Chapter 15: Energy Tower

In the morning, once again, Fang walked out of his room and found his roommate awake, his eyes bright red and his face tired. “Blue, did you have trouble sleeping last night?”

Blue glared at Fang; it was his fault that he hadn’t slept at all.

Born with a curious nature, Blue couldn’t help but ponder why the staged drama yesterday had failed. The theories he came up with didn’t make sense and couldn’t explain what had happened. By the time he realized it was morning, he had stayed up the whole night.

He didn’t grab a drink this morning, as performing the same trick twice would be useless. Instead, he had a new idea.

Acting on this, Blue asked, “Wait, Fang, can I follow you to your training today?”

This training camp was uniquely designed; there were no forced courses, and everyone was free to study whatever they wanted. They could find mentors for advice, take certain subjects, or go to the arena and compare skills with other members of the school, as long as no rules were broken.

Somewhat puzzled, Fang asked, “Why?”

“Well, to be honest, I’m pretty shy and not that great with communication, but I don’t have any friends here…” Blue started shuffling a bit, grabbing his clothes. “In this training camp, you’re my only friend, Fang. So, can I follow you around today?”

Fang felt shocked. He was increasingly sure that his roommate had experienced some irreversible trauma in his past. Blue had called him a friend—if he refused, Blue would surely be very sad.

Also, I should take this opportunity to talk some sense into him.

Nodding, Fang replied, “Okay, no problem.”

With an ecstatic voice, Blue shouted, “Thanks, Fang! I promise I won’t be any trouble!”

“No need for thanks; we’re friends after all.” Fang held out his hand, wanting to give a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but Blue avoided it. Awkwardly, Fang said, “Some classes must have already started, so let’s get going!”

Fang wasn’t offended; he knew that his roommate had his guard up against everyone, and it would just take some time.

“Oh, but one thing, Blue.”

“What’s the matter?”

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“Don’t rub your clothes; it makes you look like a girl!”

“…”

Fang visited several courses and listened to various teachers describe different methods and techniques for gathering and using energy. Although the methods weren’t comparable to what he had learned, the fighting techniques were quite interesting, and he took some notes. He glanced at Blue.

With dead eyes and his book closed, Blue looked uninterested, even yawning occasionally.

“Blue, as your friend, I can’t help but worry that your attitude towards learning has a problem. This training camp is full of precious opportunities, and every second should be treasured. Plus, the teacher’s words are interesting; shouldn’t you concentrate a bit more?”

Blue had already learned this back when he was 12 years old, so listening to the same dull words again was a taxing ordeal. He smiled back at Fang. “Ah, I didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m really tired. Sorry.”

Feeling pity, Fang said, “I’ll hand over these notes at the end of the day for you.”

Depressed, Blue sank into his chair. Yesterday it was an old guy preaching on and on, and today, it was another old guy preaching on and on. No one dared lecture him other than his grandfather! But today, he had to play his role out, so he painfully held on.

Finally, the classes ended for the day, and after having dinner at the cafeteria, Blue couldn’t wait.

“Fang, let’s go to the energy tower!” Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

An energy tower was a building constructed to help with the development of energy. Made from various expensive magical materials, it absorbed energy from the environment into a high-density area. However, these magical materials wore out easily, so maintaining one was quite a luxury.

The benefits were considerable. Comparing the youths from small cities and large cities, it was clear that hard work couldn’t always compete with money.

In Victoria City, even if both martial arts families pooled their entire wealth, it wouldn’t be enough to construct an energy tower. But at this training camp, such a building was available for all members to meditate in for an hour. However, each element had a specific time span where the energy would be most concentrated—mostly in the morning and afternoon, with some rare elements having the best times at night.

Fang had tried earlier to get in, but the tower was packed, and he didn’t want to waste time waiting for a room to free up. Since Blue had brought up the idea again, Fang stood up. “Yeah, let’s go.”

They arrived in front of the tower as a few people were leaving, but it seemed that it was still busy. After a couple more people came out, the overseeing administrator waved to Fang and Blue, ushering them in.

Although this tower was already an impressive height of 50 meters, the building that Blue usually trained at was much taller, constructed with rarer materials found in places where dangerous beasts lurked. Plus, there was no time limit when he trained, so he didn’t feel it was worth his time to train here.

Naturally, he had a different intention for being in this tower.

“Fang, can I be in the same room as you?”

Speechless, Fang stared at Blue. “No, we won’t be in the same room!”

“But near you, I feel more at ease, Fang,” Blue said, watching Fang with upturned, delicate eyes. “In a different environment like this, I feel very helpless, anxious, and nervous. This practice is really important to me. I beg you, I promise I won’t bother you.”

“Okay, okay, but not in the same room—move to a separate room nearby!” Fang replied, embarrassed. He couldn’t help but say yes; after all, this was only the first day.

Before walking into his room, Fang added, “Next time, don’t plead like that, Blue. We’re two grown men, and it feels really disturbing!”

Blue couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on; when he talked to men of the same age, they’d grow so excited that they couldn’t sleep for days, but now, he was being asked to be quiet?

Damn you, Fang. I want you kneeling on the ground!

--- --- ---

The two entered adjacent rooms, and Fang began to practice the endless method, absorbing as much energy as possible in the short hour.

Next to his room, Blue sat chuckling to himself, an evil smile on his face.

Brilliant colors lit up the room as energy flowed out from Blue’s body, at least two meters thick, with increasing pressure in the air.

Advanced level!

Fang would have never guessed; his roommate had already reached the advanced rank!

As for the elements—colors mixed together, partly blue resembling water, translucent like the wind, and other colors wavering throughout.

Just by judging the colors, Blue’s energy element was actually composed of seven different elements!