Infinite Star - Chapter 12
“ZAYN!!!”
Zayn was still sitting in his cultivation room and cultivating when someone screamed his name and shook him awake.
“WhWhat?”
All the qi Zayn was immersed in vanished and with that, the comfortable feeling also disappeared. He woke up from his dream-like state and was obviously dissatisfied. He noticed Vown, trying to wake him up.
“You ok, Zayn?”
“Yeah?”
Seeing the concerned look on Vown, Zayn was confused as to what was happening right now. He saw that Vown was not alone here, an older looking man was also there. Wearing a black robe-like suit and having a majestic beard, he seemed like a noble old man.
“Amazing! This boy is wonderful.”
“Who is this? And what’s going on Vown?”
“Zayn, this is the principal of the Green Leaf City’s Thunder Head Academy. I had to call him because he is the only one who can open the room 001.”
“Wait what?? Why did you need to open the door?”
“Boy, tell me, what were you doing in the room?”
“What I was doing? Cultivating of course! What else should I do here?”
The old man looked towards Vown and they both just started staring at each other, as if they were telepathically talking. In the end, they just looked down and seemed to be in deep thought.
“Hellooo? Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on? You guys are scaring me.”
“Not here. Teacher Bolt take your student and follow me. We will discuss this in my office.”
Without waiting for any reaction, the principal walked out of the room. Zayn could not understand the situation at all. Why would Vown need to open the door? Why were both of them surprised to see him cultivating here? And why did no one explain anything to him?
“Zayn follow me!”
Vown also took off behind the principal and walked out of the room. Zayn, not understanding anything at all, stood up and followed Vown.
They walked behind the principal down the floors to leave the cultivation quarters. On the more crowded floors, everyone stopped cultivating and just stared at the trio. Zayn was somehow for the past few days always the center of attention, but now it felt different. They were always chatting or gibbering in the background while staring at him, but right now no one was talking at all. They were quiet. Zayn thought that it could be because they were in the cultivation quarters and brushed the situation off.
They continued walking down all the floors. Vown and the principal were not talking at all and he was again the center of attention.
Leaving the cultivation quarters, the situation did not change. On the cultivation grounds, everyone was staring at Zayn and were also completely quiet. Only staring. This situation did not change anywhere they walked to. It was always the same empty looking eyes staring at him and not uttering a word. It got really uncomfortable for Zayn. He tried to persuade himself into thinking that he was not the center of attention. That the crowd was staring at Vown or the principal and he was just the collateral damage. But one easily saw that the crowd focused solely on Zayn and forgot that the principal or Vown was anywhere near him.
After walking for a while, they entered the teaching quarters. The teaching quarter was the place where teachers held classes and guided their students. It was the most modern-looking building in the whole academy, as it resembled the university buildings Zayn knew of from earth. It also worked as the academy’s logistical building. The teachers had their office there and also their rooms. On the highest floor of this enormous building was the principal’s office.
The principal, Vown, and Zayn entered the teaching quarters and ignored everyone and everything there. They walked straight up to the principal’s office. For Zayn, the whole situation got weirder and weirder by the second. All the stares and the silence he received , from the principal and Vown, led him into more confusion.
The principal then entered his office and walked up to his desk and sat on his chair. Vown casually walked to the couch in front of the desk and also sat down. Zayn just stood there, mesmerized by the principal’s office. The office was on a whole new level in comparison to all the other buildings and all the other rooms. The qi inside the room gave a ferocious but calming feeling. It was terrifying but at the same time tranquilizing.
The room was like cut off from nature. The walls were engulfed in branches and leaves. A tiny waterfall flowed from the ceiling into an aquarium down to the floor. The floor was made of wood, containing small trails where the water flowed through. The aquarium itself was created through the waterfall and laid on the branches and leaves. It was not contained by anything solid or anything like that, it was held in position by qi. The fishes inside resembled the goldfishes on earth, the only difference was that there were white and black in color and held qi inside them. The desk and the couch were the only two things inside the room which were modern-looking. The principal’s office also had shelves with many ancient looking books and scrolls. Gazing at those books and scrolls, made Zayn lose himself in their charm.
“Boy do you know why everyone in the academy is in a daze?”
Zayn looked helplessly to Vown, only to find him drinking tea as if nothing important was happening in the world. This somehow relaxed him.
“I don’t know, sir. I was only cultivating in the room then you two woke me up.”
“Tell me, boy, for how long were you cultivating?”
“For how long? I- ehm ten minutes maybe? Maybe a little bit more.”
“Hahahahahahahahahahaha ten minutes? Do you really think the whole academy would be speechless because of a mere ten minutes? You seriously are a monster. You were inside the room for 8 hours. 8 HOURS! Do you know what kind of feat that is?”
“Hold on. 8 hours? Seriously?!? It felt like a few minutes. I am sorry principal, I didn’t know that there was a time limit for the room.”
“Time limit? Are you serious, boy? Hahahahahahahahaha”
“Principal, Zayn’s knowledge is really limited about cultivation, he didn’t even know basic principles of cultivation when I picked him up. He must be from a place with no cultivation background at all. But he is the most talented youngster I ever saw.”
“No cultivation knowledge? What about the True Thunder Fist?”
“Well, that is ehm Remember when I told you that he was even faster than me in comprehending the True Thunder Fist?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, he fully comprehended it yesterday, after around half an hour. Before comprehending it, he didn’t even know what a Martial Skill was.”
”
HALF AN HOUR?!? When you told me, he was even faster than you in comprehending it, I thought that he needed six days or something like that. This alone was far higher than what a genius inside the empire could dob-buthalf an hour? You must be joking.”
Zayn somehow developed the ability to let everyone around him in a daze. He himself did not regard his achievements as that high, because it was so easy for him. Everyone else was left speechless again and again. If any of them knew that Zayn’s cultivation journey only began a few days ago, each and every one would just drop dead.
“Boy, you sure are special and I now understand why you got Teacher Bolt’s approval so easily. So, your knowledge is lacking hmm Do you know why 8 hours cultivating in the room left everyone speechless?”
“No!”
“You sure sound proud for not knowing that Whatever Listen, a Body Refinement Realm Cultivator uses qi to refine their body in order to achieve the ability to store up qi. This is a strenuous task and needs complete concentration, but the human body isn’t able to supply that much concentration. After a few hours, the cultivator is left in an unconcentrated state for a while. In this state cultivating isn’t possible anymore as to the cultivator not being able to focus on the strenuous task. But this isn’t the only reason why a Body Refinement Realm Cultivator can’t cultivate for more than four hours a day. In the Body Refinement Realm, qi isn’t inside your body, you will force your body to accept the qi and refine it. This process isn’t natural for the body. It tries to alarm you that something is off and causes you after a few hours extreme pain. Even after resting for a few hours and regaining your concentration, the pain doesn’t disappear. Only after a day, the pain disappears, but then the whole cycle begins anew. Entering the Qi Gathering Realm, these problems disappear. But the question remains, how were you able to do the impossible?”
“I think I know how Zayn was able to achieve that.”
“Teacher Bolt, please elaborate.”
“Zero Heart!”