Soul Energy

The royal school of combat.

The crown jewel of Elyandra.

It was impressive.

The entire school covered a large part of the capital but for some reason, it's exact location however was only known to high ranking officials, and its entrance, to second to fourth year students.

How the school was able to make this happen was something only they knew, but this much was to be expected from the powerhouse kingdom that is Elyandra.

Since there would be no classes for the next three days, and he wasn't allowed to leave the school, Damian thought it best to use this opportunity to attend to pressing matters.

He walked through the hallways wearing the black and dark green uniform of the academy as no student was allowed to be on school grounds without it. There was a single star on the left chest area to indicate that he was a first year.

There were many students walking around or sitting on benches in the courtyard discussing with each other. Most of them had a single star on their uniforms indicating they were first year students who likely just wanted to familiarize themselves with their new surroundings.

The students looked at him as he passed with curious gazes.

Damian had not appeared in public for over five years so very few people, people he most likely would not see here, knew what he looked like now.

So why was he receiving so much attention?

That would be because of the red armband around his right bicep. An indication that he was an Exceptional.

One of the five students to enter the school without going through the grueling entrance exams.

It was common knowledge that Exceptionals were more powerful that their peers, so just how powerful was this person before them?

Damian ignored the stares and just walked with a destination in mind.

He fidgeted with the bracelet to make sure he was going the right way. His rank displayed first, it was 220.

During the exercise yesterday, 126 first year students were eliminated!

That was an incredibly high number, but from the fact that it wasn't addressed since then, it must mean that this was within the expected parameters.

It was clear that only monsters could survive in this establishment.

There would probably be less than 100 students left at the end of the first year!

Damian walked for about 45 minutes and had to take a carriage too before he finally got to his destination. He had made it to the academy's marketplace, created for students' comfort.

It was both quiet and sophisticated, nothing like the marketplace he had seen when he entered Elyandra.

There was nothing that could not be found in this area that covered over three acres.

Damian calmly walked into a large building. The lavish exterior already gave one an idea at least of what the inside could look like, but imagination did no justice to the real thing.

High ceilings, hundreds of scrolls neatly arranged in giant glass displays, multiple guards at every corner for security, and even well trained salesmen attending to the few customers littered here and there.

But of course, extravagance of this degree was a sight that came as no surprise to Damian.

"Welcome, young master," a salesman greeted with a bow, "My name is Laurel, and I will be your attendant today."

Damian nodded at him and Laurel continued, "Would you like a private room or would you like to browse these available options?" Laurel gestured at the scrolls all around them.

Damian shook his head and Laurel led him into an inner room. It was small but it was even more extravagant than the store.

A chair made from red gold and expensive leather, and a table no less expensive then the chair sat in the room.

Damian made himself comfortable and was offered wine which he refused.

Laurel stepped out for a bit and returned with five scrolls he then placed on the table. Damian looked at each of them. He didn't know exactly what these scrambling he was looking at were, but he could feel a pressure he could not describe just by reading them and he knew their purpose.

These were meditation techniques.

Unlike other races, humans lacked the ability to control mana.

A limitation that almost drove humanity to extinction under their oppressive rule.

It took millenniums, but finally, someone found a way to even the playing field. Their name might've been forgotten by history, but their achievement made humanity what it was today.

So while the other races had mana, humanity had soul energy.

Since the soul was the closest spiritual medium humans had to access any sort of power beyond physical limits, this was the only route to take. Training the soul required complex meditation techniques that humans had spent centuries perfecting.

In the beginning, these techniques were free for all, but as time went on, they began to be hidden behind a price wall.

Damian glanced at the price tag of the scroll in his hand that would make any average individual drop dead in shock.

Five hundred thousand gold coins.

To put it in perspective, the average person only earned fifty gold coins per year! And that was only if they worked hard enough.

Even the scrolls out in the store were easily in the thousands, with the cheapest being ten thousand gold coins.

Not just anyone could afford these so except you had significant backing or inherited a meditation technique, it was almost impossible for a commoner to be able to use soul energy.

There were ten levels of proficiency over soul energy, ranging from a rank one warrior to rank ten. Usually most first year students in the academy were at rank one, or, the very few who were the cream of the crop, would be at peak rank one or the early stages of rank two.

Damian, however, had yet to start using soul energy.

Why? Well that was a bit complicated.

It wasn't that he didn't have the resources to acquire meditation techniques, he was one of, if not the richest person in Elyandra after all. And that was just using his own personal wealth to measure his standing.

