Bright Hope

Unknown to all residents in Pearlcrest, a historical legend in its making was currently sitting inside the starting area of the Decrypted Woods.

That historical legend was a lone young figure sitting cross-legged near a particularly large tree and was entirely still. The youthful figure had a battered, worn-out look as if they just had narrowly escaped out of a battle with their life barely intact.

Of course, this youth was Asher, and his body appearance didn't reflect how he truly was feeling.

Since he woke up, only a few minutes quickly slipped by.

And in those short minutes, Asher went through a multitude of emotions. His prowess had explosively increased to an unfathomable point where it almost seemed fabricated.

Furthermore, his previously critically injured body was nearly all healed now. The energy of Elsa's healing pill and his powers strengthening all contributed towards Asher making a swift recovery.

And the more Asher's body healed, the more he could fully feel the fantastic sensation of immense power coursing in his veins.

When comparing himself from yesterday to now, Asher felt as he had wholly evolved to a higher state.

His eyes that were closed tight from focusing on recovering suddenly snapped open. Now when his eyes open, a tiny sparkle of a brilliant Ghost Lighting glow surged deep within his pupils.

Even if Asher wanted to be calm, he simply couldn't stop a growing wide smile from encompassing his face. He began cracking his locked-up joints, and he literally heard them pop with a burst of Magical Aura.

Asher had then stared into his palms, clenching them over and over again, still in slight disbelief over this incredible new power.

The depressive dark future that heavily weighed on his mind had vanished at this moment.

Right then, Asher began to talk out loud in his mind, 'Like this, I'm more than one hundred percent assured I can crush Jayline. But Yuki….I feel like I can go even higher. I can become even more powerful to make my victory that much suffocating for the whole Kane Gang.'

Since the Kane Gang wanted to start the vicious war of using his friends to get what they want, Asher wouldn't hold back.

This increasing ruthlessness he held towards that Gang nearly reminded Asher of other people he really didn't want to recall as of now. Thankfully, Yuki got his mind distracted when her beautiful voice spoke out to him.

'Oh you~. Never a moment rest with us. But this stamina will help us in more ways than one. Barring that, before you get too excited in your future fights, are you even feeling good enough to walk?'

Asher violently gripped down on his palms and briefly blink.

Only a mild pain shock through his body now. Even though his increasing strength did help with recovery, the main work came from that Healing Pill energy.

At this point, Asher was beginning to fall into the camp of really wanting to covet these pills. Healing energy really does break all common sense and makes life-threatening things so mundane and trivial.

Shaking his head at that thought, Asher gradually rose to his feet. While doing so, his bones make audible pops, showing him just how fast his strength is developing.

Before Asher answered Yuki, he decided to do an experiment.

Asher spread out his Aura Sense to what would be his standard limit before this day.

And if Asher still had the same power, he would begin feeling a considerable strain if he were to go past seventy feet of distance with his Aura Sense.

But now, seventy feet of distance was absolutely nothing to Asher!

His curiosity arose, and Asher began slowly spreading his Aura Sense even more. To eighty feet, ninety feet, one hundred feet, and all the way up to one hundred forty feet, his Aura Sense covered it all.

And even more shocking was that Asher barely felt tired.

Truthfully, Asher wasn't sure about the limits and standards of the range an Aura Sense can expand up to while at his level. But, he felt confident enough that he had a decent enough range now.

This new discovery made Asher's tone more jovial when he had finally replied to Yuki. 'I'm feeling more than just good enough. I feel fantastic. Let's get home now.'

Yuki gave her usual melodic hum of agreement, also feeling far less strained now.

Though he was still in the dark shade of the Decrypted Woods, Asher felt like his whole day got a hundred times brighter. With a pep in his step, he began to eagerly walk back home.

….

Inside the living room of Asher's apartment.

Asher was currently sitting on his couch, being at complete ease in a relaxed lotus position. He had arrived home not too long ago, and the only thing he immediately did before this was getting a drink of water.

After all those grueling fights, Asher was surprisingly parched. Even after downing a whole bottle of water, his throat was quite dried. It was a small thing Asher noticed as his Spirit Tier body was supposed to help make his bodily functions more manageable.

Especially now that he turned level 2, Asher didn't quite expect to be so oddly thirsty. However, since it was just a thirst, Asher didn't pay much heed to it.

Once Asher felt a bit refreshed, he immediately began cultivating. And like he expected, Asher also experienced immediate changes here.

Inside his mental scape space, Asher could spot clear, defined trails of his Ghost, Ghost Lightning, Spirit Aura, and Spirit Mana energies within his space.

