Kyon had two relatively free weeks.All his plans were limited to the ceiling called "rank," which would be broken after he pa.s.sed the qualification. Kyon started training hard to increase his chances of pa.s.sing.
Synergy was constantly processing the sound signals coming from the patriarch"s office. Juno, his personal spy, landed a couple of nephrite-bugs into the most inaccessible places. So, Kyon could hear all the important information directly from the source.
That night, Kyon bought a black hoodie. He had to hide his face from the golden youth, who got a sound thras.h.i.+ng from their parents because of the legendary "boy who lived."
Early in the morning, Kyon entered the battle hall (that every respectable family has plenty of.) He rented the largest and most comfortable room with full service, the strongest and most protected walls, and a barrier blocking any sounds and spatial vibrations.
A two-week lease was not cheap. He had to sh.e.l.l out a thousand spheres. (There is always a high demand for personal training rooms.)
What should he train in the first place?
Kyon had a wide choice. He could to spend his time on mastering (enlightenment) of the advanced grade of the elements, and even the superior grade of the earth that the dwarves had so kindly provided him with. Or he could master the mysterious technique from the tomb or a bunch of techniques from the Stones" heritage. However, after the battle at the party, Kyon concluded that it was pointless to master weak techniques. He needed something unique and inimitable that would increase the quality of his strength. He remembered the plasma fire (the science of his world), the laser, carbon skin, complete isolation from electricity, and fire protection. All of them required high grades of the elements. Kyon had made his decision!
Kyon had quickly mastered the basic grade of the elements before. However, it took him a whole week to master the advanced grade of earth. According to the progression, the superior grade would take him a few months! He"d better focus on the advanced grade.
The process would definitely speed up when he reached the peak level of the first degree of Synergy.
The training session began.
With the help of Synergy, Kyon tried to compare the channel movements of the elements he was bending with the incomprehensible neural connections in his head. He had studied the heritage of the advanced grade back in the Stone treasury, but he hadn"t wrapped his head around them, yet.
The early morning was quietly followed by the afternoon.
Kyon"s ears caught Juno"s soft, happy scream... He knew at once that the little demoness got the spheres! He took out a nephrite-bug and shouted:
«I order not to use the spheres! Not a single one! I order to bring everything to me, observing conspiracy!»
«No! Please! GRANDPA GAVE THEM TO ME, only to me! Please, master! I"m begging you!» - Juno asked in tears, but her body had obediently left her elite room and headed to the outer part of the Stone"s territory to the hall where her master was waiting for her.
Juno had a wonderful ability. She could skillfully play on sympathy. Kyon was immune to her tricks, but Juno continued her futile efforts out of habit. Deep inside, she had gone ballistic.
Soon, Kyon weighed in his hand a large leather bag with a total value of one hundred thousand spheres. A happy smile lit up his face. Bai couldn"t find half a million for his granddaughter, but even a hundred thousand was staggering! A hundred peasants could secure a decent life with this kind of money. Of course, it would be more convenient for them to exchange the spheres for coppers at the rate of 1 sphere = 100 coppers, but the richer cla.s.ses had no need for that.
«Master! My unique body is starving! I can not sleep at night! It tortures me... Please, give me at least a hundred spheres!»
Kyon scornfully threw a hundred spheres at the girl. They scattered all about the training room.
«Aren"t you a sorry sight?»
Juno fell to her knees. Her fingers were trembling with humiliation, and her eyes wandered over the scattered spheres. The patriarch"s granddaughter was picking up money from the floor like a dirty beggar?! No way! The insolent jerk had taken away her grandfather"s gift. Last time he took away XiaoBai"s money! She was about to take it in quietly... However, the a.s.sistant had heard everything and ordered not take anything. Then he took the valuable food for her flower! She wanted to cut the b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s throat and make him drown in his own blood. The amount of hatred emanating from the angry girl gave Kyon one turn of his core. He laughed smugly, his head thrown back. He was being lucky: a hundred thousand to his pocket, and emotions to his core! It was a blessing to take goodies from Juno! Business mixed with pleasure.
Soon Juno calmed down, came up to Kyon and asked him for the promised reward for her cooperation with an imploring look.
Not without a pang of remorse, Kyon cleared her key. He wasn"t too happy to feel Juno move to the 2nd stage of the advanced phase. It wouldn"t be so easy to hurt her now.
Juno"s happiness knew no bounds! Clearing the key somehow quenched the hunger of her divine lotus in the soul. It also granted her development! Her soul experienced comfort and peace emanating from the lotus.
«Naughty apprentice! Get ready for hard training with your master for the next two weeks.»
Juno"s lips twitched, her eyes sparkled. Her fighting spirit was written all over her face.
«I am always ready.»
«Good answer. By the way, from now on, I forbid you to ask your grandfather for money. He might suspect something. If you want to feed the flower, my condition is still valid - one hit means one hundred spheres!»
«I"ll try.» - Juno said without a smile, doing her hair into a ponytail for convenience. It seemed that she wouldn"t feed her unique body today.
The training session with Kyon had begun.
