Mr Lu slammed his fist on his wooden desk. "Me taking you to that place would only be madness."
"I won't tell anybody." Reith countered but the teacher was unrelenting.
"I should take you to an Alliance meeting? Such audacity!" Lu scoffed, spinning his chair to turn his back to him. "Do you even understand what you are asking for, kid?"
Reith didn't flinch. "Sir, the best way I can learn about beasts and the world beyond this classroom is through experience. And do you not need more students in your class?"
His calm poker face annoyed Lu the more.
The teacher paused, narrowing his eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Reith shrugged, "The rumors before I stepped into your class says that you can't train a student but I believe if you take me with you, then you can prove them wrong."
He said, a light smile on his lips.
Mr. Lu stared at him with a straight gaze, before his frown deepened. "Those rumors are wrong."
"We can't know that Sir." Reith answered, his slight smirk pushing further.
Lu stared down at the boy and the playful smile he had on his face. "So why are you here?"
"A feeling." Reith answered, smiling back at the man. "I'm also looking for cultivation techniques to match my path, Sir. I think I might find some clue in the Alliance, or at least the ones that are less expensive."
Lu stared a moment longer, his frown deepening. Then, with a grunt, he pushed himself to his feet. "Follow me, kid." He demanded and walked out of the classroom.
Pumping his fist in the air, Reith went after the man.
'I hope I can also find a job there,' Reith thought as he walked, "would be nice working as an adventurer too. Maybe I can find some clues to locating Reisa.'
He glanced at the balance on his account through his Ralaxy Watch, he would be able to afford some fighting equipment.
Turning his cultivation path into a different weapon always drained him of almost every drop of his Hana, so he had to find another way of fighting.
"Hurry up Kid." Lu said, standing in front of a large door.
Then he pointed to a bench beside the door and understanding his meaning, Reith took his seat while the man went through the door.
Few moments later, Lu came from the door and looked at his student.
He hadn't expected that such an idea would work so it means he could take the kid and still go for his Alliance meeting and even better, the trainings.
"Meet me outside the gates tomorrow by 6am, I don't want to hear excuses."
It was one sentence but it made Reith's heart leap.
With a short bow, he left the man and dashed away.
———
Every student had to complete four main classes before they got ready and fit enough for the final selection.
For Reith, one of those was the 'Core Strengthening' class.
He stood by the window of the class, silently watching.
He remembered the last time he had stepped through the door which was a week ago.
The teacher, Mr. Gong had chased him out with clear words, "Don't step in here until you get your cultivation technique."
Reith sighed. "So that's my next goal."
But sulking wasn't going to get him anywhere.
"They are having some sort of test, huh…" He muttered, he couldn't take the test so he would have to find something useful to do.
Reith moved from the windows, "Time to work on my meridian lines." He said, heading towards the cultivation room.
Reith had found it two days ago and somehow it had become his favourite sanctuary in this school.
But there was one downside.
"Do we have to pay for everything in this school?" Reith grumbled as he swiped his card on the card reader at the side of the sliding doors.
'Another debit and I'm getting poorer'
Reith sighed and moved into the space.
The cultivation room was a medium-sized chamber with polished wooden floors and faint golden lines pulsing across the walls. The hum of spiritual energy filled the air.
Everyone was in their various classes and although he didn't have enough money to get a cultivation technique, he wasn't going to waste his time sobbing about it.
Once he built his strength, he would be able to sell his value and find a way to get paid.
Reith sat cross-legged on the flow and he closed his eyes.
His senses touched his meridian veins and he marveled at the way they looked.
"They are beautiful." Reith whispered.
Each of the twelve meridians had a beautiful golden glow and they looked bigger, thicker , and stronger than when he had first seen them.
He felt like if he decided to push further on his meridian development, it would cause each vein to explode.
"Now that my meridians are well built, I should focus on my physical strength to help withstand the core pressure." Reith said.
Then he took a look at his forearms, and his limbs. "Way too skinny... Tch." He frowned.
Remembering the lessons taught by Ruach, Reith got down on his limbs and straightened his back, trying to maintain a plank position.
"60 secs of this. But Mr. Dong said the secret was pushing past my limits. Three minutes it is."
Three minutes passed and Reith couldn't feel his limbs anymore.
He collapsed on the floor breathing heavily.
It was a good thing the classes were not over here as he didn't want anyone to see him.
After catching his breath, Reith didn't waste any more time and moved to his next set of exercises.
The door creaked when a group of students pushed it open, their chatter filling the room but Reith couldn't hear them.
Along the line, he had placed a pair of earbuds into his ears to give himself to his workout.
"What's that guy doing over there?" Someone whispered and the group stopped in the center of the room.
Reith's eyes was closed, his clothes damp with sweat, and his arms flexed as he went through his push-up.
There was no Hana flow around him or a sense of spiritual energy.
"Shouldn't he be cultivating? We come here to gather energy and he's acting like the place is some gym." Someone scoffed, and then he took out his phone. "I wonder what others would think about this." He chuckled lightly until someone snatched his phone.
"Hey Terra, what you doing!" The boy frowned.
Terra placed her arms on her hips as she stared down at him. "There's no rule stating no one shouldn't exercise here, and I know by heart every rule in the school and he isn't breaking any, so let him be." She snapped at him, stretching his phone back to him.
The boy rolled his eyes after taking his phone, but there was no way he could go against Terra. Her boyfriend was known to be the strongest in the school.
Terra glanced at Reith, "Good luck." She whispered, before turning towards one of the corners in the room. She needed to work on her cultivation too.
Reith didn't hear her, he was too invested in his training.
Tomorrow everything would change.
_____
High above, in the shadows of the room's beams, a pair of eyes watched Reith closely.
"Still without a core." The shadow flickered for a moment, "We have to wait a moment more."
As soon as Reith got to his feet, the presence faded into the darkness.