Kayden came in a few minutes later. In the meantime, he even managed to use another lightning bolt from Zeus, but only saw the new blanket of water defend his attack as if it were nothing more than a fly.
His body was completely chopped up and was being supported by dozens of strands of mana, the blood did not leak out because of his absolute control, but even so, his injuries reached an unsustainable point.
"I quit". Kayden left the arena and found himself in front of the same doctor who asked him to try not to kill himself earlier. The boy just gave an apologetic smile at the healer’s withering gaze.
After that, the battle followed the obvious course, with the entire team 2 being eliminated and only the two wizards were left, who simply wiped out all the opponents, the difference in strength was too great, it wasn’t just a kingdom, it was a kingdom, one path and four concepts of difference.
Kayden should have been sad or disappointed, angry at his failure, but only cold determination was in his eyes. He didn’t answer any of his friends as he was stuck in thought.
’5 folds and 5 concepts’. Kayden decided in his mind and wouldn’t give up on it, even if it meant years at the apprentice level.
*********
"Congratulations to all the teams that played great matches. Everyone must have already received the number of their new teams and the benefits related to it." Kayden’s team rose to position 9 and now they had huge discounts that reached 40% and received almost triple monthly merit points. "Team Number 1 became champion and remained undefeated."
Kayden has spent the last few days just sitting alone in his team pondering what to do. His plans changed completely, as there were no longer just two concepts he had to learn, but three. He didn’t even waste time going to see the final fight.
"Each of you will receive the amount corresponding to your performance. For governmental and security reasons, you must utilize the nectar of knowledge under our supervision in this stadium."
Each student was in an area of a few square meters with air conditioning and all possible luxuries for maximum comfort. Nectar was a closely guarded secret and was precious enough to make even a king from another country attack to get some.
"I expect great things from this generation. Good luck in your advancement." With this sentence from the dean, several golden containers began to float and go towards the students, some received only one milliliter, while those with the highest performance got five milliliters.
Those who were already in the mage realm were given a mana fruit to aid them in cultivation, as the nectar would have little effect in the first realm.
Kayden looked at his bowl and saw the counter with an incredible 6 milliliters, for a second he thought something was wrong, but then he remembered his performance against a wizard and blamed it on that. Taking his time, Kayden set the bowl aside and began to observe the other people around him. Most just swallowed it as if they had spent days in a desert without water.
’The mana...’ With his high sensitivity, Kayden could feel how the mana started to behave strangely. Its density began to increase considerably and this was not being done by the gym staff.
Kayden recognized this as the ascension process, the world itself provided mana to those who were worthy of advancing. It was a different mana, it seemed heavier and more moldable. A golden beam fell on a teenage girl just a few meters from where Kayden was, he didn’t hear any noise or even the tremor in the earth, a transparent barrier around each area was responsible for it.
The ascension challenge was called that because of the rays that fell on the person, first, it was an overwhelming physical pain that only increased with the number of rays, in addition, doubts about your concepts were planted in your mind and you had to prove it to yourself who understood the concept and was able to take it with you to the next level.
The more rays you managed to defend or survive, the stronger you would become and the more mastery you would have over the concept itself. Only one was needed for a breakthrough, but two were ideal, at least for ordinary people.
Similar to concepts, jinn had to endure between 3 and 4, with the 5 rays having never been openly recorded. Probably some of the large organizations had produced someone capable of resisting, but this information was never made public.
The girl Kayden was watching defended the first bolt with a stone barrier, but the second fell directly on her, piercing every defense she had put up. The girl vomited blood, but in just a few seconds she managed to clear her mind again.
The third ray became more powerful than all the others and caused her to fall completely to the ground without reacting. This time it took several minutes before she managed to get up. Kayden observed the mana heading towards the girl’s body symbolizing a successful advancement and her giving up on facing the next stage.
The next process took a few more minutes as the mana remodeled the girl’s entire body and elevated her cells to another stage of evolution. If she added up all the advancements from the first to the last level of the mage realm, it wouldn’t come to a tenth of the monstrosity of evolution she was facing.
She was the first because she was very close to being able to connect three concepts. After her, several students began to advance at the same time. Kayden tried to understand the essence of the golden lightning, but he couldn’t even feel it. His eyes showed the magnificent golden lightning, otherwise he would doubt its existence. When he closed his eyes, it was as if they didn’t even exist. There was no energy, there was no mana, there was absolutely nothing.
’Let’s go’. Kayden took the nectar and... Instantly saw how to interconnect his two concepts of spark and energy. It was an extraordinary feeling, he seemed like he could solve any problem there was. This feeling reminded him of when he experienced an epiphany years ago, everything came naturally to him.
Another concept he thought about learning was the concept of oppression, which would fit perfectly into his path. At that moment, he knew he could learn he could learn practically anything.
’Impulse’. Kayden understood exactly what that word meant now. This state of super Flow was caused by the boost received from discoveries. His epiphany was an impulse and he just used it to get to the next level.
When he learned the concept of freedom, he was able to use some of the momentum to understand another concept that he was very close to learning. Kayden couldn’t say exactly what the impulse was, but he was sure it was something that shouldn’t be wasted. ’Show me the answer’. The boy just sat down and began to reflect on everything he needed. He ignored connecting the two concepts or learning a third, that wasn’t what he was looking for, he just wanted the answer and then he would work for it.
Meanwhile, people continued to advance by the dozens. Locke was one of the only students who passed with four interconnected concepts, placing him on a high pedestal above most wizards.
If he fought the wizard in team 2 again, he could have a chance of winning at least 20%, and if he used his full capacity, perhaps it would reach 30%. Unfortunately for him, the power of a path was too great to be taken lightly.
Little by little, all the geniuses who made a name for themselves during the year managed to advance and survive varying amounts of lightning. This year there was not even one student with less than three rays.
"We are progressing more and more, in a few centuries we will not have advances with less than 4 radii", Leonardo commented to the other teachers. Everyone knew how much the new generations were above the previous ones, increasingly stronger.
Two hours later, all the students advanced, well... practically all of them. Kayden was still sitting on the floor without the slightest sign of advancement. Thousands of eyes were following the boy’s slightest movement.
He was considered the genius of the century by the masses of people who didn’t know other geniuses at his level. Many thought that perhaps he would finally obtain the five legendary rays and begin a new era, but nothing was happening.
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’The way of the monarch is total sovereignty’. Two hours of reflection was the answer Kayden needed. In the end, it was much simpler than anything he imagined. Why did he have to spend months thinking about how to interconnect different concepts when he could just subdue them to his path?
Kayden took a big step that would set him apart from everyone, he understood his path on an even deeper level. The boy mentally slapped himself for being ignorant, he didn’t know everything about his path, and he still had a lot to learn. His natural arrogance was killing his chances of success.