"When will he come?" A boy in front of the trio growled, impatient and fully embracing the irritation spread in the classroom.

"Dharma, I didn't get a chance to ask. What rune are you inscribing during awakening?" Mana took a few glances around. As expected, after Rogue's perfume fart, girls of the classroom had truly distanced themselves for good.

"How would you?" Dharma smiled, his fair face showing no sign of malice.

"You both were just so busy with CIFA last night?"

Yet his tone oozed with negativity.

Seeing Rogue and Mana stare over him silently, Dharma smirked and straightened his back.

"What's my surname?" He inquired.

"It was Walter, right? Like Pompous Walter?" Rogue waggled his brows towards Mana in inquiry as he shook his head with a smirk.

"Nai. It is Pompous Walter."

"It's Walker. Dharma Walker. You assholes. Damn, is it so hard to accept that my family owns Z-City?" He sighed.

"No. What's really hard to believe is that despite having a first gen console, you kept it in your house! What kind of monster are you? And then you beg for turns on my PX-8!" Mana stated with a sour expression.

"Long story," Dharma smiled.

"I bet he was kicked out for being too disgusting. He must have tried to fuck his half-sis. Or worse… half-gram-gram," Rogue stated loudly, smacking his palm on the desk as Dharma looked around in panic.

"Hey! Woah! Nothing like that happened!" His desperate tone made surrounding students sigh.

"Man, it's cool. You're Red Heart's disciple… you'll get chicks later on. Don't force your half-sis like that… it sounds so sad," one of the boys smiled comfortingly as Mana nodded.

"Exactly!" His voice equally loud if not louder, "And to go after your meemaw? Ugh…"

"God damn! I spent too much on games and they kicked me out!" Dharma shouted, his voice booming as Vincent gaped. His platinum-rimmed glasses tilting slightly as he coughed, attracting the attention of other students.

"Ehm, I'm sure that your parents had your best interest in mind, Dharma. Please take a seat."

"... Yes… but I swear. It is just because of the games…" He looked for approval in Vincent only for the kind-faced teacher to smile.

"Sure, Dharma. If you say so."

"Poor meemaw," Rogue shook his head with a sigh as Dharma's shoulder slumped further.

Meanwhile, one of the students couldn't hold it any longer.

"Sir, when can we awaken?"

"After recess, of course," Vincent smiled, "The procedure of awakening falls under the practical application of origin cultivation. Right now, I will once again revise the topic of awakening to jog your memories."

Saying so, he turned and switched on the board.

Meanwhile, Dharma slowly sat straight once again.

"So? What's the rune of your choosing?" Rogue nudged.

…

"Hmm?" Mana looked curious, "Dharma, we don't actually believe that your standards are Gilf level. But you have to admit… the rumor of Walker Sisters is well-known."

…

"Come on! Say what, you can have my entire turn on console tonight," Rogue cheered Dharma on.

…

Seeing that Mana wasn't offering anything, Rogue glared at him.

"Sigh, fine. Don't be mad, Dharma. You can have Rogue's turn the next night, too," Mana smiled.

"Hey! What Gives?" Rogue growled softly.

"You're the one who caused this mess!" Mana glared in return. Meek as he may be, he took gaming time seriously.

…

"You know what," Mana sighed, "this isn't working. During recess, I'll call Mina to cheer Dharma on. She is super interested in Dharma and a girl knows how to cheer up moody people."

"As I was saying," Dharma chuckled, unwilling to give Mina more reasons to actually find him, at least, until he got used to her.

"The rune I'm choosing is a combined one. My family's specialty."

"Lijkar?"

Rogue and Mana inquired simultaneously.

Even when they stated a rune, there was no shift in surroundings. There was no intent behind the rune but even if there was, until the duo managed to touch the profound nature of the specific rune, they wouldn't be able to initiate its true effects.

"Not the Wings of Fury," Dharma shook his head. His blue pupils lit up. In fact, Rogue and Mana noticed slight traces of craziness within his gaze.

"Dxwer!" Dharma's soft whisper silenced the entire classroom as everybody turned to look towards him.

Many held their gazes with fear but a few showed respect.

Admiration.

"Dxwer?" Vincent slowly turned, adjusting his glasses.

