In the spacious gym of a high school, a large group of students was gathered in front of the instructor. They wore comfortable sports clothes and remained seated while watching him.
The instructor standing at the front had an unfriendly expression. He looked somewhat exhausted, and his furrowed brow clearly showed his irritation.
"Students!" he shouted so everyone could hear him.
His voice echoed across the gym walls and forced everyone to pay attention.
"The time for slacking off is over. You only have one year left to submit your university applications," he said while staring intensely at the students. "If you want to follow your own path and not go to university, I won't force you to stay in this boring class. But if you choose to remain, you'll have to put all your effort into this."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed toward the door.
Everyone looked at each other, but no one stood up. After all, none of them had the courage to actually get up and leave.
Eventually, they all turned their attention back to the instructor.
The instructor, a middle-aged man close to forty, stood with his arms crossed while scolding the students, nearly spitting from the intensity with which he spoke.
"Since you've decided to stay, I don't want any more nonsense during my class. You will study and train seriously to reach your potential and be able to enter university."
At that moment, the door slammed shut, even though no one seemed to have pushed it.
Some students didn't even react; after months of training, small manifestations of psionic power were no longer that surprising to them.
"Now we'll begin by testing how well you've mastered the psionic cultivation method."
Without waiting another moment, everyone crossed their legs, placed their hands on their laps, closed their eyes, and began to meditate.
An invisible energy began to emanate from each of their bodies, slowly converging toward the center of their chests. Because they were all doing it at the same time, a large amount of that energy drifted throughout the gym like a faint mist rippling through the air.
Around some students, that energy was barely perceptible, dispersing like unstable smoke. Around others, however, it seemed to concentrate slightly more, gathering into small dense points before disappearing back inside their bodies.
The instructor began walking among them.
"You're doing it terribly wrong. Focus more and stop thinking about nonsense while moving your energy."
"Your posture is incorrect. In less than a year your back will be more crooked than an old man's."
"Do you want to cripple yourself? Then why is your energy flowing to the wrong place?"
His words echoed throughout the gym as he passed each student, pointing out their mistakes and forcing them to correct them immediately.
When he passed near a girl, the instructor narrowed his eyes.
"Good… you can almost keep the energy stable," he murmured. "When it stops dispersing like smoke, then we'll talk about real progress."
The girl clenched her teeth and focused even harder.
Finally, he stopped in front of a boy. He frowned, clenched his fist, and struck the boy on the head.
"Why was that for?!" the boy shouted as he snapped out of meditation and opened his eyes, confused.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice? Stop doing that nonsense and focus, or I'll kick you out of here," the instructor said as he continued walking.
The boy grumbled a little before sitting back down and continuing his meditation.
Seeing that everyone was doing well enough, the instructor nodded and remained watching them in silence.
For a few seconds, the gym became completely calm, except for the faint pressure in the air caused by dozens of students gathering energy at the same time.
"That's all for today," he finally said, ending the class. "Don't forget to train at home. If you want to pass or even have a chance of entering university, you'll have to give it everything you've got."
Everyone relaxed their posture. Some began rubbing their legs with obvious pain; maintaining that position for so long was exhausting in a very different sense of the word.
"I'll tell you one thing: if you don't reach the Condensation stage, forget about university. I won't even allow you to submit your applications."
Everyone immediately opened their eyes.
Upon hearing what would happen, poorly concealed complaints began to be heard, but the instructor ignored them and simply said:
"The dean allowed it. If you have any problem, go talk to him."
Everyone stopped talking.
The dean, a High-Rank Psionite, was someone far too powerful and intimidating for anyone to dare confront him.
Among them, a boy walked calmly toward the exit.
"Ah, what a drag… I just want to go home and sleep for the rest of the day," he couldn't help but say lazily.
"Wu Huang," someone called him.
He turned around, confused.
"What's up? I'm going home. Shouldn't you be going to your club?" he asked.
A boy with black hair and fair skin greeted him.
"It got canceled, so I thought I'd head back with you."
"Canceled? Why?" he asked, surprised; it wasn't normal for club activities to suddenly be canceled.
The boy brought a hand to his face.
"I didn't ask. I didn't think it was necessary."
Wu Huang sighed deeply.
"Well, it doesn't matter… let's go."
Both of them crossed the entrance and walked slowly.
"How's your psionic cultivation going?" Wu Huang asked.
The boy brought a hand to his chin and thought for a moment.
"My Spiritual Power increased a bit. At this rate, within a month my spiritual power index should reach 100 points. At that point I should be able to form my first spiritual drop," he said with a smile.
"And you, how's it going?" he asked.
Wu Huang couldn't help showing an awkward smile.
"Well, yesterday I reached fifty points. If I keep this up, before the year ends I'll reach the minimum needed to move to the Condensation stage."
His friend punched him lightly on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, I know you'll make it," he said, putting his arm around Wu Huang's neck. "And have you finished that thing yet?" he asked.
Wu Huang shook his head.
"No. Even though the foundation is finished, I can't figure out how to stabilize it. I'll probably leave it for now; it's taking too much time."
His friend released him.
"That's a shame… I wanted to see it. It was a nice design," he said regretfully.
"It's not like I'm abandoning it. I'll just set it aside until I figure out how to finish it properly," he continued. "It also takes a lot of time, so I can't keep working on it right now."
He nodded, still somewhat regretful, and eventually they reached their destination.
"See you later," he said as he entered his house.
Wu Huang gave a small wave and entered his own.
They were neighbors, so it was normal for them to walk back together.