"Never stop believing in yourself." — Nero Adams.
°°°
Nero descended with his eyes half-closed, making it difficult to see them. Most of the rooms were occupied by cadets who had come to register at the academy, and naturally, they were gathered on the first floor, eating breakfast before their departure.
People glanced in his direction, partly because of his striking features—eight out of ten would look at him whenever he passed due to his extraordinary handsomeness. The second reason for their attention was his unusual appearance; he resembled a man with slitted eyes, thanks to his half-opened eyes.
No one attempted to strike up a conversation with him. He selected a seat before ordering his breakfast.
Four eggs for breakfast, fried in a brushing of olive oil and lightly salted.
After finishing his meal, he set off toward the academy.
A few minutes later, he arrived at the academy, and as one could expect, it was grandiose—truly majestic and surrounded by a barrier. Passing through it felt like stepping into another world.
Nero opened his eyes and took in the scenery. After a moment, he moved toward a building where people were lined up. These individuals were there to register and obtain a student ID before the test tomorrow. He waited for his turn, and after handing in his paperwork and paying the entrance fee, he received his student ID. People watched him oddly, but he paid them no mind as he left the school premises and headed back to the inn he had booked.
A few minutes later, Nero was back in his room. Sitting cross-legged on the couch, he brought the mirror from the bathroom. His goal was simple: to test his ability on himself again, to see if he could break one of the sealed stars.
Nero took a deep breath and, just like the night before, fully opened his eyes, staring intently at his reflection in the mirror while willing his eyes to work. His desire to trigger his eye's ability seemed to take effect. This time, he didn't see the entangled lines but directly perceived the world beyond—the nine sealed stars and the vortex. Focusing his attention on one of the stars, he was astonished to discover that one of the black chains sealing it appeared to have been broken.
While he was secretly overjoyed, he wondered how this had happened. If he could understand how to break the seal, it would be truly helpful. Unfortunately, even after racking his brain, he couldn't find any solution.
The same headache he experienced yesterday when using his ability began again. It felt like his head was splitting, so he quickly canceled his ability to avoid passing out again.
Back in reality, his shirt was a little soaked in sweat, and his head throbbed. Massaging his temples, he rose to his feet while removing his upper clothes. He sat in the chair near the only table in the room and took out his notebook, which he had previously filled with various notes, ranging from sword moves to different herbs. Turning to a new page, he wrote a few things about his constitution and his eye's ability. Of course, he wrote them in code; even if someone found his notebook and read it, some passages would be incomprehensible without the deciphering codes.
In one of the coded messages he wrote:
[Maybe my eyes can be controlled if I will it strongly enough. More tests must be conducted to further understand my eyes, which I believe must have many abilities. The first being the skill to see the primordial energy pathways in a human's body, and the second ability is to cancel the law manifestation? (Maybe).]
He wrote "humans" because, until now, he had only used his eyes on beings like himself. Further tests were necessary. As for how to break the seals on the sealed stars, unfortunately, he hadn't been able to come up with a solution yet. He recalled what he went through yesterday; aside from enduring immense pain before falling unconscious, he hadn't achieved anything noteworthy. If simply checking his inner world could break the seals, as he had attempted a few minutes earlier, it should have worked. Unfortunately, that wasn't what happened, so there must be another reason he was unaware of. Something must have occurred when he fell unconscious. Not only had one of the chains sealing one of the nine stars broken, but his physique also seemed to have grown slightly stronger than before; he could feel strength coursing through him.
Nero kept tapping his finger on the table repeatedly, lost in thought, having already closed the notebook.
"Maybe some kind of energy is needed to break the seals?" he suddenly mumbled; it was an idea worth considering. Since he already possessed a complete core in the form of a vortex, and it was sealed, he couldn't use primordial energy. The kind of energy needed to slowly break the seals mustn't be primordial energy, he was certain. This left him with another type of energy. He recalled reading in a book somewhere that knights or mages grow stronger the more monsters they slay; there was a theory that upon killing monsters, a certain invisible energy was absorbed to strengthen the core. Some scholars refuted this theory, claiming only a powerful breathing technique and rigorous training could help one grow stronger, but the theory existed, and many believed it.
"I should try it; maybe this way I can unseal the first star. Unfortunately, I can't test it right away because there aren't any monsters where we are, only at the academy. Sigh! I would have loved to have this idea before coming here; I could have tested it. But well, I'm glad I have something to test. Slowly but surely, I will find a solution—no need to be impatient." Nero thought as he jumped onto his bed for a quick nap.