Christian returned to Verdant Edge Public High the next day, his mind still buzzing with everything Kien had told him.
He'd stayed up most of the night studying the cultivation ranks and trying to meditate like the manual described. It was hard—like trying to grab smoke with his bare hands—but something had clicked.
When he woke up, the faint black glow around his wrist was stronger. Thicker. More alive.
And yet, no one else saw it.
"Still pretending you have a core?" Kael's voice cut through the morning fog like a blade. He stood at the gate with his usual group—rich, gifted, and smug. "Maybe you should switch majors to janitorial studies."
Christian brushed past him without a word, but Kael grabbed his shoulder.
"I'm talking to you, trash."
Christian turned slowly, eyes locked on Kael's.
A week ago, he might've stayed silent. But now… something inside him surged—a quiet pressure, heavy and cold, like standing in the eye of a storm.
Kael flinched. Just for a second. But it was enough.
Christian smirked. "You feel that?"
Kael's hand dropped from his shoulder.
"Whatever trick you're using—doesn't change the fact you're ranked Null, Vale."
"Null doesn't mean empty," Christian replied, walking into the building. "Sometimes it means undiscovered."
Inside Class 3-C, students were already buzzing. Holographic boards hovered mid-air, displaying cultivation theory and spirit diagrams. A bored-looking instructor sipped coffee at the front.
Christian took his seat at the back, opened his notes, and tried to focus.
But something was changing.
He could feel energy now—spirit threads, faint and swirling, moving around his fingers when he concentrated. The book's breathing technique was working, slowly awakening his body's connection to energy.
He wasn't just sensing spirit energy anymore.
He was absorbing it.
And he could feel it adapting to him—dark, strange, and heavy… but not evil.
Alive.
Later That Day – Training Grounds
Each student got thirty minutes a week in the open-field cultivator ring, where they could safely test spirit techniques under watch.
Christian stood at the edge of the field, nervous but ready.
He placed his hand over his chest, focusing on the breathing pattern from the manual. Inhale… hold… exhale… feel.
A pulse ran through him.
The black energy flickered again—faint, like smoke coiling around his arms. It didn't form an element or a weapon like others. Not yet.
But it amplified his strength. He could feel it.
He punched forward—crack—and the reinforced dummy he faced shuddered with a dent.
People turned.
Whispers started again.
"He's not Null…"
"Did he just crack a Tier 1 dummy?!"
Kael, standing nearby, narrowed his eyes. He wasn't smiling anymore.
Christian exhaled, calm and centered.
His power wasn't flashy. Not yet.
But it was growing.
Every struggle. Every insult. Every failure.
It fed the evolving core inside him.
And soon… he would rise.