’This will be useful in the future...’ reading through the description of Liquid Shadow, Novus noted to himself, deciding not to take any for now as the description already says it all, right now, whether it is exploring the Evolution Domain or heading outside the academy for important matters, it is a strategic resource that will not only make his life a little bit easier, but save him should he find himself in a pinch as well.

Not wasting any more time gloating over the great harvest over twice from what he acquired during his previous entry in the Evolution Domain, he then looked at the window near his bed, finding the moon hanging above the night sky still in the same position as it was before he entered the Evolution Domain, confirming his biggest speculation since he entered it the first time.

’Time flows differently in the domain...’ he thought in conclusion, a small point of interest for him that he immediately shoved to the back of his mind, as right now, he knows that he has better things to do, and that is to further grow his own strength by absorbing the harvest from his most recent entry inside the domain.

[Take out Evolution Crystal (F-Tier)?]

[Yes/No]

Staring at the screen in front of him, Novus immediately agrees as the numerous Evolution Crystals start appearing around his bed, intending to make the most out of his free time to absorb all these resources to push his strength to a new level.

It is a peaceful, good night for everyone, including the young man who is tirelessly working to improve his own strength solely for the sake of it, the rapid progress he is making causing him to understand why is it that some people would even go to insane lengths just to see their strength improve again, as just like improving his prowess during battle, this sensation is truly addicting in its own way.

The refining continues, similar to the usual, the energy coming out of the Evolution Crystal fills up his body, circulating across his entirety and improving, elevating his very being to higher levels with each passing moment. The continuous notification of the system regarding his progress further motivates him to push through and just disregard sleep even more.

The thing that he finds most impressive regarding this kind of self-improvement, meditation, is that despite it being a little bit of a hard work for both his body and mind, it always ends up with him feeling completely fresh and well rested, making him wonder whether it is truly viable to replace regular sleep with this method.

Had this been a simple meditation absorbing mana in one’s surroundings in order to improve themselves as a mage, this process would’ve been tiring enough that it would already be impressive for an F-Tier mage to last for even an hour, but with him absorbing Evolution Energy, he feels like he can go without stopping and without needing to rest.

And that is exactly what he did, letting the light of the moon and the stars in the night sky to fade into the background once more as the sun began to shine, the warmth from its rays waking him up the moment it broke free above the horizon, also signaling the end of his meditation.

"Hmm... that’s really satisfying..." he remarked as he stood up from the bed, his feet light and his body full of energy as he walked towards the bathroom, not feeling a single bit of fatigue and hunger despite staying up all night, as if the same tedious chore, meditation, when utilized with Evolution Energy instead of mana, becomes a completely relaxing thing instead.

[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.]

While he cleans himself up and prepares for yet another day in class, the young man continues to improve himself, being met with multiple system notifications as he ingests Evolution Crystal after Evolution Crystal, tearing through numbers of them as if he’s a child who just had candy for the first time, save for the fact that this candy continuously improves one’s own strength.

Drying himself, suiting up, wearing his coat then opening the door of his room to greet the outside with a bit more energy than usual once again, the young man left his room with a satisfied grin on his face, something that he controls to tone down into a faint smile on his face, the improvement brought by his meditation seemingly improving his mental state more and more as well.

"Hey, isn’t that..."

"Well, he does look good, maybe that’s the reason why Alicia even agreed to be with him in the first place..."

"Pity he lacks talent or else he might’ve been one hell of a famous guy in the academy..."

"Well, you can’t have it all, they say..."

As Novus walks down the path towards the academy’s main building, his enhanced senses allow him to pick up words of other students nearby, even when they are already borderline whispering among each other. The talks regarding his "fall from grace" no longer circle as much as he expects they would, but rather, new rumors regarding him begin to spread.

"Still, even if his talent in magic isn’t good enough, I heard he’s scary to argue words with."

"Yeah, I heard he made all his class laugh by mocking a classmate trying to pick a fight with him."

"For me, even if he is capable of that, he still shouldn’t have done that. Hellas is pretty strong after all; he’ll beat the hell out of Novus in practical combat class for the sake of revenge, for sure."

"Then he just bit off more than he can chew; if he was beaten because of that, it’s because he deserves it, nothing more."

The rumors surrounding him shifted from his previous separation from one of the most well-known talents and beauties of the academy to how his mockery completely offended a fellow mage-aspirant who is supposed to be leagues above him in terms of combat prowess.

’Does everyone really think I am that weak? I still mastered the orthodox way of casting fireball after all, that should amount to something, right?’ he thought to himself in a bit of frustration, as this is the only time he heard what fellow students think of him behind his back, the brand of mediocrity, something that he knew would be way too hard for him to cleanse.

Of course, that is, unless he shows what he is truly capable of right now.

’Nah, I’d rather not, who cares what others think of me in the first place? Let’s grow stronger silently... there will be a right time to reveal all of this...’ being still a young person, no matter how calm and analytical he can be during battles, he is not immune to the temptations of being the center of everyone’s attention, but this desire couldn’t or rather, wouldn’t triumph over his desire to grow stronger without mishaps, and he knows full well that fame will only increase the chance of that mishap from happening.

Unbeknownst to everyone in the academy, the rise of a monster who will turn not only the mage academy but the world’s understanding of both combat and magic, is delayed for a little bit, as said monster felt like it was still too early to reveal his true self to the world.