Chapter 111 - Rehearsal (3)

There were seven stages of Body Forging mastery in Knight Principal. They were Red Core, Orange Core, Yellow Core, Green Core, Blue Core, Violet Core, and Purple Core.

In each Core, there were three stages of latency, which were Early Stage, Middle Stage, and Late Stage.

Knight would undergo an astronomical power growth once they reached Yellow Core Stage. Because, they would be able to use Aura by then. Aura was Knight's specialty. It was a law defying ability unique only to Knight.

As the knowledge regarding Knight Principal was not very advanced, there were still many mysteries regarding the real identity of Aura. However, there was a suspicion that Knight Principal was a derivation of Daoism. Still, no one could confirm it.

In the other hand, Mage had nine levels of mastery. Starting from the First Circle to the Ninth Circle.

Every three Magic Circles attained were attributed to one Realm. There were three Realms in total. Starting from the lowest, they were Lower Realm, Middle Realm, and Upper Realm.

If Knight had three stages of latency, Mage had three levels of Magic Circle's quality. Starting from the lowest, they were Minor Circle, Major Circle, and Grand Circle. Surely, there was an exception for Basil, who had achieved Ultimate Circles.

Ultimate Circle was the perfection of Grand Circle. It had a higher quality and potency compared to Grand Circle. With it, not only could one control Mana better, but also a larger amount of it.

As a Knight, Basil was in the Late Stage Yellow Core. Meanwhile, as a Mage, he was on his way to finish his fourth Circle.

As a Mage, breaking through a Realm was no easy feat. One's talent was determined by one's ability to breakthrough a Realm. Each time one advanced to the next Realm, the composition and the principal behind the Magic Circle changed.

For this reason, one's Magic Circle's quality was often degrading the higher the realm one attained. It was getting harder and harder to comprehend the Magic Circle.

Without comprehension, one wouldn't be able to Carve any Magic Circle. Therefore, many Mages conducted a research to solve this problem.

Surely, it was only the concern of the other Mages. Someone like Basil, who had the Guide on him, didn't need to care about such things. Basil could advance to the next Realm without a hitch. He wouldn't even face a bottleneck once.

For him, what mattered was time. Although he could finish his fourth Magic Circle way faster than anyone, the time given to him wasn't much. Therefore, he always trained crazily, like there is no tomorrow.

"Huuh... I can't seem to breakthrough to Green Core yet." Basil frowned lightly. "I need something to stimulate my Core. Furthermore, I have to finally improve my Mana Heart. That is the only way to accelerate the process of my Circle Carving."

Mana Heart was one of the things that made him different than any Mages. While the others utilized their Magic Circle to gather Mana before using it, Basil didn't have a need to do it.

His Heart was constantly producing Mana, pumping it to his blood, and circulated it through his body. Therefore, he had a stronger body, and he could cast a Spell faster than anyone.

Currently, his Mana Heart was in its first stage of Cultivation, Crimson Heart. The next stage of Mana Heart Cultivation he had to achieve was Amethyst Heart.

Basil had asked about this to the Guide, and he was guaranteed to experience an excruciating pain to advance. Surely, Basil didn't have any concern about it. Practicing [Heart Clenching] everyday was pretty much a torture already.

Basil threw his gaze to the the window. He could see the sunlight pass through the glass of the window, shining the curtain.

He got down from his bed, drew the curtain, and opened the window. Sunshine greeted his skin directly, highlighting his incredibly attractive face.

Basil inhaled the Mana rich air, and it quickly filled his lungs. Just an intake of breath made his body and soul alike felt cleansed. He felt refreshed. When he exhaled the breath, he felt all of the impurity clogging in his body were expelled.

"I need to shower for once in awhile."

Basil was speaking the truth. For the past eight months, he had only literally taken a shower for three times. Surely, it doesn't mean he didn't clean himself. He was a clean freak, he couldn't let his body dirty. He had always used Elemental Magic to clean himself.

It was all done because he had invested most of his time in training. For him, taking a shower was something one would do to not only clean oneself, but also to relax. He had so little time to relax. Therefore, he had rarely taken a shower.

Upon opening his door, Basil was met with the face of someone he knew. It was a young man with light red hair, an amiable expression, and thin but healthy build. He looked at Basil with a small smile, before greeting him.

"Good Morning, Basil."

