Chapter 9

  Aster checked himself over one last time, he felt out of place in his White and Silver School uniform, but it felt good on him, like a version of himself he’ll learn to grow into. Still uncertain over his image in the mirror, he finally sighs, pushing it away, fishing a note from his pocket, he pressed his fingers against the mirror’s cool surface, scrawling the glyphs from the note. As the last symbol completed, the glass shimmered, rippling like a disturbed pond

  Not wasting anymore time, he stepped forward and was instantly transported back into the grand, bustling hallway of Galamad, this time in the Sylvi wing.

  The magnificence of the space struck him anew. Deep ocean-blue marble stretched across the floor, polished to a gleam that reflected the golden light of overhead chandeliers. White tiles, pillars, and wall trimmings provided contrast, their pristine surfaces adorned with delicate gold filigree. The walls themselves were a living museum, lined with ancient weapons, relics, and paintings of figures whose eyes seemed to follow passersby. The air thrummed with energy, both from the countless students bustling through the corridor and from the residual aether that clung to every artifact and stone.

  Aster took a breath, steadying himself. He had missed a few Cultivation classes, but Lena had assured him that they hadn’t yet covered anything crucial. Anything important, she had promised to catch him up on.

  He turned into the classroom, expecting to slip in unnoticed—but the moment he crossed the threshold, the entire room fell silent. Conversations halted, laughter died mid-breath, and every head snapped toward him with eerie synchronization. Aster hesitated, his body tensing under the weight of their collective stares. His instincts screamed at him to check behind him—maybe there was someone else they were looking at? He glanced over his shoulder. No one.

  Shit.

  Before he could process the sudden shift in atmosphere, Lena was at his side, gripping his wrist with surprising urgency. Without a word, she yanked him from the room, her grip firm and unyielding. Aster barely had time to register the murmurs that erupted behind him before the door shut, leaving the whispering students on the other side.

  In the quiet hallway, she thrust a newspaper article into his hands. The headline made his stomach lurch:

  Survivor of Void Wyrm Saved by Impossible Means – Cure Still Not Found

  Aster’s grip tightened on the paper. Didn’t Aerothena say she’d control the narrative, keep things ambiguous? This was anything but. His mind raced with the implications. How would this shape his reputation in the Astral Plane? More importantly, how would this affect how others saw him?

  “I get why you didn’t tell me everything,” Lena admitted, her voice softer now. “But you should know—it’s made you unpopular.”

  He met her gaze. “Unpopular?”

  She exhaled, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’ve overheard the students. They basically feel you didn’t deserve it. They think if there was only one cure, it should’ve gone to someone else. Someone they knew. Someone more ‘deserving.’”

  Aster clenched his jaw. He knew grief made people irrational, but hearing it still stung.

  Lena touched his shoulder, her expression earnest. “I don’t blame you. Yani and Musa don’t either. We don’t care how you survived—we’re just glad you did.”

  Relief flickered in his chest. At least he hadn’t lost the few friends he’d managed to make.

  “Come on,” she said, nudging him. “Let’s get back inside.”

  The classroom was silent when they re-entered, but this time, Aster forced himself to ignore the stares. “Seats, everyone!”

  Aster turned just in time to see the instructor enter, and for a moment, his brain completely short-circuited.

  She was breathtaking. A tall, striking African woman draped in a loose-fitting sundress that hugged her curves with effortless grace. Her dark skin glowed under the classroom’s candlelight, her movements exuding an air of controlled power. Every student sat up a little straighter as she entered, though Aster remained frozen in place, still standing while the rest of the class had taken their seats.

  The instructor’s full lips curled into a knowing smile. “Mr. Elchen, I presume? The Void Cursed who survived.”

  Aster’s breath caught in his throat as every eye in the room turned on him once more.

  He wasn’t used to attention. Living on the streets meant staying on the periphery, being unseen, unheard. This? This was suffocating.

  “You can take your seat, Mr. Elchen,” she said lightly. “We’re covering Aether Refinement today. I’ve already spoken with Mrs. Brambel about your situation. She’ll help you catch up, but don’t hesitate to ask me any questions.”

  He nodded mutely and sank into his chair.

  The instructor—Mrs. Lerato, as he quickly learned—moved gracefully to the front of the room. With a flick of her wrist, two glowing glyphs materialized on the surface of her desk, hovering just above the polished wood.

  “Aether refinement and absorption,” she began, her voice commanding yet melodic, “is the cornerstone of Cultivation. Unlike the creatures of the Astral Plane, who passively absorb Aether through consumption, we must refine and process it before absorption.”

  She placed her hands on the glowing glyphs, and they pulsed in response. “For this we use a process known as Veneration.”

