Lucas opened his eyes slowly. They gleamed with a subtle flame, a glimmer of raw power that hadn’t been there before.
He had ascended.
Adept Rank was no longer his ceiling.
Now, he stood on its peak—First-stage Expert—and the second stage Expert Rank no longer seemed so far away.
He exhaled, chest rising and falling with quiet satisfaction.
There was still more Yin energy left—he could feel it—but he would refine it slowly, carefully.
Lucas was deep in meditation, eyes closed, the aura around him still pulsing from his recent breakthrough. The room was thick with Qi—dense and heated, like the air before a storm. He was stabilizing the last surge of energy, balancing the raw power now coursing through every inch of his body. His breath was steady, slow and measured, as the energy circled through his meridians like a perfectly tuned system.
Then, without warning—BAM!
The door burst open.
Lucas’s eyes snapped open.
His roommates, Cassian and Garrett, stumbled in, both wide-eyed and brimming with energy.
"Damn bro, you’re a real badass!" Cassian blurted out, not even caring that Lucas was clearly mid-cultivation.
Lucas slowly exhaled, letting the last ripple of Qi settle. He gave them a raised brow but didn’t look angry—just mildly amused.
"That thing you did to Rodeo... man, it’s the hit of the academy now. Everyone’s talking about it," Garrett said, slapping the door behind him as he leaned on it, his face lit up with excitement.
Cassian flopped down on one of the beds, grinning. "You fucked his crush and still beat his ass. Damn! That’s legendary."
He burst into laughter, and Garrett followed, both howling like they’d just seen the best drama unfold right in front of them.
Lucas blinked, genuinely surprised by the revelation. "Wait... Nana was his crush?"
Cassian nodded eagerly. "Oh yeah, man. Dude’s been obsessed with her for months. Fawning all over her like a lost puppy."
"And she never looked his way," Garrett added. "Not once."
Lucas leaned back slightly, a slow, wicked grin spreading across his face. The situation suddenly became a lot more amusing. Not only had he gained incredible Yin energy from Nana, but now he knew he’d unknowingly stepped right into Rodeo’s little fantasy and shattered it completely.
"So... he’s been chasing her, and I just..." Lucas chuckled and shook his head.
"You humiliated him for real," Garrett said, still laughing. "First, he sees you walk out of her room... and not just any guy—you. Then, before he can even act, boom—you send him flying like a damn sack of flour."
Cassian wiped a tear from his eye. "He crashed right into Melody’s door too. The way she looked at him afterward—priceless."
Lucas stretched out his arms, the heat of unrefined Qi still humming gently in his core, like embers that refused to die out. He cracked his knuckles slowly, the grin never leaving his face.
"Trust me... he’s going to come for blood..for you," Garret said.
"Blood, eh?" Liam repeated with a scoff, shaking his head. "Let him bring it on..."
His eyes flashed, the pressure around him subtly increasing for a second.
"...He’ll suffer."
He didn’t feel any pity for guys like Rodeo. The academy was a place of power, of dominance, of control. If someone couldn’t hold onto what they wanted, they didn’t deserve it. And Lucas wasn’t about to slow down for anyone—not for simps, not for enemies, not for anyone standing in his way.
Not anymore.
"Man, watch your back, alright?" Garrett said as he headed toward the door, tossing a lazy smirk over his shoulder.
Cassian followed, already halfway out. "Yeah, we’re heading back out—gonna see what other fine chicks are wandering around tonight. You coming?"
Lucas shook his head, his expression unreadable. "Not tonight."
Garrett gave a playful shrug. "Suit yourself. Don’t meditate too hard."
With that, the two slipped out, still laughing and nudging each other, the door closing with a quiet click behind them.
Silence returned.
Lucas was left alone in the dimly lit dorm room. The low hum of energy still hovered in the air—his Qi, restless and pulsing, itching for refinement. But his mind wasn’t completely on cultivation yet. It drifted.
He stood up and walked to the window, folding his arms as he stared out into the quiet evening beyond the academy grounds. The moonlight bled through the glass, silver and soft, painting the room in a cold hue.
"Rodeo..."
He didn’t care for the guy. Truthfully, if someone tried to confront him after he’d simply walked out of a room, that was on them, not him. Rodeo had been brimming with pride and entitlement—like Nana belonged to him just because he’d been admiring her from a distance. Pathetic.
But Lucas wasn’t stupid either.
He knew how things worked in a place like this. Strength attracted eyes. Jealousy followed strength. And resentment? That came free of charge. He hadn’t planned to make enemies, but the way things kept unfolding... it was like trouble had a leash on him, dragging him from one fire to the next.
Still, he couldn’t afford to be too soft—not anymore.
He sighed, long and deep, rubbing a hand down his face. "I didn’t ask for this mess," he muttered to himself. "But I won’t run from it either."
Turning away from the window, Lucas sat back down cross-legged on his bed. The cushions were slightly warm from where he’d sat earlier, but he barely noticed. The air shifted again as he centered himself. He drew a long breath in through his nose, closed his eyes, and began to pull the lingering energy inward.
It was time to get back to work.
His Dantian had expanded, but the energy was still unruly. That surge he’d released earlier—raw and unrefined—was powerful, but dangerous. Letting it build up like that too often could destroy him from the inside out.
His breathing slowed. The room darkened as the Qi began to swirl once more, wrapping around him like a cocoon of invisible flame. The power from his breakthrough earlier still hadn’t settled completely, and now he had to tame it—guide it through the channels in his body, reinforce his meridians, make the power his.
He sank deeper into the trance-like state, letting the world fall away.
Outside, the academy buzzed with laughter and gossip. But in that small dorm room, Lucas—now standing at the edge of the Expert Rank—was shaping himself into something more.