A/N: Hey there! Author from the future, again. This and the next chapters are the LAST Jo Way POV chapters in this novel. Thank you for sticking around this long. You're almost there!
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Wei Zao and Gaige were making decent progress towards the apprentice tournament. While Wei Zao hadn't advanced in his cultivation, which was still at the Late stage of Mana Condensation, Gaige had advanced to the Middle stage. Over the past few weeks, Gaige had also stabilised his cultivation.
After taking the Bloodline Partial-Awakening potion, Gaige's affinity with darkness aligned mana had skyrocketed. With the assistance of the Specialised cultivation method, Gaige was making amazing progress in his comprehension of the darkness element and was becoming increasingly familiar with how to use it. Although, his temperament was also growing more morose and taciturn, which was to be expected.
Since cultivation methods are inherently designed to broaden a mage's will, they tend to askew the practitioner's personalities accordingly. A mage practising a cultivation method based on fire would subconsciously have a passionate and intense personality, while a mage practising a wood-based method would be more quiet and contemplative.
This doesn't mean that every fire focused mage is a hot-head. There are variations as not everyone obtains similar insights in their cultivation.
Ultimately, the duo hit a roadblock. As they calculated their rate of progression, they realised it would be impossible to break through to Late stage Mana Condensation realm by the time the tournament arrived.
While it wasn't a necessity to reach that stage, it definitely increased the chances of winning the tournament.
The issue they faced was that they just didn't have enough resources to facilitate the advancement. In actuality, a mage could advance organically by cultivating diligently. But this method is painfully slow.
It may take an average mage over 5 years to reach Foundation Establishment from Early stage Mana condensation. This assumes that the mage achieves an insight in their cultivation that resonates with them and is stable enough to act as a foundation to build upon.
This process can be sped up through the use of Mana Crystals and Mana Replenishing Potions.
The mage's body naturally regenerates mana at a rate proportional to their cultivation realm. This can be sped up by meditation, taking regenerative potions, absorbing mana from mana crystals, or relocating to a place that is dense in mana.
During cultivation, as the mana is circulated along the body's mana channels, it is naturally used up. A mage can deplete their entire reserve just by cultivating continuously for 2 hours.
Without an assistive resource to regenerate this mana, the mage is doomed to wait for at least 4 hours to replenish their reserves.
This is why Wei Zao even bothered to attend the periodic check-in sessions with his supervisor. Teaching apprentices are allocated a fixed amount of mana crystals and mana replenishing potions to be used on their personal students. They can only retrieve it from their supervising teacher.
After exhaling a long and drawn out breath, Wei Zao opened Teacher Hinds' office door and stepped in.
"Good afternoon, Teacher Hinds," Wei Zao said as he walked in nonchalantly.
Wei Zao noticed that everyone was seated around a meeting table, and so he pulled out a chair and sat down.
"Gaige, sit!" He said while tapping another seat next to him.
Wei Zao conveniently missed the increasingly distorted expression creeping on Blevin's face. The hate Blevin had for Wei Zao was ingrained into his bones. When Wei Zao deviated Blevin's student's cultivation progress, the academy had held Blevin responsible for the matter. Although he had some goodwill due to his rapid progression and superior aptitude, the academy had to acquiesce to the accusations of the student's parents and settle for monetary compensation. The amount was deducted from Blevin's account. Even since then, Blevin had an even greater dislike for Wei Zao.
Curbing his hatred, Blevin resumed his previous "conversation" with Mai.
"As I was saying, Apprentice Louts," he started while slowly inching toward Mai Louts. Since Wei Zao was seated next to her, she couldn't retreat any further and had to bear with Blevin's disgusting advances.
Blevin continued, "my connection at the logistics department managed to source a Thunderbird Tailfeather. I know that your student has an affinity with the lightning element, so I asked him to pass it to me."
He then carefully opened the wooden box and revealed a vibrant feather. It was splashed in a rainbow colour which was oscillating periodically. Thunderbirds were known for their high affinity to the lightning element and were indigenous to the highest peaks of Serrated-Peaks Mountain Range. It was a belief that when a thunderstorm occurred during a particularly droughty season, it was the blessing of the majestic Thunderbirds.
Thunderbirds regularly shed their feathers as they channel natural lightning and manufacture thunderstorms. Once shed, these feathers deactivate and only hold a dormant lightning essence. The tailfeather in the wooden box was of that kind. It would have no other use apart from brewing a potion that can contain this essence. On the other hand, if a Thunderbird's feather is physically dislodged or plucked, then it would contain essence of an extremely high concentration. That can be used to manufacture weapons and far superior potions. But no one really wants to court death by sneaking up on a Thunderbird and plucking its feather.
