OP— 22

Title: Invitation

Exercises based on bodyweight now proved quite ineffective. With all the disciples already showing their abilities and origins, they did not shy away and cultivated silently while sitting on the cold floor of the gymnasium. Most of the second-year disciples were like them, too.

"Sigh…" Mana sighed as he looked at Lilia cultivating with her origin rotating, too.

Right now, he was the only one with eyes wide open and his origin within his body.

"What's wrong? Your performance has been nothing short of miraculous… but even Rogue takes his cultivation seriously," Klyde walked over with a kind smile alongside a chirpier Chrome.

"Gran— ehm, Professor—"

"Just call me Klyde…"

"Yeah, not gonna fall for that," Mana smirked, "Master's words were clear. I am to show you appropriate respect."

"See? Professor?" Chrome sighed, "I keep telling you that. All the Heart Masters convey the same instructions whenever one of their disciples converse with you.

"But you didn't answer the question? Are you feeling this lazy with the weekend around the corner?" Smiling, Klyde looked at Lilia. Her appearance was as flamboyant as ever. But even she took every moment of Cultivation seriously.

"Well… it's true that active concentration on origin increases the pace of refinement of qi into element—"

"It doesn't increase the pace of absorption. When an origin is within the Cultivator's body, the speed of rotation slows down slightly. The greater the aptitude, the lower the decrease in speed. But when it's out of the body, it can regain its maximum pace once again," Chrome corrected with a smile but Klyde didn't offer anything. This wasn't why Klyde approached Mana in the first place.

"Not to mention, this is the first time every freshman has taken out their origin. It will be a good experience if you cultivate together…"

"Senior…" Mana looked a little curious, "Am I the first 99 rpm aptitude cultivator you have ever met?"

A little surprised by the inquiry, Chrome nodded.

"Oh… well then it makes sense."

Chrome didn't know why but he could sense a hint of condescension in Mana's tone.

"99 rpm origin once kickstarted with a rune never slows down," Klyde smiled and pointed out, making Chrome feel slightly impressed.

'Huh, I did not know that…'

"But, as the Professor said… I'm a little distracted," Mana began, his gaze distant, an expression Dharma and Rogue knew extremely well.

Sighing deeply, Mana began.

"It all started three days back. Rogue and I were eating patties… if I recall correctly, the patties were stuffed with sweet ginger cheese. Dharma was in the washroom, throwing up. He did not like the stuffing at all. Then—"

"Cut to the chase," Klyde uttered.

"Hmm? Oh, that's what I'm distracted by. If Dharma cannot tolerate the taste of ginger, then he wouldn't be drinking all the ginger tea. But he also eats cheese sandwiches most of the time for breakfast and likes to keep a few candies in his bag. So, I was thinking just what is about the combination of three that made Dharma throw up…"

'He's truly bored…'

Klyde and Chrome though internally. They couldn't fathom how idle a person must feel to think of matters as ridiculous as this.

But they felt a little empathetic. If their origin could retain its maximum absorption and refinement speed, even they would grow idle soon enough.

Seeing that Klyde had nothing to worry about, Chrome began with a smile.

"I think you should divert your attention to the Welcome Event being organized for you freshmen. I shouldn't be saying this—"

'And yet you will,' Klyde noted internally.

"— but, Big Mac managed to invite the third of the supposed Big Dao Cultivator. Big Dip."

Mana blinked, thoughts of filling Dharma's sandwich with a variety of ginger pastes flung out of his mind.

Seeing that the conversation held no meaning to him, Klyde started taking rounds around the freshmen and the second-year disciples to assess their progress.

"Big Dip?" Mana inquired once again.

"Oh? You know him?"

"The only alumni in the history of the Sect to not be a heart's disciple but managing to get a rank 1 territory in the Astral Plains… yeah, everybody knows him!"

Smirking, Chrome thought for a moment, "So, did you know that President Mac and VP Fudge are the only two cultivators allowed into his piece of territory?"

"Those two?" Mana gulped. He always thought the cheerful Big Mac to be a cool individual and the stoic Big Fudge to be the calm and rational one but Mana never knew that the current leaders of Disciple Council had such resourceful connections.

"But… Senior, why did you tell me this?" Mana tilted his head curiously.

"Because I want you to join the Disciple Council under my Information Department," Chrome smiled.

Dubious, Mana narrowed his gaze.

"How many invitations have you already received from the Disciple Council as a whole?"

Thinking hard, Mana recalled quite a few seniors inviting him to Disciple council. Dharma had already joined the Administration department that gives out missions to the disciples and keeps track of multiple events of the sect.

Rogue, on the other hand, didn't join any.

"Information Department?" Mana mumbled, his tone suggesting his complete lack of response to the matter.

"Yeah. My department can provide what others cannot," Chrome chuckled.

"Opium?" Mana inquired.

"What? No," Chrome coughed.

"Unlimited access to sex?" Mana inquired further, making Chrome gasp.

'How dare you ask me such a hurtful inquiry?!' The yellow-eyed pure senior felt quite distraught.

"Umm… then, no…" Mana answered with a serious expression.

Exasperated, Chrome realized that aside from Rogue, Mana is the new addition to whom a guessing game should never be played with.

"In my department, you get to spy on people exclusively. You get to feel the joy of finding something about someone that can bring disaster or extreme shame to that individual," Chrome stated plainly but his words felt so alluring that Mana realized… investigating others might just be his second favorite activity!

Right above researching and fighting.

"I usually don't invite others openly but you're already aware of your qualities and I don't wish to let them go to waste. Just your second ability can make someone an extremely proficient stalker," Chrome spoke with an expression of genuine praise but his words made Mana feel a little embarrassed.

"Anyway, you have until after the Freshmen Party," Saying that, Chrome began his own cultivation but like usual, he refrained from taking out his origin.

