October 7, 3109
|Level 5| – 00:10:00
My result appeared after a new training session in the Thanks area.
Finally.
Without wasting time, I pressed the newly unlocked Level 4, and the desert surroundings instantly transformed into a cold tundra—a fierce blizzard raged, visibility dropped, and the air felt cold enough to turn me into a frozen monument.
Before I even adapted to the climate change as the atmospheric pressure began to intensify, worsening my already problematic condition.
However, compared to the previous level, there were no attacks directed at me. Still, this did not improve my situation.
I began losing sensation in my fingers and toes as I started to feel like my limbs are turning to stone. Breathing became a torment, as the air gave the sensation of thousands of blades cutting through my airways.
The pressure on me continued increasing, and keeping a standing position became nearly impossible.
I lost all sensation below my knees—they felt like nothing at all, as if they didn't exist. My joints felt as though they hadn't moved in ages, every movement demanding colossal effort.
When I looked at my fingers, they had already begun to turn blue. The struggle for oxygen was gradually being lost to the relentless blizzard.
Suddenly, my vision began to darken, and weakness spread through my body, causing me to lose balance and fall to the ground.
As soon as my body touched the floor, the temperature rose, the room filled with oxygen, and the blizzard, along with the added pressure, disappeared.
That allowed me to remain conscious and return to normal, though as soon as I stood up, the next person was already waiting for their turn without giving me extra time to recover, so I had to leave the training room.
|Level 4| – 00:06:27
My result was shown by a hologram, and I didn't like it at all.
Liam had already successfully passed Level 3. Nero could nearly reach the end of Level 2. And Astrel...
"Really, on the first day?"
"Yes! He broke the record from previous years. Others needed at least two lessons to reach Level 1, but he got there on his third attempt on the first day."
"The future of the Cindercrest clan is sure to be fantastic!"
I passed two students from the Thanks group while looking for a free training room. The information they shared wasn't new to me, since Nero had already told us about it the next morning after the event.
That was the reality. His unique constitution and 5-star Martial Arts undoubtedly allowed him to achieve such results, granting him the potential to reach the pinnacle of human physical capability. Even if I can match him in combat skill, when it comes to raw physical attributes, I'll never surpass him in every area, except speed.
When you add the clan's resources and top-tier equipment to his ability, it's easy to imagine how Astrel will dominate the new generation.
Back when I was still in the Cindercrest clan, even though I had excellent results in the eyes of the elders, I was more of a problem, the son of a woman who appeared with unknown affiliation, interrupting a marriage opportunity for the future of the clan.
Yet that Bastard had just enough talent to justify the clan's investment. Resources that now could be going to the official successor and "future of the Cindercrest clan" and not to "Lowly blood".
Even if, later on, it was accepted that I, not Astrel, represented the new generation. It was my mother who had strengthened the clan's position in the alchemical market, securing financial stability for several generations to come.
But those are just stories from the past that most likely only I remember.
What really mattered now was Level 3, which I needed to reach at least.
I entered a newly freed room, greeted by the same minimalist interface:
| Level 5 – Start |
| Level 4 – Start |
| Level 3 – Locked |
| Level 2 – Locked |
| Level 1 – Locked |
When I clicked on Level 4, a new notification appeared:
| To unlock the next level, you have to start from Level 5. Do you want to continue training in Level 4? |
| Yes / No |
Huh?
Are you serious now?
Having no other choice, I returned to the level selection page and clicked on Level 5.
The room transformed again into a desert hot, dry, with hundreds of arrows pointing at me.
.
.
.
Fucking cold!
The cold tundra greeted me once again with its full discomfort—lack of oxygen, a fierce blizzard, increased atmospheric pressure, and, of course, a biting cold so intense it felt as if you could see me turning into an ice sculpture with the naked eye.
My whole body shook with constant, violent shivers. My mucous membranes couldn't even activate their protective mechanisms; the cold was too strong. But for the moment, I endured.
I endured... I endured, but still—
| Level 4 | – 00:08:58
I couldn't last more than nine minutes before collapsing to the ground, overwhelmed by the strain on my body.
.
.
.
Archery Dojo
When I opened the doors of the dojo, the first thing I noticed at the entrance was a new pair of shoes. Then I heard the voices of two people. One of them I recognized, it was Mr. Karlos.
A new student?
As soon as I stepped inside, a tall girl appeared in my field of vision alongside Mr. Karlos. She was probably about the same height as me, with short dark blue hair and light violet eyes. Having attractive beauty for both men and women.
Noticing my entrance, she turned toward me.
"I assume you're Kail. Nice to meet you, I'm Ana," she said with a smile, hands resting on her waist and chest pushed forward in a way that demanded notice even if there wasn't anything for complementing.
"Nice to meet you," I replied with a small nod.
