Chapter 19 : : Arena
Kale sat cross-legged on his bed and started cultivating according to the path defined by the ‹Star Constellation Body Lock›.
Faint wisps of original energy swirl around his body, then slowly entered it. A Warm feeling followed by intense pain assaulted Kale, the feeling was like new routes were being dug out inside his body just like his nervous system. Origin energy flew through those routes and slowly but surely circulated in a one-sided flow.
Soon, Kale felt something new and familiar yet very strange space forming just below his heart, it was very mysterious but also unreal at the same time, the origin energy was attracted to this space and rested near it but didn't enter it.
He had a feeling that although he could feel this space if someone sliced his chest to look inside they would find nothing, this space was very important for a practitioner for cultivation, the masses defined it as Origin Chasm. Origin Chasm was just one of its name, the mages called it Mana Pool while Martial Artist termed it as Heart Aperture, practitioners gave it many names some directly regarded it as Chakra, Origin Aperture, or even Dantian.
Although this space is called Origin Chasm, the origin energy directly cannot enter this space, only after it is refined into one or more types of purer energy can they enter this space.
The primary cultivation technique was without a doubt the main foundation and way to lifeform advancement that is why it is called primary cultivation technique but to wield supernatural strength, one needs to refine origin energy into different pure energy before they could use that power, the way they choose becomes their future path and also affects their body when they are walking on it, whether it is in a good way or bad.
Kale kept circulating the origin energy, without any change in his expression.
After Arlo finished speaking, he gave Kale a strange look, he didn't even think that Kale had comprehended the technique just a while ago after all he had got this technique weeks ago. What surprised him was how is Kale so calm, no matter the technique the practitioner chooses, cultivation will be painful and boring in the early days. In the end, he believed that Kale was simply meditating like him and sighed in relief.
Cultivating for the first time, is very tiring and exhausting for normal people, just cultivating a few minutes will feel like hours to them, it would take a lot of time before they could get used to such a thing but for Kale who had done it for years, this was a child's play.
He cultivated until his body became a little tensed up then stopped, he opened his eyes and checked the time, it had been around three hours since he started cultivating.
The lights of the rooms were already switched off, Arlo had gone to sleep, he has been traveling all day until he arrived at the academy then headed out just after taking a shower so it was inevitable that he got exhausted.
Kale took out his phone and checked his status.
___ ___ ___
Name: Kale Oshwatt
Race: Mutant Human
Health: 100%
Stamina: 83%
Class: None
Life Level: Mortal
Progress: 02%
Foundation: None
Traits: Auto-Photographic Memory & Bone Manipulation.
Martial Technique: Wind Chasing Knives.
___ ___ ___
'According to the normal Body Scanner Machine I should be at Lvl 1,' Kale thought.
Normal Body Scanner doesn't give results as precise as the portable scanner that uses Nanobots to analyze the body, so the cultivation progress in them is shown in Levels rather than percentage. For example:-
00% to 10% ~ Lvl 1
11% to 20% ~ Lvl 2
21% to 30% ~ Lvl 3
31% to 40% ~ Lvl 4
41% to 50% ~ Lvl 5
51% to 60% ~ Lvl 6
61% to 70% ~ Lvl 7
71% to 80% ~ Lvl 8
81% to 90% ~ Lvl 9
91% to 100% ~ Lvl 10
Once a practitioner steps in Lvl 10 they can try to breakthrough even if they are just at 91%, whether they succeed or not depends on their efforts whether they are internal or external. The same sequence is followed when they reach the Enlightened Mortal-Rank but the Level count starts from 11 which is the same as Lvl 1 in the Mortal-Rank.
A practitioner's foundation is graded depending on the time they breakthrough, the better the foundation, the faster would be their cultivation speed and the higher would be their future achievements.
91% to 92% Advancement is termed as E Grade foundation.
93% to 94% Advancement is termed as D Grade foundation.
95% to 96% Advancement is termed as C Grade foundation.
97% to 98% Advancement is termed as B Grade foundation.
And finally, 99% Advancement is termed as A Grade foundation.
Theoretically speaking the highest foundation one could reach should be 100% but practically, it was proven impossible. 99% is the termed as the limit of a human body and one cannot proceed further without evolving into a higher lifeform, even if they find a way and try to achieve 100% their body would likely not be able to hold up and break, the best result would be that the practitioner gets crippled while the worst meant death.
'If my hypothesis is correct the reason practitioners couldn't reach 100% is not just because of the body's limits but also the soul and mental strength. The Devil Sovereign had mentioned in his records, once a human's mind, soul and body synchronize and comes in harmony then one can gain full control over themselves, I don't know if it's correct or not but one thing I'm sure of is there should be a way in removing the inbuilt limiters at 99%.
I won't advance to the next stage until I make sure that there is really no way to reach that point. In this life, I don't have any enemy, instead of dog eats dog world there is a system here that keeps people safe and I have a lot of lifespan to slowly cultivate so there is no need to hurry,' Kale thought.
Kale checked the time then went to sleep.
***
Next day...
Kale stepped out of the room, he was wearing his mask and knife holding belt under his black jacket.
Arlo too stepped out following after him. Kale turned and looked at the Arlo who was now covering his face behind a silver metallic mask like him.
"Are masks that common in the academy?" Kale asked in confusion.
