*Two months later*
East Coast City
Spirit Ascension platform. Spirit Pagoda
I was on a bus going to Spirit Pagoda. Let's start with a small rant. Today is another big day and I needed to be calm for what I am going to face today.
All the things that I have been had improved the state of my mind to being less fragile.
I am proud of myself!
The world is not fair. The students of class Zero were able to take Spirit Ascension platform more than 11 times in just three months, if I remembered correctly.
I had to wait for a whole two months to get an opportunity to enter it once because first come, first serve.
Luckily I was able to have a chance to enter it. Even if it took more than two months. Repeating myself to assert self assurance.
I don't know why but I get extremely nervous and uncomfortable during momenta like this.
In three months, I reached level 13. My body was also stronger than most. Yes! From the person who was weaker than my peers to someone who isn't, I have grown a lot. The downside of it being my scars, specially on the face because this idiot in ne thought that since my face was fine the previous, I should do it again. Now I look traumatised with scars to complete my sad backstory of surviving a family fire.
In reality, I disfigured my face but it's not permanent. I am a Soul Master and not many things are permanent for me.
I clearly need to improve my toxin creations though. Things would be so easier with it. The only thing that my current soul skill does is to increase my digestion. My healing speed and others were still the same since I am Soul Master. That's the only explanation I need now.
I trained daily, my scars could not even heal properly as new scars came before the accelerated healing of my vials. I also can't go to the Soul hospital as healing soul skills cause more damage to my overcharged state because excess energy doesn't like additional energy and it goes more rampant.
My teachers were worried but I was able to explain that I got into an accident during my holidays. Although sceptical, they seem to have accepted this for now.
Generally speaking, I thought that maybe there weren't that many kind people in this world but I am being proven wrong.
But this also makes me afraid. I don't know what I would do if I get attached to them and something were to happen to them.
I have been keeping a distance and avoid the good people and have also limited myself to just the academy.
I may be being over cautious but I am not in the best of my mind. I am what I was as a child and I wasn't a docile child.
I may just... do things and then not regret afterwards.
Ending my thoughts, the Spirit Ascension platform came, signalling an end to my preparatory thoughts. I got off the bus. No matter how many times I look, my first impression to this building was always " this building was huge".
I went in, found the way to the platform, got into a lift. I pressed the lift button, the lift came and I pressed my desired floor. In a few minutes the lift opened, I exited the lift. Completely unnecessary information but it works to keep my mind away from the weird thoughts and jokes that is currently going in my mind.
So many lefts, so many rights and there I was, finally at the entrance or whatever it was (a lift) to the Spirit Ascension Platform.
I showed my appointment information given to me by the receptionist two months or so ago and they granted me the permission to enter... another lift.
I see what they are doing here and I hate it.
Inside I filled some forms regarding my mental health conditions and all, since this platform can mentally cripple some children. It HAD MENTALLY CRIPPLED SOME CHILDREN.
'Interesting.'
What a safe thing that is available for the use of children. Oh wait, Soul Masters were considered adults.
I looked at the staff. The staff politely gestured me to get into the pod. I nodded and took of my shirt.
"Don't bite your tongue."
"The spirit ascension platform is the fruit of a millennium years of our Spirit Pagoda's efforts and knowledge. We had invested an enormous amount of resources and used our spatial technology to create a different world, therefore, the first thing you need to note is that the spirit ascension platform is a virtual world. To be precise, it is half virtual and half real. This is because a lot of the virtual data relies on your input. However, it can be considered purely virtual within the elementary spirit ascension platform, so there is no need to fear for your life."
"Pertain from any immoral behavior like nudity and such, and you can do anything you want in the spirit ascension platform, but your main objective will be to survive. Do your best to survive as long as you can. The longer you survive, the greater the benefits you will reap."
"Secondly, don't believe that it is completely safe in there. Although your life will not be in danger as only your brain waves are active in there, in some extreme circumstances, there is a possibility that your brain waves will be damaged and cause danger to your corporeal body. As such, the moment you face danger beyond your power to deal with, press the emergency exit button; and you will immediately exit the spirit ascension platform. Understood?"
"Hmm. Understood." I replied. Like hell I did. There was something missing that she wasn't telling me.
"As for the rest, you will learn them after experiencing it inside. Today is the first time you will be inside, so you probably won't survive too long, but it should leave a deep impression on you. Prepare yourselves mentally and remember this: don't panic if you run into a dangerous situation. Soul beasts aren't that scary if you know how to react properly."
The capsule closed and darkness ensued.
