The Copy Mage

As new entrants of the academy, they were provided with the chance to gain a method and a skill. But who knew how long it would be before they racked up enough contribution points to gain another skill, and whether they would ever be given the opportunity to enter the cultivation method library.

However those without Soul Spirits, unlike those with Soul Spirits, were given basic cultivation levels that provided the mere minimum and were all given the same method, needing them to work for the opportunity to trade or buy a better method.

But nobody in their right mind would trade away a cultivation method for wealth as most of them were priceless and were only given to those students with Soul Spirits, to bind them more to the academy and make them feel indebted to the academy.

After waiting for the large entrance to slowly open, it revealed to them what seemed to be some sort of semi-liquid black wall.

"Your time has begun and the substance before you merely scans your body for its potential and checks the academy identification that you all have" reassured the librarian to the children who were obviously shocked and scared to enter.

However, knowing what was behind the substance, they all charged forwards and through the weird substance, in the hopes of gaining a method.

As they passed through, they all felt as though they were stripped and scanned by an invisible force, leaving them all feeling a vulnerable and open feeling as they stepped through to the cultivation method library.

It was a large hall that was split into rows of shelves that had small gaps between them. In size it was quite large, but not as large as most of them had thought it would be.

Just as they were about to ignorantly believe that it would be easy to find and acquire a powerful cultivation method, they all felt a sudden pressure that the librarian had spoken of.

However, Damian felt hardly anything on his body and realised that it must be that the weird room had sensed his potential and became more lenient on him.

Looking around, he saw that only himself and his friends were the ones that were least affected, and from what he could see, Milo also seemed hardly affected by the pressure.

Damian cared for Milo, but had unconsciously labelled him as somebody that didn't have much potential, but that thought was instantly wiped by what he saw.

Adjusting to the pressure, Damian and the others without time to waste, began to walk forwards under the pressure that continued to increase.

Each row of bookshelves had a gap of 5 metres between them and the pressure would increase between the rows of bookshelves, with each row having the most pressure.

Reaching the fourth row of cultivation methods, Damian stopped under the pressure and found that despite it being bearable, it was still quite strong, and was wondering what kind of cultivation methods he would find on the fourth row.

Lifting up a random jade skip, he seeped his energy into the jade slip that revealed to him a small description and the first few pages of the method.

It was a body tempering method that needed the user to exert themselves inhumanely then have an extremely cold bath, then repeat but having a boiling hot bath instead.

It was the Hot Cold Body tempering method that was used by many External Cultivators as one of the less rare body tempering methods that had good effects considering its rank. With its effect being on par with many higher graded Body Tempering Methods.

However, it was ranked at F:6 Rank because of how painful and arduous the process was, and that it required a lot of herbs and pills that have enhancing effects on the body to be able to endure the training.

Putting back the method, Damian couldn't imagine himself using the method that even the thought of attempting scared him, and continued onwards to the fifth row.

Damian noticed that at each row the grade of the cultivation methods would increase by a single sub-grade, from F:9 to F:8 ranked and so on.

Looking forwards there seemed to be no more than 15 rows left, which told him that the highest methods would be around E:5 ranked which would go perfectly with his talent.

Knowing how rare and valuable it was, Damian knew it would cause him a lot of trouble and put his safety at risk. But the world of cultivation was all about taking risks and increasing your own strength.

After passing the 7th row of methods, Damian was beginning to feel the pressure massively as he slowed down and began to circulate his energy to help his body overcome the pressure.

The pressure that the room caused was very unusual and mysterious, and unlike the pressure that Ivan caused with his Soul Spirit in the Will Test, this pressure seemed to be target individually and was a downwards pressure.

The only way to fight against it was by pure will power, determination and having higher potential and talent in the eyes of the controller of the room.

Turning behind him, Damian couldn't see anybody that he recognised and was worried about his friends, but he knew he couldn't turn back and look for them as he continued forth.

As Damian trudged forwards under the pressure, his friends and housemates were also trying their best to get as far forwards as they could and gain a good method that would place them a cut above everybody else.

The fateful friends all had potential and talent above that of their classmates and all had the drive and determination to gain strength, making them all forces to be reckoned with.

All of them, apart from Damian, could feel the weird entity that was causing the pressure leading them towards something and all decided to follow the feeling in the hopes of a fateful encounter.

Everybody felt that same feeling of being led towards something that was suitable for them, apart from Damian who didn't feel anything and continued to struggle forwards trying to get as far as he could within the room.