It had been two days since he fully recovered, and now someone was banging furiously on his door.

"Hold on Isho, I'm on my way," Reith grumbled as he pulled his clothes over his body.

He had tried to avoid being seen by people yesterday, but it was futile.

After all, the big Alliance incident happened a week ago, and from what the nurses had said, the regional central had already lost quite a few gems.

"Everyone must have heard about it," Reith had said to himself when he entered his room.

The first thing he did was collapse. He had a lot of questions about his cultivation growth and the way he needed to rely on pure Hana.

Although he had gotten some techniques, he still wanted an attack-based technique.

The bang on the door came again, and Reith let out a sigh.

He tightened his belt on his trousers and looked in the mirror.

Today, he would make his appearance in class after eight days.

Was he excited?

"I don't think a lot would change," Reith smiled at his reflection, then he took his bag and went out of the room.

Isho stood for a moment before wrapping him in a thick bear hug.

"I was worried," he said after a while.

Reith awkwardly chuckled. "It wasn't my fault," he said, before pausing.

Isho moved back and frowned. "I don't know what to say, but I think you have the craziest luck. Are some people secretly after you? Is it a curse?" He harrumphed, glaring at the person he called his friend.

"Hey! What do you mean by curse? It's really not my doing. Things just happened." Reith looked away, attempting to whistle his way out of questions.

After being subjected to Isho's judgy stare, he finally succumbed.

"Okay, maybe I shouldn't have gone to the Alliance, but I was trying to find cheaper techniques. Everything in the Golden Archives was so expensive," Reith complained.

Isho's gaze softened, but he rolled his eyes. "You could have told me and I could at least spare you some money. There's so much that I don't have need for."

"I thought your family..."

"Yes, my family despises me, but I have my mom and she's stellar. It wouldn't be a problem, and it would have been a lot easier than you putting yourself in a coma," Isho snapped, causing Reith to shudder.

They walked through the hall of their dormitory, and Reith strangely found it quiet.

"Where's everyone? I don't think it's time for classes yet," he said, taking a glance at his PhoneI 11.

"Oh yeah..." Isho skipped to the front and walked backwards, facing Reith.

"There's a little competition going on. Teacher Susan informed us that the test was just to assess our new abilities, especially since everyone had forgotten their techniques," Isho explained.

"Everyone?" Reith was taken aback. "Every single one in class has learnt a technique?"

When Isho saw the somber look on Reith's face, he slowly came to walk by his friend's side.

"All the teachers were quickened by the Regional Insignia, and most of our lectures were merged into our core building classes," Isho slowly explained.

Although Reith was a bit downcast, he didn't let the situation get to him. At least it wasn't his fault for getting involved in such an accident.

But it was a bit worrisome to think that everyone could afford a cultivation technique except him.

Were these people that rich? He let out a defeated sigh.

"The Regional Insignia ordered it? Were you all told why?" Reith said when they stepped out of the dormitory.

"Not really. But everything was sorted out in a week, and a huge number of us could manifest our cores, so Mr. Gong did a collective class teaching us how to access our techniques."

"Ingraining the techniques into the core, right? But that man wouldn't teach me until I found a technique," Reith lamented.

"Really? Some people didn't have techniques, but they were still allowed into the class. I think it was due to the Regional Insignia's prompting," Isho slightly smiled.

They walked a while before they came to a huge field.

The field was wide with a stone track running around it, and the low grass captured the wind, swaying beautifully under the golden haze of the sun.

Reith breathed in the fresh air.

"It's only natural that there would be an urgency. Because of a first-hand experience, I was able to realise how weak I am, especially facing those brutal monsters," he said, sighing deeply. But there was no point thinking about past failure except when he intended to learn from it.

Isho gave Reith a pat on the back. "I still think you are the strongest person I know," he said with an honest tone.

Reith smiled.

They both looked ahead and saw the gathering of students. From the bright lights flashing out in the center, it seemed like the group had already started.

"I thought you said you all were still in the process of accessing your techniques," Reith exclaimed.

Isho nodded. "I'm still in the process of accessing mine, but it seems some people were able to achieve ingraining their first technique."

Reith didn't say a word. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the student in the middle.

There was a glowing ball of fire in the teenager's right hand.

At first, it was a small size, then it instantly increased, raging wildly and moving the air with immense force.

"Everyone move back!" Susan called out when she also saw the magnitude of this technique.

This was pure destruction.

"Is this your technique?" Susan asked her student. Her expression showed that she was totally unafraid.

This person shook his head, and just when they all thought it was over, the ball of fire began to shrink in his hand.

It shrunk slowly until it was the size of a bullet.

"I'm done," the teenager spoke, and Reith's ears perked up. Why was that voice so familiar?

Susan raised a brow at the size of the ball. It was very tiny, and she wondered if it could do any damage at all. "Take a shot at that dummy over there," she pointed to an iron-made puppet at a distance.

With a nod, the teenager let the bullet fly.

It moved at a quick speed, wheezing through the air and implanting itself in the chest of the dummy.

Just when everyone thought things were over, a loud boom resounded, and the dummy went out in a miniature mushroom of flames.

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