Chapter 52

"Well, the strange thing was that for the first time in a thousand years, a faction managed to completely suppress the others. The royal family apparently adopted an orphan with astounding talent who overshadowed everyone else in his generation. At five years old, he's already in the Early-Noon Stage.

According to rumours, he might even have an Orange Core, much like Estelle! If that is the case, it's too early to know which one of the two is more talented."

The elderly man stroked the trim beard coming from the tip of his chin and then said one last thing before leaving.

"What a strange phenomenon. There are so many talents in this generation. It's absurd. Even though we are putting our all in hiding Estelle's talent, we aren't the only ones. The Von Macht seem to have a genius as well. Also, that kid you stole from the Dawmond isn't any less special.

I was the elder on duty protecting Estelle at that time. Even though he was a little scared, he maintained his calm in front of the risk of death. He even turned himself into a distraction to earn Estelle some time.

You did a good job tying him to Estelle, Albert. I also heard he's on par with the Duke's children when it comes to cultivation. He'll make an excellent pillar for Estelle!"

After saying that, the elder left. Leaving the two brothers behind.

***

The following day Vince and Estelle got back at the Academy. They met with the rest of the party while making their way through the gates of the Academy.

While chatting, they made their way to their dormitory. The first day had lessons only in the afternoon to allow the students to get their dorm rooms.

Estelle's room changed from what she previously had as her rank had dropped. But she didn't care that much. Vince's got upgraded, but he, too, didn't even notice. He immediately left after finding his bedroom. He didn't intend to use any other room.

But, the others were different. Gero and Nicole both got into the top ten and saw one of those rooms for the first time. During lunch, they only talked about that.

Finally, in the afternoon they started lessons. The one they had today was Cultivation Class. Their teacher was still Kris Ware, Nicole's older brother.

"Welcome back, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this short break and rested well because this semester will see you sleeping way less. Usually, the contents of the placement test are revealed only a few weeks prior, but this time is different.

Thus, I shall immediately announce how it's going to be done. It will be a cultivation competition. The placement will be done based on the number of stages you breakthrough. It won't be based on your final Stage but rather on how much you improved. This is a way to mitigate the advantage those being helped by their families got.

The only resources you are allowed to use during this time are the ones provided by the Academy. Any infraction will be punished severely.

But not everyone will have the same resources. You have to get used to things being this way. You may find it unjust, but a just society wouldn't survive. One single cultivator in the Enhancement Realm is worth more than tens of Flowing Realm cultivators.

So, spending all the resources to get one person to the Enhancement Realm is more efficient than splitting them evenly and ending up with many Flowing Realm cultivators. The reasoning in the Academy is the same. Those who show potential will be nurtured with way more resources than the rest.

Thus, during the whole semester every week, we will hold a competition of different kinds to decide how many resources we should allocate to you.

Many of you probably already used some Mana Stones to advance in their cultivation. So all of you must already know how much they help. Well, I'm happy to announce the first place every week will get a Dark Green Mana Stone!"

The class showed surprised expressions at this statement. The Mana Stones weren't all equal. Like the Core colours, they followed some kind of order. Well, it is more accurate to say the Mana Stones' colours are why the same scale was adopted when talking about Cores.

It's because once cultivators die, human or not, their Core will break apart in Mana Stones, and depending on the density of the Mana inside of it, it will assume a different colour.

Thus, once dead, someone who has an Orange Core would leave behind a few Orange Mana Stones.

A Dark Green Mana Stone is thus something left behind by a monster with a Dark Green Mana Core. Such monsters are usually quite mighty and require at least one experienced party together to take them down.

While the achievement in the Awakening Realm dictated the density of Mana, the Stage dictated the size of the Core. And while the density of Mana was something all races could achieve, the size of the Core was entirely dependent on the race of the monster or individual.

Even the kids from the wealthiest families here probably never got to touch a Dark Green Mana Stone. There was a chance if they were already the heirs.

'A Dark Green Mana Stone, huh. Too bad for someone already with an Orange Core, it's not going to be of much help. In the first place, I stopped cultivating because my body wasn't ready to breakthrough.'

