48 Here To Take Your Room

As Arnin entered the building, he could already feel the various types of essence components. Not only that, he could also feel the essence of time somewhere deep within the tower. This excited him to the point where he couldn't help but grin broadly.

"Alright. The school assigned me, Xaac, to explain the rules about the Essence Tower, and the whole Training field in general." The teacher turned around once all five of them had entered the tower. He looked at Arnin and the other three students with a smile. Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be a fairly old teacher in the academy, so of course, his cultivation base was extremely high when compared to the Butterfly teachers.

"The Tower has twenty floors, each with greater amounts of essence than the previous. The first floor is free for Moth students, while the rest can be accessed through payments of academic points. Only Moth students can enter the first ten floors, while Butterfly students can only use the first three." The teacher explained slowly.

"Wait, if we can't pay to access the last ten floors, how do we get access to them? Do we have to do some special missions, or something similar?" Arnin could already guess that the higher floors were much better than those beneath them, not only because the higher floors would have greater amounts of worldly essence to absorb, and a larger variety of essence components,but also because the higher floors probably had rare components, like time.

"How do you enter the higher floors? Well, you are right that there are certain missions that can grant access to higher floors, however the best way is not through missions, but through competitions." Xaac's eyes showed satisfaction regarding Arnin's question as he spoke.

"Competitions? What types of competitions?" Arnin knew that there were different types of competitions in the world. Even in his previous life, there were multiple types of competitions that could be conducted, however every world tended to focus on a certain kind. These competitions were considered the most important. When he was the Demon Lord, he went to a world of dryads, where one's control over nature was the focus of competitions, while in another world of humans, they focused on intelligence. Every world stressed whatever they considered to be important. Although Arnin didn't know the focus of Afloria, he assumed it was probably based upon strength.

"Well, we have so many types of competitions, a lot of them will let you get into the higher levels of the Tower, however these competitions are not in the academy. They are held between different academies, regarding different topics. If you do really well, then there is a high chance that you can go to higher floors." Xaac spoke patiently, without showing any sort of annoyance.

The other three students were still extremely exhausted and found it difficult to listen. They weren't use to such long jogs and sprints, as they were only Orb Birth - Earth, so they hadn't received much training. One of the students, Alisma, was even feeling somewhat sleepy. However, this was to be expected of them since they were still five years old, and their bodies weren't fully conditioned yet.

"Let's not discuss the other floors for now, since that is still a while away. I have just done a small intro of the tower, but if you want to know more, you can ask me, or any of the teachers in the Tower at a later date. Let us now talk about the rest of the training field." Xaac smiled and nodded. He looked at Arnin this time because he noticed that the other three didn't really show much interest in the other floors.

"Now, the Essence Tower is the middle of the Training field, and is surrounded by the field, however there are more places other then the field and Tower." This time Xaac pointed towards three other entrances. Arnin looked at them from a distance and found that they didn't lead to a green field like the one he just came from. From his perspective, he could see three different colors.

"There are four gates that lead outside the Tower. They are labelled North, East, South, and West. The one we just came from is the South gate…." He carefully explained where the other three gates led to. Armin was even more astonished when he heard Xaac's explanation. He couldn't believe what Lepidoptera had for a training field; it was insanely large.

The South Gate led to a large grassy field which focused on components like wood, life and fire. The North gate lead to a barren land with dead trees and shrubs which focused more so on the components of death and withering. The East gate led to a snowy world where water and ice were supreme. The last gate, the Western one, led to an underground world. This world emphasized the components of earth, metal, and darkness.

Arnin nodded his head when he heard this. Xaac only spoke about two or three of the components in each of the worlds, although there were probably many others.

"Is there some sort of formation that created these worlds, or were they naturally spawned?" Arnin didn't believe that the worlds were natural spawned since that would be extremely weird, however Afloria had many unusual happenings, which was why he decided to question it.

"Umm, actually, all of these worlds were naturally created, however they are not all around the academy. We built teleportation portals that lead to the different places. Only the grassy field world is around the academy, with the underground world being right below us. The dead world is actually quite far, and the same goes for the snowy world." Xaac explained with a smile. He couldn't help but feel astonished that Arnin was asking these types of questions. Most students wouldn't care about such trivial matters. They would usually only question which world was the best for cultivation, and sometimes make other minor inquiries.

Arnin nodded his head and asked one last question. "Can we begin our cultivation now, or is there anything else left to talk about?" He just wanted to go and cultivate now. Now that he had learned everything that he needed to know, there wasn't much else he was interested in.

"Let me see, we covered the info on the Tower's floors, and the overall idea of the training fields. Actually, there is one other thing that I have to tell you about the Essence Tower. Most, if not all of the students that use the Tower are in the Essence Manifest realm. The biggest reason for this is because of the chaotic essence components in the tower. They are able to handle them better then Orb Birth students, which is why there are more of them here. However, there is another reason. The Tower has limited rooms…" Xaac was about to continue speaking, however Arnin interrupted.