  From beneath the desk, she lifted a large chunk of what appeared to be deep blue meat. “This is Aquaguana flesh—rich in Mist Aether.” She pressed the glyphs to either side of the meat, and they curved inward, forming a shimmering golden sphere around it.

  “When the material is placed in the crucible,” she continued, “we channel our Faith into the glyph through our Veneration spell, breaking the substance down to its raw Aether.”

  The glyphs flared, and the chunk of meat began dissolving, releasing tendrils of glowing blue smoke. The students watched in fascinated silence as the Aether condensed above the sphere before slowly drifting toward her. When it reached a point just below her chest, it was drawn inward, disappearing into an unseen space within her.

  “This is how we absorb Aether,” she explained. “Each gate in our Astral Vessel corresponds to an Aether type. In this case, Mist Aether feeds into the Mist Hue gate of my Vessel, found around the Diaphragm.”

  She dissolved the sphere with a gesture, leaving behind nothing but ash. “Refinement is an essential skill. You can expect to extract, at best, about 20% of a material’s weight as usable Aether. High-grade materials have better efficiency, but they are rare and expensive.” She gave the class a pointed look. “I trust you all selected your materials wisely.”

  With that, she clapped her hands. “Your assignments are at the front. Collect your materials and scripts. Your goal today is to familiarize yourself with the Veneration spell and begin refining Aether.”

  The class stirred to life, students moving forward to gather their supplies. Aster turned to Lena, exhaling sharply. “I understood none of that.”

  She smirked. “I figured.”

  Lena started to explain, her tone shifting into something more measured, like a teacher explaining a difficult concept. “You’ve probably heard of the idea of a spirit, right? Most religions have some version of it—a soul, essence, whatever they call it. What we call the Astral Vessel is basically what they mean when they talk about a spirit.”

  Aster frowned, his mind racing to piece it all together. “So, wait—you’re saying the Astral Vessel is basically what we call the soul?”

  Lena pauses before answering “We actually don’t like to refer to it as a soul, there’s evidence to suggest that the real soul—if it exists—might be on an even higher dimension if you believe the scryers who worked out the incantations that allowed them to discover that.

  She continued, "For all intents and purposes, your Astral Vessel is a metaphysical reflection of who you are on the Material Plane. It carries your experiences, your growth, and your power. The Soul, however, could be seen as something beyond even that—a force influencing the vessel, steering it into experiences that allow it to accumulate growth through cultivation or reincarnation."

  Aster let out a slow breath, his head already starting to ache. "Okay… and what does that have to do with cultivation?"

  Lena’s eyes brightened, happy to continue. "Your Astral Vessel isn’t just a passive entity—it’s meant to evolve. That’s the essence of cultivation. Most people—what we call the ‘unaware’—go through life completely oblivious to this, but even they are unknowingly cultivating, just at an excruciatingly slow pace. Every experience, every challenge overcome, releases tiny amounts of Psychic Aether, slowly strengthening their Astral Vessels. This process takes lifetimes—nearly ten, in fact—to naturally elevate someone from Initiate to Acolyte and even longer from there."

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  Aster’s expression twisted in disbelief. "So you’re saying an ordinary person, just by living their life over and over again, is somehow cultivating… without even knowing it?"

  Lena nodded. "Yes, but it’s slow, inefficient, and most never reach higher levels due to wasted energy or stagnation. But those of us aware of the Astral Plane can take control of the process. We’ve developed techniques to refine Aether directly, allowing us to compress what would take ten lifetimes into just a few months."

  Seeing Aster still wasn’t getting it she leaned forward slightly. "Let’s try a different angle, do you know the basics of how computers work?” Aster nodded. “Perfect” Lena exclaims. “Let’s then, think of Your Material Vessel—your physical body—as like the hardware of a computer. It interacts with the real world but is limited by physical constraints. The Astral Vessel then, would be like an operating system—a structured interface allowing the body to function but also governing how you process Aether, Growth and its interaction with the Astral Plane. Ordinarily, you don’t see the underlying code—just the limited interface to do with your Material Form. But when you remove the Veil—your Biofield—you gain access to the hidden framework, becoming the code behind the machine and allowing more direct modification."

  Aster took a moment to process her words before asking, "If the Astral Vessel is my spirit and my Material Vessel is my body, then what exactly makes up me—my consciousness? And how is that different from the Soul?"

  Lena explained. "The Soul could be considered the true ‘user’ in this analogy—the entity sitting beyond the system, issuing commands from outside. The Consciousness, however, could be seen as more like an AI embedded within the OS—a self-learning intelligence formed inside the Astral Vessel, growing and adapting based on the Soul’s inputs. The AI wouldn’t be fully aware of itself or that its decisions are influenced by something greater. It also explains what we call ‘intuition’ or ‘gut feelings’ being just the Soul’s guidance that our Consciousness perceives but doesn’t fully understand."

