"Drink your potions and enter a meditative state. Stand straight and put all of your focus into your own body."
The students unplugged the potions and chugged them, doing as the headmaster instructed.
However, Zed told Katy and Lina to switch their potions before drinking to cover all their parameters since their main stats were already close to peak after eating the candies.
"You should be feeling a flow of energy within your body. Time is tight now, so use your Ki or Spirit, depending on the potion you drank, and forcefully combine your energy with the potion's energy before it disperses. The faster and the more you combine, the higher your progress will be."
"If you can absorb even 50% of the potion's energy before it disperses from your body, you will reach the peak of Novice-rank in your path."
Zed absorbed it, but it did nothing to him except for cracking his bones and making him feel energetic since he was already at the peak of Novice-rank.
'Make sure Lina and Katy digest the potion fully.'
[ 2 U.R points consumed. ]
Lina and Katy suddenly felt things going very smoothly as all their potions' energy was combined and digested.
"W-What? I just reached the peak of Novice-rank in Lumen and Spirit." Katy was dumbfounded. "Now it's higher than my Vigor and Ki."
"Same," Lina was dazed. "My Vigor and Ki now surpassed my Lumen and Spirit. Did we really reach the peak of Novice-rank like that?"
"Congratulations." Zed smiled. "Lina, you are not used to using Ki, but even if you don't have a Ki-based skill, you can still use Ki to enhance your body for better physical agility and power."
"And Katy, you can use Spirit in your combat style even if you don't have spirit-based skills. Spirit works outside your body, allowing your mind to interact with other objects, control them, and enchant them. You can even fly."
"We progressed way more in one day than we have ever since we came here." Katy chuckled.
The headmaster looked at the trio, his eyes narrowing.
"Headmaster is looking at us," Lina whispered. "Think we finished this faster than others."
Most of the students were still absorbed in meditation, except for those top prodigies from big player families.
[ My lord, he is scanning you, but I am feeding him an altered aura of yours to keep him in the dark about your Lumen, Spirit, and the Wooden Spurt Kingdom formation. ]
'Good. I am surprised this didn't take U.R points.'
[ No need for that, as I have made a veil with the system that will make it impossible for other people to sense your parameters and powers truly. They will only know what you want them to know. ]
'Now, that's awesome.'
Meanwhile, the Headmaster was feeling the aura of Zed, Lina, and Katy. 'Did he help them digest the potions? If so, his control of Ki and Spirit both are terrifyingly high.'
His eyes glinted. 'This is good.'
The potions could actually be digested with the help of another person more proficient in the control of Ki or Spirit.
In short, this type of potion was a ground-breaking invention in the world of players, as at least people could swiftly reach the peak of Novice-rank as long as they got the potion and a helper with top control in Spirit or Ki. At least a Grandmaster-rank player's help.
This project was personally handled by the headmaster and his team.
Of course, it wasn't easy to mass-produce these potions as there were two main ingredients, monsters and mystic water, and both could only be found in Playgrounds. Only a total of 113 potions of this kind were made so far, half of them Ki-based and the other half Spirit-based. No more could be made due to a lack of resources.
Moreover, the Tier-2 potion of this kind was still in research.
'I must rope him in and train him. If he falls into the clutches of the big families, they will ruin him.' Headmaster thought as he observed the students.
Soon, all students opened their eyes as the potion finished its work.
Most of the students gained a boost of 20-40 in their stats. Some did hit 50, but no more than that.
Except for Lina and Katy, who gained 80+ in the path they lacked, reaching 100 in those stats.
Lina reached 100 in Vigor & Ki, while Katy reached 100 in Lumen and Spirit.
"Alright, everyone. Now that you are done powering up, it's time for some warm-up before the second round. For the next hour, pick your opponents and do simple sparring or train alone. Your choice. This is the last hour for you to work hard. After this, we'll begin round 2 and decide the twenty among you who will be chosen."
The headmaster left, and the noise among the students increased.
"You two spar, I'll take a short nap. I slept late last night and had to wake up early for this." Zed yawned and leaned against a stack of bamboo trees behind him, closing his eyes.
Zed did take a nap for forty minutes before he woke up.
Lina and Katy were sweaty and had sat down next to him as they talked to each other about combat.
But before opening his eyes, Zed checked the Unbound Shop. It has been 24 hours, so the items have refreshed.
[Unbound Shop]
Level: 1
Opening the general shop, Zed looked at the items.
Rainburst Lance (Tier-3) — 460 U.R points.
2. Skytread Cloud Carriage (Tier-4) — 1730 U.R points.
3. Ki Skill: Crimson Coat (B) — 210 U.R points.
4. Hybrid Skill: Heavenly Massage Art (S) — 69 U.R points.
'Yo, what's with that last item? Why does it only cost 69 U.R points despite being S-rank?'
He bought the massage art as he asked. Crimson Coat was a defense-based skill, but he didn't want it, so he closed the shop.
[Oh, that one. Its cost is low because it's a lower-grade version of a massage art that is already in your Tyrant's Collection. In short, you already know a better version of this skill, but you just haven't unlocked its memory and experience, which is why this is cheap.]
'Well, nice price point, I guess. Seems to indicate something.' Zed mentally chuckled.
[You will love it. Use it on Katy and Lina, and they will love it even more.]
'Speaking of them, I don't want them to lose this chance of entering the playground, so use some U.R points and give them peak control of Spirit and Ki, as well as peak mastery in hand-based combat martial arts.'
[ 28 U.R points consumed. ]
Then, Zed finally opened his eyes.
"Good morning, ladies. Do you want to grab breakfast?"
Katy and Lina were speechless. "The headmaster will be here in twenty minutes, and we are supposed to spar and train."
"Come on. We'll be back before he does. And I told you, you will pass the second round." Zed faintly smiled. "I am the strongest here, and I can make you stronger. You already tasted the candies, and you two are not stupid. You already know the reason for the complete digestion of the potions."
Katy and Lina blinked.
"We know the reason, but we don't know how you did that," Katy said.
Lina nodded. "The potion energy suddenly vanished when I was combining it, but then I suddenly felt an abundance of spirit and felt stronger. I knew it was you. How?"
Zed chuckled. "Magic. Now, come on. Let's go and eat. I'll make you even stronger while eating."
"..."
"..."