Now he didn't need to take the time to gather those powers here; all of those energies are permanently infused within his mental scape space.

At this point, Asher considers himself to be self-taught with nearly everything he knows about cultivation.

He didn't need to read if this was the proper process or have it explained out to him in laborious details. Asher simply followed his natural instinct and smoothly cultivated upon his Spirit Mana.

Because his other powers had already tremendously increased, the next best option to quickly increase his strength was improving on Spirit Mana control.

In just a few seconds, Asher quickly pulled in Spirit Mana from the air.

Now, Asher didn't feel any slight resistance with pulling in Spirit Mana, almost as if he was sucking it up like a vacuum. Inside Asher's mental scape space, another change occurred with Spirit Mana.

As the small stream of Spirit Mana increased, the once blurry form of energy was now nearly entirely visible to Asher's vision.

The luminous blue glow of Spirit Mana appeared far more detailed and exuded a powerful, potent aura.

This change led to one swift conclusion for Asher. 'So it would seem my comprehension ability was also strengthened. Things, just keep getting better.'

From all these glorious rewards, Asher was half tempted to take on another deadly mission. But he quickly got a hold of himself and immediately dispelled that foolish thought.

No matter how quickly his power is growing, Asher reminded himself that there's always a higher mountain.

Trying to take another mission would just be his confidence leading him on a path of doom. Realizing this, Asher refocused his mind and continued back to cultivating.

Right as he was about to do so, a sudden vibration went off beside him.

Asher peered his eyes over to see his phone flashing up, indicating he had just received an important email. His eyebrows quirked on instinct as he saw it was from Balreth Academy.

Picking up his phone, Asher swiftly opened the email and read it over. The message was long-winded and professional, but he got the gist of what it was about.

And in all honesty, Asher was expecting this email to come.

Like he had discussed with Elsa, the Academy had sent the email detailing that tomorrow will be when the Competition Year students participate in the Potential Assembly.

Compared to Elsa's explanation, they went far more depth on what the Potential Assembly exactly is.

And as the name implied, this is where all Competition Year students will show off where their latent talent stands at the beginning of the year.

After having a few days of classes, students now have a faint idea of the complex properties of the Spirit Tier realm. And the Academy decided this would be the appropriate time to see how they should sort every Competition Year student.

The talent that one would show during the Assembly sticks with them for the rest of the year since it is known that it's nearly impossible to change your talent.

Doing that would require one to be a genius that can contend with even the top Ranking Genius students.

The event would be happening in the early morning and there's a set time all Competition students must have their talents checked before it ends. Furthermore, the General Job students will also see the event, making out to be a big showcase.

After thoroughly reading the email over, Asher started to think out loud. 'I wonder….just where does my own talent lie? It has to be decent enough to go at least past the Origin Tier realm. What do you think of Yuki.'

'Oh little Asher~. You will clearly see how far you stand above those mere brats.' Yuki teased in a sing-song voice.

Even if Yuki didn't directly tell him, Asher could already guess his talent is quite unique. In just a few days, he managed to progress far with his Spirit Mana control and comprehend a Battle Skill in just a few short hours.

Moreover, he's also receiving System's mission, something that numerous Professors around his Academy say is only for special people.

Asher almost felt odd while thinking about the Potential Assembly. Just two days ago, he felt immensely suffocated by this event. At that time, he didn't know how he could defeat Jayline, and he would have experienced the despair of trying to fight him only to get brutally crushed.

But now, he was filled with brimming confidence!

With his prowess and training he could get in now, Asher was sure to give Jayline and the whole Kane Gang a rude awakening on what true talent is.

While he was on his phone, Asher's mind started to recall Reese and Kylee. Even until this point, neither of them had texted him back.

Asher felt partial blame as he hadn't made a considerable attempt to reach out to them. But his saving grace was by tomorrow; he could meet up with them after destroying Jayline in front of everyone.

Plus, when he beat Jayline, Asher was sure they would be willing to talk to him since he would be declaring his relations with them afterward.

Right then, Asher was pulled from his thoughts when his phone buzzed again. A bundle of warmth and joy swirled in his chest as he received a message from his cute and caring girlfriend.

She specifically asked, 'what are you doing?'

And when Asher looked over to the time, he felt a wry smile form. It has really only been a few minutes after the promised time he told her he would text her.

Although, he guessed he could see her immediate concerns since she knows his personality very well. And to think, just a little bit before, he really was going to die in a critical moment.

Moreover, it was Asher's thoughts of her that significantly helped him reach enlightenment.

Shaking his head at that thought, Asher planned to do some light coaxing before he returned back to cultivating.