CHAPTER 100: GENESIS TO GOLD?! (YO, WE MADE IT TO 100 CHAPS!)

They stayed by the spring now, their trip on hold.

At the moment, Aramith was slowly getting better. He was still unable to cultivate normally, but he could now cultivate about two percent of the usual amount a normal cultivator could take.

Lynnor felt he would be better if he were in a place with more condensed Youm, but they hadn’t arrived at the academy yet.

Mozrael had been able to store energy in large amounts, but Lynnor couldn’t tell just how much she had been able to store. For another two days, Lynnor made Mozrael take her time to circulate the energy within. She wasn’t allowed to absorb any more Youm.

And at the end of the second day, Lynnor decided to teach her to break through. People would break through to the next gate on their own, but for the very first breakthrough, they needed guidance.

While Aramith cultivated, Lynnor guided Mozrael to feel the energy flowing within. As expected, she easily understood it and was able to control the energy without being told. lynnor then made her condense all the energy in small amounts in order to force a break through.

When one started cultivating, one would be at the Genesis gate. And after your first breakthrough, you would move on to the bronze gate.

Though these kids hadn’t broken through any gates, their unique situations made them have the strength of someone several gates ahead. But they lacked proper control and technique. Their other redeeming quality was the physical strength they had managed to gain through rigorous training. Without any energy, they could move faster and easily fight someone at the first step of the Silver Gate.

After explaining everything to Mozrael, she moved on to sit aside and observe the two.

Aramith was still unravelling the blockage that prevented his cultivation, which was slow.

But the fact that he was making progress excited him.

An hour passed.

Two hours passed

Three

Four

Five.

Nothing.

MOzrael was still stuck. For the first time, she was having difficulty breaking through.

It didn’t seem to be a good thing, but it made Lynnor smile. She moved over to quietly squat before Mozrael.

The girl had a bitter expression, and sweat beaded her forehead.

"So you’re human after all," Lynnor chuckled.

Mozrael opened her eyes, surprised that Lynnor was right in front of her.

"Difficult, huh?" She raised an eyebrow.

Mozrael looked down and nodded. This was the first time since Lynnor started teaching them that she’d faced a wall. It just didn’t seem to work. No matter how hard she pushed, the gate Lynnor mentioned wouldn’t budge.

Nothing opened for her, and her energy remained as it was. What was she doing wrong?

She glanced at Aramith, who was seriously cultivating, a small smile on her face. This made MOzrael smile as well.

He wasn’t progressing as much as she was, yet he was happy. She had to be grateful.

"Hey, listen," Lynnor snapped her fingers. "This is how it’s supposed to be. You were getting it too easily anyway, so take this as your lesson on how difficult it is to cultivate."

She looked at Aramith. "I mean, look at that miserable kid. He’s not making much progress at all, but he’s trying. And that’s how it feels for most people, so don’t think you’re the one not pushing enough. It has to be like that."

Mozrael nodded. She was right. Up until now, things have been a little too easy for her. No, way too easy.

She thanked Lynnor and resumed.

After spending the whole night, nothing changed. She was getting worried.

She wanted to continue, but Lynnor forced them to get rest.

She tried as much as she could, but she couldn’t sleep at all. Her mind kept darting around, and she just couldn’t understand why it was so difficult for her.

Lynnor had explained it all to her, and she udnerstood that there were difficulties people normally faced, but still...

The next day was the same.

Lynnor found it funny how their roles suddenly reversed. Aramith was getting the hang of things, while Mozrael was finding it difficult to progress.

But it still bothered her somehow. She’d never heard of prodigies finding difficulty in breaking through their first gate. It was supposed to be the easiest thing for them.

Three days passed like that, and while Mozrael suffered, Aramith was getting better. At the moment, he could now cultivate at around twenty percent of a normal person’s level.

Mozrael had managed to hide her difficulty in progressing from Aramith, but it was eating at her. She had been unable to sleep one bit since then, and was always too eager (More like desperate) to cultivate.

She wanted to prove that she would make it, but nothing changed.

This night, Lynnor made Aramith clean himself first before she went in with Mozrael.

Lynnor could easily see the stress eating at the girl, so she decided to make her relax longer in the water. The bags under her eyes were getting heavier, and now Lynnor had seen them.

"Today, I want to try something different," Lynnor said after a while.

"Back in the academy, students who do very well are granted permission to go to a special place to cultivate."

Mozrael was as attentive as ever.

"The special place is a river that flows with a very pure form of Youm. It has two advantages. First of all, it’s filled with a large amount of youm, which can be absorbed easily."

