1st Stage of Swallowing Star
Lake sat on his bed while completely immersed in his cultivation. His 5 senses were restricted as he felt the energy of the universe and the vortex in his body.
The following week went by quickly. Besides going to school and work, he focused wholeheartedly on his cultivation.
Surprisingly no one spoke about his battle with Gregory so his days went by quietly.
Despite the lack of talk Lake could feel the change in everyone's gazes towards him. What used to be filled with disdain and derision were now filled with awe and respect, though there were still some that disliked him.
But Lake couldn't care less since he knew that if that battle hadn't happened the change in their eyes wouldn't exist, to him this change in treatment meant little to nothing. He was entirely focused on increasing his strength to unlock his ability.
The amount of rotations continuously increased as the time went by, but Lake noticed that as he went on with the technique that it became harder and harder to increase the vortexes speed.
And finally on the fourth day while he was running through the technique he felt a sudden surge of energy rushing through his veins.
The vortex within him was rotating so quickly that the motes of light being absorbed were being drawn in at an even faster pace.
Above his head shimmering dots of light began appearing rapidly. The energy within Lake's body began rushing through the motes of light connecting each dot before it sent out a bright flash of light.
When the light faded what rested in the air was a constellation in the shape of an ape.
As the constellation floated in the air an overwhelming aura of strength radiated outwards from it. It stayed there for a few seconds before being absorbed by the vortex inside of Lake.
He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled the breath he was holding. He clenched his fist and felt the surging strength that was flowing through him.
"Amazing. So this is what the 1st stage feels like." His eyes shone in excitement.
Lake knew that his cultivation technique was powerful but never thought that just the 1st stage would give him such a huge boost in strength nor did he think that the moment he broke through that a constellation would form.
The constellation that formed was an ape that was largely known for it's strength. And after absorbing it his strength stat grew by a large margin.
Excitedly Lake opened the system and was thrilled by what he saw.
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Lake Halma - Ability Unclear
[Physical Fitness]
Strength: 120
Defense: 100
Agility: 100
[Mental Prowess]
Intelligence: 95
Wisdom: 90
Willpower: 100
[Energy Capacity] - 200
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His strength had completely broke the limits of what a non esper could do while his other physical stats had also reached the limit. And though his mental prowess had yet to reach the standard for a Copper Esper, he was just standing on the threshold of becoming one.
His energy stat was even more ridiculous, it had reached the state of a 2nd stage copper esper. If there was someone who could see this their eyes would be popping out of their sockets right now.
Lake was breaking all sorts of laws with his abilities. But this increase just empowered his awe of cultivation techniques and how lucky he was to have gotten such a powerful one. And with his increase in power his confidence surged as well.
'If just the first stage is so powerful, then how will the rest of them be?' He became more enthusiastic upon thinking of the future constellations he'd unlock.
He was also closing in on the first copper esper stage as well. With just a little more work he'd become a copper esper at the young age of 12. A feat that showcased his talent.
As he felt the energy surging within him he felt like he needed to discharge some of it.
Changing his clothes he headed towards the school as besides the gym there was an extra area that allowed students to practice their abilities. Since some students had extremely volatile abilities the school felt it was to give them a space to practice control without worry of damaging anything.
He felt himself being scanned as he entered through the doorway and a voice rang out when the door closed.
"Esper stage Zero. Preparing level 1 combat puppet. "
Suddenly in the center of the room a dummy had appeared out of nowhere, it got into a fighting stance, awaiting Lake's attack.
The stats for the puppet were shown on the screen in front of Lake.
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Combat Training Puppet
[Physical Fitness] - 100
[Mental Prowess] - 0
[Energy Capacity] - 100
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The puppet's full name was Combat Training Puppet, it was designed to assist espers in their combat training. There were different levels to the training rooms as well, and the one Lake was currently in had configured it to be suitable for a non esper, so there was only a puppet inside.
Since Lake was not yet an esper the room deemed it best to provide a level one puppet to spar with him.
Despite it only being level one the puppet was basically a copper esper despite having no mental prowess, it was fitted with the most basic fighting techniques to allow the trainee to get used to combat. If desired the person could set the strength higher for a more difficult fight.
"This should be a good start, considering this is the first time I'll fight something with copper strength." He wanted to start slow before ramping up the difficulty.
Getting into a good stance Lake lifted his arms and readied himself.
He charged at the puppet with all his strength before sending a punch at it's stomach.
The puppet raised it's arms to block but the AI had severely underestimated Lake's strength.
*POW*
With a bang the puppet was shoved back and slammed into the wall of the room. It's arms had shattered and the broken pieces fell to the ground. Before long the puppet started teetering before falling over as well. With it's defenses there was no way for it to withstand Lake's 120 points of strength.
Amazed, Lake looked at his fist in awe. The strength he outputted was so fierce that he had no idea how to control it. So he accidentally "I knew a copper esper was powerful, but I had no idea the strength was so significant. I guess experiencing it firsthand is better than reading it in a book."