Chapter 13: Preparation

The class continues without mishap, with all students learning, the rest learning things regarding spellcasting from their professor, Heinal, while Novus, who arguably surprised everyone in his class the most today, learns more and more about the system that he acquired.

It might be a bit different from usual, but he manages to maintain the same rate of absorption to his rate during his previous meditation, Evolution Crystal entering his body and refining it one after another, showing a significant decrease in the amount he has in stock as time passes by.

It isn’t all easy, though, as even with the liquid turning into energy and doing nothing to fill his stomach, his fascination with the refinement of his body often pulls his attention towards its process, making him shake his head whenever he notices, as it makes him completely unaware of what is happening within his surroundings.

’I need to work on this or it might be a bad habit...’ he reminded himself as he tries his best to develop discipline when absorbing Evolution Crystal outside of meditation, the circulation of Evolution Energy contained within his own body making it so that it is nigh undetectable by anyone, but his attention to the process making it appear like he is preoccupied with something other than the matters in front of him right now.

And so, the day proceeds with him appearing odd among the group, but not too suspicious, as to outsiders, it only appears like he is losing his attention to something every so often.

An effect that most who saw it attribute to him not being in the best of mental health, being heartbroken right now.

While some classmates, and even some professors privy to the gossip, look at him with gazes of pity and concern, some with mocking and disdain, Novus just continues to improve himself, the problem of his attention being pulled towards the refinement improving a little bit more with each Evolution Crystal he consumes.

[You absorbed Evolution Energy. Refinement of the body will continue until the source of the energy runs out.]

[Your talent: True Immortal Blood is being refined. +0.0001% progress, +0.1 maximum Immortal Energy.]

These notifications continue to repeat in front of him as he absorbs Evolution Crystals piece by piece, the day seemingly becoming more bearable as not only notifications of his talent gradually reaching the next level, but his current strength increasing as well appear in front of him.

[Your physique has grown. +1 strength, +1 agility, +1 vitality.]

[You sense all sorts of energy clearer than before. +1 arcane.] 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

[Your body and soul seem to grow closer. +1 harmony.]

By the time the day ends and the students are dismissed, Novus smiles as he realizes that he made significant progress yet again, albeit paling in comparison to the progress he had during his time meditating; said progress is still a large leap in strength nonetheless.

[Novus Helion van Argenta]

[Combat Rating: F+ Mage(?)]

[Talent: True Immortal Blood (EX-Rank Growth-type Innate Talent)]

[Current Evolution Domain Location: Verdant Expanse (1-star danger level)]

[Immortal Energy: 135/135]

[Strength: 45]

[Agility: 45]

[Vitality: 45]

[Arcane: 45]

[Harmony: 45]

[True Immortal Blood (EX-Rank Growth-type Innate Talent)]

[Growth Progress: 0.035% (99.965% before Talent Rank Up)]

[Mastery: Entry-level (5.00%)]

Although absorbing Evolution Crystals more slowly than the previous day, Novus still feels extremely satisfied with his progress. The fact that he can still improve his strength while sitting down and listening, or rather, attending class, something that he has been taught, will certainly be truly beneficial to him in the long run.

And as if to add to the good news and encourage him to push himself to improve even further, another notification hit him as he walked towards the academy’s dormitory, the words on this new screen prompting his body to walk faster than before, almost as if he were in a rush to return.

[Evolution Domain Access Restriction now lifted. You are now free to enter the Evolution Domain.]

Finally reaching the door to his room, he immediately slammed it shut, not even caring about anything in the world, as he even forgot to take off and hang his coat, too occupied with the system’s prompt in front of him.

[Do you want to enter the Evolution Domain?]

[Yes/No]

As he sat on his bed though, his hand couldn’t help but reach out towards his neck, a phantom seemingly approaching him from the shadows to launch a slash that he felt quite clearly, bordering between illusion and reality and making him gulp in hesitation, once again being reminded that just because he becomes immortal and unkillable doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no way for anyone or anything to totally deal with him.

’Maybe let’s consume all the Evolution Crystal first...’ leaning onto caution as he doesn’t want this entry to the Evolution Domain to end in vain being killed by something unknown, Novus shakes his head and calms himself down, opting not to enter the Evolution Domain for now as he chooses to prepare as much as he possibly can first.

Evolution Crystals manifested out of the Storage Space once again, this time not being consumed orally but rather absorbed by refinement, all the remaining crystals surrounding the young man’s bed as he begins taking in energy from the crystals, allowing it to autonomously refine his body and improve his talent once again.

[You absorbed Evolution Energy. Refinement of the body will continue until the source of the energy runs out.]

[Your talent: True Immortal Blood is being refined. +0.0001% progress, +0.1 maximum Immortal Energy.]

[Your physique has grown. +1 strength, +1 agility, +1 vitality.]

[You sense all sorts of energy clearer than before. +1 arcane.]

[Your body and soul seem to grow closer. +1 harmony.]

The sun descends down the horizon, and night covers the entire sky, the moon shining down on everything and illuminating all with its gentle light, and with it, almost all the students in the academy go to rest.

Among the exceptions to this is Novus, who just opened his eyes after a long time of meditation, the first thing appearing in front of his eyes being the same notifications from absorbing Evolution Crystals, something that he took quite some moments to clear.

Once he managed to do so, he takes a quick look around him, the crystals once sprawled all over his bed no longer there, not even a trace remains as everything disappears the moment he absorbs all the energy contained within it completely, the only trace of the existence of those Evolution Crystals being real is the strength within him, improvements that goes leaps and bounds compared to before.

Knowing that he can no longer achieve an almost instant, significant improvement right now, Novus closes his eyes as he takes a deep, calming breath, the lingering sensation of his death the previous day still on him, but the fear etched by it appears to be fading little by little with the growth of his strength.

[Do you want to enter the Evolution Domain?]

[Yes/No]

And with its disappearance, the curiosity, the wonder whether he will be able to fight against his mysterious killer, starts emerging, a smile on his face as he clenches his fist, knowing that sooner or later, he will be able to find out.

[Entry of the system user detected.]