Mai didn't want to accommodate Blevin's foul advances, but she recognised the benefits the tailfeather would offer to her student. Grinding her teeth, Mai reluctantly accepted the gift and handed it to her student. But deep down she felt icky.
Blevin smiled triumphantly as Mai accepted the offer. He had cashed in a lot of favours to get his hands on that tailfeather. He was satisfied with the outcome though. At least now Mai would be grateful to him and look at him in a favourable light.
He suddenly seemed to recollect something and stood up abruptly from his seat. "Oh! Don't forget to take this month's allocation of mana crystals and mana replenishing potions." freeweb(n)ovel.co(m)
Blevin returned to his desk and retrieved another, less decadent, box and brought it to the table. He placed it carefully and slid it towards Mai.
Guy furrowed his brows. Those were supposed to be equally distributed amongst all of Blevin's apprentices.
Guy spoke audibly, "Umm, what about ours?"
After he finished he waited for an explanation. But no one even acknowledged him.
'Mast, are you sure that there isn't an isolating ritual in place? Why can't they hear me?'
Mast signed and responded, (They heard you. It's just that to them, you're an insignificant presence.)
Guy refused to accept this! But before he could do anything about it, Wei Zao spoke up.
"Wait a minute! I haven't received my student's allocated resources!"
Blevin sneered and scoffed in response by saying, "What's the point? Does he even stand a chance? It would be wasted on him."
Wei Zao knitted his eyebrows and retaliated in displeasure. "How can you say that? You aren't being fair -"
Blevin slammed his fists on the table and interrupted Wei Zao. In an aggressive tone, he jeered, "I get to decide what is fair and what isn't. Do you know why? It's because I am stronger than you."
As a man from the modern era, Wei Zao still hadn't gotten used to this world's skewed perspective on how "might makes right". It just didn't harmonise with his inherent worldview.
And so, with a morose expression, Wei Zao replied, "We live in a civilised society, not a lawless jungle."
Blevin guffawed in response, "Stop being so naive. The laws you talk about are made by those with the strength to enforce them. If the Duke of Maika says that all men must chop off the tips of their ears, then all the men under the Duchy's umbrella must do it. That is strength!" he said in a patronising tone.
Wei Zao's eyes widened as it suddenly hit him. This entire time he'd been cruising through this world treating it as an extension of the world he came from. Even though he had the old memories of his current body, he didn't take it seriously primarily because he wasn't there to personally experience them.
Blevin's revelation summarised the common belief of this world succinctly. As Wei Zao pondered over it, the expression on his face solidified and evoked a sense of immense confidence.
Guy, who was observing the situation, noticed the changes in Wei Zao's face and sighed while lowering his head. Markus leaned towards Guy and whispered, "Is there something wrong Master?"
Guy shook his head and answered, "It's nothing. I'm just a little disappointed."
"Why, Master? Is something wrong?"
"I just wish I could stand up for you and fight for you. But I'm not strong enough," Guy lamented.
Markus curled his fingers into a fist. His body started to shake as he disgested his Master's words. He wanted to comfort his Master and tell him that he didn't care about any of that. He also wanted to tell his Master that it was alright and that the lengths his Master had gone through for him were memories he'd cherish his entire life.
But Markus just couldn't verbalise his emotions. He also didn't want to offend his Master by implying that he was weak.
Wei Zao stood up from his seat and resolutely challenged Blevin, "If that's the case, then I challenge you to a duel! If I win, I get double the allocated resources for my student -"
Mai quickly interrupted Wei Zao by poking him with her elbows. Frankly, she had no idea why she acted that way. It wasn't her problem if Wei Zao wanted to have a bout with Blevin who had a clear advantage.
But she was a little amazed by how he was so willing to stand up for his student even in the face of adversity. So as a sincere gesture, she chose to warn Wei Zao so that he could save himself from some face.
Wei Zao, though, took the gesture to mean something else altogether. He was also observant of the awkward and one-sided advances Blevin made towards Mai. So when he saw her nudging him with a pleading gaze, he boldly added another declaration.
"- and I want you to stop pursuing Apprentice Louts."
Mai's eyeballs nearly burst out of their sockets.
'What the hell are you doing?' she screamed internally. 'That's not what I wanted!'
But of course, Wei Zao couldn't hear any of that. He was stubborn and just couldn't take Blevin's sleights anymore.
Blevin sneered in response and accepted the challenge, "Fine! But if I win, then you will resign from your apprenticeship and leave this city. If I ever see you again, I will break every bone in your body and hang you on a pole by the city's walls! Don't blame me for being ruthless," he said in a threatening tone.
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