B1C20: Transformation and Enrolment

Three years had swiftly passed,

Caleb had made a lot of progress with body cultivation. He had successfully tempered himself with the Thunderbolt skill, allowing his cells to be further refined, accumulating enough energy to break through to the Human Rank. However, his inner space, although filled with a lot of liquid faith, was now being purified by the spinning crystal ball. He was in no rush to start opening his meridians or pushing for a breakthrough into the next rank.

This morning, like every other morning in the past few years, Caleb was standing in front of a crowd. The physical conditions of the crowd were a lot different compared to how they were two years ago. Also, the number of attendees had increased, with many older people present and some people donning different training outfits, indicating they were from another clan.

"I have nothing more to teach all of you. Over the past three years, you have all shown significant improvement. I would like the faith cultivators to not neglect exercise and keep their bodies in top shape. Those of you excelling in body cultivation, you are now at the start of your cultivation journey; the army is not a bad place to develop further, so consider it," Caleb announced.

Applause filled the square as gratitude and smiles were shared among the attendees, from the young to the old.

After leaving the hall, Caleb met up with Asher and Tobias. "I heard the Grand Elder succeeded in breaking through to the Prophet Rank. Let's go congratulate him," Caleb suggested.

"Congratulations, Grand Elder!" Caleb and Tobias greeted the Grand Elder.

"You rascals! I heard about your performance at the training camp. You three have made us proud. Moreover, you have been teaching the clan for the past three years, which means you had time to review and improve your understanding of what you learned at the training camp," the Grand Elder praised.

Since the three of them were present, the Grand Elder decided to give them a lecture on the Disciple Rank of faith cultivation to deepen their understanding.

"In the Believer Rank, you opened three minor meridians, one on each palm and one at the back of your neck. You used the accumulated faith energy from the meridians to open your inner space. Your aim was to fill it up, pushing you into the Disciple Rank," the Grand Elder explained, looking at the three boys. "You all must have already broken through to the Disciple Rank, as I know the training camp would have given you access to a high-level scripture, considering you three were ranked among the top 10."

"In the Disciple Rank, you will need to compress the faith energy accumulated by your meridians in your inner space until it becomes liquid. Your goal is to completely fill up the inner space with liquid faith energy, the purer the better. There are three major meridians to open at this stage, one on the navel and one on the sole of each foot. Unlike the Believer Rank, where you had to open the meridians before cultivating the inner space, you can open the meridians in the Disciple Rank at any time. Each open meridian will increase the amount of faith energy you can accumulate. It takes time to open them, so do it slowly," the Grand Elder provided further guidance. "This is all the guidance I can give you for now. You will receive more detailed instruction in the academy."

Asher and Tobias expressed their gratitude to the Grand Elder before returning to their homes.

"Caleb, do you know, you are my greatest accomplishment! It is my luck that I have someone as talented as you as my disciple, and it won't be long before you surpass me. You have exceeded my expectations. You no longer need my guidance. It seems you have found your own path. I won't ask for your reasons, just know that I believe in you," his Teacher said with pride.

"Yes, Master!" Caleb replied respectfully.

"Don't call me Master anymore. You can call me Uncle Sam," the elder insisted.

"Yes, Uncle Sam!" Caleb nodded.

Uncle Sam then handed Caleb the second verse of the Song of Solomon scripture. "Quickly memorise it," he instructed.

Caleb asked, "How was the sixth level of the killing array? Did you see it?"

"Yes, Uncle Sam," Caleb confirmed.

"There is a war on the horizon. Soon the demons will come out of hiding, and some humans will end up bewitched, leading to a war for survival. For this, we need to prepare. That's why we cultivate. Don't forget that," Uncle Sam reminded Caleb.

The next day in the clan square, a group of teenagers were engaged in training. "Come on, guys, let us have another sparring contest," a muscular youth suggested, his body radiating power. It was very visible that this child excelled in body cultivation.

"Don't you think of anything else other than sparring? Instead, focus on practising your movement technique, as Caleb pointed out to you last time," Tobias chimed in.

For some time now, the group had recognised Caleb as their leader. They trained and sparred together, preparing for the enrollment day at the academies.

"Caleb mentioned that we all need to learn a movement technique and weapon art. My comprehension is not great, so I could only learn the clan's foundation movement technique. Anything beyond that will be difficult in the limited time we have left," one of them expressed.

"So, which academy are you all planning to apply to?" Caleb asked as he walked into the square where the rest were training.

"Asher and I will be going to the Frontier Corps with you, Caleb," Tobias responded before turning to the rest. "You all should think carefully before deciding to follow us, It's a lifetime decision," Tobias added in a serious voice.

A few girls and the majority of the teenagers who had already laid a foundation in body cultivation chose the Defense Institute. This was an ideal place to shine; they could learn about defending the cities, and the body cultivators were ready to begin as shieldbearers. A couple of children, originally from the Army, decided to attend the War Seeker Academy as it was a perfect fit, having been used to the life of the Army and deploying military tactics in battle. The remaining six children chose to join Caleb and the others in enrolling at the Frontier Corps.

"Nice!" Tobias exclaimed. "The six with us are the cream of the crop, the best of the best from the three-year training program."

Seeing that everyone was currently discussing their future arrangements and how to work together in their teams based on their academies, Caleb made his way to a quiet corner to cultivate. Caleb sat in his cultivation position, with his 150kg black iron spear on his lap. Tuning out the conversations happening around him, he was immersed in the crystal ball.

Caleb made his way to the Spearmaster who was currently performing Caleb's version of the Six Divine Spear Art, developed in the training camp. He observed its performance, mixing the spear art and movement techniques flawlessly. Caleb focused on studying the clone's actions, aiming to deepen his understanding of the technique.

After spending three hours with the Spearmaster, Caleb made his way to the Faithmaster. It was time to open up the three meridians for the Disciple Rank in one sitting, as described in the Numbers Scripture. Caleb looked at the amount of liquid faith energy flowing in his inner space. With a single thought, a cyclone began forming in his inner space, exerting warm pressure on his already opened minor meridians, as well as on his blocked navel and feet meridians. Slowly, the pressure drilled into the blockages, unblocking the three meridians with ease. In just a minute, the meridians were cleared, allowing warm faith liquid to strengthen them.

Caleb realised this breakthrough came easily compared to the months of drilling typically required. His excitement was interrupted as the crystal ball's speed increased once more, as the accumulation of faith energy increased due to the opening of three new meridians. It absorbed every drop of liquid faith energy from the almost full inner space.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" The crystal ball sucked in the energy.

Shocked that his hard work was disappearing, Caleb had already accepted that the crystal ball wouldn't harm him, but this was too much; everything was absorbed to the last drop. After absorbing all the liquid faith energy, a purer faith liquid trickled from the crystal ball, replenishing his inner space. Unfortunately, the quantity had decreased to 10% full rather than the 95% filled it originally was. The crystal ball gradually returned to its normal rotation, now emanating a yellow glow.

Caleb re-entered the crystal ball, but there was no noticeable change. "I guess in time, I will find out," he thought.

After breaking through, Caleb stopped cultivating. He gripped his spear as he joined the rest of the teenagers in their training.