Kyon instantly noticed the futility of his attacks that contained elemental energy. Neither darkness, nor electricity, nor fire worked on the nasty girl! Earlier, Juno got serious damage when he infused his blow with pure energy. Now nothing could hurt her! Energy pa.s.sed through her as it was his body. He had no choice but pretend to be a "fair" master who didn"t hurt his unfortunate student on purpose. He gave her only physical, instructive blows that she didn"t feel at all...
So, he could beat Juno up. She was surprised at his good att.i.tude towards her. Did the master suddenly become kind and caring? Something was wrong. It was too weird. Maybe, he had fallen in love? It can"t be... She would have felt.
The more they trained, the brighter her eyes flickered with enthusiasm for war. She was a cat playing with a mouse. She rejoiced at her mini-achievements. Training with her personal monster yielded results.
Kyon did not want to reveal the news of their equal energies. He played on the role of a good master. He couldn"t stand himself. How could beat Juno without hurting her!? It was sheer stupidity worthy of hard labor for life.
A few days later, Kyon finally upgraded his hearing with Synergy. He increased hundreds of times. Now he could hear even the quietest sounds, from the rustle of the breeze in the gra.s.s to the conversations in the local tavern located two blocks from away from him.
Besides, his ears worked non-stop as sonars within a radius of ten meters (about 33 ft.) Synergy received the sounds and visualized the environment with high accuracy, at the level of scanning of the pract.i.tioner in the n.o.ble phase (4.) It would be hard to catch him by surprise.
Kyon was pleased with the upgrade. His eyes and ears gave him a huge advantage over the others. What should he develop further? Upgrading his sense of smell would be fast and more or less useful. Then he could boost up the other practical parts of his body that required much more time and Synergy consumption.
The qualification was approaching. Kyon had no doubt, Stephanie would do the job. She wanted to meet and constantly called him, which was rather annoying. Juno theatrically rolled her eyes and mocked Kyon with something along the lines of "two lovebirds" or "are you getting kids anytime soon?"
After a week of training, Kyon reached the 9th stage of the base phase. Juno congratulated him almost sincerely.
{Uhm... Why so fast?} - He asked himself. He reached the previous stage also in a week. He was supposed to enter the ninth in about two...
Kyon had no choice but to suppose that it all came down to the body of the void.
His training continued.
On the tenth day, Kyon mastered the advanced grade of the last element (except pure energy.) As he expected, each next element came to him easier and faster. The last one took only a couple of days to master.
Pure energy-1 Wind-2 Water-2 Earth-2 Fire-2 Cold-2 Ether-2 Darkness-2 Light-2. It all would be fine if not two things! When he got the gluttonous spheres in the tombs that enhanced his attributes, they also gave him an advanced grade of their element (darkness and light, respectively.) But why? He could have studied them, anyway. It didn"t make any sense.
Kyon had a vague idea. He compared his knowledge of the advanced grade of darkness and light with the neural connections he received in the Stone"s heritage and... They did not match.
{Does it mean I can get the advanced grade twice?} - Without hesitation, Kyon proceeded to master the advanced grade of darkness and light.
Kyon was successful. By the night of the last day (the qualification is tomorrow at noon), Kyon had mastered the superior grade of darkness and light.
What is a grade? Kyon understood it as a kind of lifting of restrictions from the elements. Each grade makes the element more complicated. As a result, it becomes much more varied and powerful.
According to Kyon"s calculations, an additional grade enhances the element to the extent as if he were to stages above (that is, for two stages.) It means that any of his elements is two stages higher than his development (with the exception of pure energy.)
Kyon had mastered the advanced grade of darkness and light. However, their power was four stages higher. They were equal to the superior grade!
{Hm... I wonder what grade I will have when I master the superior grade of darkness and light... The fourth? What is it called?} - It was breathtaking to realize how unique he was. The incomprehensible spheres had granted him an additional grade of darkness and light on top of the ones he already mastered. This unbelievable discovery made him extremely happy. There are probably no such people who can boast of the superior grade of any element while they are still in the base phase.
Kyon went to bed early to get a good night"s sleep before the qualification.
Late in the night, he heard something happening in Juno"s room right in his ear.
…
A quiet creak woke her up. She fixed her frightened eyes into the darkness.
«Who"s there?!»
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An imposing outline of someone sitting in the armchair appeared in the darkness. As the silver rays of moonlight touched the room, they revealed Xiao Bai. He was like a dark baron, menacingly looking at his future victim from the armchair. His punishment was inevitable.
«Brother! How did you get into my room? What are you doing here?!» - Juno asked, perplexed.
«Where"s my money, Juno?» - The fat guy looked coldly at his sister, his voice was depressing. He didn"t feel any brotherly love or care.
«What money? I don"t have any! You scare me, dear brother.»
«My little birds whispered that Bai had given you one hundred thousand. That"s exactly how much you owe me. Where"s my money, Juno?»
Juno swallowed nervously. She couldn"t (and wouldn"t) repay his debt.
«I… I am sorry, dear brother! I"ve spent everything!»
XiaoBai squeezed the armrest with his big hand. It broke in two.
«You will pay me for this... I won"t be so kind to you, sister.» - The walking meatball finished his tyrannical speech and left the room, swaying.
«Never threaten me! Do you hear me, XiaoBai? Don"t you dare to threaten me!»