"Are you going to submit your application too?"
"My family is pushing to take the exam."
Verso kept his head down as he walked through the crowded hallway, his fingers tightening around the piece of paper in his hand.
It was the next day, and the air in ridian High had shifted.
Today was the official deadline for students to submit their applications for the Summoner Academy Exams, the gateway to entering the country’s most elite training facilities.
As he walked toward the administration office, Verso realized he was getting a lot of looks.
But unlike the previous week, where the stares were fueled by rumors of his failure, these looks were full of genuine admiration.
"He completely destroyed Xavier."
"That fight was insane. Did you see the explosion at the end?"
The duel from yesterday had beco the massive headline for the entire school.
In a place where Xavier’s background made him a look like a god, Verso’s victory was a glitch in the system.
To the average student without a clan or massive financial backing, Verso had beco an overnight inspiration who had stood up to the elites’ tyranny.
But Verso didn’t hear a word they said. His mind was already miles away, trapped behind an interface that only he could see.
’I can’t enter the realm anymore.’
He stared at the translucent blue window floating in his peripheral vision. Under the Realm nu, the words [Land of Atlantis] were no longer a vibrant blue.
They were greyed out, completely unresponsive to his ntal command of entering.
This was a massive anomaly as every ti he had died back in the Shattered Wilds, the realm had simply just reset to its original state, allowing him to dive back in.
The fact that Atlantis was locked suggested that it wasn’t a standard hunting ground but rather was a one ti event.
’At least I got a good full day of sleep.’ Verso sighed internally.
Yesterday, instead of panicking or trying to force his way back into the realm, he had decided to take a full day off.
The duel with Xavier had been a physical and ntal drain and the death that followed in the temple had been a complete sensory overload.
He really needed the break to let his nervous system recover.
As he reached the Administration Office he reached out to the door and gave it a knock.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
The door swung open as Professor Ailene looked out.
When her eyes landed on Verso, her professional mask softened into a small knowing smile.
"Application for the Summoner Academy Exams, Right?"
"Yes, Professor."
She signaled him to enter with a wave of her hand.
"Co in."
Verso took a seat in the chair across from her desk and placed his application on the table in front of her.
Ailene didn’t pick it up imdiately. Instead, she turned to a shelf behind her and pulled out a separate folder of docunts.
She placed them in front of Verso with a heavy thud.
"I will need you to sign these as well." She said.
Verso skimd the first page. His eyes narrowed as he read the bold header.
"This is a waiver?"
Ailene sat down, her expression becoming somber.
"Well, it is no secret that a lot of people die in the exams."
"The Academy doesn’t pull back on their punches, Verso. They want to see how you react when your life is actually on the line."
Verso didn’t hesitate as he signed the docunts with a steady hand and slid them back across the desk to Ailene.
He knew very well that the world they lived in was not kind to the weak.
"Thank you, Verso." Ailene said as he stood to leave after finalizing his application.
------
Walking back to his dorm, Verso checked the ti. He had no intention of attending today’s classes.
Instead, today he had a completely different objective.
’I need to form my core.’
He reached his room, locked the door and sat cross legged on his bed.
The realization of his situation had finally settled in.
After hitting the cap for his uncondensed core stats, he had reached a plateau and if he wanted to have any chance of surviving the Academy Exams, he had to start cultivating.
He understood now that he had underestimated the elite families massively.
The fight with Xavier had been much tougher than it should have been, solely because of the resources Xavier had access to such as the Umbra Panther or the Lightening Spear.
And Xavier was not even part of a major clan, he was just a spoiled child from an elite family.
The clans were the actual big deal as they were the ones who truly controlled the dungeons and the power flow of the entire country.
’They might have already ranked up.’
Verso knew that logically if Xavier had those resources than the true geniuses of the elite clans were likely already sitting on a condensed core with stat cap reaching up to twenty.
And if he walked into the exams as a summoner with an uncondensed core, he would be at a massive disadvantage regardless of how many summons he had.
He closed his eyes and focused on the center of his chest.
He could feel the raw, swirling mana he had gathered from all the hunting he had done. It was a complete chaotic ss as it moved inside his body without a proper form.
To rank up, he had to take that cloud of energy and compress it into a singular, solid point which would beco his core.
’Let’s see if I have any talent with mana cultivation.’
He took a deep breath and visualized the mana in his body spinning as he began to pull the edges of his power inward trying to fold it into a more concentrated form.
The air in the dorm room began to hum as the pressure started to build.
This was the most dangerous part of a summoner’s journey because if the core didn’t condense properly, the resulting mana backlash could shatter a person’s soul.
Just then, Verso heard the chanical voice of the system.
[Additional Function: Passive Mana Cultivation Unlocked.]
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