All around the slum, hooded figures moved stealthily, trying their best to sniff out Cole's location.
They searched, asked, and broke into multiple buildings, but they couldn't seem to find him.
The Cole they were all profusely searching for was actually still sitting peacefully in his room.
****In Cole's room****
Cole sat in a lotus position on his bed, the Empty Codex silently floating behind him.
He dove into his memories, studying the World Absorbing Mantra for a sufficient amount of time.
After about 10 minutes of studying, Cole finally felt confident enough to try it.
"The world shall be absorbed."
"The heavens shall be understood."
"The secret of the earth will be exposed."
"Under the gaze of the Codex."
The moment this mantra was being chanted, the world seemed to awaken as a large amount of life energy headed straight for Cole's body like a moth drawn to a flame.
His life-energy-starved body didn't reject it at all but accepted it eagerly without any discomfort.
Cole continued to chant happily as his body kept on being invigorated by the life energy.
"Ummmmm," he unknowingly let out a soft moan.
He kept on absorbing ravenously, with no end in sight.
Life energy is the power source for those who use their innate spirit, the body acting like the battery that keeps them all.
The more life energy absorbed by the body, the closer the body gets to the soul, strengthening the Spiriter.
"Spiriters" is the general name given to those who actively use their innate spirit.
The poor conditions of the slums quickly exposed themselves, as after about thirty minutes of absorbing, Cole had to stop.
"Haa, what's wrong? Why did it stop?"
He tried to continue chanting the mantra internally, but he received no response. No inkling of life energy in the air anymore.
"Did I just absorb it all?" He wondered.
"So soon."
It seems like I would have to wait.
****Mr Evans's room****
The sleeping Mr. Evans was jolted awake as he bolted towards a corner of his room, his face completely combat ready.
"Why did all of the life energy suddenly disappear?"
"Is something wrong?"
His eyes still vigilantly darting across the room, he stood there for a while, but he soon relaxed as he felt there wasn't any danger nearby.
"Don't tell me Cole did this?" He said as he turned his eyes towards Cole's room.
"How could Cole possibly have caused this?" Mr. Evans asked himself.
"Isn't he supposed to lack an innate spirit?" He continued to ask with confusion written all over his face.
"I really need to pay attention to that kid."
"There's something special about him," he said vigilantly.
****Back in Cole's room****
"How long will it take for the life energy to return?" Cole lamented as he kept his lotus position.
He waited there in that position for a while, but he was disappointed as he still felt no life energy.
"Grrrhhhhhh!" His stomach grumbling seemed to bring him back to reality, making him remember he hasn't had a meal today.
"Time to get something to eat," he said as he stood up on his feet.
He moved towards a corner of his room where a tiny box quietly stood. He opened the box to see the shattered Federation notes that were left in there.
"I really need to get some tiny jobs and restock my funds," he said as he picked up some of the notes.
He was about to leave his room when he looked down at himself, seeing the extremely dirty clothes of the past week still on him.
He hurriedly changed and moved out of the room to go get some food.
On exiting the building, Cole was immediately alerted by the ominous-looking cloaked figure moving all about.
All the surrounding people kept stealing glances at them, but they kept on with their business.
Cole immediately realized what they were there for and instantly and skillfully moved to hide.
He tried his best not to alert them as he navigated through the slum as quietly as he could.
This didn't seem to be too hard for Cole, as he has lived all of his life here as an orphan.
Unnoticed, he finally arrived at where he was about to get his food; he quickly spoke his order, and the very familiar old lady began serving his food as he ordered.
He kept his head low while he was waiting for his food, but suddenly, "Gbaammm!" Cole heard it not too far away from him.
One of the hooded figures was aggressively hitting a woman who refused to have her shop searched.
Looking at this scene, Cole's face immediately scrunched up, and his hands tightened, ready to rush towards them.
The moment he was about to sprint towards them,
"Here's your food," he suddenly heard.
This interruption prevented Cole from making a very costly mistake. He quickly thanked the old lady and paid for his meal as he urgently left the place and headed home.
****Cole's room****
Cole finally returned to his room after about 30 minutes, but his current state was completely different from how he left.
His eyes were almost completely bloodshot, and his hands were tightened so much his nails were digging into his palm.
"Those bastards, after all they did,"
"They still won't leave me alone."
"And that woman, how could they beat her up like that?" He said out loud,
Thoughts like that kept popping into his head, making him increasingly annoyed as he stood there shaking in his room.
"They really need to pay for this; they must pay; they must," he decided in his head.
He suddenly regretted leaving the scene earlier, and he began marching back towards the door, preparing to go to the people again.
He opened his door, ready to go have his revenge, ignoring the fact that he just escaped.
He was stopped in his tracks by the figure standing by his door.
"Who are you?" Cole barked out as his bloodshot eyes stared at the figure in front of him.