[Yes, 42. The aim of the champion realm is to form the protective case of the Azkelwart hourglass.] The system replied.
'Who the f*ck is this Azkelwart?!' Blake asked in frustration.
He knew the next level of his cultivation was bound to be harder, but not this level of hard. The number of stars he had to fill was more than the previous level!
[Azkelwart was the greatest human researcher before and during my time, and from what I have seen even, I will say till date. Unlike normal researchers that went into 3 to 4 fields of specialization, Azkelwart was known to be the best in 7 specialization fields, but they were rumors that believed he was into 10 specializations.
His researches and theories improved the primitive foundation of magic for humans. Among many of his theories was the Azkelwart hourglass which when he shared with the human race it shook the entire world. It was then that the whole world found out that not only was he a researcher, but also a genius cultivator.]
[The Azkelwart hourglass made cultivators aware of the path they needed to follow in order to obtain godhood and that included the fusion process.]
"So, he was the one that discovered the fusion process, but how did people of those eras pass through the bottleneck I faced in my cultivation?" Blake asked.
[Before the theory was free for all, human cultivators knew nothing about the fusion process. So, they used high energy sources like etherium to overload their stars and forcefully break the barrier and forcefully open up their pathways, but this sometimes brought about many complications like crippling one's pathways if not done well.
Those who had better luck had their mana pathways a little bit damaged by the process. It was considered a successful process even at that because the injuries would eventually heal up when mana passed through them, but it was a very slow process.
Apart from the injuries they sustained to their mana pathways, they had their cultivation speed halved and those who were unaffected by the process were those who had masters that helped guide the energy.]
"That means he practically made magic free for all..." Blake said in a tone of realization.
"How does the Azkelwart hourglass help one's cultivation?" Blake asked.
[Like I said it shows the cultivator the path to godhood by showing the requirements of each level. For your level, it isn't that useful, but when you advance to the hero realm there wouldn't be stars to fill and that is when you will need it.] The system replied.
"Are you serious? no stars?" Blake asked in ecstasy because he was tired of stars, but when he realized that things got harder the higher one went, his smile disappeared.
The system chuckled when it saw his reaction.
Blake felt his heart bleeding when he saw that 5 minutes had gone out of the timer. He had more questions to ask but since they could still be answered later, he began absorbing the energy.
He spent close to 12 hours in the cultivation room before he decided it was enough for the day. After he left the building through the other door, he went straight to the concealed space and had 'lunch' from his dimensional space.
"Now I know why time in the cultivation room is awarded to top students after events…" Blake thought as he clearly felt the difference between the mana density in the cultivation room and that of the concealed space.
(AN: So, here's what I will do. Instead of calling it the 17th star, I will call it the 1st star of the champion realm or the 1st star depending on the situation, so as to prevent you guys from getting confused.)
He was already there for only 12 hours, but his gains showed that the cultivation rooms were twice more effective than the cultivating with beast cores. He had gone from an empty 1st star to close to half of the 3rd star.
The reason he had gone up so fast was because of his increased mana perception and control from his advancement into the champion realm, but his only problem was that it wouldn't be consistent. He wouldn't be granted permission even if he performed well in classes, but only from events like the awakening test and assignments.
"Seems the higher I advance in realm, the more obsolete this place becomes." Blake sighed as he glanced around the concealed space.
When he was done with his lunch and began training on his powers, Blake sensed that something was different about his powers.
"Why do I have a feeling that my powers have gotten stronger?" Blake asked in a confused and excited tone.
[It is a normal occurrence, so eliminate the thoughts of you being special.] The system scoffed at Blake's thoughts. [As for the increase in power, like I said it is normal for anyone in the champion realm. Once you fill up a star, the power of your spells and other buffs will have a substantial increase, unlike the warrior and human realm when the increase is unnoticeable till the breakthrough into another realm.]
"Is that so…" Blake said in a tone of realization and continued his training.
…
He followed the same routine for the next day, spending 12 hours more and exhausting his time in the cultivation room, he continued with his training.
When their break was over, Blake had filled up 4 more stars with the help of both the cultivation room and his beast cores.
He had used almost 6 beast cores just to fill up a single star. At that time, he felt his heart tightening with every beast core that turned to dust. He knew that he would need more energy, but he had no idea that it was this much.
'Need more ways to get access to the cultivation room.' Blake thought as he made his way to the basic magic class.
"Good day students, hope you all had a nice rest during the break because this will be one hell of a week." Professor Gibson said with a creepy smile.
"The school has decided to step up your classes because most of your performances were very poor for elite students. Apart from Blake and a few others that their performance was splendid, the rest were trash." His smile changed to a stern expression causing most of the students to gulp.
'Not a fan of being the center of attention, but if I become a professor's pet, I would gain a lot.' Blake thought as he ignored the gazes on him.
"Like I told you all, this week we will go into arcane spells and as expected of elite students you are meant to have enough mana control to cast a simple spell like levitate." Two girls who were chatting rose up into the air.
"We won't be trying to levitate people because that is above you, so we will start small." With the girls still in midair, he began explaining the principles of the levitate spell.
The levitate spell was just like that of the space coalescer, it needed the manipulation of mana, and the casters will to wrap around the object before lifting it.
Unlike the constructs of space coalescers that couldn't change their positions, those created by mana were able to move as long as the caster had a will equal to or above the task.
After explaining and demonstrating the procedures of how to cast the spell, it was the turn of the students.
Having plans of becoming professor Gibson's pet student, Blake wrapped his will around his notebook while supplying his mana causing it to rise to his eye level than staying in the same position.
"What!"
"How?!"
The sound of students gasping caught the professor's attention, causing him to look towards Blake's directions.
'What!' If not for his self-control he would have gasped in shock just like the students. There was no way he would have expected someone to complete the spell under 2 minutes, even if it was the number 1 student.
"How?!... 300 points to Blake for being the first to complete the spell." He had wanted to ask how he did so quickly, but at the last moment, he was able to control himself.
'This isn't up to half the difficulty of space freeze…' Blake thought as he too was shocked by how quickly he cast levitate.
Space freeze was twice more difficult than levitate if not thrice because it required the caster to manipulate space with one's will which was way more difficult than manipulating mana which was everywhere.
[What do you expect from the strongest element, also don't forget you are in the champion realm already.] The system said with a 'smirk'.
After some more minutes, Luciano was announced as the 2nd, followed by Damon.
[From the moment I saw the way he controlled his golden flames; I knew he had a strong will.] The system had already expected this outcome.