"And because there are limited rooms, we have to claim them through force or something along the same lines, am I right? This academy really makes us students fight too much. First it was the residential area, and now this Tower. You guys really like watching children fight." Arnin mocked with a sneer. He didn't find these rules to be bad, since they could temper the students, however it was still annoying that everything had to be fought for. He felt that this might lead to him not being able to have a peaceful time cultivating.

"Haha, you are correct. You have to claim each room through force. However, if a person has already entered a room and has begun to cultivate, then the other students are not allowed to disturb them until he or she comes out. Of course, we make sure that the student isn't just hiding in there and not cultivating." Xaac felt somewhat embarrassed because of Arnin's remark. The school was technically watching the children fight one another. Arnin pointed it out as if they were enjoying other students getting hurt, however this was simply a way to temper everyone. Xaac could only laugh with some embarrassment.

"Can we go now? You have told us everything, right?" Arnin felt that the information given was already enough. If he needed to know more, he could always come back and ask later. There was no need to explain every little thing, down to the very finest details.

"Yes, you may go now." Xaac sighed before waving his hand helplessly. He didn't take offense towards Arnin's attitude. He didn't find it impolite, rather it was quite refreshing.

Arnin quickly rushed away from the group and went deeper into the Tower. The other three students continued to rest for a while as they watched Arnin get further away.

"That guy is really something. We should make friends with him. He looks like a fun person." One of the boys spoke up. His golden hair was tied behind his back. It wasn't extremely long, however they still reached his shoulders.

"What are you talking about Rumir? He doesn't seem like a fun person at all. He is too quiet, and only spoke to the teacher so far." One of the other boys said.

"He might just be a shy person, Meak. He looked nice, so I still think we should talk to him." Rumir replied.

As the two boys conversed, Alisma had already closed her eyes. She just wanted to rest before doing anything else.

Arnin decided that he would cultivate in the Tower, rather than go to the other four places. Although the Tower had chaotic essence, this was still very good for Arnin. He just wanted to find the time component and begin absorbing it into his orb. Plus, the Tower had various types of components, while the other four places emphasized specific types.

He found that he couldn't see any other doors, except for the four main gates. He knew that he was on the first floor, so there should be cultivation rooms somewhere, however he couldn't find any way to access them. As he zoomed around the first floor, he finally found a large square desk in the middle of the floor. There were a few people standing behind it, however Arnin found someone else there that he didn't expect to see. It was Surk.

"Arnin? What are you doing here?" Surk also saw Arnin and quickly asked with a smile.

"Me? I should be asking you that question. Don't you work at the library?" Arnin didn't think that Surk would have two jobs at the same time, that would just interfere with his cultivation. Plus, both of the jobs were very good, so why would he need both?

"Well, I was switched over to the Tower. The library position was given to someone else." Surk spoke with nonchalance. Even though he saw Arnin beat people in the library, and even had to pay him twenty Academic points, Surk kept a normal attitude and didn't show any displeasure. He acted as if the library scene had never happened.

"Since you are here, then help me find the cultivation rooms. I don't know where they are." Arnin didn't care that much anymore. Although he was surprised in the beginning, it didn't really matter to him. He just wanted to get a room for cultivation.

"So you are looking for a room? Well before you do, let me just warn you, all of the rooms are taken by Essence Manifest cultivators, so you will have to duel them for it." Surk warned Arnin with a good heart. Even though Arnin was ruthless and much stronger than the average Orb Birth cultivator, he still didn't think he could get deal with just about anyone.

"I don't care about their cultivation base. Just tell me which rooms I can duel for." Arnin waved his hand in the air and spoke with some arrogance. He honestly didn't care about Essence Manifest cultivators after his breakthrough. He felt that he could beat Earth level cultivators easily, and even fight well against Sky level cultivators. Not only that, Arnin also felt that he might be able to go head to head with a Essence Manifest - Hell cultivator, however he couldn't guarantee a win.

"Alright then, let me pull out a list and see which rooms you can fight for." Surk smiled before pulling out a small notebook. He flipped through the pages and looked through them with serious eyes.

Arnin was still wondering how he was going to access the room. He couldn't feel much space essence, other than what came from his interspatial bag, and from the two of the gates that had teleportation portals.

"Alright, there are three rooms that are available for a fight. One of the cultivators is Essence Manifest Sky, another is Hell, while the last one is in the Heaven realm. So which would you like to fight for?" Surk asked with a smile. Arnin was somewhat surprised that there would be Hell and even Heaven cultivators on the first floor. He expected that such cultivators would be on much higher floors.

"Is there a major difference in the rooms, or are they all the same?" Arnin had a feeling that the two higher realm cultivators were probably weaker than others in their own realm, which was why they were on the first floor. It made no sense as to why they would be on first floor for any other reason.

"Not really. The first floor's rooms are basically the same. Only higher floors will have different ranks for rooms." Surk replied quickly. Arnin nodded his head and began to decide who he would fight with. Even though the Essence Manifest cultivator was probably weaker than others in his own realm, Arnin didn't think that he would have a high chance of winning unless he went all out, which he didn't want to do. He would expose too many of his skills.

