Chapter 11

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye and before Rui realized it, it was almost time for the theoretical classes.

Looking at Yue, he pondered over actually getting his ear pierced, or if he should just have the earring in his pocket.

After contemplating for a bit, he took a small needle and cleanly pierced his ear, circulating runic energy to it with the method taught by the system. After putting on the earring he surprisingly found that he felt no discomfort at all, the wound already having healed.

Recalling that the artifact had a "weak regeneration" ability, he understood as to how it happened. It seemed that this ability could be used even without the "Heavenly Demon mantra".

Heaving a sigh of relief that he didn't have to wait for his ear to heal, or feel any discomfort in the process, he headed towards the S class homeroom.

Entering the room, he found that people were already seated and talking with one another, waiting for the homeroom teacher to arrive. Noticing that Rui had arrived, many found that he now had an earring, but didn't really care about it. Quite a few nobles in this room had earrings on.

Rui sat down on his designated seat and scouted the adjacent ones. He didn't recognize any of the individuals next to him, clearly not making a distinct impact on him the first time he used identify.

Bored, he opened his status window and checked out his stats. He remembered that he still hadn't completed the daily quest.

Glancing at his level, he pondered as to how long it would take him to reach level ten. He was already level five, gaining a large amount of XP when raising his cultivation level. It was clear now that increasing cultivation would increase his "level" as well, though he had no idea if the levels had any other functions other than new system features, such as the store.

After a while, seeing as the teacher hadn't come yet, he decided to cultivate, sitting in the lotus position and circulating the energy in his body. He had finally understood why cultivation was so hard. One had to sit and cultivate for hours at a time, or even days or maybe years in the higher levels.

He had no knowledge of how powerful rune masters truly were, but by earth's standards they seemed like super humans.

He had yet to witness an actual fight between rune masters and their true capabilities. The only rune masters he had encountered so far were street thugs and really low ranked rogue cultivators.

He had heard of rumors such as rune masters being able to fly around in the sky and destroying mountains with a single slash, but truthfully, that sounded like a bunch of gibberish in his ears.

The rune masters encountered so far were just "superhuman", still being in the human boundary of strength.

As he was in deep thought, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, turning around in a hurry. The face of a grinning Huo Liang appeared in front of his eyes.

Taken aback Rui greeted him with a smile.

"What brings you here?" He asked.

"I saw you standing there alone, so I decided to approach, you know, we are the only ones that aren't in a group!" said Huo Liang with an innocent face.

After hearing his words Rui was surprised and looked around, noticing that everyone had at least one other person they were talking to, clearly already having made groups. Even Han Dong and Xiong Liliang had someone they were talking to.

Remembering that they all had already spent some time together, while they had to go to the library, Rui somewhat understood. This was an expected outcome.

After agreeing with him, they started casual conversation, asking each other how their day was, what sort of cultivation method they picked, etc.

Ten minutes passed just like that and the homeroom teacher arrived.

As soon as he came in, everyone sat down into their designated seats and the classroom became quiet. Unlike schools on earth, people here were much more disciplined, but at the same time more unreasonable. Strength was the basis for holding power, so everyone respected the strong and everyone respected their teachers. Education was extremely important in this environment, even mortals that had received a good education were held in much higher regard than commoners.

"Hello students, as I informed you this morning, today, theory classes will begin. I will be starting off with the basics, so that even uneducated individuals will be able to follow up with my explanations later on. If anyone has questions during the class, please write them down in your given scrolls and a teacher will answer them for you after the class is done. Under no circumstances will you disturb the class, be it for a bathroom break or some other matter, unless its truly urgent. The classes will last four hours." Said the teacher as soon as he came in.

Taking a deep breath, he continued "The individuals that reached the first light stage today, please stay after the class is done, as you will be given the beginner gold dan pill you were promised. Now we will begin the class."

Activating a projection stone that produced video and grabbing a big ruler, he instantly started the class.

Not wanting to lose any information Rui paid full attention to the class.

"As I said before, we will begin with the basics, that being the root of our cultivation itself, Runes!"

Saying those words, the projection showed all the known common runes.

"All runes are unique, however at the same time they are common. Unless someone reaches the legendary eighth stage rune master realm, they cannot create their true unique rune. As you all know, individuals that are able to create their own runes are incredibly powerful, powerful enough that they don't appear even after thousands of years or even hundreds of thousands of years. The founder, the creator of our Illusive Empire is such a figure, The Illusion emperor."

