Chapter 59 — Two Months of Transformation

Time passed by quickly in the way it always does when people are focused on goals that matter.

Soon it had been more than two full months since Damian first entered Stormhold Academy, and the changes that had occurred in that relatively short period were nothing short of remarkable.

The current structure of the entire Academy was undergoing a fundamental transformation that nobody could have predicted.

Although this shift wasn’t particularly visible among the senior classes who had their established hierarchies and comfortable routines, for the new first-year students the change was blindingly obvious to anyone paying even the slightest attention.

For the first time in the entire documented history of Stormhold Academy, commoner students were not being systematically suppressed and bullied by the Noble faction.

It was unprecedented.

Revolutionary, even.

Of course, the situation wasn’t perfect by any means. Many commoner students still chose to become subordinates to various Noble families in exchange for access to better skills and weapon arts that they couldn’t acquire through normal channels.

That fundamental reality hadn’t changed.

But here was the crucial difference that made everything matter: the situation had improved to the point where these students weren’t being forced into those arrangements anymore through violence, intimidation, or social isolation.

They were making actual choices now, weighing options, from different Noble Families.

And that changed everything.

Damian and his rapidly growing organization, which he’d boldly named the Mafia in that dramatic gymnasium declaration, made absolutely sure that no commoner students who sought their protection were bullied or coerced into arrangements they didn’t want.

The message was simple and clear: touch one of theirs, and you’d answer to all of them.

The student rankings were also changing repeatedly as people pushed themselves harder, though interestingly the top ten positions had remained remarkably stable throughout this entire turbulent period.

Damian himself still held the number one spot with an iron grip since no one dared to challenge him.

Edrin, Lysa, and Ronan continued to occupy three positions in the top ten, creating a solid power base for the commoner faction.

The remaining six spots were all held by members of the Noble faction, creating an interesting but tense balance.

One particularly noteworthy development had occurred among the elite students.

The SS-ranked talents had finally begun showing their truly remarkable potential and had all advanced to E+ rank during these two months of intensive training.

And Micheal, despite technically being the same rank as Leonard, Adrian, and Iris, had somehow started completely dominating all of them in actual combat effectiveness and political influence.

He’d emerged as the undisputed leader of the entire Noble faction.

Meanwhile, Edrin, Lysa, and Ronan had all successfully advanced from their previous levels to solid E rank, and were now growing steadily toward E+ rank.

It seemed as if everyone in the first-year class had suddenly gained wings during these past two months, soaring to heights they’d never imagined possible.

Their confidence in their skills and weapon arts had grown tremendously.

The competitive atmosphere was electric, pushing everyone to improve faster than they would have under normal circumstances.

And Damian?

Damian had maintained a rather mysteriously low profile ever since that explosive incident on the clubs recruitment day.

Many students rarely seemed to catch even a glimpse of his figure around campus anymore.

He’d become almost ghost-like in his movements, appearing only when necessary and disappearing just as quickly.

Rumors swirled constantly about how powerful he was now.

But nobody knew for certain.

****

In the dense forest behind the Academy grounds, far from prying eyes and curious onlookers, a solitary figure could be seen swinging a terrifying-looking battle axe at the ancient trees with relentless, mechanical precision.

The figure was completely shirtless despite the cool air, his well-defined torso gleaming with sweat under the filtered sunlight.

His long crimson hair was tied back tightly with a simple thread to keep it out of his face during training.

His muscles were perfectly sculpted in a way that suggested both power and speed. They were lean and efficient rather than bulky, built for explosive movement and endurance rather than pure strength.

Every swing of the massive axe showcased the kind of muscle control that came only from thousands of hours of dedicated practice.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Only the rhythmic sound of the heavy axe blade biting into solid wood could be heard echoing through the quiet forest, creating an almost meditative atmosphere.

The figure continued his relentless practice, each swing slightly different from the last as he made minute adjustments to his form, his grip, his breathing, his stance.

Searching for something.

Suddenly, the figure seemed to realize something fundamental, some crucial understanding clicking into place in his mind.

His form became even more perfect, more fluid, more natural.

And the massive axe in his hands stopped looking heavy entirely.

It moved through the air as if it weighed nothing at all, as if it were simply an extension of his own body rather than a separate weapon.

BOOM!

As soon as that profound change manifested in his technique, the next axe swing that fell cut completely through the entire thick tree trunk in one clean motion, as easily as a hot knife slicing through soft butter.

The massive tree began to topple with a groaning crash.

"Phew... I finally did it. Finally broke through that damn barrier – Lifting something heavy as if it were light."

The figure was, of course, none other than Damian Valcor himself, who had been practicing almost nonstop for weeks to make this exact breakthrough in his weapon art mastery.