"Also, regarding the placement exam, I forgot one thing. Each colour you improve will count as two stages. So, focus on quality over speed. Remember this, as it's fundamental.

As we did with the awakening, you'll be meditating and improving your cultivation during my lessons while I oversee. But that's for another day. Today we'll first see what stages you are in. Otherwise, how can we evaluate your improvement?

Bring it in."

Two people proceeded to bring in a bright sphere inside. It was probably at least one metre in diameter. It emitted a faint light-blue hue, while the orb itself was multi-coloured. The colours one could see on it were all dark tones of blue. If one didn't look close enough, they would think this was a black sphere.

The teacher then made them line up behind the orb and told the first kid to go and touch the mysterious sphere. Once he touched it, the teacher had to explain how to pour one's Mana inside.

"It's the opposite of what you were doing while trying to awaken by using the Mana Stones. Instead of willing the Mana towards your inside, you have to will it towards the outside. Since you aren't in the Flowing Realm yet and don't possess meridians, it will take a little while."

The sphere remained black, but its hue got slightly brighter. The teacher nodded and proceeded to read out loud the result.

"Early-Dawn Stage, Black Core. Next."

Then, the next kid went and touched the sphere. After a few seconds, the sphere remained black, while its hue got brighter, even slightly more than the previous kid.

"Dawn Stage, Dark Red Core. Next."

And thus they went on. Most kids had achieved either one of those two results. Then, the Prince's turn came.

He touched the sphere and started pouring his Mana inside.

The sphere changed its colour to a bright and light red, while the hue became way more brilliant.

"Wow! Early-Noon Stage, Light Red Core. You have a bright future ahead, lad."

Hearing the praise, the Prince smiled. He had worked hard in the three weeks of Spring Break to achieve this. He didn't have perfect achievement, but that's not so easily obtained.

Then, Andre Von Rais' turn came.

"Very nice. Late-Dawn Stage, Light Red Core. You still have a chance to maintain perfect achievement in the next Stage! Work hard. Depending on how great your achievement is, you'll have a much different future."

Then came Theo Von Macht, from the Prince's party.

"Late-Dawn Stage, Light Red Core. As I said to Andre Von Rais, work hard!"

Both Gero and Nicole had a Dark Red Core in the Dawn Stage. Artemisia Wernher, who had followed Estelle in Vince's party, had a Dark Red Core in the Late-Dawn Stage. There were only two others in the Late-Dawn Stage, both from the Prince's party.

Towards the end came Estelle's turn. She approached the orb and started willing her Mana. The sphere began changing colours. First Dark Red, then Light Red, and to everyone's surprise, it turned Orange! Even more impressive was that the hue had the same brightness as the Prince's evaluation.

"This is a first in my career. Someone with perfect achievement in the Early-Noon Stage! I'm amazed. Sadly, this placement exam will prove very difficult for you. Since you already have such high achievement, it will be harder for you to breakthrough than the others.

But don't be discouraged. You'll surely do well in the next one."

While the others were all quite surprised at her achievement, nobody doubted her. Everyone's cultivation soared during the Spring Break thanks to their families' help.

But inwardly, they were also happy that she'd have quite a lot of trouble in this placement exam. After all, it was unfair how much she improved just thanks to her families' support.

Most of the kids here were sure that with the same resources she received, they'd have made it as well. But all of them didn't know that Estelle hadn't touched a single Mana Stone, ever. If it was known, the shock would be a lot greater.

And that's without considering the fact that she had been in this state for a long time now!

Vince came as third to last. Many people showed expectant expressions, as he was the number two on the leaderboard. Being a Von Sideria like Estelle, he must have received many resources as well.

'Mmh, I can't show here my current cultivation. Even though it's the same as Estelle, it will be too much of a shock. Plus, it will get much harder to lay low if I did show it.'

He proceeded to touch the sphere, and he slowly inspected it.

'I think I got how it works. If I'm careful enough, I can probably trick it. The hard part is lowering the density of the Mana coming out while being careful to inject the right amount to fake a lower Stage.'

Sweating a few drops, he started this arduous process. He had to do many tasks at once and required his total concentration.

'I'll fake being a Dawn Stage with a Dark Red Core.'