*Whoosh*
He was in a lush forest surrounded by gigantic trees and large thickets of shrubbery. There wasn't a single path in sight. It felt like he had entered an ancient forest.
It was not familiar. Even though he was hoping for it to be false, it wasn't. The forest in his old world had a smaller variety in the number of fauna and they didn't exhibit this much vitality. The two were called forests but to him this was unfamiliar.
"I remember now. I am Surya Jayvardhan..."
He realised at this point that he had already left his past life. There was no him here. He was not him of the forest officers but Fan Lin, a level 13 Soul Master, in this world.
Tears roll down his eyes as what shouldn't have was now remembered.
All the emotions suddenly rushed to his mind, his guilt, his anger, his rage, his despair, his longings and his his precious memories that he gained throughout his life, along with the deep sated hatred that he had for humans. It all came down, rushing, crashing, ending what he had built of himself.
He couldn't help it, couldn't stop it and was forcefully broken down to the lowest point of his already low mentally fragile mental condition.
[...right?]
He sat on the spot to cry. He cried a lot. He remembered what he had done. After fifteen minutes he was done. He wiped his tears and went in search for what he had come for, with a calmness that represented the surging ocean.
....
Fan Lin wandered around the forest. He didn't encounter anyone. He wasn't searching for a soul beast.
After a while, he finally encountered some people. They were fighting a buffalo with tentacles a little distance away from him.
"What are they doing here?" He whispered, bewildered at the situation.
Such heavy vocabulary but the situation clearly demanded it.
He stared at Tang Wulin and his classmates for a few seconds and went the other way. He can do much to them.
The class Zero were taken to Spirit Ascension platform regularly by Wu Zhangkong. So there was a chance that he will meet them. To meet them on his first coming to the platform sounds like exaggerated bad luck. He really was not lucky to meet them so soon nor was he ready to face them. Too weak,he was; hence he took the another direction to roam.
'What can they do? Stop me?'
This time he found many Spirit beasts roaming the vicinity. He slowly and carefully treaded along his way, able to avoid most of them.
(The number of soul beasts here are lower than the others maybe...)
Finally after an hour he found what he was looking for. A lonely human male(injured)
A human male around the age of sixteen - seventeen was injured by some Soul beast. There were burnt marks on his clothes and his hair. He must have faced some fire element soul beast. He was in a half lying, half sitting position while his back was using the trees trunk for support.
Fan Lin was observing him in the dark. He circled around the male and kept getting closer and closer to him. Suddenly the male opened his eyes and fired something towards the bush. It was opposite Fan Lin but Fan Lin sped up and ended the man with a clean roundhouse kick to the head, crushing the head.
He stood there, menacingly. As the body of the man faded away, he used his cultivation technique and the dim yellow light of spirit energy was slowly being absorbed by him.
Humans or to be precise Spirit Masters and soul beasts both possess spirit energy. Humans drop spirit energy after their deaths in the spirit ascension platform since their bodies in the Spirit Ascension Platform were created using a part of their spiritual power and it was also this that linked them to the Spirit Ascension Platform, thus allowing them to absorb the spirit energy of the Spirit Ascension Platform for their usage.
It was one of the proven theories by the Spirit Pagoda scientists but since there were no actual records of anyone talking about it, Fan Lin was a bit unsure and required proof so that he can use it during the tide.
[It's actually cannon]
The reason why other people don't kill humans was because they lacked spirit power compared to soul beasts. Even a 10 year of soul beast provided more spirit energy than a soul elder. It was just not efficient to hunt humans for their spirit energy.
That was the rational consensus.
The people who can use the Spirit Ascension Plane were rich and should not be messed me. That was the common and well accepted consensus.
Plus focusing on killing the humans when there were better options would definitely brand someone in the limelight and not the good kind.
Fan Lin didn't know that as it was an advanced class course common sense and he was still in the intermediate course. The current him didn't care.
Fan Lin was calm. Enough that he didn't heard the sound of the soul beast behind him, neither did he showed any kind of struggle to his assailant as it bit him here and there, thrashing his body like a ragdoll. He died in calmness and he died slowly.
I opened my eyes. I saw nothing. I can see nothing. My body was painful. Everywhere hurts.
"Did I die?"
I foolishly looked around my surroundings as my sight was quite hazy.
"Are you okay Sir?"
"...I am not. What happened?" I asked in confusion.
"You died Sir." The staff replied.
"Again...? Whatever." I asked
"Can you book me more slots on the days there are more people, especially handsome males?"
"Ah, yes."
"Thank you. Please inform me when the slots open."
I got up and limped my way to the exit.