"To begin the explanation of runes, we will start from the very beginning."

Saying so, the projection changed once more to show a man. The man had an incredibly masculine and archaic appearance, full of runic tattoos, with long black hair, bright green eyes and a rugged beard, the Ansuz rune glowed blue on his forehead.

"This is the first Human sage and the first Rune master, Kushim."

Looking at the projection Rui was taken aback. He had heard the story of Kushim, everyone had heard the myths of Kushim.

It is a story told to children when teaching them about the world, a fairytale that everyone knows of.

"The tales of Kushim, the story that every human has heard at least once in their life is in fact not far off from the reality. In the story it is said that Kushim was a man that was given a blessing by the gods, becoming a sage to guide humanity out of the peril it was in. He endowed individuals with the power of runes, changing the Ancient Humans, into the now Runic humans."

"I will now explain the true origin of Kushim and the Runic humans."

The projection changed once more, showcasing a vast jungle. Giant beasts, flying demons and other races could be seen passing by. The scene changed once more to showcase a human boy, the boy being Kushim. He was wearing what looked like caveman clothes and was training his body by doing body weight exercises, swinging a spear or an Axe made out of stone and wood. He didn't possess a rune on his forehead.

The teacher spoke once more.

"Back in the days, humans were incredibly weak and the world was ruled by beasts, demons and other races. Humans could only survive by being in small tribes, hunting and gathering any sort of food they could find, killing pray that was weaker than them, which of course wasn't a lot."

"Kushim by the age of ten trained daily, trying his hardest to do his best for the tribe. However, one day while going to his training spot, a giant beast passed by, destroying a large portion of that area."

"Shocked and angry at the fact that the beast destroyed his training area, Kushim could do nothing but wait for the beast to disappear. He had already grown a sturdy body from the daily training, but didn't have the power to go against the giant beast, as he was only human."

"After waiting a day and a night, the beast finally left. He scouted the now destroyed campsite of his with fury, trying to find any sort of remnant of the materials he had left. However, he found nothing of them, just a giant hole in the ground. Taking the courage to explore the hole, he created rope with any vine he could find around and tied himself, going down."

"There he found the first recorded Rune stone mine and the start of the runic humans. Shocked by the dazzling rocks around him, he used them as decoration and kept the place secret from his tribe. He started training inside the cave daily, finding that his power grew stronger the longer he stayed in that cave and soon enough he became the Tribe leader after defeating the previous leader."

"Taking matters into his hand, he used the tribe to expand the cave, making everyone in the village train there. However, one day a toddler that was playing around the area swallowed a stone. To the shock of the tribe, the stone was absorbed by the child and a rune symbol appeared on its forehead. The symbol was later on named Fehu, the rune of luck and wealth, and to this day it is considered extremely important by tradition."

Rui's eyes sparkled in amazement at the detailed story so far. Grabbing a brush, he wrote down a question.

'Does this mean that any human could awaken by absorbing rune stones'

However, his answer was given the very next moment.

"Most of you are thinking that by doing this, even individuals that couldn't awaken can awaken, but you are mistaken. A lot of research was done on this matter and it seems that the rune stones inside that mine were unique, being able to adapt and merge with the human body, while all the other rune stones from other mines that were found couldn't create such a phenomenon. Even some of the stones inside the mine weren't able to be absorbed, killing the person that tried."

"Anyway, thanks to this surprise, Kushim decided to eat one himself, choosing the rock he found the most interesting out of the bunch. By luck or by fate, he absorbed the Ansuz rune. Taken aback by the power now coursing through his body, he instructed most of the individuals to consume the stones as an experiment, however it wasn't that simple."

"40% of the individuals that swallowed the rune stones were able to survive, while the other 60% exploded on the spot, creating what we now know as a Runic explosion. Runic explosion is the phenomenon that occurs when an individual that possesses a rune isn't properly awakened, causing catastrophic damage."

"After countless experiments, they found that the reason behind the explosions was two specific runes, the runes of Jera and the rune of Dagaz, that came in a much larger amount compared to the others, but the human body couldn't absorb them and make them their own."

"To this day, there is no individual that possess the Jera or the Dagaz runes. After exploring the runes and trying to understand them, they found that there were 24 of them in total and they became the basis for language, taking the meaning of the now alphabet of the world."

Saying so he once more changed the projection, showcasing each rune stone individually, the meaning being right next to it.

"The 24 runes are:

Ansuz, the rune of truth, insight and wisdom, most commonly known as the rune of sages.

