Zeras sat, eyes closed in deep meditation.
With time, his breath became so slow it was as if he wasn't even breathing anymore.
This was the first step towards cultivation: entering into a focused, yet relaxed state.
The second step was trying to delve into his own body.
His brows knitted as he tried delving deeper into himself, placing all attention on the area just below his navel, the place where his Mana core was supposed to be present.
Two hours quickly went by, but he never noticed the time passing, as he continued trying to sense the ball ought to be present in his navel.
Another hour quickly went by in quiet, focused meditation before all of a sudden, his consciousness was pulled somewhere.
The world darkened at first, then it lit up, and he found before him a dull-looking ball about the size of a football.
The area around the place was fairly large but completely dark, with only the ball present in the middle.
He slowly moved his consciousness towards the ball, then slammed his consciousness against it.
A violent ringing explosion echoed in his head, blood quietly flowing out of his ear, but he remained oblivious.
He slammed on the ball for the second time, making more blood ooze out.
He continued, repeatedly slamming on the ball, that at one time, he completely forgot how long he had been slamming, but soon enough, a small crack quickly appeared.
Seeing the small crack, Zeras felt even more invigorated as he repeatedly slammed on the ball until the crack widened into a hole.
The second the hole appeared, a terrifying outburst of energy rushed out, blowing his consciousness away.
His eyes opened to reality, seeing the ground beneath him covered in blood.
A notification panel flashed
[Energy: 0/65]
[HP:3/100]
[Host health point has been reduced to a threatening level and will now be forced into a temporary slumber.]
Zeras immediately fell like a broken twig, falling into a deep slumber.
This prevented him from witnessing the transformation that took place right after.
The hole in his Mana core continued to open up wider, releasing a powerful suction force that dragged the mana in the room towards his navel.
But it wasn't enough.
The absorption force grew, bursting open the door and sucking out the entirety of the Mana in the spaceship towards Zeras.
-- -- --
In a large training room...
Commander Shiron sat there slowly breathing in and out while a small physical whirlpool of green energy circled mysteriously around him.
His eyes suddenly snapped open, glowing with a ghostly green light, and he looked in a particular direction.
Bypassing about 7 walls, they locked right on Zera's slumbering figure.
The sight of him made Shiron's face morph in quiet disbelief.
"He is already awakening his core, and even invoking such a phenomenon." He mused with awe in his eyes, continuing,
"He really might possess some bit of talent after all, although he did it quite recklessly."
"Then I'll help him out...just this once."
He clicked on his watch and ordered
"Release all Mana reserve in the Spaceship."
The Mana reservoir in the spaceship was immediately released, and all were sucked towards Zera's direction, the southern side of the spaceship.
-- -- --
In the northern area of the spaceship...
"Activating Training level 7."
A monotonic AI voice echoed out in the completely white training hall as holes opened on the ground and around the walls.
From the opened holes in the ground, humanoid combat robots emerged.
They stood about 2 meters in height, red dots from their eyes concentrated on the one standing in the center of the room.
At the far end of the hall, a girl of about 16 stood there, her long white hair gently blowing behind her.
Her green eyes held a calm focus, a large green-colored, advanced technological bow in her hand.
Three robots immediately dashed towards her with speed, and sharp nail-like objects shot through the air from the opened holes in the walls.
Gaia immediately disappeared from where she stood, easily weaving amongst the projectiles.
She was neither too slow nor too quick to avoid the projectiles when they were exactly 10 inches away from her.
Her running was akin to dancing with well-coordinated footsteps, and she immediately nocked an arrow and fired it toward the robot, which raised its hand to swat the arrow away.
Gaia's eyes suddenly glowed a green color, and a green wave of energy emanated from the arrow, causing its speed to suddenly double.
The robot was taken off guard, and the arrow slipped between its fingers, nailing it on its forehead.
It fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"Two more,"
Gaia whispered, flickering among the projectiles.
A thruster appeared beneath the feet of one of the robots, propelling it forward with speed, and its hand suddenly morphed into a sharp blade.
SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIING
The air was cut in two as the blade slashed towards Gaia's neck.
She immediately placed her bow vertically, blocking the blade, and used the other side of it to wrap around the robot's arm.
Pulling downward, it fell to its knees, and a leg slammed onto its metallic head.
Gaia used the force to propel herself backward, knocking two arrows into her bow mid-air, then fired.
A green wave of energy emanated from the arrows, and one pierced into the kneeling robot's head, ending it.
The other moved towards the last robot, running towards her.
It also reached for its forehead, but all of a sudden, a powerful wave of air entered the room, diverting the accuracy of the arrow.
It nailed into the robot's eyes, instead of its forehead.
"You have passed with a Very Good score, just a point short of excellent."
The AI voice echoed into the room, but Gaia's furrowed in slight annoyance.
It was that sudden air that had stopped her from reaching her excellent goal, wasting her efforts.
Besides, she quickly noticed that the mana in the air suddenly began to decrease.
"Is that bumpkin just starting to break through to the Star rank stage?"
She muttered quietly, a bit surprised that a simple Mana awakening could cause this much disturbance.
Annoyed as she was, a little spark of curiosity lit in her eyes, making her wonder just what this 'bumpkin' was capable of.