Fifteen minutes later, Ms. Cai opened the door again to see the girls and I standing there, waiting awkwardly.

"Uh… come in."

We did as told, heading into the room. The other students who were waiting with us did the same.

After sitting back down in her chair, Ms. Cai rubbed her eyes, which didn't seem any better despite the nap she took.

"Ugh… sorry about earlier… I get really pissed when people disturb my rest… what's your name again?"

She looked towards me, and I saw no reason to lie.

"Xuan Kai," I replied briskly.

"Oh yeah… we haven't done self-introductions yet, right…?" Ms. Cai sighed. "Ah, whatever… screw that. Okay, class, this afternoon, we're going to be doing… uh… magic training. I say that, but it's really just cultivation… follow me."

She stood up from her chair and headed for the door. All the students had returned from lunch already, so we just followed after her, walking through the halls.

"Where are we going, Ms. Cai?" The same boy who always seemed to have a question asked, first in line.

"Nothing special… just a place rich in mana so you can cultivate…"

"Like the Magic Training Room back at Shenzhen Magic High…?" Feng Mian whispered from behind me.

"Most likely," I replied. Just far better.

We exited the Main Campus and headed for the Facilities Campus, where the cafeteria, computer labs, and such were. Clearly, this 'cultivation room' we were heading to was also there.

Then, heading down the stairs, we came to a stop before two white doors at the very bottom floor. It sat right at the foot of the stairs, and there was no other way to go other than through these doors — unless, of course, we backtracked and climbed the stairs upwards.

Ms. Cai pushed open the doors and our eyes widened at what was beyond them.

We entered a large, wide open room, with 21 gates within it. Ten on the left wall, ten on the right, and one directly across from us. Each one was marked with a symbol that represented the element the gate was correspondent to, and also color-coded as well.

"I don't need to explain anything, do I…? Just pick an element you have and go into the respective room… not hard."

Immediately, the class disbanded, each diving into the different gates. Before long, the girls and I were the only ones remaining outside.

"Not going to go in?" Ms. Cai raised an eyebrow and asked.

"No no, we are… just figuring out which gate we want to go into," I replied, then turned to the girls. "Let's split into pairs based on elemental affinity. Mei Gui, you can stay with me… the rest of you figure it out."

"Understood," Mei Gui replied as the rest of the girls nodded in confirmation. "Master, which room are we going in?"

"Hm… how about… Curse."

And so, the two of us headed into the gate marked with a dark purple spiral insignia, while the others formed their duos and went into their respective gates.

*****

Immediately after entering the Curse room, I could feel an incredible mana denseness wrap me up.

"Mm… this is indeed a lot better than Shenzhen Magic High."

"Master, you should-"

"Don't worry, Mei Gui… I know. I'm just looking for the right opportunity."

Naturally, I knew what she was talking about — absorbing this room's mana. I wasn't particularly low, but it was a good idea to always keep my storage filled to the brim, just in case.

Mei Gui and I found somewhere far away from everyone else in the room. There looked to be about a dozen or so students, ranging in school year and class. Still, given how immensely huge the room was, it's not like it was crowded or anything. They paid the two of us no mind, since they were all too busy cultivating and enjoying the richness of the mana in here.

Sitting down, I closed my eyes for a few seconds, then slowly opened one of them to see if anyone was watching. Since they weren't, I discretely opened one palm and began using my Chaos power to absorb the mana in this room. It felt nice and warm, far better than any other kind of mana I've absorbed before.

"Master," Mei Gui suddenly said, snapping me out of my euphoria. I quickly closed my palm and stopped the absorption process, even though I was nowhere near full.

[There's someone watch us, behind you, Master.]

[Got it. Keep your eyes closed.]

[Understood.]

[Who is it?]

[Ms. Cai — our homeroom teacher.]

[… Hm. I don't think this is as simple as just checking on her students.]

[Indeed, she seems exhausted all the time. According to pattern analysis, this behavior of hers is abnormal and does not align with my expectations.]

I smiled. [In that case… there is only one answer.]

[You think someone instructed her to do this, Master?]

[There's no other explanation, is there? And besides… I have a good idea on who that 'someone' is — Liu Jian.]

[I see. That is a logical conclusion.]

Unfortunately, with her watching us like this, Mei Gui and I were unable to absorb the mana in this room. Quite unfortunate, but not too big of a deal as we could always just ask the other girls if we are running low — which we aren't. I decided to just cultivate properly here, but then I realized…

[Master…]

[Yeah, you feel it too?]

[Yes… like I can't enter a state of meditation…]

[I'm guessing this is a side effect of cultivating in the Void Realm — this place may be among the best there is in this Realm, but it cannot compare to the Void Realm's state of utter nothingness. After spending three years there, we've become accustomed to such silence… and now that we're out here, we're unable to enjoy the benefits.]

And so, the two of us spent the remainder of the time we had sitting still and doing absolutely nothing, pretending to be cultivating. Ms. Cai also stood there for the whole time, nearly about to fall asleep on the spot, but managed to somehow miraculously hang in there. I was almost impressed. She must really listen to Liu Jian's orders… or she just wants to keep her job. Probably both.

*****

In the end, we spent the whole afternoon just cultivating there. The other students seemed to all have very much enjoyed the time and begged for more, to which Ms. Cai responded with 'more to come'. Meanwhile, however, the girls and I just felt awkward. To avoid arousing suspicion, we joined in on the cheering for more opportunities like this, but really, we would just be sitting perfectly still, doing absolutely nothing whenever another time like this came around.

We

Too bad traveling to the Void Realm made you physically disappear from this Realm… I wonder if there was a way to just send my consciousness inside and cultivate from there.

In any case, the ten of us soon returned to our own dormitories after picking up our uniforms as per instructed by our teacher.

It was decided that we would be entering the Void Realm tonight for 8 months — 8 hours in the real world — to advance our cultivation even further. Now that we were at the Ancestral Mage stage, cultivation didn't do much for us anymore and we had to physically do battles, but it could still help us stabilize our foundation since we just broke through.

"About the exam coming up… what do you think it's going to be?" Feng Mian asked me, right before we prepared to head into the Void Realm.

"Most likely some sort of… diagnostic test," I replied. "They don't know about our capabilities yet — they obviously need to get a grasp on our skill level before introducing any actual exams."

"I see… that makes sense."

The ten of us entered the Void Realm after that… completely unaware that at this moment, our secrets were about to be exposed.

*****

- ??? -

"What were the results?" a male voice asked over the phone. It belonged to the principal of Shanghai Magic Academy — Liu Jian.

The person holding the phone was one of his employees — the homeroom teacher of Class 1-D, Series 1.

"You were right," she said, sighing deeply. "The mana sensors… they were all over the place for him."

"But of course… that boy holds secrets we have yet to even begin to comprehend. Did you record and save all the data from the sensors?"

"All in a USB, just as you requested. I'll deliver them to you… uh, tomorrow."

"Good, good… I will take them to my good friend Professor Lang for further experimentation and analysis. I will let you know if I need something done again, Ms. Cai."

"… Yes. Of course."

As the other party hung up the phone, Cai Shuang Yi gripped her phone tightly in her hands, gritting her teeth tightly to force down the anger rising up in her heart.

"You bastard, Liu Jian… if it wasn't for my brother being in your hands… I would never…!"

She then glanced down at her other hand, where not one, but two USBs lay.

"Luckily… there's another half of the story I didn't tell him. That girl… she's also a variable to be examined."

Closing her fist around the two disks tightly, she swore to herself.

"Perhaps... I can use these two to fight back against Liu Jian once and for all... after seven long years."