Basil nodded faintly. "Karan."

Surprisingly, it was Karan, whose room was not that far from Basil's. Karan had been given an admission to Randalvine Magic Institute through test. He had scored the highest in it. Therefore, his room was right next to Xiu Li's that was next to Basil's.

"Good morning, Brother!"

Basil smiled faintly at the familiar voice. "Good morning, Xiu Li." Xiu Li came to Basil's side and took a look at Karan. "Ah, you are the one from yesterday. Hello, I am Wei Xiu Li! It's a pleasure to meet you." Xiu Li extended his hand.

Karan smiled, then replied, "Hi, I am Karan Cayneford. It's also a pleasure to meet you." He took Xiu Li's hand and shook it.

Xiu Li looked at Basil, after letting go of Karan's hand. "Brother, your display of courage really inspired me yesterday. You made me realize to be a strong Mage, I need to have a strong mind. Therefore, I spent a sleepless night to face the thing I fear!"

Basil looked at the slightly pale Xiu Li. "No wonder your complexion is not good. What do you fear anyway?" Xiu looked seriously at Basil, and stated, "Bugs. Every kinds of bug."

Basil chuckled softly in amusement. "Facing your phobia doesn't necessarily improve your mental fortitude. To be immune to any mental attack, you should learn a Mental Protection Spell."

Xiu Li scrunched up his nose, then looked at Basil awkwardly. "I-is that so?" Basil nodded. "D-did I spend my sleepless night in vain?" At this, Basil didn't say anything. However, it didn't stop Karan from laughing softly.

Basil glanced at the disappointed Xiu Li from the corner of his eyes. "Don't worry, I can teach you one later." Xiu Li swiftly turned his head to Basil. His eyes lit up in delight.

The walk was silent until they arrived at the bathroom.

...

Right after they had done their shower, Basil, Xiu Li, and Karan took off to the cafeteria. They were going to have a breakfast. As it was still 7 in the morning, the class would only start in 30 minutes.

Upon arriving at the cafeteria, Karan was surprised by the scene. "Hmm... It is less crowdy than I thought."

True to his word, considering the amount of the students of Randalvine Magic Institute, the medium sized cafeteria was considered empty.

"Well, you guys are in your first year, so you don't know yet." Everyone turned to the voice, and found it was Clovis.

Xiu Li quickly greeted him, "Good morning, senior!" Clovis smiled, and nodded his head.

"A pleasure to meet you, senior. My name is Karan Cayneford." Karan extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you too, Karan. I am Clovis Woster." Clovis shook Karan's hand briefly.

Basil stepped forward to line up, and the others followed suit. While waiting for their turn, all of them, except from Basil talked among themselves.

"If I may know, what do you mean by your words earlier, senior?" Karan looked at Clovis seriously. "Oh, about why the cafeteria is empty?" Karan nodded at Clovis' question.

"Well... You may have already known it. Our Magic Institute has a very large area not because it has many students, but many facilities. Our Magic Institute has a very low passing rate, and even lower graduation rate."

"Wow..." Xiu Li was slightly overwhelmed by that.

"While most of the failed students quit before graduating due to the pressure, most of them didn't manage to graduate."

"Eh? What do you mean by that, senior?"

Instead of Clovis, Basil was the one who answered Xiu Li's question. "All of them were dead before graduating." Xiu Li gasped in disbelief. "How? Are we going to kill each other again?!"

Clovis shook his shook his head faintly. "No. You will be taught about camaraderie for the entire four years you will spend learning here." Xiu Li became even more puzzled. "I know you are puzzled, but I won't say anything about what caused those students' death."

Clovis turned to Basil. "However, considering how much you have known, I believe you already know about it. Right, Basil?" Basil merely hummed softly at that.

Karan looked to Clovis. "In conclusion, the cafeteria is rather empty because the students are too busy doing their research, and there are many of them have fallen. Is it about right, senior?" Clovis merely nodded at that.

"So, what are you doing here, senior? Aren't you busy?" Xiu looked at Clovis silently. With a constipated smile, Clovis replied, "You don't have to remind me anything about it, my dear Junior. I'm here to get some fresh air."

"O-oh..." Xiu Li scratched his head awkwardly.

It turns out, Clovis was pressured too.

They didn't talk, until they found themselves a table to have breakfast.. That way, everyone's morning was started.