Star Protection Treasure

Chuckling at Lance's enthusiasm, Attok reached into his jacket pocket to take out the first cultivation treasure Lance would see in his life.

A walnut sized transparent glass globe came into Lance's view. When it moved, Lance could see stars swirling inside it. It was connected to a silver chain designed to be worn around the neck.

"This is a Star Protection Treasure. Using the principles of a star's production of energy, the scientists at IE made a peculiar material which releases the stored energy inside the treasure protecting the wearer from all harm under a certain level. The item you received in your on boarding kit was also a Star Protection Treasure, but of the lowest level. The cost increases exponentially as the levels move up, due to the increase in cost to make the treasure stable.

The rock you received can protect you from a full power strike of an Apprentice level cultivator, which is the next level after Initiates. Almost all threats in missions are limited to one level above you, but the faction leaders decided to reward you with this anyway because of the performance you have shown. This treasure can protect you from the full power strike of a Master. So if that Xuan Long or anyone attacks you, you will be protected and I will be alerted so that I or someone on our side can rush to your aid. Although they mostly won't be so brazen, its best to be safe than sorry. It will automatically activate when it detects a threat that can kill you, or you can crush it to generate a barrier for 5 minutes. Use it well."

Lance excitedly took the globe and wore it around his neck under his standard IE shirt. All initiates came without any luggage, so they were provided some sets of clothes for training and casual use by the station.

The globe felt cool on his skin, and gave him a measure of safety. Xuan Long's expression when he was fainting had placed a slight fear in him.

Attok left soon after.However much Attok asked him, Lance really had no idea about how he had managed to output that much power.

That night, when Lance sat down to meditate, he found something peculiar in his dantian. The slab of energy was still there, but above it hovered a ball of golden light. Lance didn't have the ability yet to make an energy form of himself in his dantian to interact with or train using his energy construct, as hinted by the manual in later stages. He could only resolve to ask Darius next morning.

After establishing the construct, the goal was to absorb energy steadily to completely solidify it. Right now, only the top layer was solid, and it only gave out a weak field. With subsequent strengthening, a stronger field would form which would upgrade each cell of the body more effectively, thus enabling higher output of power.

Today was the last day of training. According to the schedule, tomorrow would be a final test to qualify or disqualify initiates from taking the first mission. In the instructors words, "Its better to drop out if you are too weak instead of being foolish and taking the mission even if you aren't ready. Even when one is qualified, the probability of passing is only 10-40%, depending on the difficulty of the mission. The probability of dying though is 40-70%. So swallow down any humiliation you might feel if you don't pass. Being alive and mocked is much better than being dead and forgotten."

These words had drilled themselves into each initiate's mind. So far, not many had dropped out as the training hadn't been as excruciating as it had been for Lance so far. The feeling of growing stronger had motivated everyone till now to push through the training.

But when it came to the matter of life and death, would they rather pass the test and risk dying or intentionally fail and keep growing stronger? Tomorrow would give the answer.