his secluded cultivation and one could say he was making progress. The pain he had withstood was paying of since he was sure that in the next few days he would be able to open his first meridian set. This was unheard off. No one dared to open nine meridians and those who tried had a maximum af three. So to see a person who had never cultivated before trying to open nine was nothing but foolish.

What was even worse was that it was usually very difficult to concentrate on a single meridian due to the pain. If one failed, there would be a backlash. It was going to be worse if he failed because it would lead to a coma or even death. It was not that Alaric was clueless about these effects. He was willing to endure the pain so he would hurry and start doing array classes properly. One had to open the first set of meridians so that they would form the basic of arrays.

There was a slight commotion as Alaric suddenly felt the energy in the atmosphere. Everyone with a high cultivation could feel the outflow of origin energy towards a single direction. There was no one who ever caused a commotion during their breakthrough while still using origin energy. The energy Alaric required to use to tamper his meridians was high. His immortal body required alot of energy to work. Energy which was very insufficient in the martial world so it had to improvise.

A scream almost left his lips as he felt the energy enter his body. But this was just the beginning. He had to open the first set. Alaric grit his teeth harder that he felt the salty taste in his mouth but he could not care about that. What was important at the moment was to ignore all the pain and focus on the energy flowing inside his body. If he got distracted the slightest, the energy would lose control and do damage to his body. He felt a sharp pain like someone forced a hot iron rod into his body.

He lifted his head to look at the ceiling with closed eyes as he felt something crack inside his body as the first meridian opened. But that did not lower the pain as the same energy went to the second one. He directed the energy to move through the second meridian. The process required high pain tolerance which was why even those who took many had tried a maximum of three. Some people even fainted after opening just one meridian.

Alaric knew what he had to do. He had to focus on the energy and forget about his body at the moment then he would forget about the pain searing through his bones. Alaric grit his teeth as he started tampering the second meridian. The process was less painful and long he did not know how long. After, another crack came from his body as he felt another meridian open as energy flowed inside. But that was not the end as the energy found its way to the third meridian. He could feel his conciiousness fading but he held on trying to direct the energy. He tampered the meridian for long. He had thought that he would open the first set but it was impossible. Not when his conciousness was threatening to fail.

He screamed at his brain to stay awake as the third meridian opened but he lost control over the energy as he saw all white. He had passed out! His first attempt had ended up in failure. The energy in his body was surely going to have a backlash after it failed to find a set direction. He was startled awake by the pain that was more striking that the first. What was happening. He had lost control over the energy but it seemed it had not stopped.

The energy moved on its own as it successfully tampered and opened the fourth meridian. The process was long. He had thought it would take around a day but it was the second week in the outside world as his fourth meridian opened. Rey had been knocking everyday but he had found no answer. In the process of opening the fourth meridian, Alaric would constantly faint due to the pain but he would get woken by the same pain. He just lost control over his body as he just watched the energy move on its own tampering the fifth meridian.

He passed out again but as he woke up again, the hot iron rod was just getting its way inside his body. He felt the crack but he just passed out as the fifth meridian opened. The pain was too much for him and the next time he woke up, he found out that the energy was tampering the sixth meridian. The process of tampering was usually not as painful as that of opening. Alaric felt as the pain increased knowing well that the sixth meridian was about to get opened.

He had lost even ability to open his eyes as his body lay on the floor. The energy did not stop as he felt his seventh meridian getting tampered. He had just gained his conciousness but he always found it as a meridian was about to get opened. He just waited as the hot iron rod was dipped inside his body. To his surprise he did not pass out from the pain. It seemed his tolerance had increased a little bit. This could be good news.

He felt like he would stay awake during the next tampering. The eighth meridian started getting tampered. He felt the energy work on his closed meridian forcefully weakening it so it would later get easy for the opening. Opening directly would kill someone, so what usually happened was tampering it then the energy would open it. Alaric stayed awake as he felt a crack as a hot iron rod was dipped inside his body. And just like that the eight meridian opened but he passed out as the energy proceeded to the ninth.