"Who knows I haven't familiarized myself in the academy yet, that aside don't forget what you promised me, don't use my real name in the arena, it becomes annoying when my clan's name is revealed, nickname saves a lot of efforts," Arlo reminded.
"Whatever, what was it again... Razor right? The same goes for you," Kale said while making his way to the stairs.
***
Imperial Battle Arena...
The battle arena of the academy is without a doubt one of the most popular and crowded places to visit.
Its outer appearance is like a grand stadium but its size was bigger than any sports stadium one would usually see in the city, several stages of different sizes were present inside the stadium, some were for a simple duel, some were for tag battles and even team battles.
The battle arena was a place where students can not only put their abilities to test and sharpen their skills but can also make CP while doing that.
One doesn't actually need to personally fight in the arena, just betting on the ones fighting was also allowed, of course, students were only allowed to use CP and the things they had bought using CP but not money.
Kale entered the arena with Arlo.
Most of the battle stages were in use, students were crowded around them, some were cheering them, others were betting while the rest were just here to observe them in action and learn from it.
"You sure this place is better for making CP than hunting in the forest?" Kale asked while moving towards the Control Office inside the arena.
"Yeah, you can trust me on this. We are normal mortals no matter how strong we have trained we cannot enter deeper than 2 miles in the forest or we won't survive unless we are extremely lucky, especially when we are just two.
Compared to that, no matter who I challenge in the arena the bet stacks will be higher than on my opponent's side because it's my first time here, you just have to bet on me and you can make free money," Arlo said in a firm tone.
Kale shook his head "You seem to misunderstand something, I didn't come here to bet on you but fight in person,"
'It is an opportunity to get my body used to real combat,' Kale thought.
Arlo raised his eyebrow then just shrugged his shoulders. When he had seen Kale for the first time, from his body built Arlo predicted that he was a Martial Artist so it won't be usual for him to train in some type of martial arts since the beginning so fighting in an arena wasn't that unusual but after knowing that Kale was going on Mutant Mage path he wasn't so sure.
Although mutant possesses supernatural abilities but they are weak in the beginning, he as a mutant himself clearly knew it.
He was also a martial artist that's why he had a chance in winning against other students who possessed low combat capabilities. Especially mages, as they have almost the same physique as a mortal even after their advancement, unlike them, mutants at least uses body strengthening drugs to increase their physical status but mages instead use their resources in learning new spells, buying tools to reduce mana consumptions, and the likes.
Kale came to the counter at Control Office, a middle-aged man was managing the counter, there wasn't much need for words, Kale took out his ID card and swiped it at the machine on the side.
"Requirements?" The middle-aged man asked in a hoarse voice.
"Weapons are not allowed, their Level shouldn't be higher than 15," Kale said.
"Hmm... You will get notified when your match is found," The old man said, during the whole conversation he didn't even bother to lift his head and look at Kale.
The academy respected student's privacy to the limit, that's why when Kale encrypted his profile, others could only see what he wanted to show, the old man at the counter was no exception.
Arlo too registered his name for a duel just after Kale, then they went to watch the other's duel until they find their match.
The stage they approached was a duel type, a female Mage and a bulky Martial Artist were about to start their duel.
The large screen on the other side of the stage lit up showing the details of the two contenders.
[Name: Raizo
Class: Martial Artist
Type: Flame Martial Artist(Expert)
Level: 23]
VS
[Name: Sara
Class: Mage
Type: Ice Mage(Professional), Water Mage(Professional)
Level: 21]
[The betting stacks are 1:2]
[Duel starts in the 30s]
The level of the practitioner is based on their lifeform but it doesn't represent their achievements in their class. Depending on the practitioner's understanding and mastery, every class is graded into three parts, starting from Rookie then Professional, and in the end Expert.
Rookie >> Professional >> Expert.
Once someone reaches the peak of a class then can either continue studying to advance it or can learn another class that supplements it.
"I have heard about both of them, they are our seniors, both of them are the geniuses of their own batch. Raizo is an expert in Flame Martial Artist class and advanced to Elemental Mortal stage earlier than his peers, he had earned a lot of fame and known as Close-Range Combat King by many people.
On the other hand is Sara, she is known as the Ice beauty of our academy, a genius Ice Mage with a cold temperament that suits her. After she just advanced to the Elemental Mortal stage, she had started cultivating the Water Mage subclass and by now she has became a Professional in both Water Mage and Ice Mage subclass, rumors has it that she intends to fuse both these classes in the future to unlock the Glacier Mage subclass," Arlo explained when he saw Kale intently observing both of the participants.
Knowledge and cultivation technique alone cannot make a practitioner advance their class, it depends on themselves if they succeed or not, for example, if Sara thoroughly comprehends both Ice Mage and Water Mage subclass and manages to merge their essence then she will be able to step foot into Glacier Mage class.
Kale nodded, he thought 'Although I know that humans here are not normal it still surprises me, that this martial artist boy's body has grown as big and sturdy as an adult when I am pretty sure that his level is far below a Martial Grandmaster.
The girl on the other hand looks normal but gives a mature charm, it feels like although her body didn't grow like him but she is mentally matured, the spells used by a mage are overly complex for a normal child, but for those who learn and practice them, it will likely make them a little quick-witted,'