The problem was that Jack had only concentrated on teaching him combat techniques rather than guiding him through meditation.

Using meditation techniques wasn't as simple as acquiring them and making use of it. If you were to use a meditation technique that didn't resonate with your soul, you could damage your potential for life!

You would be even lucky to move past rank one.

Changing your meditation technique may help you but the damage would already be done.

Thankfully this was a problem that was more common in cheaper meditation techniques. This was why Jack had advised him to not be afraid to splurge on this expense when he got to the academy.

"Bring me your most expensive one," Damian requested as he tossed the scroll back on the table.

Laurel's eyes shone in excitement as he bowed before leaving to carry out the order. He earned a ten percent commission from each sale, eight after taxes from the establishment, but if this person really bought the most expensive technique here then he could practically retire!

He could already smell the money.

Damian waited a while before Laurel returned with a single scroll. Damian didn't bother to open it—not like he would understand the complex nature of it anyway—but just glanced at the price tag.

Three million gold coins.

'That's expensive.'

Even to the heir of the house of Greythorne, that was a significant amount to spend just on a meditation technique. He could buy a small town for that amount!

But anything worth doing, was worth doing well.

"Send the bill to the house of Greythorne, under the name of Damian Greythorne," Damian said as he silently decided to purchase it.

"Damian Greythorne?" Laurel was confused at first, but his confusion soon turned to bewilderment.

He was in the same room with the infamous Damian Greythorne?!

This enterprise could only be used by students in the royal school of combat or their staff. They did have branches outside, but this one was strictly for them.

It wasn't uncommon to meet high ranking nobles in this line of work, but to meet a Greythorne? Now that was something else entirely.

'No wonder he could comfortably ask for our most expensive item.'

Due to every nation trying to gain the favor of Darius, the house of Greythorne had riches that was rumored to be able to rival Elyandra's treasury!

At first Laurel had thought this must be a representative of a high ranking noble but hearing his name now, he needed to treat the young master with more respect.

"Still with me, Laurel?" Damain's voice knocked him out of his trance.

"Of course, young master," Laurel bowed deeply.

Damian sighed at this sight.

It was the common boot licking he was accustomed to. He had learnt to ignore it.

"I would have to see your official seal, young master, to carry on with the transaction," Laurel added eagerly. All he need to see was the seal to confirm the young master's identity.

Damian pulled out a seal and showed it to Laurel whose smile widened. The seal had a depiction of a man clad in armor and raising a spear.

That man was the mortal god, Luther Greythorne. This was him—this was truly Damian Greythorne, the son of the unrivaled champion!

Laurel felt his heart almost explode with glee.

"Is that enough?" Damian asked as he retracted the seal.

"More than enough, my lord. You should've just only sent a message and we would've brought our finest selections to your room, my lord, the stress of coming to us is beneath you. I apologize," Laurel bowed again.

Damian noticed that Laurel had changed the way he addressed him, but he felt no need to call him out on it. The quicker he left here, the better.

"Carry on with the rest of the process," Damian commanded and Laurel bowed once more before picking up the scroll the former had picked to purchase.

He opened the scroll and began to infuse aura into it. As he did, the words written on the scroll levitated and condensed into a small dark pebble.

"Your hand, my lord," Laurel requested and Damian stretched out his hand.

Laurel placed the pebble on his hand and it sunk into it. Damian winced as he felt something move from his palm and stop at his wrist, creating a tatoo of a star on his skin.

He looked at star and could feel an extra weight in his arm. It was small, insignificant, but he knew it was there.

"If you wish to meditate, you just have to concentrate on it and you should instinctively know what to do next," Laurel explained with another bow.

"Thank you."

Damian left the establishment immediately before any more people knew he was there.

He disliked having to reveal his identity and becoming a subject of so much attention, but there was little he could do if he didn't do that every now and then.

At least his identity wasn't widespread in the academy or that would just make his life harder.

Damian walked through the hallways, finding his way back to his room so he could test the meditation technique. He was excited to finally open a new realm of power, one he had been looking forward to for ages.

"Damian Greythorne!" A voice bellowed.

Everyone in the nearby vicinity, including Damian, turned to see a man stood with a smile on his face.

This was a man that everyone recognized. Even Damian who had missed the orientation knew who this was.

Ian Cornelius Elyandra, third prince of the Kingdom of Elyandra… and dean of the royal school of combat.