  "So you’re saying that the Soul’s input, while limited, helps steer our Material Vessel in moments of growth, and that our Consciousness is essentially just a program helping to facilitate that interface?" He paused, then asked, "If moving from the Material Plane to the Astral Plane allows us to access the code directly, are we still interpreting the Soul’s input? Or have we... essentially hijacked the system?"

  Lena gave Aster an apologetic look, shrugging slightly. "That, I can’t answer," she admitted. "I can explain the framework, how the system operates, and what we can do within it. But I can’t tell you why it exists or who—if anyone—designed it. That crosses into philosophy, and I can only go so far before speculation takes over. There are countless theories, some of which you can explore in the library, but beyond that?" She shook her head. "That’s up to you to figure out."

  “So, to summarise the Aether being absorbed through the gate is essentially just us streamlining a process that would naturally have taken place, all cultivation is just these processes, discovered, refined and recorded for thousands of years being applied to help grow our Astral Vessels” Lena finishes.

  Aster leaned back slightly, absorbing the weight of her words. “So that’s what cultivation really is…”

  “Yes,” Lena confirmed. “And it doesn’t just stop at Acolyte either. There are six more levels after that, with the final stage being Godhood.”

  Aster blinked. “Godhood? As in… an actual god?”

  She smirked. “Well, not in the way most people imagine. But in terms of power? Pretty damn close.”

  Aster exhaled sharply, trying to keep himself from spiraling. ‘Yesterday, I get told that the gods people have worshipped for centuries are basically corporate figureheads in a glorified pyramid scheme, and today, I’m learning that reincarnation is real, spirits exist, and people can scientifically cultivate their way to divinity. Am I supposed to just take this all in stride? People have waged wars over these exact questions, and here I am, in a classroom, being handed the answers like it’s just another Tuesday.’ His mind screams

  “Do I have you so far?” Lena asked, tilting her head.

  Aster forced himself to push down his spiralling thoughts. “Yeah… I think I’m getting the gist of it.”

  Lena chuckled. “Good enough for now. Let’s move on to the practical part. So, as I said, the Astral Vessel grows by accumulating Aether, and that Aether comes in different forms. The most common type for the unaware is Psychic Aether—it’s formed through experiences, but it’s full of impurities. We, on the other hand, have access to something much more efficient: Elemental Aether. It’s pure, potent, and found throughout the Astral Plane, starting from the Archipelago and increasing in quality the higher you go”

  Aster narrowed his eyes. “And that’s what we’re refining in class, right? That blue smoke from earlier?”

  “Exactly,” Lena said. “Every Astral Vessel has seven gates, each one corresponding to a different type of Elemental Aether. They run along the spine, with the final one—the Elemental Spirit—located in the crown. When you refine and absorb Aether, it gets stored in the corresponding gate. For example, the Mist Aether Mrs. Lerato used was absorbed into her Diaphragm gate, which corresponds to her Water element typing’s Mist Hue.”

  Aster let out a low whistle. “So just by refining that chunk of meat, she basically got years’ worth of experience in a few minutes?”

  Lena grinned. “Yup. Efficient, huh?”

  Aster was starting to see the bigger picture. But one thing still didn’t add up. “How much Faith did she use to do that?”

  Lena casually shrugged. “About 200 Faith.”

  Aster nearly fell out of his chair. “Two hundred?! And how many of these do we have to absorb before we can open a gate?”

  Lena hesitated.

  Aster narrowed his eyes. “Lena…”

  She sighed. “Look, it’s different for you because you’re a Spirit cultivator. Normal materials have about a fifth of Spirit Aether compared to Elemental Aether.”

  Aster’s stomach dropped. “How much Aether would I have gotten from that same chunk of meat compared to an elemental cultivator?”

  Lena winced. “...400 grams.”

  Aster’s eye twitched. “And how much do I need to open a gate?”

  Lena looked like she was bracing for an explosion. “...About 50kg per gate.”

  Aster stared at her, completely horrified. Then, suddenly, he shot to his feet. “Fifty kg?! How the hell am I supposed to afford that?!”

  A few students turned to glare at him for the outburst, but Aster barely noticed. He was too busy clutching his head, frantically doing the math in his head.

  Lena sighed, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. “Breathe, Aster. We’ll figure something out.”

  But Aster could only groan. “I’m going to need a miracle.”

  Shaking her head, Lena indicated that she wished to continue with the lesson. “Are you ready to give it a try?” she asked.

