Ti passed by quickly in the way it always does when people are focused on goals that matter.
Soon it had been more than two full months since Damian first entered Stormhold Academy, and the changes that had occurred in that relatively short period were nothing short of remarkable.
The current structure of the entire Academy was undergoing a fundantal transformation that nobody could have predicted.
Although this shift wasn’t particularly visible among the senior classes who had their established hierarchies and comfortable routines, for the new first-year students the change was blindingly obvious to anyone paying even the slightest attention.
For the first ti in the entire docunted history of Stormhold Academy, commoner students were not being systematically suppressed and bullied by the Noble faction.
It was unprecedented.
Revolutionary, even.
Of course, the situation wasn’t perfect by any ans. Many commoner students still chose to beco subordinates to various Noble families in exchange for access to better skills and weapon arts that they couldn’t acquire through normal channels.
That fundantal reality hadn’t changed.
But here was the crucial difference that made everything matter: the situation had improved to the point where these students weren’t being forced into those arrangents anymore through violence, intimidation, or social isolation.
They were making actual choices now, weighing options, from different Noble Families.
And that changed everything.
Damian and his rapidly growing organization, which he’d boldly nad the Mafia in that dramatic gymnasium declaration, made absolutely sure that no commoner students who sought their protection were bullied or coerced into arrangents they didn’t want.
The ssage was simple and clear: touch one of theirs, and you’d answer to all of them.
The student rankings were also changing repeatedly as people pushed themselves harder, though interestingly the top ten positions had remained remarkably stable throughout this entire turbulent period.
Damian himself still held the number one spot with an iron grip since no one dared to challenge him.
Edrin, Lysa, and Ronan continued to occupy three positions in the top ten, creating a solid power base for the commoner faction.
The remaining six spots were all held by mbers of the Noble faction, creating an interesting but tense balance.
One particularly noteworthy developnt had occurred among the elite students.
The SS-ranked talents had finally begun showing their truly remarkable potential and had all advanced to E rank during these two months of intensive training.
And Micheal, despite technically being the sa rank as Leonard, Adrian, and Iris, had sohow started completely dominating all of them in actual combat effectiveness and political influence.
He’d erged as the undisputed leader of the entire Noble faction.
anwhile, Edrin, Lysa, and Ronan had all successfully advanced from their previous levels to solid E rank, and were now growing steadily toward E rank.
It seed as if everyone in the first-year class had suddenly gained wings during these past two months, soaring to heights they’d never imagined possible.
Their confidence in their skills and weapon arts had grown trendously.
The competitive atmosphere was electric, pushing everyone to improve faster than they would have under normal circumstances.
And Damian?
Damian had maintained a rather mysteriously low profile ever since that explosive incident on the clubs recruitnt day.
Many students rarely seed to catch even a glimpse of his figure around campus anymore.
He’d beco almost ghost-like in his movents, appearing only when necessary and disappearing just as quickly.
Rumors swirled constantly about how powerful he was now.
But nobody knew for certain.
****
In the dense forest behind the Academy grounds, far from prying eyes and curious onlookers, a solitary figure could be seen swinging a terrifying-looking battle axe at the ancient trees with relentless, chanical precision.
The figure was completely shirtless despite the cool air, his well-defined torso gleaming with sweat under the filtered sunlight.
His long crimson hair was tied back tightly with a simple thread to keep it out of his face during training.
His muscles were perfectly sculpted in a way that suggested both power and speed. They were lean and efficient rather than bulky, built for explosive movent and endurance rather than pure strength.
Every swing of the massive axe showcased the kind of muscle control that ca only from thousands of hours of dedicated practice.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Only the rhythmic sound of the heavy axe blade biting into solid wood could be heard echoing through the quiet forest, creating an almost ditative atmosphere.
The figure continued his relentless practice, each swing slightly different from the last as he made minute adjustnts to his form, his grip, his breathing, his stance.
Searching for sothing.
Suddenly, the figure seed to realize sothing fundantal, so crucial understanding clicking into place in his mind.
His form beca even more perfect, more fluid, more natural.
And the massive axe in his hands stopped looking heavy entirely.
It moved through the air as if it weighed nothing at all, as if it were simply an extension of his own body rather than a separate weapon.
BOOM!
As soon as that profound change manifested in his technique, the next axe swing that fell cut completely through the entire thick tree trunk in one clean motion, as easily as a hot knife slicing through soft butter.
The massive tree began to topple with a groaning crash.
"Phew... I finally did it. Finally broke through that damn barrier – Lifting sothing heavy as if it were light."
The figure was, of course, none other than Damian Valcor himself, who had been practicing almost nonstop for weeks to make this exact breakthrough in his weapon art mastery.