She stood up, hand on her waist as the water cascaded down her body. "The second is that it helps students relax. And so, today, you’re going to cultivate in there."

She didn’t wait for a response before she cleaned up and got out of the water.

Mozrael understood her and did as she was told. The water did have some sort of calming effect, so maybe this would help her.

She sat in the shallow parts, the steam curling around her like it was mocking her. Three days. Three nights. She had counted every heartbeat, every exhale, every failed attempt. The gate might as well have been a mountain carved from her own stubbornness.

Whack!

"Ah," Mozrael grabbed her head and turned to see Lynnor standing behind her. This was the first time Lynnor hit her like that.

"Are you an idiot?" She asked.

"Why would you—"

"I have a question. Why did I say you should try cultivating here?"

Mozrael hesitated. "You said it would help me?"

WHack!

"Why?" Her eyes stung

"I told you to do it here because you can calm down."

But Mozrael didn’t get why she hit her. "But I’m doing it here."

"Not that. Didn’t I teach you breathing exercises?"

Mozrael remembered the breathing exercises, but that was when they were starting cultivation. What did that have to do with this?

"You don’t remember them?" Lynnor raised an arm again, which made Mozrael answer quickly.

"Yes I remember."

"Then why didn’t you use them?"

"But you didn’t tell me—"

Whack! "Do I have to tell you what to do to calm down after I taught you how to calm down?!" Lynnor barked, jabbing a finger toward her. "You’ve got a brain, right? Use it! Or is that too much to ask from the great prodigy?"

"No," she answered instinctively. Her skull throbbed.

"Do that for one hour before cultivating!" And with that, Lynnor turned and left.

Mozrael rubbed her head where Lynnor had struck. She hit the same spot all three times. Couldn’t she have just said it?

She used some of the warm water to massage her head for a while before she continued.

She hated that she had to do those breathing exercises for a whole hour, but what can a student say when their teacher instructed them to do something?

For an hour, she altered the way she breathed.

The first twenty minutes were agony. Every breath felt too slow, too deliberate, like trying to force herself to yawn. But then her shoulders sank. The knot between her eyebrows smoothed. The river’s warmth wrapped her like a blanket, and the restless scraping in her mind quieted to a murmur.

When the hour of breathing exercises was over, she even felt sleepy.

She stretched a little, then attempted to cultivate again. It was subtle, but she felt a small difference.

Mozrael smiled. She continued to guide her energy to her heart. Carefully moving it to settle at one point. She al;lowd it to swirl in her heart for some time before she tried. This time, she could feel the energy moving.

It was working!

She pushed harder now, though gently. The energy flowed through in bits, pushing past the blockage she’d felt for days. But from experience, she didn’t force her way through just like that. She needed to relax when doing it.

Little by little, the blockage was removed, and then all of a sudden it exploded open.

The moment the blockage shattered, it wasn’t just energy that poured through her. It was a flood of sensation.

Her ears rang with a low, thrumming hum, like the world’s heartbeat pounding in her skull. Heat licked up her spine, coiling through her limbs in waves that made her toes curl. The water around her vibrated, rippling in perfect circles as the bronze glow flared to life.

The energy flowed like a powerful current, pushing past its limits. She felt it suddenly spread erratically around her body like fire, then it suddenly rushed back to her heart. She felt it explode again, then spread through her body.

It flowed with more heat now, then it all flowed back to her heart. Again. This kept going on, and she couldn’t control the energy. She allowed it to flow.

Lynnor was observing Aramith. His smile looked cute. She was about to say something when she suddenly felt the implosion of energy.

VOOM! The water glowed with a bronze hue.

"So she finally broke through, huh?" She stood up and slowly walked toward Mozrael, wondering how the girl would feel excited about it.

Then the unexpected happened.

The glow became brighter, then it dimmed.

Then it happened again, then a third.

VROOM!

Lynnor froze mid-step, one foot still in the water. Bronze... okay, fine. That could be expected.The silver flare hit. Her heart skipped. "Wait, no—"

Lynnor couldn’t believe it, but her shock was about to escalate.

The silver glow around Mozrael became brighter as well, then dimmed.

It happened again three more times, then

An even larger pulse of energy radiated from Mozrael.

Then gold roared out of Mozrael like a sun exploding underwater. Lynnor’s mouth fell open, but her mind was just a string of profanity.

But that wasn’t all.

The gold color pulsed once.

Twice

Thrice

A fourth

Then fifth!

The glow became brighter and brighter, then it all shot back into Mozrael.

Lynnor’s jaw was wide open for over a minute.

She broke through from the Genesis to Gld at once?!

This was unheard of.

Unheard of.