Theo couldn't really tell whether he completed the first step of the cultivation in a few minutes, a few hours, or if he spent several whole days doing so. In the state of absolute effort and focus, the concept of time lost its meaning, turning into but a theory impossible to apply to the laws of his inner world.
The time, the spatial displacement, even Theo's own ego all lost their meaning within the limits of his internal world, replaced with nothing but focus, effort, and the task at hand. And for how weird it was to even think about it, seeing the first step marked as completed was more than enough to fuel Theo's determination to keep on going.
With the first step done, Theo moved on to the next, only for it to get marked down as completed before he could even notice any real change.
'Huh?'
Sensing his confusion, the hive jumped in on the opportunity to provide an explanation.
'So that's the case, hmm?'
Pleasantly surprised, Theo breathed out a long sigh before taking a long gulp from the pot to restore the nutrients necessary for his nanorgan to keep on working overtime.
'Now then, a hub for the energy, was it?'
Contrary to creating a network of meridians, a step Theo completed pretty much with his instincts alone, creating a proper "center of mass" of his cultivation turned out to be quite a lot more complicated.
Or rather, forming a cultivation core required an overwhelmingly greater amount of energy than opening and cleansing any of his meridians. In fact, the energy Theo needed to complete the second instruction turned out to be but a fraction of the energy he needed to properly establish his core!
In the end, though, even after drinking the very last drop of the soup, consuming the very last bit of the meat, and swallowing the very last nutrient-rich herb he prepared for the cultivation, Theo only managed to start condensing his nanites and energy into a cultivation core, stopping quite some distance short of actually achieving this goal.
"Looks like I won't be able to do it today, huh?" Theo muttered to himself as he pried his eyes open, still immersed into his internal world enough to get the feeling of just how much his internal energy would improve once he managed to complete this second-to-last step.
'And if this feeling is correct, once I gather enough power to complete it, the last instruction could turn out to be just as easy as this whole meridian-related step,' he thought, only for his face to twist a little when he realized there was a considerably loud noise ringing in his ears, pulling his focus away from the cultivation he had no other choice but to stall.
Shaking his head, Theo dragged his attention out of his inner world and back to the real one, only to instantly recognize the noise for what it was—a loud banging from just nearby, from someone really desperate to get him to the door of his room!
'Judging from what I know and what I'm expecting…' Theo squinted his eyes a little as he stood up and moved over to his bed, only to use his sheets to wipe the sweat and grime off his exposed torso before closing his eyes and putting in just a little bit more effort to exploit all the energy he cultivated… to forcefully restrain the flow within his structure, hiding away the very power he worked so damn hard to obtain.
"They really moved fast, didn't they?" Theo commented in a small voice and a small smile flashing on his lips, a smile that vanished as soon as he approached the doors, ready to face whatever the consequences of acting high-key would be in this world.
The very moment Theo opened the doors, he could tell his guess was right on the money. After all, why else would Celeste bear such a distraught and furious expression on her face as she locked eyes with him?
"Teacher Theo," Celeste, one of the two somewhat friendly academy teachers Theo encountered thus far, stood right by his doors, her entire body brimming with poorly concealed rage that nearly made her considerable power manifest. "I'm here to bring you in to the justice tribunal of the academy."
Contrary to her disposition, Celeste managed to hold back the anger from her voice, uttering those words in a perfectly calm, if not outright cold, manner.
"Will you obediently follow their summons, or are we going to have a problem?" Celeste pressed, not giving Theo any time to consider his options.
"Justice tribunal you say?" Theo held back a smirk from appearing on his mouth, opting to merely cross his arms over his chest instead. "Does that mean I'm getting accused of something?" he asked while slightly leaning his head over his shoulder.
Hearing this, Celeste squinted her eyes a bit, the aura she was giving off suddenly condensing. A feat that others might take for her relaxing the pressure a bit, but an act Theo recognized as a predator gathering its strength to pounce at its unsuspecting victim.
"That's right," Celeste finally spoke again, only to mirror Theo's pose and cross her arms over her own chest. "You stand accused of intimately imposing yourself over one of the academy students and then brutalizing her when she attempted to fight back. And now that you know, I'm asking again," she spat her words with an overflowing fury-born irony, "will you follow me, or am I to make you?"
Hearing this, Theo chuckled a little.
'Those words would sound a lot more threatening if… If you were stronger than me, you know?'
That much was pretty damn obvious.
In theory, Celeste clearly held command over a greater amount of energy than Theo did, that much he had to admit.
But when it came to her actual control over it?
At this point, Theo had to resist the desire not to outright test her here and there, stopping himself from doing so merely not to make his mess any worse than it already was.
"Sure," he replied instead, dropping his arms down along his sides and then leaning his head over his other shoulder. "Am I allowed to get dressed first, or would you rather parade me half-naked across the academy grounds, just so you guys can punish me before you can actually prove me guilty?"