"Status."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Na: Damian Valcor
Age: 15
Rank: D
Talent: S
Core Attributes:
Strength: 95
Speed: 99
Stamina: 100
Vitality: 100
Aura: D
Will: 170
Skills: —
Shooting: B
Hand Combat: B
Telekinesis: E → D
Macro Vision: C
Sonic Blink: D
Aura Control: C
Aura Magnification: 2×
Weapon Arts: —
Oga Point - S: Level 2
Abyssal Slaughter -SS: Minor Success
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Damian stared at his status screen with genuine satisfaction spreading across his face.
For the past two months, he’d been seeking intensive guidance from various professors without stopping, pushing himself to the absolute limit of what his body and mind could handle.
For improving his physical attributes, he’d sought out Nathan Brock so frequently that he’d almost driven the bald professor to doubt whether Damian’s stats were even humanly possible for soone his age.
Damian had already reached the absolute peak physical state for a D rank awakener in every category, now only waiting for his Aura core to catch up and reach D rank so his overall ranking could advance.
His physical body was ready. His core just needed ti to grow.
His Will stat had also been rising slowly but steadily as well.
This ntal fortitude was actually one of the primary reasons he’d finally been able to advance his incredibly difficult Abyssal Slaughter weapon art to minor success today after being frustratingly stuck for so long.
Yes, he’d been completely stuck at the initiated level ever since he first started serious training in the Abyssal Slaughter art weeks ago.
He genuinely hadn’t understood why it was proving so extraordinarily tough to advance compared to Oga Point, which had progressed relatively smoothly.
But he suspected he might get his answer very soon from that mysterious old man who’d first taught him the basics.
That strange instructor had ntioned previously that he would seek Damian out once he managed to advance the art beyond the initial stage.
His Aura control and Aura magnification capabilities had both also improved trendously through countless hours of practice with Professor Seraphina.
Reaching two tis Aura magnification was particularly impressive. That was a level of efficiency that typically only expert veteran warriors achieved after years of combat experience.
Only a handful of students in Stormhold Academy’s entire history had managed to achieve it before graduation.
The fact that Damian had reached it as a first-year was genuinely remarkable.
His Oga Point weapon art had also progressed to level two, sothing that had made Professor Salazar endlessly praise his own supposedly superior teaching skills to anyone who would listen.
The man’s ego had beco almost insufferable, but Damian didn’t particularly care as long as the instruction remained top quality.
He’d also acquired an entirely new skill called Sonic Blink specifically designed for explosive burst movent.
Previously, he’d lacked any skill that could help amplify his speed beyond what his physical attributes naturally provided, so he’d spent considerable ti searching through the Academy library to find sothing suitable for his fighting style.
Skills were genuinely special compared to techniques or weapon arts.
They never required any Aura expenditure to activate and use, which made them incredibly efficient and sustainable in extended combat.
As the classification itself suggested, they were pure skills rather than supernatural techniques.
Anything that a person practiced extensively and repetitively enough would eventually take the concrete form of a skill registered by the system.
It was fundantally related to how the human mind worked, particularly sothing called psions that Professor Admond had explained in detail during his theory classes.
In his words–
"Psions were microscopic particles or waves that the human brain naturally produced and emitted, especially when performing actions with intense focus and repetition.
When soone practiced a specific movent or technique thousands upon thousands of tis, their brain would begin producing specialized psions attuned specifically to that action.
These psions would gradually form what could only be described as ntal pathways or neural shortcuts that made the action increasingly automatic and efficient.
Eventually, if soone practiced long enough with sufficient quality of repetition, these psion pathways would crystallize into what the system recognized as an actual skill.
At that point, the action beca so deeply ingrained in both body and mind that it could be perford almost unconsciously, with perfect form, without requiring any Aura expenditure at all.
It was the difference between consciously using Aura to enhance your speed versus your body simply knowing how to move at maximum efficiency through pure muscle mory and ntal conditioning.
Consider psions as the Aura of the brain in simple words. Your brain is consciously growing as well, the mont you awaken. And the skills are your exercise for the brain."
’The human mind is really an incredible thing.’
Damian thought as he wiped sweat from his face with a cloth. Once you understand how it works, how to train it properly, the potential is almost limitless.
Beep.
His watch suddenly beeped with an incoming ssage, breaking him out of his contemplative thoughts.
It was from Edrin.
[Boss, everyone has arrived at the shooting range and is waiting for you.]
Damian glanced at the ssage, then at the destroyed tree lying on the forest floor, then back at his status screen still hovering in his vision.
It’s ti to et with the others. Ti to see how much they’ve all grown during these two months.
He dismissed the status screen with a thought, grabbed his shirt from where it hung on a nearby branch, and started jogging toward the shooting range.
He was curious to see what his Mafia had beco during this period of relative quiet.
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