Day One

The following morning, Krios was already well enough to be released from the infirmary. He and Loras spent their day preparing for the first day of classes the following day.

They picked up their uniforms from the admin building and also received their class schedule from their professors.

Loras was also able to take note of their designated classrooms for each class they have. They bought snacks, roamed around the academy, and was generally having a good time.

The day was going well until Krios felt rhe familiar tugging sention from his mana core.

'Am I breaking through to the next realm?' He thought.

He was already at the precipice of going through to the early Mana Compression realm and his recent battles and newly acquired mana rotation method were the last push he needed to breakthrough.

"Loras, I need to go back to the dorm." He quickly told his friend.

"What? Why? Are okay?" His friend asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, but I think I'm about to break through to the Mana Compression realm."

"Really? Okay then let's go!" He andwered and they both sprinted back to their dorm room.

Once they got back, Krios immediately went inside their personal meditation chamber and started the process of breaking through

The process starts with him filling his mana core to the brim, then slowly but painstakingly try to compress the mana inside, then refilling the core to repeat the compression process. To break through to the early Mana compression realm, one needs to go through five compression cycles.

As it stands, mana in the Core reformation realm looked like smoke coming from a small fire. After five compression cycles, it would resemble the morning fog just when dawn breaks over the land.

'One compression done. Four more. I can do this.'

Krios continued with the process with laser-like focus. Although the process was not as painful as the other realms, it required a lot of will power to be able to compress mana to an appropriate amount.

After four hours. A reverberating boom came out of his mana core. Krios smiled as he now was officially at the early Mana Reformation realm.

"Made it just in time for the first day of class." He smiled excitedly. He wanted to break through as possible because cultivation wise, he was at almost at bottom of the entire first year population. Now, he was almost at equal footing with the rest of them.

"Congratulations you freak!" Loras greeted him as he went out of the meditation chamber.

"Thank you my friend." He said sarcastically while smiling.

"You actually broke through four minor realms in a little more than a month." He rambled.

"And you know that breaking through to the Mana Compression realm takes about a day right? But you did it in under five hours! You are an absolute monster!" Loras exclaimed.

He was absolutely going out of his mind with the reality that he was paired up, and now befriended a once in a lifetime genius.

"I know, I think I was just lucky." Krios answered with a slight teasing tone.

"Luck my ass! No one can be that lucky!"

Krios just chuckled but didn't answer. He knew it was not luck. The mana rotation method Headmistress Zelester gave him actually did the trick. It allowed him to absorb mana in the surroundings much faster and more efficiently than the normal methods. This helped him cut the process time by a significant amount.

The next day, Krios and Loras woke up early to prepare for their first day of official academy life. They both donned their academy uniforms— they wore navy blue tunics with intricate golden lines and patterns, along with gold belts, white trousers and navy blue boots.

"We look good in this uniforms, don't we?" Loras said, clearly excited about going to class.

"Of course we do." Krios answered.

They both went out of their room and walked towards their first class of the day. Their first class was about mana manipulation. Which was an important foundation for their cultivation journey.

The academy grounds were buzzing with activity as everyone had somewhere to be at. While walking through the hallway, Krios can hear a few people talking about him as they recognized him while passing by.

"Here it is, Room twenty three, for mana manipulation." Loras said. And they entered the room.

The room was already half full. Then most of them turned their attention to the newcomers, specifically towards the way of Krios.

"It's him right?" One whispered.

"Yeah, the one who can fight a couple of minor realms above him."

"Look! He's already broken through!"

"Hell be an even bigger monster now that he's almost caught up to everyone in terms of cultivation!"

The clamor continued but Krios paid them no mind. He sat in the front row, where most of the seats were still empty, while Loras followed suit.

"They're all talking about you." Loras whispered to him.

"Let them be."

The room continued with their discussions and students continued to pour in. After a while, the room got full and the professor came in shortly after.

It was a man who looked like he was in his mid forties. But age in this world was tricky to judge. The higher cultivation you have the longer your lifespan would be. And after the Body Immortalization realm, your body would age significantly slower that it would basically look like you have stopped aging altogether.

And basing on the fact that Krios can't see the professor's cultivation, meant that he was in the Immortal Master realm at the very least, the realm right above the Body Immortalization realm. He can very well be forty, or fifty thousand years old, as it is the lifespan of a person in the Immortal Master realm. Or he can be older if he had an even higher cultivation.

The professor stood on the central posium and started to talk.

"Okay class please settle down. I am Professor Lionel Fargo, and I'll be teaching basic mana manipulation."

"Now for our first lesson, we'll talk about mana output, and how it can affect the quality of our elements."

"To make it clearer for you, let's have a demonstration. And I would be needing your help." He pointed at Krios.

"You're the highest rank student from class two right? What was your name again?" He asked.

"I'm Krios Whiteflame, professor." He answered as he stood up. The professor told him to come up the central platform and so he did.

"You know as I was watching the tournament. I was impressed by a lot of your performances. And I congratulate you with all your stellar performances. But with Krios, I was impressed by his mana output."

All the students smiled with pride. It was one thing knowing you performed well, and it was another thing being acknowledged by an expert.

"Can you show us a basic flame Krios?" The professor turned to him. He just silently complied.

A small ball of fire floated on his palm and the professor was once again mesmerized.

"Now class, what do you notice about his fire?" He asked the class.

"It's blue" one student answered.

"Correct. But it's more than that. It's a lighter shade. Which means that it is even hotter." He said. Although most of the class have deduced that themselves, they still can't help but be amazed.

"But why is that? I have researched about Krios' clan and found out that blue flames are normal for members of the Head family. And do you know that their clan head wields white flame?" The professor added.

The class were again amazed by what the professor had said. Blue flames may not be rare but it's not common. But white flame? It was an absolute rarity.

"They were able to accomplish that through a secret art passed down through generations. But what sets apart Krios' flames is that it's hotter that normal blue fire. Why? Because he releases way more mana than what's required."

"Does that mean that I can turn my normal flame to blue flame if I releas way more mana?" A student asked.

The professor chuckled.

"You might be able to change the shade of your flame from dark to light, but it will never turn to a different color. The flame you start with would be the same flame you'd die with."

'What a profound thing to say' krios thought to himself.

"Thank you for your demonstration Krios. You may now go back to your seat."

He nodded to the professor and went back to his seat, the eyes of the crowd following him as he moved.

"What I'm telling you is that you can always increase the amount of mana you can release, but there is always a limit to that. And that limit is set by how strong your core is."

The students nodded in understanding.

"As your release mana, your core experiences a spike in pressure. And that pressure only grows as you increase your mana output. If you go past what your core can handle, then you risk of crippling yourself, or at worse, losing your own life."

"That is alsow the reason why the minimum requirement for entry into the academy is the late Core Reformation realm. Because by that time, your core qould have ben compressed and strengthened enough to go through this basic mana manipulation class."

'That's a reasonable expectation.' krios thought.

The class continued on with the professor explaining things a bit more, but Krios' mind was already on to something else. He remembered the basic light art he purchased a few days back and his mind started to put things together.