Caecus opened his eyes. Groggy but full of excitement for the upcoming day, he propped himself up and left his bed. The young teen followed his usual routine and put on the radio while he waited for Amelia to arrive with the food. Now that his concentration was immaculate, he was able to cultivate passively. Of course he had to stop whenever his soul essence was drained, but before he practiced soul-essence control he would always take a nap to regain all of the soul essence he lost during cultivation.
"Good morning listeners, today is Wednesday, June thirteenth, and we have several stories to tell you today. A lot of different…"
Amelia had told him that this was good practice, to stay updated about what's happening across all the different corpora. The black-haired boy couldn't really navigate social media, so he had to get information elsewhere. Friends weren't something he had either, so this was one of the best options for him to gain knowledge about what was currently happening.
The door could be heard opening. The smell of Amelia's cologne and breakfast entered Caecus's nostrils.
"Good morning Young Master, breakfast is here."
"Good morning Amelia, thank you for bringing it," Caecus said as his servant placed the tray with his food on the table. Already hungry from yesterday's training, he immediately started eating, his attention solely focused on his food.
"I'm glad that your appetite is well Young Master," Amelia said with a chuckle. The portions he ate right now were double those from five months ago, when he started training.
Caecus finished up, and Amelia brought his tray away. While she did that Caecus had already left for the library. Ten minutes later she arrived as well and sat down next to him, while he was already reading a book in braille.
"Today will be our last session studying in the library for a while. You already caught up with the material you needed for the entrance exams three months ago, this is just..." Just as she wanted to continue, Caecus interrupted her.
"But Amelia I enjoy this. Isn't it good that I am better prepared for the entrance exams?"
"No, this is the problem. The material I'm giving you right now is stuff that will be taught in Psychéion. You'll be able to pass the entrance exams with perfect marks, I'm sure. What we need now is more time spent on soul essence control and combat."
The Young Master sat there silently for a few seconds and then fidgeted with his sleeves.
"Is it okay if I can just finish the materials for today and start focusing on combat tomorrow?"
Amelia sighed. She never understood what he enjoyed so much about studying.
"Yes you can. Today I'll be taking your measurements again, and then we will start getting into augmentation."
"Augmentation, really?"
"You are good enough at Assimilation now, we can step into Augmentation."
'Finally! I always wondered what it would be like to feel others' soul essence…'
When they both finished up in the library, their steps could be heard echoing through the halls of the Caelum mansion. Caecus used the restroom and then went after Amelia, who was already in the training hall.
"It's been six months since the first measurements. You reached the half-year mark," Amelia said when she heard him entering the room. Caecus could hear her taking out her notebook and writing in it.
"Alright let's start," she said.
On her signal, Caecus took off his shoes and stood tall. He felt a stick being placed onto his back and a pencil marking right where his scalp was.
"When we first measured you, you were one hundred and fifty-three centimeters tall. Now you're one hundred fifty-seven. It seems that optimizing your nutrition has worked well. Still below average for your age though." Amelia sounded happy about his progress, though her voice dropped at the end. Caecus took his shirt off and she proceeded to measure his biceps and waist size.
"Your waist went from sixty centimeters to sixty-two centimeters, good."
"Biceps went from twenty centimeters to thirty. Very good. You do have some stretch marks on your arm now though."
Amelia then proceeded to take a lot of other measurements, and when she was done the physical capability tests started.
"You ran a kilometer in five minutes without soul essence and in one minute and ten seconds with soul essence. This is a major improvement compared to your eight minutes and thirty seconds back then."
Caecus, after having to run as fast as he could twice back to back, was just standing there panting. A major sense of accomplishment welled up in him.
'I already feel way healthier than before, but having my improvements listed like this is great!'
After they were done with all the other tests, Caecus went to his room, ate, took a nap and then after waking up went back to the training hall to train his soul essence.
Beaming with excitement about being able to enter the augmentation stage, he almost floated through the halls of his mansion on the way to the training hall.
When he arrived at the training hall, he didn't sense Amelia at all. A frown was etched onto his face and he called out her name.
"Amelia? Are you here?"
No response came.
After waiting around fifteen minutes, he heard footsteps approaching.
"Young Master, what are you doing here? I was waiting in the concentration room for you…"
Caecus let out a sigh of relief, although it turned out to be nothing. He was genuinely worried for his servant.
