Chapter 16: Cosnergy Control (1/2)
Chapter 16: Cosnergy Control (1/2)
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Zephyr stood by the window as his classmates moved the chairs and desks to the back of the class, Sam helping once again with his. The redhead didn't ask why he didn't do it himself, and Zephyr was grateful for that.
Miss Lauren had just walked in on them preparing for the second half of the school day. She waited quietly at the front of the class.
Emily stood alone too since the guys wouldn't let her lift her desk by herself. As for the other two girls, their death glares were enough to stop the guys from treating them delicately.
When all the desks were stacked neatly at the back of the class, Miss Lauren cleared her throat, bringing their attention to herself.
"We can consider this our first training session," she began, looking from one face to the next. "I'll set a small goal for everyone."
"At the end of each month, there is always a year competition in the school. The classes in each year will compete against each other for the Class Cup. You year one students will face off against each other in different aspects like strength, spread, Cosnergy control, and so on. At the end, the top five classes will fight against each other for the Class Cup."
Miss Lauren regarded her students with a serious expression, judging their calm but excited faces.
"I'll be honest and tell you all that in the past, my class has never won a Class Cup before, and I've been a teacher at this school for over ten years," she admitted. "Yet, with your talents, I hope that can change. I'll train and nurture you all beyond my ability, so please cooperate with me in the future."
"Yes, ma'am."
Miss Lauren was silent for a moment, hoping that they truly meant their reply. Over her years of teaching, she had learned that in order to train someone or something, you must first have their trust and cooperation. Only then will your efforts yield results.
In the past, she had always been paired with notorious students who cared little about learning the right way. Now, for whatever reason, she had been assigned this set of students, the majority of whose backgrounds she couldn't even comprehend.
Maybe it was fate or a terrible disaster waiting to explode. However, Miss Lauren still intended to do her best to be a teacher they would hold in high esteem and appreciate, whatever their future may be.
"Besides that, the second goal is that, before the annual assessment coming up next year in March, every one of you must reach (what's the second rank again?). Failure to do so means I won't let you join the competitors, and the class will have to compete without a complete team."
Unlike their first response, the class was silent this time as everyone looked uncertain, even Conner, who rarely showed much expression.
"But..." Brian started.
"Yes, ma'am," Zephyr cut in before he could say anything more.
Miss Lauren waited a few seconds to see if there would be disagreements, but when no one else spoke, she continued speaking.
"For today, we'll work on the basics: Cosnergy control." Turning to the long desk on the raised platform in front of the class, she picked up the bundle of twigs she had brought with her.
"These are cut from a Healing Tree, which, as we all know, is highly reactive to Cosnergy," she introduced. "For today's exercise, you'll each take one of these and try to revive it by channeling your Cosnergy into it using the method in the manual I gave you yesterday."
She began handing each of them a single twig, which was as long as a person's arm but very thin.
"This will allow me to gauge your level of control over Cosnergy," Miss Lauren explained, handing the final twig to Zephyr. She held on herself to demonstrate to the class.
"Each twig, when fed Cosnergy, can grow a total of fifty healing leaves. Your control level will be calculated based on the number of leaves and their colors."
The class watched as Miss Lauren slowly channeled her Cosnergy from within her body, through her hands, and out of her palms. Her Cosnergy had a bright violet color. The moment the mist-like Cosnergy came in contact with the twig, the twig, which had been laying motionless on her palm, rose and floated vertically.
From her palms, she constantly fed Cosnergy to it in a steady flow.
Right in front of them, the twig turned a brilliant green. Branches began to form, and green leaves grew from them.
"Ten green leaves means E-ranked control, which is the lowest. Twenty means D-ranked control. The ranking continues like this until you have fifty green leaves, which means A-ranked control, the highest."
Fifty green leaves soon grew from Miss Lauren's twig. A sweet fragrance came from them, making the students' heads spin with sudden dizziness.
"Newly grown Healing Tree has that effect on humans," Miss Lauren explained. "As for the color of the leaves, green is the natural color. However, if you're able to turn even a single leaf silver, then you qualify to get S-ranked control."
As she spoke, twenty leaves on her new small tree turned silver, glowing softly like stars. Reaching her limit, Miss Lauren stopped channeling her Cosnergy and let the small tree without roots fall onto her palm.
"You all can begin. You have thirty minutes," she instructed.
Zephyr quietly moved away from the others and sat near the wall in a lotus position. In order not to disturb each other's concentration, the students sat as far from each other as possible.
Zephyr held the thin twig in his hand, recalling the information in the manual Miss Lauren had distributed yesterday.