The sphere turned Dark Red, and the hue had the right intensity too. But, as the saying goes, one should never celebrate too early.

The sphere's red started to turn a little lighter.

'Damn. I've got no other choice. My control over Mana isn't fine enough to trick it to this degree. I have to change plans.'

The sphere soon turned light red, and the hue also turned a little brighter. It stabilised like that.

"Late-Dawn Stage, Light Red Core. I hope to see you improve a lot as well!"

Vince's result provoked nearly no reaction. Maybe just a bit of disappointment as the expectations were too high. It's just that after seeing Estelle's result, they thought Vince would amaze them as well.

Not long after, the test was over for everybody.

"We will run this same test at this year's final examination. The rank you'll achieve then will be the rank you'll retain during the first semester of next year. So, work hard!

Many think cultivation is just talent. But it's talent as much as it's hard work. If you're talented but don't give it your all, you'll only get mediocre results."

Over four hours had already passed by when they were over with all of this. The rumbling of the students chatting soon grew gradually more distant from the class, leaving Kris Ware alone.

Once the rumbling wasn't heard anymore, Kris talked a little to himself.

"Early-Noon Stage Orange Core… To think I would be the one teaching such a talent. I wonder if the small boundaries of this kingdom will be enough for her.

Also, I wonder why the measurement sphere flickered when the other Von Sideria used it… everybody seemed to have missed it, but with my sharp senses, I didn't. I think there might be some tampering going on behind the scenes there.

Could it be that kid is actually not talented at all, but the Von Sideria are helping him, so they do not lose face? I should keep an eye on him. Maybe I should ask my little sister about him."

Saying that he picked up the last of his things and left the classroom as well.

***

Later that day, at dinner, everyone was talking about the cultivations of others. Of course, the topic on everyone's lips was the girl who had shocked everyone with her results.

In the previous semester, they felt that this Academy was taking cultivation too lightly, but now they changed their minds. When they asked their attendants why only now they started taking it so seriously, the answer was the same for everybody.

"In the first semester, the Academy prioritises making the students awaken and give them the basics. Without the fundamentals of cultivation, even if one awakens and progresses quickly, they'll hardly get any achievement. They might not even reach the Yellow Core required to breakthrough to the Flowing Realm."

Most of the kids attending the Academy were sharp enough to understand. Most noble kids in this world grew in a harsh and competitive environment within their families. This resulted in them acting older than their age.

Instead of being impatient and wanting to rush cultivation, they understood that the fundamentals they were taught were necessary.

Finally, once the dinner was over, the girl who was the subject of the chattering moved to her new room. It was smaller than what she previously had, but it wasn't a problem.

But she was still dissatisfied. That's because every time she went inside of this room, she was reminded of the flop she made on the last placement exam.

'Let's cultivate! I trained in fighting with Uncle, and thanks to him bringing me to my limits every day, my body finally saw some improvements. I also grew in the last few years, so I should be able to breakthrough a few Stages before encountering the same problem. My Uncle also agreed.'

Estelle sat in a lotus position on the soft bed and started meditating.

'According to the Von Sideria Cultivation Manual, gathering the Mana for each successive Core is way more complex than the previous one. Luckily this Cultivation Technique has detailed instructions on how to breakthrough Cores up to the Light Green Core.

Uncle said that it's slightly lacking when it comes to reaching the Light Green Core, though. The only family possessing a complete legacy to achieve that Core in this kingdom is the Royal Family. That's also the reason they could stay in power.'

'The crux of the matter is the technique to gather Mana. Last time that imperfect spiral was enough, but it won't be this time. I trained a lot in Mana Control in the previous semester, so I should be able to execute a perfect spiral.

I have to pay attention to maintaining the golden ratio. Otherwise, Mana won't resonate enough.'

At this point, she stopped thinking and focused entirely on gathering Mana, making a spiral encompassing the whole room.

If last time it resembled a chaotic vortex, this time it was an orderly spiral, like that of the seashells. The Mana moved about in a more orderly fashion, without causing as much of a ruckus.

After the longest thirty minutes of Estelle's life, the process ended. She was panting, and her face was covered in sweat drops.