Sprint or marathon.

"Maybe coming to Culmen City was a bad choice."

Ace mumbled under his breath.

The sky above Culmen City grew darker as if responding to Ace's negative mood.

After all, ever since he came to Culmen city, He had just been dangling in front of danger. He even almost died on the first day he came here.

The clouds overhead gathered swiftly.

But Ace was too lost in thought to notice the drizzle of rain.

He was contemplating whether to instantly drop out of Culmen Academy after all he had already gotten what he came here for—the key to the extraordinary world—he could already feel his core on his own.

'I could go to a smaller, remote area and explore the road of the extraordinary on my own, without any other bestowed around to disturb me, no other bestowed around to have conflicts with.'

A flurry of rain pattered against Ace, sending a literal chill up his spine as opposed to the metaphorical chill he got when he realized how turbulent his fate was going to be.

Ace walked to the academy in silence, slowly increasing the output of vitality within him to dispel the chill and increase his body temperature.

But his temperature wasn't the only thing that went up, as the increase in vitality within him also increased the positive emotions in his mind and dispelled the negative haze that had accumulated with him.

"No! No! No!"

"Coming to Culmen city wasn't a bad decision."

"How could it?"

"Coming to Culmen city just opened my eyes."

"Opened it to how weak I am."

"Anything that happens is because of how weak I am."

"No matter where I go or how far I run, my weaknesses will always follow"

"I almost died because I was weak."

"The warden's gaze scared me so much because I'm weak."

While Ace was said those words, the clouds overhead filled up with lightning, making the sound of thunder boom through the city.

"If I was strong I wouldn't need to worry about anything"

"If I was strong, who would dare to read my mind"

"Instead of running away like an ant now when things seemed chaotic, It was better to take advantage of the chaos and evolve into a dragon."

"And what place is better to serve as my cocoon than Culmen city?

Although my path to strength is full of pits and stops, I shall endure so I can explore the path of the extraordinary in peace and of my own free will."

Although Ace's words were muffled by the sound of thunder, the world seemed to have heard his words because it sent a massive bolt of lightning down into the academy.

The barriers around the academy lit up in response to this.

Bathed in the afterglow light from the lighting, Ace felt refreshed.

After that last strike of thunder, the world turned peaceful again, soft sunlight broke through the heavy cloud and landed on Ace informing him that the blinding lightning had disappeared.

" The erratic weather of Astreal."

Ace whispered under his breath, At peace with the misfortunes and fortunes that were coming his way, That's not to say he enjoyed misfortune or he was indifferent to misfortune, but he was at peace with it, It was much like crossing a bridge.

Would you cross a bridge, If you knew that bridge had a certain risk of collapsing while you crossed it?

Would you try to find another bridge?

Even if you find a safer bridge, was the time spent worth it?

Would it have been better to take the risk and cross the first bridge?

Ace had decided to take to cross the first bridge.

But there were two main ways of doing so;

The first one way was called sprinting by Ace as it was essentially making a sprint to the other end of the bridge as fast as possible.

And the name of the second way was dubbed 'The Marathon' by Ace.

The goal was to keep a slow speed all the way through, just like a marathon, this method gives you ample time to turn back if the bridge starts to collapse.

In the academy the sprinting method was to show off your excellence as much as possible {i.e., scoring first in school subjects.} so you could gain the academy's support and investment.

Sprinting puts you in the spotlight and makes everyone a potential competitor for school resources.

On the other hand the the marathon method in the academy was to be low–key. To be an inconspicuous star indistinguishable from the others in the galaxy—This method made it easy to withdraw if things go wrong but impossible to progress as quickly.

Ace couldn't take the second option for two reasons.

One, he was a special grade talent—once in a century—He was like the sun compared to other people, so he couldn't blend in.

Two, because it conflicted with his way if life, It was fine to be cowardly and scared in face of danger–that was the privilege of the weak.

But Ace drew the line at the subject of extraordinary powers, If his cowardliness and fear interfered with his exploration of the extraordinary Ace would not be at peace with himself.

Sigh ~ Ace took a deep breath.

His heart was clear on what to do.

Ace arrived at the academy his cloth still damp from the rain that had fell previously.

Ignoring all the other students, Ace went straight to meditation, Sinking into the interior of his core.

A glimmering purple ocean with stormy purple clouds above, lightning streaming out of its cloudy depths from time to time.

"It's my second time here and I still find it so beautiful'

Looking at the miraculous scene Ace's mind felt at peace.

"So what am I supposed to do here?" Ace asked himself within his mind–scape.

"I've already sensed my core so what do I do next?

Hmmm ~ It seems I'll just have to wait till the school semester officially starts to find out."

Ace just did what he felt was natural, He squatted down and dipped his hand into the purple ocean.

Bringing it to his lips, he drank it.