'It seems that I have grown attached to her.'
"Young Master?"
"Ah yes I'm sorry Amelia, I'll go now."
The servant-master duo entered the concentration room and Caecus smelled the mind-soothing herbs in the air.
"Alright, let's start. Sit down cross-legged please."
Caecus followed her instructions and three minutes later he was in a trance-like state, just like when he advanced to rank one. He felt a block of what seemed to be pure iron, as he could tell by the texture and smell, resting in his palm.
"One of the best places to start augmentation is from your hands. It has the most nerve endings, so you'll be able to infuse the soul essence the best. Now guide your soul essence into your hands. Feel the iron. Feel its texture, its smoothness, its hardness. Map it out in your mind. Then think of it as an extension of your body. This iron is you. It's part of your body."
Caecus, already having enhanced senses and not being able to see anyway, was able to map out the block of iron very well in his mind.
'I am the iron. The iron is me. This is an extension of my body.'
Caecus repeated this over and over again in his mind. He was gaslighting himself into believing the iron was a part of his body, and after some time he felt that the soul essence could be moved into the iron block.
"Good, you're doing extremely well. Now try to push your soul essence into the iron block," Amelia said, trying to sound as calm as possible, but a tinge of excitement could be noticed in her voice if you were attentive enough.
Doing as told, Caecus pushed his soul essence against the palm of his hand where he was touching the iron block. When he tried infusing the block with his soul essence, he felt a huge resistance building up before him. It was just like when he tried moving his soul essence around for the first time. But Caecus didn't relent.
'Just as Amelia said. We can't afford to waste any more time. I have to get this now, or the chances of me entering Psychéion will be low.'
Caecus kept pushing and pushing. His head started throbbing from the effort.
Suddenly he felt something warm trailing down his face. When it ran into his mouth he tasted iron.
'I don't care if I'm bleeding. I have to do this! I got this!'
"Young Master stop! You're hurting yourself!"
The black-haired boy didn't notice any of Amelia's attempts to talk to him. His focus was completely on achieving Augmentation. He felt a second trail of blood stream down his face. Blood was coming out of both of his nostrils now.
'Don't stop! Don't stop! Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop… Don't stop… Don't…'
His consciousness was slowly slipping, but that wasn't enough to stop him. He was so deep in trance that when he finally lost consciousness he still kept going. Only one goal in mind. Reaching Augmentation.
His soul essence left the domain of his body and slowly entered the piece of iron. Finally most of it left his body completely and augmented the piece of iron. Suddenly something changed. All of his soul essence got sucked back into his body, and when it entered his soul core his eyes glowed purple, signaling that he reached Augmentation stage.
…
The world had color again, and Caecus regained his consciousness. He felt the heated floor of the concentration room beneath him, and his face felt sticky. Suddenly he felt a weird sensation. Something was moving around.
"Young Master? Are you okay?" Amelia's voice could be heard exactly from the spot he felt that 'thing'. She sounded extremely concerned.
"Y-yes… my face feels sticky and… crusty." When he ran his tongue over the area that felt crusty, he tasted iron. "Was I bleeding..?"
"Yes you were. I was so worried. I told you to stop trying to advance but you just wouldn't… well. Congratulations I guess you're an augmenter now."
"I… I'm an augmenter? So is this weird thing I'm feeling floating around your soul?"
"That's correct. Please reach out your hand, Young Master."
Caecus lifted his hand, and he felt Amelia's hand grip his forearm. She pulled him up, and he stood again.
"This… this feels weird… I can like feel… you," he said.
"Yes, I was amazed by it too when I first reached augmentation."
When the fourteen-year-old stood, he was a bit dizzy from the blood loss that came from his nosebleeds. Amelia let go of his hand, and he felt her walking away, in the most literal sense. The shuffling of a napkin was heard, and Amelia approached him again.
"I'm gonna clean your face now, I doubt you'll be able to spot every drop of blood that stained your face."
A cold and wet sensation was felt by Caecus as she wiped his face with wet wipes.
After around half a minute she was done and gave Caecus a dry napkin so he could dry off his face. He proceeded to rub the fabric on his face.
"How long was I out for?" the Young Master was wondering. He wasn't taken to bed, so it wouldn't have been for long.
