Morning came, and Reith's body felt like it was on fire. His night had been awful, and he hadn't slept long.
"I must have overdid it." He grumbled, putting his arm on his face.
Groggily, he stood up from his bed and sat on the floor.
"Am I even doing it right?" Reith yawned through his words.
Last night, Ruach had taught him a way to channel hana through his meridians. It was still 4 a.m., so he wanted to try something at least before rushing off for the expedition hunt.
'Visualize the hana lines. It will be easier for you since you have seen them before.' Reith recalled Ruach's instructions and took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
There, he pictured the lines, flowing around the room. These lines looked less white than the ones in his city. They almost had a shade of blue.
In his current state, Reith used his mental energy to get a feel of one of the hana lines, and he realized it was a lot purer.
"First step achieved." Reith smiled at his success and soon enough, he mentally called onto the hana lines.
He pictured them entering his body, going through the pores of his skin, and moving along the pathway of his meridians.
Ruach had explained certain things to him.
Due to the immense power of the Heavenly Path, he had forcefully entered the Core Realm without a Meridian Core.
"No one at my age should be in Core Realm now. It's like a cheat, but now I have more work." Reith sighed.
Being forcefully pushed into the Initiate stage meant he had the same power level as anyone in that stage, but the difference was that he lacked a meridian core.
He couldn't form a core at once. He still needed to strengthen his meridian lines.
Reith exhaled again. He was moving the hana through his meridians, increasing the force and pressure by which it flowed.
"If I follow the movement of hana in my body, I should be able to get familiar with the inside of my meridian lines." Reith thought.
He wanted the spaces wider so hana could flow with ease, but not too wide to avoid the inflow of impurities.
Time passed, and Reith maintained his single position. After two hours, he opened his eyes.
"I still have a long way to go, but right now… there's other work at hand." Reith nodded.
He freshened up and found his way to the edge of the courtyard.
Seeing the empty space, he facepalmed hard.
"Even the teacher isn't around." Reith groaned, looking at his watch. It was minutes to seven a.m., and he was very disappointed until he heard someone's voice.
"Hey! How are you doing?" The person called in a chirpy voice, causing Reith to turn back.
"You!" Reith exclaimed.
Derek's brother smiled in response. "I apologize for not introducing myself the other day. My name is Adrien. Yes, I'm here because I'll be one of your instructors for this excursion." Adrien beamed. He was glad to see Reith doing well, thanks to his healing pill.
"Nice to meet you, Adrien. But where are the others?" Reith asked, looking around. There was still no sign of anyone.
"Ah yes. The meetup location was changed. In fact, your friend told me to check on you. He was sure you wouldn't see the message."
Reith was speechless but grateful for a friend like Isho.
With a nod, they went to meet the others.
There was a large bus, and soon enough, everyone was packed inside. The engine started.
The bus drove through the public area until it reached a place where no humans were walking around anymore. It stopped in front of a large iron gate.
Ms. Susan immediately ordered everyone to step out while she spoke to the security guards.
"I knew you'd forget." Isho elbowed Reith, but the poor guy didn't say anything. Missing the message wasn't his fault. He had been tired all through last night.
The large black iron gates were pushed open, and the bus moved through.
Reith couldn't help but wonder why they had to pass such a secluded area, but his excitement was enough to make his worry fade.
"Welcome everyone." Susan addressed her students. Beside her was a man and a woman who seemed like she would rather be anywhere else but here.
"Standing with me are your instructors. You'll be scored mostly based on your conduct, bravery, and everything that makes a true hero. We have high hopes for you." Susan said, stepping back and allowing the other woman to step in.
"My name? Breece."
It was short, straightforward, and cold, but Reith wasn't focused on that. His eyes went to the stack of papers under Breece's arms, and his mood dropped.
He had initially thought the trip would be all fun, but now they had to do schoolwork.
Reith was right. A sheet of paper was handed down to everyone, and they were told to simply make a bingo.
"Collect things on the paper? And make a bingo?" It sounded weird.
Ignoring the murmurs and confused whispers, the next instructor stepped forward.
"I'll be grouping each of you right now. Behind your bingo chart are the points for each thing you find." Aiden said, then held up a strange watch-like device.
"These are pristine Ralaxy watches. You can place new items that are not part of your bingo in front of it to know their properties and, of course, point value." Aiden said with a puffed-up chest.
He had built the blueprint for the design and couldn't wait to see it work perfectly.
After everything was sorted out, all students got to their selected groups.
Finding his group, Reith glared at Aiden, who simply shrugged.
It was a group with Derek, the golden-eyed boy, and two of his other followers.
It was a bad start for Reith, especially when no one would see whatever happened in the forest.
Derek turned to Reith. Although his suppressed anger was clear, he refused to say anything to him.
After the groupings were assigned, the students came down from the bus and realized they were in the middle of a thick forest with their shoes sinking into the mud.
Reith shoved aside a curtain of branches, trying to look beyond their current location, but was only met with more trees, long bushes, and the thick stench of something rotten.
"Isn't this place dangerous?" He subconsciously asked, causing the other students to murmur and whisper too.
Susan looked at the instructors, unsure of what to say, and the atmosphere grew tense.
Then Breece stepped up.
"The academy has checked everything around the forest, ensuring that it's safe for students who haven't learned to form their mana cores. There are no beasts. All man-eating beasts have been driven back, and nothing bad would happen as planned." Breece looked directly at every one of them, meeting their gazes, before she continued, "The instructors would stand also."
Reith raised a brow but didn't speak.
In his early childhood, he had learned countless times that things never worked according to plan.
That was how the world worked, and even worse for those with fewer privileges, like Isho.
However, there was something new.
Reith turned his face away from them.
In the darkness of this world, he had learned to see where light truly lived. And it was never at the end of any tunnel.
Now that he was grouped with a bully stronger than him, Reith knew this expedition would be tasking.
But his growth would only show if he came out standing.
That was his mission.
To always come out standing, no matter his adversary.