Berkana, the rune of beginnings, it said that this rune resets your fate, making you take control of it.

Kenaz, the rune of revelations, having the power of prediction and imagination. It is known as the rune possessed by oracles and artists.

Dagaz, the rune of dawn. As I've said earlier this rune cannot be awakened with and can only be used, it can clear any doubts and induce enlightenment.

Ehwaz, the rune of speed and transportation, a common rune in merchants, thieves and assassins.

Fehu, the rune of luck and wealth, also known as the rune that every commoner wishes to awaken with, bringing great fortune.

Gebo, the rune of love, it said that the ancestor's wife, Qin, possessed it. It usually awakens in females, however there have been cases where males have awakened it. They are known as the best dao companions to have.

Hagalaz, the rune of Destruction, also the rune known for the most ruination. It usually manifests in people with great enmity for the world, or insane people and is feared by most. Although it is rare, there are also individuals that have incredible self-control and talent that possess this rune, being able to control their destruction, they are incredible warriors in battle."

Saying so he looked at Xiong Liliang.

"Isa, the rune of ice, also known as the rune of the stoic. Most individuals that possess this rune have incredible self control and a cold personality.

Jera, the rune of abundance and the only other rune that can't be awakened with. It said that this rune, when found on a rune stone can duplicate any object, even increasing one's luck at rare occasions.

Laguz, the rune of water and flow. Having this rune, one is known to awaken a unique ability known as flow. It appears really commonly.

Mannaz, rune of self or mankind. In truth, this rune is truly obscure, individuals that possess it go down either of two paths. The path of friendship or the path of loneliness.

Nauthiz, the rune of necessity, It originally appeared on desperate individuals that really wanted to become rune masters, they usually possess incredible dedication.

Othala, the rune of the goddess and property. It became known as the rune of the goddess thanks to the fact the first daughter of Kushim and Qin, Libia, awakened with this rune. It only appears in women, mostly of high class.

Inguz, the rune of growth and fertility. Many farmers usually possess this rune, as it brings growth in it its surroundings with the power of nature it wields.

Perthro, the rune of change, most commonly known as the rune of the witches. It mostly appears in females, who of course are called witches, but there are cases where men awaken with this rune. The reason they are known as witches is due to their powers, being seduction and disguise.

Raido, the rune of travel and destiny, also the rune that the first son of Kushim, Wei, possessed. It is said that he traveled the continent, bringing his tribe great prosperity and establishing the first human empire.

Sowulo, the rune of the sun, energy and success. Not much is known about the first users, however most of them were well known for being righteous individuals.

Tiwaz, the rune of justice, leadership and authority. Mostly seen in individuals with authoritative positions.

Thurisaz, the rune of catharsis, also known as the rune of evil. Unlike individuals with the Hagalaz rune, they have no mental control and are completely insane by normal standards, following only their emotions. Of course, there are cases of individuals that are able to control this rune, being incredibly evil. The perfect example is the older brother of Kushim, Tchort. He absorbed the rune Thurisaz, completely transforming his personality. He manipulated the tribe on going against his own brother and committed countless crimes. He was later executed by Kushim after being found guilty for all his crimes.

Uruz, the rune of Strength, or how the common people call it, the rune of divine strength. It is a rune that shows its talents at an early stage, unlike most runes that need cultivation to show their true powers. Like its name suggests, it gives the individual incredible strength, equivalent to one bull at the initial awakening stage. There have been cases where people born with inborn divine strength awakened this rune as well, having incredible physical prowess, rivaling people way above their stage.

Wunjo, the rune of joy, peace and pleasure. Unlike what many think about this rune, it is not related to brothels, gluttony and greed. It is the exact opposite. Individuals with this rune have an extremely pure personality, to the point where they are more clueless than infants. However, if one of those individuals is somehow corrupted, by either a demonic method, or some other method, they will completely transform and become evil, having the exact opposite traits. As such most of these individuals become monks and are greatly taken care of.

Algiz, the rune of protection. Not much to say about it, other than the fact that it is the most common rune for the royal guard, which should explain itself.

Eihwaz, Rune of stability and enlightenment. If you already noticed, this is the most common rune in this academy, as most of the teachers possess it.

A lot of the people that possess this rune usually take a teaching or managing position, being able to clear one's thoughts with just words. However, it is not its only use, some of them have the ability to cause mental attacks with just words or even a gaze."

