While Kieran tried to make as little movement as possible under her gaze, Professor Melia averted her eyes to look at the class again.

"Considering my previous explanation, can anyone guess what could be one of the causes other than the Heavenly Tribulation that could make breaking through to the Transcendent Realm dangerous?" Professor Melia asked her class.

The class fell into silence once again.

Kieran began to think about Professor Melia's previous words.

"She explained that one of the differences between the two realms is the awakening of the spirit. Could that be one of the causes?" Kieran whispered.

"Yes. The spirit must be awakened at the same time as the body undergoes the Heavenly Tribulation," Elseria replied next to him.

"Princess Elseria, would you like to share your knowledge with the rest of the class?" Professor Melia suddenly said while looking in the direction of the two.

Attention was drawn to them as several surprised voices were raised in the class.

"Princess Elseria?"

"Isn’t that the abomination that all the elves were talking about?"

"She was in our class?"

"This is the first time I’ve heard she’s a princess."

"Professor Melia must call her like that out of obligation."

"I don't know what she must have done to make all her people reject her and not even call her by her title."

"Who's the guy sitting next to her? Doesn't he know that the elves don't want anyone near her?"

"He may not know. He should get away from her quickly."

Hearing the voices of the other students, Elseria looked down at her book.

'I thought she was part of an important family since she had the name Sylnorin, but she's a princess? Why do the elves warn students to stay away from her if she's their princess?' thought Kieran as he glanced at her.

*sigh*

The sound of a sigh was heard clearly despite the loud voices of the students, and without any warning, a pressure fell on the entire class, forcing them to be silent. All the students' eyes were drawn in another direction as they felt an immeasurable crystal essence coming from Professor Melia.

"Today is our first class together, so I will try to be tolerant but know that I do not tolerate any person disturbing my class. If you want to discuss a subject other than my class, do so once this one is over," said Professor Melia.

It was only once she finished her words that she retracted her crystal essence, letting the students breathe again.

'Is she a Transcendent?' Kieran wondered when he felt his body free to move again.

"Princess Elseria, we are listening to you," said Professor Melia.

"Yes," Elseria replied, nodding and standing up.

"Depending on the cultivators and the path they want to follow for their future cultivation, there are two to three steps when breaking through to the Transcendent realm.

The well-known first step is to survive the Heavenly Tribulation and refine the Heavenly Tribulation energy. There are several methods to successfully defend yourself from a celestial tribulation, such as the use of defensive treasures or formation array.

The second step is to separate one's consciousness. While one part deals with the Heavenly Tribulation outside of one's body, the other part must enter inside the spiritual world to divide a part of one's soul to transfer it inside the crystal tree to merge with the spirit to awaken it.

The more the spirit receives a significant portion of the cultivator's soul, the more powerful it will become when his awakening ends. This is one of the reasons that makes breaking through to the Transcendent realm dangerous. If a cultivator fails to properly manage its consciousness to protect its body or awaken the spirit, it may die from the Heavenly Tribulation or have its soul devoured entirely by the spirit.

Unlike any other injury to the soul, merging its own soul with the spirit only has a temporary effect on the cultivators, the spirit being a part of the cultivators and the soul always being in the same body, the recovery of the cultivator's soul will be much simpler.

Once the spirit is fully awakened and the cultivator stops merging part of its soul to the spirit, the Heavenly Tribulation will end, and the cultivator will have reached the Transcendent realm.

Although the breakthrough can be completed at the second step, there is a third step, which is also the most dangerous. This one consists of opening the crystal essence paths inside the crystal tree, which are connected to the spirit.

There are twelve paths in total. These paths can only be opened when breaking through to the Transcendent realm, and for each path opened, a cultivator's strength, cultivation speed, and crystal essence pool will increase exponentially.

To open these paths, it is necessary to use the energy of the Heavenly Tribulation. Once the awakening of the spirit begins, the energy must be directed into one of these paths. The spirit that is just awakened will see this action as an attack and will attempt to defend itself by creating a mirage of itself within the spiritual world to attack the cultivator.

