Eden was led to a small training area by Stanley. He could faintly hear the sounds of fighting coming from inside.
"Who is the one fighting?" Eden asked.
"Ah… she is one of my best and most favorite disciples," Stanley said and opened the door.
"You!?" both Eden and the girl fighting said, as the fighting came to a stop.
There wasn't much space in the training area, and there weren't many people. In fact, there were only five in total, including Eden.
"Oh, Mia, you already know him?" Stanley asked.
"Yeah, I met him once. He came over to our shop to buy a suit," Mia said dejectedly.
To be honest, she got quite a scolding for giving away the suit for free, and she still hadn't gotten over the sudden spike in power she felt when facing Eden.
"Well, since that is the case, you can help him settle in and teach him the ropes."
"But sir…" Mia was immediately cut off by Stanley.
"That is an instruction," Stanley said with his hands behind his back.
"Yes, sir."
**********
D-3 DISTRICT TRAINING GROUND BACKYARD
Eden and Mia were both seen holding wooden rods as they circled around each other on a mat laid on the floor.
"Can't we train in the training grounds?" Eden asked.
"You are under my tutoring now. We train where I want you to train," Mia said.
"Now I want to see that explosive power you showed during our fight."
Now Eden truly understood. She was fighting him here not because she couldn't fight him in the training grounds, but because she wanted to see his power and didn't want anyone else to find out — or because his power might destroy the entire training ground.
"I cannot do it on command. It just happens when I need it," Eden explained.
"Oh, do you have a life core?"
"Yes, I do. If I didn't have one, how would I be able to unleash such power?"
"Who knows? Tons of weird creatures exist in the world."
"Well then, since you can't unleash it on command, I will just have to force it out of you," Mia said.
Fifteen minutes later,
Eden was on the ground, bruised and beaten, while Mia stood triumphantly over him.
She may not have unleashed his power, but at least she could get some consolation for the earlier fight by beating the heck out of him.
"Urgh, what the hell," Eden said, still shaking from the pain.
"Get up. Training continues tomorrow," Mia said and left.
Late in the evening, everyone had gone, but Eden stayed behind to clean up the place.
"Why are you still here? Aren't you going home?" Stanley, who had suddenly walked behind him, asked.
"Yeah, I'll be done cleaning in a second," Eden said and went back to cleaning the training area.
Stanley took away the broom he was holding and stared at him.
"You didn't come here just because you wanted to train. I sense you have something that is bothering you." Stanley paused, then looked at Eden.
"Does it have something to do with your life core?"
Eden froze.
"How does he know about that? Am I that easy to see through?"
Thoughts like this flashed across his mind, but he had no answer to them.
"Stop trying to guess how I found out. I can sense energy from anyone, as we all have energy radiating from our bodies. It is just that those who have activated their life cores have it in better density."
"But you, when I looked at you, I could not sense anything. Only a dead person would not give out any energy," Stanley said.
"So do you know what is wrong with my core?" Eden asked, hoping he had found a lifeline.
"No, I have absolutely no idea why your core is acting like that, but one thing I can tell you is that it has happened before."
Eden's face, which had become gloomy, suddenly lit up.
Stanley went up to a shelf and brought out a book. He then turned and handed it over to Eden.
Theory of Dormant Life Core.
That was what was written on the cover of the book.
"What is this?" Eden asked.
"It was written by a scientist who studies life cores. He theorized that there was a possibility that a core could not give out any energy when activated — it would just be dormant."
"He believed that the core just stored a lot of energy and was trying to process it, thereby leading to its dormant state."
Eden looked at the book in his hands and listened to Stanley's explanation, and he started to get excited.
Exactly what Stanley explained was what happened to him.
When he entered that mode, he suddenly possessed tons of energy that could rival an S-rank.
"Thank you for the book, sir," Eden said.
"I hope this helps. It was just a theory, and the only time it happened in the past, it was recorded in this book. There isn't much information since it only happened to one person."
"Yes, sir. I will try my best," Eden said and left.
After Eden left, Stanley went into thought.
"Hmm… he has the same characteristics as Amos. I just hope he has a different ending," Stanley thought.
*********
The first thing Eden did when he got home was study the book.
No one was home at the moment. His mom was at work, his dad had died when he was little, and his elder brother had not been available for a while.
So he could read the book without any interruptions.
"Page: Dormant State."
Eden said out loud as he went on to read the contents.
This page talked about the dormant core and what the author believed it was about.
According to the book, the energy in the core was still being processed. Therefore, the owner of the core had to find a way to collect the power necessary for his rank from the massive reserves he had.
And the only way one could do that was through meditation.