Chucher didn’t imdiately reveal his great secret, but instead posed a genuinely startling question.
"What is Spiritual Energy?"
Is this guy’s throat made of steel?
Although Rod feared for his hearing, he didn’t cover his ears; he knew from the mont the question was asked that this lecture was exceptional.
A girl with tea-colored hair stood up to answer, "Spiritual Energy is a type of energy, originating from the power of our souls, carrying our spiritual attributes, which is why we can control it. The kind without spiritual attributes, is what we call universal Spiritual Energy."
Chucher nodded slightly, signaling for her to sit down.
"Excellent, a very standard and comprehensive answer. Now, who can tell where Spiritual Energy cos from?"
There was a slight commotion in the classroom; this question was too strange, and no one had anticipated it.
A tall male student hazarded, "From the soul?"
A smile spread beneath Chucher’s large beard:
"And where does the soul get Spiritual Energy from?"
The classroom fell silent.
After a pause, Chucher continued.
"Think about it, every ti you use a large amount of Spiritual Energy, you can directly recover it through ditation and rest. We know that physical energy cos from food, but does the energy of the soul co from ordinary food? Could such powerful forces be contained in just a few at pies or roasted ats?"
"If not, where does it co from?"
A student ventured, "From the Spirit Realm?"
Chucher nodded, "Good line of thought. What is the Spirit Realm?"
The student answered, "The Spirit Realm is the other side of the Material World, the internal logic of how the world operates, the inner essence of all outward things. The Material World primarily consists of matter, the Spirit Realm of spirit. When we are in the Spirit Realm, what we see are flows of spirit and energy, just as we see matter in the Material World."
Chucher said with a laugh, "Well said; the Material World and the Spirit Realm can be considered as the two faces of the world. But those who have studied ’Energy Grading Theory’ and visited the Spirit Realm would know that energy can only be transferred from a high rank to a low rank, such as Spiritual Energy transforming into heat, kinetic, wind, thunder, electrical, and other material energies; the reverse does not hold true. anwhile, the energy of the Spirit Realm mostly falls between the two, which is why it is so closely connected to the Material World."
"However," a student suddenly asked, "in that case, wouldn’t our Spiritual Energy decrease the more we use it? Ultimately, all energy would pile up in its lowest form."
Chucher’s smile grew larger.
"Very good, your question has touched upon the essence of the world."
The classroom quieted down; everyone listened intently, eager for what he would say next.
"If any of you have been involved in exploring the ruins of the Sigles Dynasty, you would have heard of a term—Sea of Source."
"’Solais’ ans ’Source’ in Ancient Language; thus, Sea of Source is the foundation upon which the world is built, the deeper essence of the Spirit Realm."
"All matter and energy ultimately lead to the Sea of Source and also originate from it."
"The lowest form of energy sinks into the Sea of Source, and ultimately, it also appears in our world in the highest form, such as spirituality materials, Spiritual Veins, and so on."
"Thus, it is both the lowest point and the highest point."
"Our souls can obtain energy from the Sea of Source; aside from potions that directly replenish Spiritual Energy, most potions also help our souls to gain energy faster."
"This is the frawork and operational rules of our world."
Chucher paused montarily, his expression becoming solemn.
"Now, let’s talk about the curse of the world—the Black Fog."
The classroom turned deadly silent; only the sound of a breeze blowing through the curtains remained.
"Bear in mind, we cannot simply regard the Black Fog as a force of darkness."
He raised his hand, and a ball of light appeared at his fingertips. He used his other hand to block the light, creating two distinctly lit and shadowed spaces.
"Light and shadow coexist naturally. It’s a normal principle of nature, but the Black Fog is a curse, a twisted and deford darkness. It leads everything towards silence, madness, and chaos, corrupting all that is orderly and rational."
A student asked, "Teacher, where does the Black Fog actually co from? Was it present at the creation of the world?"
Chucher’s voice grew heavy.
"I’ll tell you unequivocally, the Black Fog is not ageless; it erged in the early period of the Second Epoch, the so-called Era of Gods."
"We’ve discovered in historical ruins that humans and gods fought against the Black Fog even back then. At that ti, it had not yet dominated the world; they had clear skies every day, with the sun, moon, and stars visible, much like our Sun Festival and Bright Day."
"However, as ti passed, the erosion of the Black Fog gradually deepened. Gods fell one after another, monsters grew increasingly powerful, and so indescribable entities appeared."
"Due to the passage of ti, we don’t know what happened in between until the next Epoch—the Fire Epoch."