***

The whole process was painful. Rey who had called for help when he got no answer two months ago had not left his side. What he found funny was a person who had never cultivated trying to open all nine meridians and that was what had him worried. No one dared to move a person who was having a breakthrough so as not to distract them. If the energy flow got distracted, it would bring the person a backlash and even death.

For the first time in years the head master had visited the dorms and he had secluded the room. Even his roommates had been relocated. Only Rey was allowed but they would stay in the sitting room. For two months they had waited. No one usually went inside the room. Their waiting had paid off as Alaric had finally finished opening his first set of meridians of the twelve.

What the headmaster had found confusing was how Alaric was able to still remain alive even after he had lost conciousness. Losing conciousness during cultivation usually called for death. He was shocked that the tampering and opening process never stopped. What surprised him even more was the fact that the boy had not even let a single sound even in such pain. Everyone knew just how painful the process was. He could only imagine tha pain the boy went through during the process.

It took two months and his first set of meridians were opened. He went to the room and found the boy lying on the floor. One thing he noted was the smile on his features. He picked the boy and disappeared with him together with Rey. They appeared at the infirmary and he was lay on the bed. A physician came in and checked him and confirmed that he had no internal damage. All he needed was rest and he would wake up on his own. The female physician gave him an energizing pill and bowed to the headmaster then left.

"Don't leaved his side," the headmaster said and disappeared.

It took another whole week and Alaric opened his eyes. He appeared fatigued as he sat up. He moved his legs to put on his saddles but he collapsed on the ground. Rey came after a while and found Alaric on the floor. He could only shake his head as he picked his friend and lay him on the bed again but he had to admit that Alaric was quite heavy. He sat on the next bed and covered himself with the sheets. He had been sleeping here the past one week.

Three days later Alaric woke up and sat on the bed as he put on his saddles. He saw the sleeping Rey and he could only smile. It was early morning and the sun was yet to rise. He looked at himself dressed in the black t-shirt and black sweatpants. He climbed back on bed and lay facing the ceiling. He wondered how long he had been out. If he knew he would just curse.

He felt his opened first set and he could only smile. All that pain was definitely worth it. Now he knew that all he had to do was initiate the process and it would just continue on its own. He could feel his meridians filled with origin energy and he was all smiles. So this was how it felt to hold power. Though it was just a mere nine meridians, he was now in the early stages of the Foundation Plane...

Rey woke up and saw his friend and the anger in him erupted.

"Did you plan on letting me alone for two months? Don't you have a heart?" He asked. One would only shake their head when they heard his words. Was that the way one spoke to their just awaked friend? Alaric looked at Rey with a shocked expression.

" Dis you just say two months?" Alaric asked as he fell into culculafions. So it took two months to open a set. Then he would always open four sets every year in the three years and he would finally have all his 108 meridians opened.

He smiled. Who knew that he would manage to open all the 108 meridians? Who knew it was going to be this easy? If Rey heard him he would start cursing. How was continous pain for three years )easy? How was it easy if it caused you a ten days coma?

"Why are you smiling?" Rey asked as he looked at Alaric.

"I only need to undergo the same process 11 more times and I will have opened all meridians opened... Who knew it was going to be this easy?" Alaric spoke absent mindedly. Rey felt his mouth twitched.

"Easy...?" Reay whispered almost going out of his mind. Only this friend of his could say that this process was easy. He had already opened two of his meridians and he just knew how painful it was. He could only shake his head remembering that this friend of his had undergone the process nine times continuously.

"So we only have less than two weeks for us to finish the punishment," Alaric said. Rey looked at his friend and his mood changed. He had even forgotten that three months were about to pass. He nodded and laughed at their plight

"Who said you could escape the punishment. You must work for three months so you can be free." A voice they were familiar with spoke. The headmaster.

"Not fair," the two almost cried.