"Status."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Name: Damian Valcor

Age: 15

Rank: D

Talent: S

Core Attributes:

Strength: 95

Speed: 99

Stamina: 100

Vitality: 100

Aura: D

Will: 170

Skills: —

Shooting: B+

Hand Combat: B

Telekinesis: E+ → D

Macro Vision: C

Sonic Blink: D

Aura Control: C+

Aura Magnification: 2×

Weapon Arts: —

Omega Point - S: Level 2

Abyssal Slaughter -SS: Minor Success

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Damian stared at his status screen with genuine satisfaction spreading across his face.

For the past two months, he’d been seeking intensive guidance from various professors without stopping, pushing himself to the absolute limit of what his body and mind could handle.

For improving his physical attributes, he’d sought out Nathan Brock so frequently that he’d almost driven the bald professor to doubt whether Damian’s stats were even humanly possible for someone his age.

Damian had already reached the absolute peak physical state for a D+ rank awakener in every category, now only waiting for his Aura core to catch up and reach D+ rank so his overall ranking could advance.

His physical body was ready. His core just needed time to grow.

His Will stat had also been rising slowly but steadily as well.

This mental fortitude was actually one of the primary reasons he’d finally been able to advance his incredibly difficult Abyssal Slaughter weapon art to minor success today after being frustratingly stuck for so long.

Yes, he’d been completely stuck at the initiated level ever since he first started serious training in the Abyssal Slaughter art weeks ago.

He genuinely hadn’t understood why it was proving so extraordinarily tough to advance compared to Omega Point, which had progressed relatively smoothly.

But he suspected he might get his answer very soon from that mysterious old man who’d first taught him the basics.

That strange instructor had mentioned previously that he would seek Damian out once he managed to advance the art beyond the initial stage.

His Aura control and Aura magnification capabilities had both also improved tremendously through countless hours of practice with Professor Seraphina.

Reaching two times Aura magnification was particularly impressive. That was a level of efficiency that typically only expert veteran warriors achieved after years of combat experience.

Only a handful of students in Stormhold Academy’s entire history had managed to achieve it before graduation.

The fact that Damian had reached it as a first-year was genuinely remarkable.

His Omega Point weapon art had also progressed to level two, something that had made Professor Salazar endlessly praise his own supposedly superior teaching skills to anyone who would listen.

The man’s ego had become almost insufferable, but Damian didn’t particularly care as long as the instruction remained top quality.

He’d also acquired an entirely new skill called Sonic Blink specifically designed for explosive burst movement.

Previously, he’d lacked any skill that could help amplify his speed beyond what his physical attributes naturally provided, so he’d spent considerable time searching through the Academy library to find something suitable for his fighting style.

Skills were genuinely special compared to techniques or weapon arts.

They never required any Aura expenditure to activate and use, which made them incredibly efficient and sustainable in extended combat.

As the classification itself suggested, they were pure skills rather than supernatural techniques.

Anything that a person practiced extensively and repetitively enough would eventually take the concrete form of a skill registered by the system.

It was fundamentally related to how the human mind worked, particularly something called psions that Professor Admond had explained in detail during his theory classes.

In his words–

"Psions were microscopic particles or waves that the human brain naturally produced and emitted, especially when performing actions with intense focus and repetition.

When someone practiced a specific movement or technique thousands upon thousands of times, their brain would begin producing specialized psions attuned specifically to that action.

These psions would gradually form what could only be described as mental pathways or neural shortcuts that made the action increasingly automatic and efficient.

Eventually, if someone practiced long enough with sufficient quality of repetition, these psion pathways would crystallize into what the system recognized as an actual skill.

At that point, the action became so deeply ingrained in both body and mind that it could be performed almost unconsciously, with perfect form, without requiring any Aura expenditure at all.

It was the difference between consciously using Aura to enhance your speed versus your body simply knowing how to move at maximum efficiency through pure muscle memory and mental conditioning.

Consider psions as the Aura of the brain in simple words. Your brain is consciously growing as well, the moment you awaken. And the skills are your exercise for the brain."

’The human mind is really an incredible thing.’

Damian thought as he wiped sweat from his face with a cloth. Once you understand how it works, how to train it properly, the potential is almost limitless.

Beep.

His watch suddenly beeped with an incoming message, breaking him out of his contemplative thoughts.

It was from Edrin.

[Boss, everyone has arrived at the shooting range and is waiting for you.]

Damian glanced at the message, then at the destroyed tree lying on the forest floor, then back at his status screen still hovering in his vision.

It’s time to meet with the others. Time to see how much they’ve all grown during these two months.

He dismissed the status screen with a thought, grabbed his shirt from where it hung on a nearby branch, and started jogging toward the shooting range.

He was curious to see what his Mafia had become during this period of relative quiet.