Cosnergy was stored in one's subconscious and would slowly be drawn in from the environment until a person reached their storage limit.
When using the stored Cosnergy, one can only channel out ninety percent of their Cosnergy. The remaining ten percent is used to maintain the body. However, if one forcefully draws out that ten percent, they will suffer from dizziness, lightheadedness, and lose consciousness.
Recalling the method to channel Cosnergy safely, Zephyr followed the instructions in the manual, mentally opening a single channel from his subconscious to his physical body. Yesterday, he had mastered releasing the channeled Cosnergy only through his palms, so he was able to avoid waste.
From his palms, a creamy-colored gas-like substance was released. The color of one's Cosnergy could be used to tell their level. Still not even a level one Newbie, Zephyr and his other classmates' Cosnergy was creamy in color.
Shakily, the thin twig rose from his palm, trembling as it floated upright until it was floating vertically.
Now, Zephyr had only two jobs: first, to keep the twig afloat, and second, to provide it with a steady flow of Cosnergy.
A peaceful silence fell over the classroom, each student earnestly channeling their Cosnergy. Although this wasn't a competition but a simple exercise, no one wanted to be the worst.
Among them, Zephyr and Emily were making the fastest progress, their twigs already lush green, growing branches that were slowly being filled with green leaves.
Conner and the twins, Miles and Mike, were not struggling either, their twigs trembling from time to time but otherwise making fast progress.
Sam and Brian were not having it easy, each having trouble concentrating on keeping the twig upright and feeding it Cosnergy at the same time.
Zephyr looked up from his twig when he heard a sharp intake of breath. Mirabella sucked in a sharp breath as her twig fell onto her palm after three minutes of struggling to keep it afloat.
Looking at the others, a heavy weight fell on her shoulders. They were all far ahead of her, their twigs already growing beautiful leaves while she couldn't even keep hers afloat.
From Miss Lauren's desk, an alarm ticked repeatedly. Mira's shoulders tensed with each tick, knowing time was running out. However, such thoughts did not help her. As she tried channeling her Cosnergy again, her hands trembled, causing the twig to fall onto the floor.
The sound caught everyone's attention, and they turned their attention to her. Mirabella dropped her head, her hair falling over her face to hide her embarrassment.
"Miss Lauren, can you put the alarm on silent, please? It's distracting," Zephyr quickly spoke before anyone could say anything to Mirabella.
The eyes on her shifted away for a moment, and Mirabella immediately picked up her twig, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Okay," Miss Lauren replied, stopping the alarm from ticking. "Mirabella, is everything okay?"
Having lost her usual confidence, she only nodded in reply. Twirling the thin piece of wood between her fingers, Mirabella wondered what she was doing wrong. She had read the manual from cover to cover and had spent the whole night practicing how to channel and release her Cosnergy.
However, no matter how hard she tried or how much she watched her classmates, she could not figure out her mistakes.
Just when she was about to begin again, the ding of a notification rang in her ears, startling her. She looked around to check where the sound had come from; however, everyone else was still focused on their work.
Mirabella frowned, turning back to the front. Her eyes accidentally fell on Zephyr's face. She was looking at him, or at least in her general direction. Zephyr's bangs made it impossible for anyone to know what exactly he was looking at.
However, as she was about to look away, the blue system interface popped out in her vision, startling her as she let out a shocked gasp.
"Mirabella?" Miss Lauren asked, looking up from her textbook.
"Nothing, ma'am," Mirabella quickly composed herself, and Miss Lauren returned to her book. There was a message flashing on the blue interface, and Mirabella saw she was in the chat section.
(Try closing your eyes. You won't fail if you don't know you're failing. Ignore everyone else. They have higher perception than you, so they're naturally more reactive and sensitive to Cosnergy than you are. It's nothing special.) ~ •Zephyr•
A frown formed on her face as she glanced back at Zephyr. He had been watching her after all. Looking down at her twig again, she considered that having low perception might explain why she couldn't feel and control her Cosnergy well.
In this area, her parents had tried numerous methods to help increase her perception to no avail. They had given up and just hoped her future talent didn't rely heavily on Cosnergy.
However, Mirabella had awakened a talent that not only relied on Cosnergy but needed it to even function: archery.
Focusing back on the twig, she forced every bit of concentration to reach her stored Cosnergy and channel it. She wouldn't give up trying even if it felt like she was staring death in the face.
Because, what was an archer without her arrows?
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Author's note: I wanted to try uploading this without any editing.
What do you all think? Better or not?