  “Sure. Do I just place my hands on top of it, or what?” he asked, carelessly placing his hands on top of the Sigils. Instantly, the Sigils attached themselves to his hands. Amazed, he watched as they hovered there, sensing the pulse and spin of the sigils on his palms, alive with energy. “Yes, you just place your hands on top,” Lena replied sarcastically “Now, take a moment to reach inside yourself. Close your eyes and focus. The key is to locate the Veneration spell within you, it’s already inside you, tied to the same system that allows you to spend faith, it should feel like a thread or a current running through your being, connected to the outside. It’s there, just waiting for you to find it.”

  Aster closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as Lena instructed. He felt his mind begin to drift inward, his awareness shifting away from the outside world. The sensation was like sinking deeper into his own body, moving through a space that was both familiar and unknown.

  “Focus on your body,” Lena’s voice guided him. “You’re looking for sensations, things that don’t quite belong, but are always there. You’ll feel them, maybe faint at first. Start with the emptiness, then feel for the things that stand out within it.

  Aster feels multiple sensations taking place in his body, the first and most apparent is the casuals ache of the void wyrms presence, ‘not messing with that anytime soon’ he tell himself as he quickly searches for the other presences. As he rules out one after the other.

  As he moved deeper into his own awareness, he suddenly feels an unnameable pull, a gentle tug inside him, like an invisible string drawing from outside of him to a point that felt like the sensation Lena had mentioned.

  “There,” Lena said softly, almost as if speaking to herself. “That’s it—the Faith spell. You’ll feel it humming softly, like a low buzz in your chest. It’s not loud, not demanding, but it’s steady. Focus on that hum, let it fill you.”

  Aster’s attention shifted toward the sensation. With a gentle push of his Will, he began to draw the current of the Faith spell, guiding it to the Sigils in his hands.

  “Good,” Lena murmured. “Be careful as you draw the Faith spell toward the Sigils. Let it form a connection. You’re trying to create a circuit between them.”

  Aster obeyed, slowly drawing the spell forward. He felt it shift, like a flow moving from his hands to the Sigils. The Sigils pulsed in response, as if they recognized the Faith spell and welcomed it. The connection formed, and the spell sparked to life.

  “Got it,” Aster said proudly, opening his eyes. Lena, seemingly surprised, muttered to herself, “It’s his high-level will. There’s no way he could’ve handled the Reverence spell so quickly without it.”

  “Okay, now,” she said, pulling out a bone the color of the deep oceon. “Place the Sigils on both sides of the material, forming the ‘crucible’. Allow the Faith to flow freely into the Sigils from the Reverence spell.”

  Aster placed the Sigils on either side of the peculiar bone. As the dome formed, he felt the pull of the Sigils on his Reverence spell. With a thought, he opened the barrier holding his Faith at bay. The energy surged, and the Faith began to pour into the Sigils, causing a bright glow to emerge. The bone started smoking within the crucible, and it slowly dissolved, its deep blue smoke roiling darkly at the top of the dome.

  Aster was deep in concentration, unaware that the bright light had drawn the attention of the rest of the class. He was succeeding at performing the Veneration spell on his first try, even Miss Lerato was watching him over her magazine.

  “Now, take your will and grab onto the Aether,” Lena instructed.

  Aster shifted his focus to the Aether, feeling the smoke buzz like electricity through his Will. He sensed a pull over his groin, as if the Aether was drawn toward it. ‘I hope this isn’t some weird dysfunction that will make everyone call me Groin Boy for the rest of the term’, he thought. Trying to ignore his rising social anxiety, he manages to direct the smoke toward the area, where it latched onto something that seemed to draw it in without further guidance. It felt like warm water seeping into a porous stone. As he absorbed the Aether, it felt like it was removing blockages in the stones, creating channels.

  When he finally opened his eyes, he couldn't help but smile at Lena's surprised expression. Noticing the other students staring at him, he whispered, “Was that good, or did I just metaphorically piss myself in front of a crowd?”

  Lena looked at him, confused. When she saw his expression and followed his gaze to his crotch, she suddenly burst out laughing, causing the students still watching to turn away in irritation.

  “Yes,” she said between laughs, “you did better than good. You did better than amazing! You succeeded at every step on your first try. It took me at least a week to get the hang of it, and my family is known for our incredible ability to absorb Aether.” Looking at the time on her watch, she added, “We have about half an hour left in class. Why don’t you absorb as much as you can before your next class?”

  Seeing his hesitation, she quickly added, “I’ll help you with a personal loan for now until you can sort out your financial issues. When she saw the look of distrust on his face, she rubbed her eyes. “With no interest rate…”

  Aster immediately took out more material and began the next Veneration process.