"Most of you probably already know this information, as you have been educated, but some of you don't so we will be distributing a scroll for everyone. The scroll will contain the basics of the language and how to read. Do not worry about the time taken, as rune masters learn much faster than mortals."

Seeing that it was indeed information that he already knew, Rui nodded. He was currently circulating Runic energy while listening to the teacher's class. Truthfully, it was hard, but he wanted to make use of his time to the utmost. Looking around, he found that most of the people in the class were doing the same through his eyesight. He still wasn't able to sense the energy of others, but he could see clearly the fluctuations in the air. He had already become used to seeing the world in that hectic way.

"Now that we finished with the basic history of runes, we will now start with the history of how rune masters appeared."

The projection changed once more. The man was handsome and he was clearly well cared for. He was dressed in a high-quality robe.

"As Kushim was young when his rune was absorbed, barely being eleven, he later on married a woman of the tribe named Qin, which had also absorbed a rune. The first child they gave birth to was Wei. However, they soon found that their son didn't have a rune just like them. disappointed they tried to give him a rune stone to absorb, but the body of the child rejected it."

"Not wanting their child that couldn't become powerful, become a nuisance to the tribe, they had him under strict protection and training since young, making him hunt incredible beasts, but he was still limited by his body that couldn't absorb energy like his tribe. However, soon they found that all the children that were born between those that had absorbed runes had the same problem as Wei, not being able to absorb a rune stone. Shocked by the revelation, they were dejected."

"By age thirteen Wei had a body more well-built than his father at that age. As he couldn't cultivate energy like his peers, he decided to train his physique to an incredible level, by taking potent herbs and having medicinal baths with them, his physique rivaled individuals that had rune stones and even exceeded them. Despite that all things changed when he reached the age of fourteen. He felt an itch in his whole body so strong that he couldn't help but feel like he was going to burst from the inside. Informing his now twenty-eight-year-old father, Kushim scanned his body with runic energy, but the incredible happened, a rune appeared on Wei's forehead."

"Taken aback by the news, they used the same method on each person that reached the age of fourteen, finding that a large number of the children that supposedly didn't have a rune, awakened one at the age of fourteen. To this day we do not know the reason as to why this is the case, but it has become a tradition that everyone must do."

"The tribe had grown an incredible amount, as the strength of everyone had skyrocketed, reaching the size of a small village. Clearing out the area, they started farming and not only hunting and gathering. The tribe evolved in just a generation. The tribe went from a small group to a village, to a community, to a city, to multiple cities to a country in just a measly fifty years. The progress was incredible and the person that took the reigns on this conquest was Wei. After awakening with the help of his father, he increased his new found strength to an unprecedented degree, reaching what we now call the second rune master stage in twenty years, along with his father."

"Though it may not seem incredible to you now, since there are countless second grade rune masters in the world at the moment, at the time there wasn't a human as strong as Wei and Kushim. They were finally able to somewhat compete with the other races that were oppressing them, growing their land and power, amassing people and growing their race."

"The man you are looking at is Wei himself, when he became the emperor of the then human empire. Despite what you may think, he was two-hundred years old in that picture, Kushim was dead by then. For those that are wondering how these pictures are available to us till this day, the answer is pretty simple. Although projection stones are a modern creation, there were prototypes even back then. Plus, we have paintings of them, so we are able to create a good representation."

The teacher stopped explaining and smiled. Then he suddenly asked a question.

"Do you know how long ago this was?"

The whole class looked at one another. Some nobles had heard from their elders, but they were still curious.

"The exact time period isn't known, but this information might not even be exactly correct, but it is what we modern runic humans believe. The time period is at least a few tens of millions of years ago, a time so long ago that the human race should have progressed an incredible amount if taken into account."

Rui's mind jolted. He was shocked for a moment, not believing his ears.

'If this is true, then this world's progress speed is, either being slowed down or there is a giant conspiracy behind it. It reminds me of the theory of the great filter. There are probably multiple causes behind the slow advance of civilization, but it might as well be the fact that its focused on cultivation, rather than technology."

"Of course, the human race throughout the millions of years has explored the entire world, even reaching incredible heights in terms of cultivation. The seemingly impossible to reach levels are being surpassed every few million years. We still don't know how powerful we humans can get by cultivating, since the limit isn't in front of us. As all of you have heard from legends and myths, a powerful rune master is able to cut mountains and cross the sea in an instant, even moving the oceans. This is all true, though one must reach an incredible level of cultivation."