The other two cultivators were manageable, but Arnin didn't want to create too much of a ruckus, so he ultimately decided to go with the easiest opponent. He felt that he could beat the Hell realm cultivator, however he wanted to hide some of his skills for the future.

"I will duel the Sky realmed cultivator." Arnin spoke up. If he fought the Sky realm cultivator, he could gauge how strong he is after the breakthrough. Plus, if other Essence Manifest - Sky cultivators came to fight him because of his high skills, he could pummel them quite easily, but he couldn't do that with cultivators who were at the Hell realm and higher.

"Alright then. Let's head over to that room." Surk walked from behind the desk and towards a wall between the North and West gates, and Arnin followed behind.At first, he felt somewhat confused, however as he got closer, he noticed that there was something unusual about the wall. There seemed to be a huge amount of essence trapped behind the walls.

Arnin stared at Surk, who began to tap on the wall. He did not hit the same place, but rather tapped out a certain pattern. Arnin tried to memorize these points, which Surk quickly noticed.

"Haha, you won't be able to use the same positions every time. They change, so there is no use memorizing them." Surk found it funny that Arnin was trying to remember what he was doing, however Arnin's countenance became solemn. He was very discreet in his actions, so he never expected that he would be caught. Even Moth teachers wouldn't be able to catch him doing something like that unless they were watching him closely, however Surk had just looked at him once.

'This person is not as simple as he seems.' Arnin smiled wickedly at such a thought and couldn't help but find Surk much more interesting.

After completed the code, a door appeared in the wall. Surk opened the door and walked through, Arnin following suit.

Behind the door, Arnin found a small room made from some type of black material. The whole room had only one candle that hung on the wall. It was the only source of light. Sitting down with her legs crossed, was a woman with long silver hair. Her eyes were open, and she was eating some bread. She had beautiful green eyes, and was quite young, possibly around the age of sixteen or so. Her cultivation was pretty good, however this made Arnin think that the people he had met so far were not very talented, except for Kurse, who barely made the mark. Torne was extremely pitiful with his low cultivation and high age, while people like Revi, who he had assumed were talented, were actually not that good.

'Seems like I haven't seen the real talents of the academy yet, however I still feel that this Surk is much stronger then he shows.' Arnin glanced at Surk before looking back at the girl who was silently eating her bread.

She looked up and her eyes brightened when she saw Surk. When they landed on Arnin, they went back to normal. "Senior Surk, do you have business with me?" Her eyes went back to Surk as she asked with a bright smile.

"Hello, Unuz. I am here because my friend here would like to duel you for this room." Surk went straight to point, and didn't try to speak much more than was necessary. The girl showed a disappointed look on her face before looking at Arnin with some shock.

"Do you mean that this boy here? He wants to duel with me? He seems to have just started his cultivation and is probably at Orb Birth - Earth. How could he fight me? Senior Surk, you really like to joke." Unuz giggled. She didn't take Surk seriously, and even began to think that he may have just used a this as an excuse to speak with her. She began to blush slightly, mesmerized by the deadly charm that Surk exuded.

Arnin didn't have much of a reaction and found it comical that the girl assumed his strength without testing it herself. He began to wonder how such an incompetent person was so talented.

Although she didn't check Arnin's cultivation, she couldn't be blamed for such a thing. Who would ever guess that a five year old that had just begun his path in cultivation would be at Orb Birth - Hell? Possibly no one.

"Unuz, I am not joking with you. This friend of mine wishes to duel with you, so I hope that you can abide by the rules and proceed with the duel." Surk spoke professionally and didn't try to warm up to the pretty girl.

Unuz was astonished by Surk's serious attitude. The first time he mentioned it, she took it as a joke, however now that he mentioned it another time, he must be serious.

The girl looked at Arnin once more, and began to seriously inspect him. She couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air when she saw how high Arnin's cultivation realm was.

"Y-you, are you really a new cultivator? I have never heard of someone being at Orb Birth - Hell at such a young age. I entered that realm when I turned eight, and only because of large amounts of cultivation stones and pills." The girl was extremely shocked. She couldn't help but spout out as she looked at Arnin with a much more serious expression.

"Whether I am new or not isn't of your concern. I want this room, so either fight me for it, or scram." Arnin didn't show any hint of politeness when he spoke.

The girl was displeased by his tone. Although she believed that Arnin had demon-like talent, she still didn't think that an Orb Birth cultivator could beat her.

"What is your name?" She asked him with a solemn look.

"None of your business. Surk, can I just attack her now, or do I have to wait for you to say something for us to begin. You already told her the reason for my visit, so that should be enough." Arnin looked at Unuz with some annoyance before asking Surk.

"Umm, well technically, you can beg-" He didn't even finish his sentence before Arnin launched an attack at Unuz.

Arnin's fist landed directly on Unuz's stomach and she flew towards the black wall.

*BOOM*

"--in" Surk's lips twitched when he saw Unuz hitting the black wall with such speed.

Arnin coldly looked Unuz and spat out with some annoyance. "Since you wanted to know my name, here it is. My name is Arnin, and I am here to take your room."