"If you've greeted each other, then let's begin the purpose of this lesson. She'll be your final exam for the course," Mr. Karlos said.
"As this will be a type of duel"
"Not really. For a start, at least try to find me." Ana interrupted.
Immediately after her words, the entire archery field began to shut out the outside light.
"Good luck, pretty boy," Ana said, just before the entire field was engulfed in absolute darkness by the sliding roof.
Nothing was visible. There was no difference between having my eyes open or closed. Along with the darkness, all sounds disappeared. My breathing became the loudest thing in the environment. The entire space had become a completely enclosed room, the wind currents had stopped and the air felt stagnant.
Okay, now what?
Without overthinking, I moved based on memory toward where the bows were kept. After grabbing one and taking cover, I made my way toward the archery field.
Even though I tried to stay quiet, my footsteps were probably the loudest thing in this silence, though that shouldn't have been the case because my steps were pretty silent in comparison with others.
I began to focus on my senses. No sounds. No scents. No vision. What was left?
Then I realized there was a type of information always present, one we ignore most of the time .
The skin being the largest organ in the human body, has thousands of different receptors for heat, cold, and pressure. More precisely, it allows me to feel the vibrations that travel through objects.
But no matter how focused I was, I still couldn't feel anything so I bent down to put my left hand on the ground to increase skin contact, then I felt a faint vibration. I set the bow down and stood up, turning around.
"I found you."
She was directly behind me, about three meters away. But after my words, only silence followed.
She doesn't believe me?
Just as I thought about reaching out toward her—
"Hihihi, Professor, you're lucky!" Ana's voice echoed, but there was no reply to her comment.
"Now try to follow me."
Immediately after she spoke, the vibration I had felt disappeared, only to reappear again to my right, gradually moving away. When I started to move, I lost the sensation of those vibrations and had to stop in place to feel them again.
I have to move more carefully.
.
.
.
Many attempts were made, some longer, others shorter, but the most important thing was that I felt progress. With each try, I sensed the new vibrations more quickly and managed to follow them for longer.
I had to relearn how to walk, but this time the goal wasn't to cover distance—it was to make each step gentler, more fluid, all while keeping the essential objective in mind: to move without creating any vibrations. At the same time.
Step by step, attempt by attempt, I advanced further. Slowly but steadily, without hesitation or extra thought, I walked in the direction my skin told me through the complete darkness.
Until suddenly, I slammed my little toe against something hard probably wood. The pain was immediate and sharp, like hundreds of needles piercing my skin, all of it concentrated in the exact spot that took the hit.
"Aiii!"
I couldn't help but let it out. The pain was too sudden and too intense not to.
"Pff, hahahaha!"
Ana burst into laughter.
Right then, the dome covering the Archery field began to open, letting in rays of the setting sun for a brief moment.
As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw Professor Karlos and Ana standing inside the dojo. The object that had caused me so much pain turned out to be the doorstep marking the boundary between the field and the dojo.
"That's enough for today. You'll continue in the next lesson," said Mr. Karlos.
After recovering from that unpleasant experience, I picked up the bow I had left earlier, returned it to its place, and left the dojo, after saying goodbye to the professor and the student who had just traumatized me.
Leaving the dojo, I opened my messages and was greeted by a conversation with Lia.
Lia | What do you like, pasta or lasagna?
Kail | Both are tasty.
Considering how long it had been since I'd last eaten either, there was a chance my taste buds wouldn't even be ready for that kind of food.
Lia | Are you finished?
Kail | Yes.
Lia | Wonderful! I have some interesting ideas for breathing techniques.
So I headed off toward Lia's culinary experiments.
.
.
.
At the same time, in the dojo
"The last vibration wasn't even generated by me, it was by you, professor, and anyway he managed to feel it. Where did you find such a gem? As far as I know, he's not from any clan, and he has no recommendation from a famous master or at least I didn't see him on the first-year lists."
Ana and her cascade of words, while wearing a curious expression, addressed Professor Karlos, who didn't even meet her gaze. It didn't seem to bother her.
"Do you think if I offered him support from the clan, he'd accept it?"
At that, Karlos was briefly distracted from watching the clouds from his armchair. He looked into his student's eyes for a moment, only to immediately return to his prior focus. For Ana, that shorty contact sent a shiver through her body and even made her take an unconscious step back.
"Okay, I get it. You're first in line, you really had to scare a simple little student like me," Ana said, reacting to their brief exchange.
"He'll refuse your proposal."
With that statement, a slight smirk of amusement crossed Professor Karlos' usually emotionless face, one which could scare even death itself
.
.
.
Leaving the Dojo, Ana called her beloved brother who was also in his first year.
"Nero, dear, do you perhaps know an archer by the name of Kail?"