The dueling hall was a cavern of polished black stone and resonant crystal. High above, gentle light filtered through crystalline panels, but Leo's eyes were drawn to the far wall. There, in a recess of honor, sat a towering statue of the Founding Father. He was depicted not in battle, but in deep cultivation. One hand rested palm-up on his knee, a carved swirl of crimson stone—like crystallized blood—hovering above it. On his head rested a simple, stark crown.
Instructor Boran, a broad-shouldered man with kind eyes now shadowed with uncharacteristic gravity, stood before them. "Take your places," he said, his voice echoing in the vast space. "Today is not a day for fighting each other."
One hundred students filed onto their circular pods, slightly raised platforms that dotted the hall floor. As Leo stepped onto his, he glanced across the aisles. Lisa, Ramsey, and Jens were finding theirs. For a fleeting second, their eyes met. Then Leo felt the faint vibrational hum through his soles as his platform activated, and a subtle, heavy pressure began to build in the room, as if the air itself was thickening with potential.
"You are the final junior class of Atom District, Third Sector, Afro Continent," Boran began, pacing slowly. The pressure seemed to amplify his voice, making every word feel deliberate and weighted. "In my ten years teaching at Afram Junior High, your batch has been… the most intriguing. The most alive. It breaks my heart a little that this is our final lesson."
He stopped, facing them. "Your final duel will not be against a simulation, or a monster, or each other. Today, you duel against yourselves. Today, you take your first true step into Wave Cultivation."
A murmur rippled through the hall. Leo felt a jolt of anticipation mixed with impatience.
"My mandate," Boran continued, tapping the curriculum module on his wrist, "is to teach you the basics. The foundation. There are three steps to mastery. The first—the only one we will touch today—is the Opening of the Third Eye. Pass this, and you are halfway prepared for the Senior High Entrance Exam. The schools and professions you choose will later determine which branch of the cultivation arts you study—Combat, Medicine, Agriculture, or Engineering."
He paused, letting that future sink in. Leo's gaze drifted unconsciously toward Lisa's platform. As if feeling it, she turned her head. She caught him staring and her lips curved into a small, teasing, almost flirty smile before she smoothly looked back at Boran. Leo quickly focused forward, his ears growing warm.
"You have learned to use technology and martial forms to defend yourselves," Boran said, his gaze sweeping over them. "But the mystery of internal cultivation… that is a different path. Since the Discovery, we have woven resonance into every field of life. Most of you," he said, with a knowing look that lingered on Leo, "think first of warfare and monsters. But the Unification was founded on a vision of ease and simplicity. Using advanced resonance to make daily life peaceful and prosperous. That was the dream of the Thorne Dynasty."
Boran walked to his own, larger platform at the room's center. "On your screens, the basic manual is now displayed. The first step is simple to say, arduous to do: Allow yourself to experience the waves around you. Your platforms will now enclose you. A low-dose, wide-spectrum radio wave will be released. Your task is not to fight it. It is to open to it. To feel it. I will demonstrate."
The instructor sat, cross-legged and erect. He took a deep, audible breath, and closed his eyes.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, the air around Boran shimmered, the pressure in the room increased. His ordinary brown hair lifted as if in a slow-motion wind, though not a strand in the hall stirred. A soft, white light began to emanate from behind his head, not blinding, but definitive. When his eyes snapped open, they were glowing pools of pure, white.
The fuck, Leo thought, staring unabashedly. This wasn't a weapon technique. This was something… inward. Something profound and slightly unsettling.
"Sorry seems I went a bit overboard, Begin," Instructor Boran's voice resonated as the pressure in the room decreased, not from his mouth, but through the very air and the decreasing pressure in Leo's chest.
The translucent dome of Leo's platform slid shut with a soft hiss. The world outside became a blurred, silent tableau. The low, pervasive hum swelled, vibrating in his teeth and bones, and the atmospheric pressure within the capsule spiked, pushing in on him from all sides. Words flashed on the screen before him:
OPEN.