"In this Epoch, the gods had vanished, but humanity had built hundreds of Fire King Cities, with the light of fire shining in all directions, confining the Black Fog to a small, remote part of the world."
"Yet once again, humanity headed towards failure. The reasons are unknown to us; we can only glean from limited history that one by one, the Fire King Cities fell, the connections to the Holy Fire one by one extinguished, ushering the world officially into darkness—the Dark Era."
"This is the current Epoch."
"Once we beca aware of the existence of the Sea of Source, scholars proposed a new theory—the Black Fog is eroding the world’s foundation, the Source. As the Sea of Source’s erosion intensifies, the resulting Black Fog becos stronger as well."
"So, the world is accelerating toward a descent into the dark abyss."
Once again, silence enveloped the classroom.
Chucher scanned the room, his booming voice echoing through the classroom.
"However, our Guardian Fire, Bright Fire, Fire of Life, Fire of Hope, and Eternal Fire can dispel the Black Fog, resist its corrosive invasion. Once the Guardian Fire takes root, its power will gradually influence the Sea of Source, cleansing the pollution and distortion."
"This is why we forbid ditation in the darkness to restore Spiritual Energy, for you will be infected, corroded, and turned into monsters. It is also why we recover Spiritual Energy faster near the Guardian Fire because you are closer to the power of life."
"Therefore, if we wish to prevent the world from falling into the abyss, we must ignite more Fire Sparks to illuminate a larger part of the world."
"This is also why we must always expand outward, because the only fate for those who wait and shrink back is destruction."
Chucher raised his right hand high.
"The night shall eventually disperse, and dawn must co!"
The classroom responded in unison, "The night shall eventually disperse, and dawn must co!"
In the subsequent lesson, Chucher explained in detail how to find the Guardian Fire Sparks that lay dormant in the darkness.
And how to ignite a new Guardian Fire.
— It requires Fire Embers, Fire Seed, high-grade Fuel Elent, and Firewood.
Rod didn’t know why, but he associated it with the process of igniting stars, there were many similarities, though they were not entirely the sa.
Perhaps there are many secrets hidden in the Dream Realm beyond my imagination.
Rod thought, planning to resolve the language issue as soon as possible.
After the morning’s lessons and only a short rest, the afternoon sessions began.
The teacher was a woman shrouded in a black robe, nad Priscilla, and her lessons were on the Soul.
This class was particularly enriching; Rod learned many things about the Soul and resolved many questions he had.
In the evening, it was ti for combat training.
The instructor was a High Rank Knight nad Soron who told everyone that the core three elents of combat strength are "Spiritual Energy," "Characteristic," and "Tactics."
Spiritual Energy is the root of everything; without it, there is no combat strength.
Characteristic is the developnt and application of one’s own abilities; so seemingly inferior Characteristic Abilities, if deeply explored, can often exert unexpected power.
Tactics refers to the skills and techniques of combat, divided into physical combat and characteristic combat.
Physical combat usually refers to close-quarters combat, using Spiritual Energy Enhancent and excellent combat skills to deal direct strikes to monsters.
Characteristic combat, on the other hand, entails using one’s own Characteristic Abilities for battle, such as spiritual energy cannons.
For the average Combatant, mastering one of these is enough.
But for "the very best," both physical combat and characteristic combat are essential to grasp.
This is because they cannot afford to have weaknesses; in most teams, they must play a versatile role.
The emphasis here is on physical combat.
Soron’s exact words were, "Characteristics cannot be changed, but physical combat skills are all learnable."
Even if your Characteristic allows you to stay in a safe position for ranged attacks, in the perilous Dark World, there are always unexpected events; when monsters break through the formation and co to you, you must be able to dodge their assault and counterattack.
Otherwise, you, as "the very best," do not deserve to be the core of the team.
And this point was Rod’s biggest flaw.
Up to now, he had never used physical combat and could be called a pure "Characteristic faction," referring to a school of combat that relies solely on Characteristic Abilities.
Watching Rod train, Soron’s face almost contorted; he had never seen a student with such poor fundantals, like a complete novice.
Yet, his records showed that he had already seen plenty of battles.
Perhaps his Characteristic was too strong.
Soron thought to himself.
This bad habit of relying only on Characteristic Abilities had to be sternly corrected!
Thus, Soron spent most of his ti focusing on training Rod.
If the basics are poor, then start with the very basics.
So, while the other students were learning advanced combat skills, Rod had no choice but to run laps around the training ground all by himself.
A hundred laps in fifteen minutes.
Fail to complete it, and another hundred laps were added.
And so, Rod’s rigorous training within the secret branch began.
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