'Hmm, what should I do? Hina and Mina have also joined the disciplinary committee. In fact, aside from Rogue and I, all other heart's disciples and talented individuals have joined some form of force. Hmm… wait a minute… The Presidency of the disciple council includes the President, the Vice-president, and the Chief Operator. The three positions are occupied by Big Mac, Big Fudge, and Senior Sister King.

That means, the Administrative Committee led by Big Mac, Disciplinary Committee led by Big Fudge, and the Hunter's Committee led by Senior Sister King have the greatest authority. People like me and Rogue are rare. Even the disciples who aren't accepted in any other committee will join the Hunter's Committee which makes them the disciple association with the largest number of Disciples. Even Lilia is a part of this association.

Then comes the smaller but extremely professional disciple associations such as Craft and Rune Association. Or the Investigation Association led by Chrome…

But, if I actually have to choose, I would join the Research Association that deals with the research of many rare rituals… Although, I know the least about this association.

Nah, I'm thinking too hard. I can research rituals on my own. If years of origin cultivation still haven't made progressive breakthroughs in the concept of ritual, what help will I get from other disciples? As for the Craft and Rune Association dealing with the practical application of runes in formations, blacksmithing, and alchemy… I'm better off doing it on my own, too. I'm also not interested in being a glorified clerk, security guard, or a merc…

And being a stalker…'

Somehow, being a stalker felt the most appropriate to Mana but knowing that he had a lot of time to think it over based on the fact that Chrome didn't inform him of the date of Freshmen Party itself, Mana resumed the plotting of his diabolical plan of experimenting on Dharma's taste bud.

Of course, this situation emerged from Mana's petty anger.

With Rogue gaining the access to his PX-8 for 90 days, and with Mana not fulfilling a few of his betting conditions, his time of PX-8 was allotted to Dharma entirely, making him feel extremely annoyed.

It wasn't Dharma's fault. The poor boy, however, still enjoyed the relaxation brought by gaming after two hours of contact with his current teammate— Vedra.

'Anyway, I got another skill approved by Master… I should carve it on my Origin. Hehe… this is going to be a good one.'

Mana's vision suddenly shifted and he found himself in a vast space lit by a soft golden hue originating from a fist-sized glimmering orb of energy. Unlike others, Mana could clearly feel the carved runes on the surface of the origin.

Once an origin cultivator goes through the awakening process, they would be able to access the metaphysical realm within their own body that is created by the origin for its storage.

'A rank 1 cultivator is equivalent to a qi condensation cultivator of the orthodox path. But unlike a qi condensation cultivator who can restore their qi by absorbing the energy stored within the spirit stones, the recovery of the qi of an origin cultivator is purely based on the rotation speed of the origin.

Theoretically speaking, a hypothetical origin with 100 rpm will recover all its lost energy in 81 seconds and the remainder of energy absorbed later on is used to refine the body, soul, and mind of the cultivator. The lower the rotation speed, the greater the time required to recover lost energy. From the rotation speed below 100, every single deduction of rpm will increase the time required to recover by 9 seconds…

With my speed of recovering all the lost energy in 90 seconds, I can best others easily based on endurance. While they will need more time to recover energy, I can easily spam more skills.

But to get the maximum benefit out of it, I need to steel my mind, as Master suggested, and add a true attack-type skill.

My vines can achieve many objectives but they are not purely aggressive even if I comprehended the rune of Vine with spikes attached to them.

My second rune, Seed, is developed for my future goals. Of course, in the right conditions, this rune can threaten even rank 3 origin cultivators and their equivalent of Orthodox path— Core Formation Cultivators.

Finally, my third rune, and probably the only attack-type skill I will develop should be based on the greatest strength of my element and martial experience.

Mirashi.

Root.'

Finally firming his mind, Mana began carving the rune on the surface of the origin. Instead of a physical activity, this was an act of intention.

Before even being allowed to enter the Core-level sects, Outer and Inner-level sects make sure to train a Disciple's visualization technique and focus methods because this is one of the most important aspects of origin cultivation. If a cultivator cannot visualize a solid rune, he/she would not be able to carve runes on the surface of their origin.

However, like the previous two times, Mana carved the rune within seconds and once he felt a good chunk of the qi stored within the deepest corner of the origin filling the rune and readying it for activation at his slightest intention, Mana nodded in satisfaction and left the origin space, knowingly ignoring the grey glimmer within the darkness of the space.

But much to Mana's reluctance, he had to wait for others to stop cultivating.

The misfortune of being so talented that one can only remain patient for others to catch up.

'Hmm, his body will soon reach the peak of rank 1. That itself can allow the kid to battle against a qi condensation cultivator only using martial arts. Too bad that most of the talented qi cultivators, by the age of 21, are already in the realms of core formation.'

Klyde observed silently.

Rogue, too, is at the peak stage of rank 1 physique but he cannot grow stronger without breaking through to rank 2.

Aside from these two, only Dharma was close to accomplishing the stage within this month while others wouldn't take longer than 120 days to reach the particular realm of the physique.

'On the other hand…' Gazing at Vedra, he couldn't help but sigh.

She could be considered the most annoying disciple Klyde ever had the displeasure of knowing but he, like her master— Pure, aka, White Heart— felt that Vedra had the greatest potential amongst the last 3 generations of heart's disciple to graduate.

'Oh, and there are those two crazy brats under Love's discipleship. Well, considering their elder brother… the ability of great emotional fluctuation probably goes through the entire family.'

Klyde gazed at Drake, the youth who should have been Pink Heart's disciple in the first place.

'Ah, I hope that a few grand disciples fight each other soon enough. I want more of those disheartened blooms from Pure…' Klyde prayed with devious intentions.