"We should start with the situation we are in. Alright, pay attention now," Vincent smiled as if he didn't find Dharma's idea the least bit crazy.

Gathering everyone's attention, Vincent began.

"As we all know, every concept around us follows the Rule of 9. Daoist Hell of the BD era theorized that the number 9 is a number related to every supernatural concept of existence. Even though Daoist Hell was an Orthodox cultivator, he was also the forefather of Origin Cultivation."

As Vincent said so, the smart board displayed a painting of a small child. Red fur covered the little boy while headful of green hair over him remained shaggy.

"Despite living for 39,000 years, Daoist Hell retained his child-like state. He expressed that a young body house more inspiration than an aged one. However, this theory is yet to be proved. Ehm, now, speaking of Rule of 9, this theory can be explained using runes."

Looking around, Vincent finally locked his gaze with Mana.

"Mana, did you accept the contents of the Jade Slip?"

Rogue and Dharma smirked as Mana practically groaned.

"Yes."

"Please define a rune. Use Daoist Whisker's definition."

Nodding, Mana began standing up only for Vincent to wave his hand, making Mana reply while seated.

"Being One of the first three Origin Cultivators, her definition differed from any Orthodox Cultivator. She defined Runes as a set of complex spells, each part of a greater whole and divided in 9 layers of complexity."

"There's the first display of Rule of 9," Vincent added, "Now, hmm, continue from where Mana left off and explain the difference in the runes, John."

Nodding, another student began.

"As stated, Runes are divided in 9 layers. This is true for both— the orthodox and origin cultivators. The complexity of runes increases from rank 1 and it's at the maximum on rank 9. The deciding factor of the ranks of runes and their complexity is neither the time required to carve them, the energy needed to use them, or the time required to learn them."

"The only factor that divides runes into 9 ranks is the strokes required to complete the rune. A Rank 1 Rune does not exceed 9 strokes. Rank 2 runes will not exceed 18 strokes. Just like this, a rank 9 rune ranges from 72 strokes to 81."

"Thank you. Once again, Rule of 9 is easily observed. Next, Haru, please describe the ranks of origin."

"Um, so it's like this. We get another ball in origin cultivation so we can use it to transplant our—"

"That's quite enough," Vincent coughed, a nerve almost popping out of his temple.

"Origin Cultivation is divided into nine ranks, much like Orthodox Cultivation," Vincent began as he drew two circles on the board. Tagging the left with origin and the right with orthodox, he continued.

"And the rank of origin cultivation is determined by the number of runes in one's origin."

"Sir, can you please demonstrate it?" One of the girls inquired with an eager glint in her eyes.

"Of course," Vincent smiled, "But let me finish first. Hm, now, as expected, a rank 1 Cultivator will have 9 runes on the origin. A rank 2 will have eighteen runes… or an equivalent of eighteen runes and so forth. Now, for comparison of ranks in more practical fashion, let's have a volunteer."

"Who here has reached peak of rank 1 and is simply wasting my and his time, please step forward."

At Vincent's words, many revealed confusion and even Rogue began looking around in expectation to meet another fallen comrade.

"Rodger… I'm obviously talking about you. Sigh, step out."

It's Rogue.

But he held his tongue and stepped out either way.

While Rogue stepped forward, many began to whisper around.

"Oi, is he really held back from second year?" The pudgy youth from yesterday— Sam— inquired with a strange gaze.

"Hell, yeah!" Mana nodded eagerly but before he could continue, Dharma nudged Mana's shoulder and gave him a look.

If you diss Rogue… he will stink up your bathroom, too.

Strangely, Mana knew exactly what Rogue was trying to convey.

"But you know… Rogue is awesome. He held back on first year… because he felt second-year would be too boring if he didn't let his original classmates get a headstart."

"Ho?" Sam mumbled with a curious tone.

"So, this is what a talented peak rank 1 Origin Cultivator looks like!" Rogue turned on his foot to face his classmates and out of nowhere, a spinning pitch black ball appeared in front of him.

The ball was barely the size of a tennis ball but the speed of its rotation was quite fast.

"Hm, slow your origin down. I'll explain many things right now," Vincent interjected.