"Around ten minutes. Let's go to your room now, I'll bring you a few snacks and a lot of water. You're probably a little anemic now."
"Yeah I feel a little dizzy…"
"Can you walk? I can help you out if you don't feel well," she asked.
"No… it's fine." Just as he said that, Caecus already left for his room.
Amelia quickly followed after him, not getting too close but staying ready in case he tipped over. A while later the scent of lavender entered his nose, and Caecus knew he was close to his room. He entered and felt the soft padded floor beneath him. Amelia pulled out his chair for him, and he sat down after thanking her.
His servant went to grab some water and snacks for him while he waited. He tested something out though.
'If I can feel her soul now, there must be a certain range where I stop feeling it. After all, I can't feel every person on the face of the earth…'
And indeed he felt her soul getting fainter and fainter as she picked up distance. After a certain point, he had to focus intensely on her soul specifically to pick it up. If he didn't follow her all the way, he would not have been able to detect it.
'On second thought, it's better to do this another time… my head still hurts and I don't wanna tip over again.'
A few minutes later, Caecus felt Amelia's soul again—it was coming closer. -Click- The door opened, and the scent of his servant reached his nose.
"You're back." Caecus felt like one of those badass characters from the audiobooks he listened to, who were able to tell who entered the room without looking at them—or in his case, by hearing their voice.
"I brought the snacks." The brown-haired woman placed a few things on the table, oblivious of the corny thoughts that echoed in her Young Master's mind. A variety of fragrances entered his nose. "I have brought you some dried meat, along with fruits and a granola bar. And of course, water. Eat the dried meat first; it's good for replenishing your iron."
Caecus devoured everything in front of him. He drank at least a whole gallon of water before Amelia stopped him, afraid he'd get water poisoning.
"Starting from tomorrow, just as I mentioned before, we'll be focusing on combat. Your theory is good enough to pass with perfect marks. These next six months will solely be devoted to your physical attributes, although we will revise the theory a week before the entrance exams," she explained the schedule for the next year.
"Do I get any, you know… free time?"
"Young Master, you'll be severely lacking behind your peers if we don't put our everything into this… well, I suppose I can allow an hour of free time."
"Okay, don't worry, I'll be using it productively!" Caecus said with an upbeat tone. He couldn't do much anyway due to his blindness. He only had a few options; video games wouldn't work due to not being able to see, social media neither, so he was really only left with productive things, like listening to audiobooks or music.
"As you probably saw from today, augmenting is extremely hard for you, so we'll be using a practice," Amelia tied a small bracelet around her master's wrist. "Try to constantly circulate your soul essence around your body, and lastly into this bracelet. If you do that, your nervous system will be able to catch up to the practice fast and make neural adaptations quickly. This of course helps with getting faster at augmentation. After your soul essence leaves your bracelet, try to reinforce your soul core with it, and then continue the circulation. This will allow you to cultivate while practicing your soul essence control."
Nodding, Caecus took a little break and listened to some music. After being done with the break, he did exactly as told. Circulating his soul essence around his body, then with much strain and concentration infusing it into the bracelet. When it came out, he reinforced his soul core. In that process he noticed that reaching Augmentation made infusing soul essence into foreign objects indescribably easier than before, but of course it still needed a lot of focus and concentration.
After a while, Caecus felt well again, itching to try out his new abilities that came with reaching Augmentation. He quickly ate, and then went to sleep. He was exhausted from the whole day, but a fire of passion still burned brightly in his heart. Just before he went to sleep, he made a decision. Amelia told him his soul essence reserves were far inferior to those of children from other corpora who are his age. Most of them are rank two and the ones who got groomed since birth, like his sister, are rank three. He, a measly rank one, had to change something. Every time Amelia left the room at night, he would cultivate all of his soul essence and drain it, so that when he fell asleep he would enter soul drain. This caused his soul essence reserves to be completely renewed when he woke up and made him able to progress with cultivation fast. There was a huge risk though. Every time one entered soul drain, the side effects would differ. Sometimes it was being dizzy, sometimes having no energy, and sometimes excruciating pain.
Caecus cultivated and used up all of his soul essence. His resolve was iron strong. He wanted one thing, and it was to enter the academy.
'Something as measly as soul drain won't stop me from reaching my goa-'
He went unconscious.