"I'm telling you this so you don't get your hopes up. There have been countless geniuses throughout the human race, but how many have achieved even the mythical eighth stage, establishing a unique rune? The number can be counted easily and doesn't exceed a few hundred throughout the millions of years of humanity. You should be glad to even reach the second stage, since cultivation isn't an easy matter."

"Even if you are a genius with an EX grade talent, or even possess one of the ten "extreme" physiques, it means nothing in the grand scheme. All of you should ground yourselves to reality and not greatly disappoint yourselves and fall to your inner demons, arrogance can be the fall of a cultivator. Do not forget that the world outside is a war zone for power and resources. Once again you are not special."

Rui clenched his fists till they turned white. He truly was getting his hopes high. He couldn't believe that he was becoming arrogant, but the words of the teacher brought him back to earth.

Since he was a normal human for most of his two lives, having power course through his body had made him slightly drunk over them, especially the fact that he had incredible talents. An EX grade talent and extreme physique meant nothing, this was the truth.

"Now that I mentioned the extreme physiques and talent grading, I should also inform you of such matters. In a few days you will all be tested for your physiques. There are multiple unique physiques in this world and the extreme physiques aren't even the peak of such physiques. It is said that the emperor of the Bloody God empire was born with an archaic physique called the blood god physique, that is a physique a rank higher than the "extreme" physiques."

"The ranks of physiques follow the same patterns as artifacts, but so does talent and bloodline. The talent grading that we have given you is a basic 'grading' to determine what class we should place you on, but once you enter a sect or clan, you will be tested on your true talent and graded properly."

"The ranks, for those that are interested, are Mortal, Spectral, Earthly, Heavenly, Extreme, Archaic and Mythical. Of course, there might be ranks higher than mythical, but we won't know such things in such an institution. Even knowing the mythical rank is incredible to us. All these ranks correspond to each of your statuses."

"For example, you can possess a Mortal grade physique, but have an Earthly grade talent and an Archaic bloodline. Of course, we won't be testing your bloodline here, as we don't have methods to do so, since bloodline is much more unique than the other two. As said earlier, a second talent test won't happen, since it's not worth our resources to do so."

Pausing once more, he took a sip of water from a gourd and grabbed the projection stone, changing it with another.

"I will now explain how cultivation works and how we increase our strength."

The projection showcased a drawing of the human body, showing the meridians inside the body, as well as what seemed like a central core.

"This is the dantian and all the other lines are the meridians. Truthfully speaking, even autopsy isn't able to show the meridians and dantian and we are only able to perceive them through the use of energy, that's why it is necessary to possess a rune to begin cultivation. When we circulate the energy in our body with certain methods, the energy gets stuck on the dantian, stacking and forming energy layers. Each cultivation has different representations of that energy, but the energy you will be absorbing as new cultivators will feel like drops of water and nothing more."

"Those drops of water are the pure energy of the world, condensed by your body. After following the method you've picked and circulating, completing a cycle, you will increase the amount drop by drop. This is the true "talent" grade that I told you, since the absorption of rule isn't only based on the pressure you can endure, but also how fast its absorbed and condensed, what sort of stress it can contain."

Rui closed his eyes and focused his energy on cultivating, trying to observe what the teacher had just taught him. He had been cultivating the whole time, but he never noticed such a thing, since he was only focused on absorbing that energy and refining it.

He suddenly heard a drop of water falling as soon as he completed ten cycles of energy. Observing his dantian, he saw a small puddle of a blue jelly like substance. He now understood what the teacher was talking about.

Class went on till the four-hour mark exactly, not a second less or more.

After explaining history, the teacher had only focused on the basics of cultivation, such as breathing, absorption, pose and more. This class had deepened Rui's understanding to the next level, but at the same time he needed a while to truly digest and understand the knowledge he had just learned.

After waiting for the after-class just like the teacher instructed, he was given a beginner gold dan pill.

Returning to his sleeping quarters, he heaved a sigh of exhaustion. Today was probably the longest day of his life and it was still not over. After inspecting the gold dan pill, he got up and went to run, so that he could complete the ten kilometer and be done with it.

[Golden Dan Pill

Tier: Low-earthly grade

Perfection rate: Poor

Description: A pill created by a low rank master alchemist. A pill able to increase one's cultivation by ten years' worth of energy, an extremely valuable pill for those that come from a poor background, but nothing to those from rich families. As the pill perfection rate is poor, there are many impurities inside the pill, however users body possesses the perfect heavenly rune physique, so you are able to absorb five more years' worth of energy.]