Nodding, Rogue concentrated on the origin until it came to a stop.

Finally, all the gaze observed the pitch black ball marked with many golden runes, one of the girls involuntarily gasped.

"A-rank Aptitude?"

Her words made others gulp slightly as Rogue narrowed his gaze for a moment.

Oh, how cruel is this sense of deja vu. 

A thot here, and a thot there.

My spinning ball attracts them plenty.

How cruel can be fate,

I might fall for a thot yet again…

Rogue sighed.

"Exactly," Vincent smiled.

"Let's begin from the origin. An origin is something similar to the cores of golden core stage cultivators of the orthodox path. However, while the golden core cultivator's core differs in color due to the difference in quality, the color of origin oftentimes represents the element one is associated with."

"Oftentimes?" Mana inquired.

This is new. His eyes shone.

"Yes, from the outer and inner stage of studies of sects, we are taught that the color of an origin represents an element. Or two. Of course, this is before rank 6. From rank 1-5, a rare cultivator is so deceptive of fate that even its true element is only discovered after awakening."

Oohs and Aahs escaped from the lips of students as Vincent's smile turned a little brighter.

How shameless!

Rogue almost exploded but he leaned against the podium regardless of other's thoughts. Even Vincent did not correct the youth and continued.

"Now, Rogue awakened with a pure darkness element. However, his ties to fate were bare minimum. Had he diverted to Orthodox Cultivation, his life would have been extremely harsh."

Vincent's explanation made Mana furrow for a moment but deeply aware that his knowledge was more exotic than the rest, he kept quiet.

This was already depicted by the rhymes.

"Unlike the Rule of 9 deployed by nature, the categorisation of Aptitude is purely human in effort, so it does not follow Rule of 9.

An aptitude of origin, thus, its cultivator can be noted from the maximum rotation speed of the origin.

Rodger's origin is at a stellar speed of 92 rotations per minute.

Origin with the speed in between 80-99 rpm are known as A-rank.

Those within 60-79 are known as B-rank.

Under 59 and above 40 are C-rank.

Anyone below in the process of awakening would be shifted to the Orthodox Cultivation since that path would suit them more. Of course, they can sever their connection with fate later in their path of Cultivation."

The students nodded but one of the girls spoke up. She was the same one who noted Rogue's aptitude.

"But Sir. Isn't it true that aptitude can also be measured by the color of the inner portion of an origin after leaving a rune? A-rank will have a golden inner core, B-rank will have a purple inner core, C-rank will have a blue inner core, and D-rank will have a green inner core."

"About that, I need all of you to pay attention. In the continental seminar, it was revealed that the color of the inner core does not signify the aptitude. There are many theories, but none have been proven. Only classification of aptitude we know of right now is the rpm of an origin."

Students nodded.

"Now, Rodger, will you please slowly rotate your origin?"

"Um, sure. If you're this desperate," Rogue smiled kindly, making the lips of everyone else twitch a little.

Once the origin began rotating, Vincent pointed out.

"As you all can see, there are nine different runes on the surface of the origin. When a cultivator pushes their qi through the runes, they can activate the true nature of the rune and use it for practical purposes."

Before Rogue could do just that, Vincent waved his hand, indicating the lack of need.

"Sir," Sam raised his hand and only spoke once Vincent nodded.

"Is it not prudent to keep our runes hidden for as long as we can? These should be our secret."

"Please let me take on this question," Rogue pleaded to Vincent, making him sigh.

'This is the least I can do for him…' Vincent sighed inwardly and nodded.

"Hah! Sure, letting others know your rune scheme can be disadvantageous," Rogue grinned, "But if you're tough, schemes cannot beat someone easily. Of course, if you're a wimp and jump on some super strong cultivator with many more worms, then it may work. Worms tend to annoy a lot."

Before Vincent could stop, Rogue stepped forward, "These are my runes for all those who did not get a good look. Hare, Jikon, Iure, Nweq, Basc, Gifranda, Erindai, Riyazu, Keyluf!"

Everyone gaped while Vincent let out a knowing smile.

Dharma and Mana looked at each other before gazing back at Rogue.

Man… this senior of ours is especially endearing.

Mana chuckled as he found Rogue's grin extremely bright at this moment.