This step is dangerous because it requires the cultivator to defend against the Heavenly Tribulation, split their soul to fully awaken the spirit, direct the Heavenly Tribulation energy to open the paths of crystal essence and confront the mirage created by the spirit.

Many have died trying to open the twelve crystal essence paths, while most decide to breakthrough by opening only one of these paths," Elseria explained clearly before sitting down again.

Professor Melia nodded at the detailed explanation.

"That's correct. There is no missing part in your explanation. Now, do you understand why breaking through to the Transcendent Realm is dangerous?" Professor Melia asked her students.

However, none of them responded, each realizing the magnitude of such a breakthrough, and just the thought of it made them shudder.

"Let us continue our lesson on the Transcendent realm," Professor Melia said before changing the image on the holographic board to reveal an image of dozens of men and women.

Kieran looked at the board and found a picture of Faith Asteria.

'Are these the 100 young sovereigns?' Kieran thought.

"Most of you will recognize the people in this image. For those of you who don't, they are the 100 young sovereigns."

Professor Melia paused before continuing, "A majority of the students in this class probably dream of becoming one of them. Can someone explain to me why the 100 young sovereigns have the title of young sovereign?"

Several hands went up at the same time in the class. After being authorized by Professor Melia, one of them stood up to speak.

"That's because they are the hundred most talented young people in the Aegis Alliance," the student said quickly.

"This is just one of the reasons why they joined the 100 young sovereigns. It doesn't explain their title," replied Professor Melia.

Another student stood up after being allowed to speak.

"It’s because they have a great chance of reaching the sovereign rank before they turn fifty."

"That's right. The Transcendent realm is divided into five ranks, just like the Mortal realm. These five ranks from lowest to highest are Lord, King, Emperor, Sovereign, and Saint. To become one of the 100 young sovereigns, you must have reached the Transcendent realm, have the necessary talent to reach the Sovereign rank before turning fifty years old, and have performed meritorious acts for the Aegis alliance," Professor Melia explained.
'None of the ranks of the Transcendent Realm correspond to Celestial or Ethereal. Had the other me in my dream reached the Divine realm then?' Kieran thought as Professor Melia continued her explanation.

"Among the 100 young sovereigns of this generation, all have opened a minimum of four crystal essence paths during their breakthrough to the Transcendent realm. These are the paths they have chosen to reach where they are today. As of now, most of you are only at the beginning of the Silver rank. The journey to reach the Transcendent realm will be filled with challenges, but it is to prepare you properly that we have this course. Reflect well on your ambitions, and build your foundations correctly because each of the stones that make it is important."

For the next hour, Professor Melia continued her lecture, explaining various aspects related to crystal essence. This included emphasizing the importance of purifying both one's body and crystal essence from impurities, especially within the Diamond rank, before attempting to breakthrough into the Transcendent realm. This precaution aims to prevent the contamination of the spirit during the awakening process.

Once the hour ended, Professor Melia finished her lesson and left the class to leave it to the next Professor.

Having a short period of respite before their next classes, most of the students began to converse before the next Professor arrived.

Elseria looked at Kieran, who was still sitting next to her, before asking, "Didn’t you say you’ll change places for the next class?"

"First, answer the question I asked you before class. Is this what you want? Or is it just because others are avoiding you?" Kieran replied.

"Didn't you hear them too? I am an abomination. Even my kind shuns me," Elseria said, lowering her head.

"I don’t think you’re an abomination."

Elseria raised her head to look Kieran in the eyes. She expected to find pity in his eyes, but he just looked at her with a sincere face. She felt a warm feeling in her heart as she tried to remember the last time someone looked at her like that, without any malice.

"You know nothing," she said weakly.

"You're right. I don't know why they call you that or why they want to keep everyone away from you, but what I do know is that you saved my brother's life, mine, and tens of thousands of lives during the destruction of Ozryn. You don't deserve to be called an abomination."

"Are you getting close to me because I saved your life? Do you feel indebted? If that's the case, you don't have to. You can leave. I'm perfectly fine on my own," Elseria said as a slight tremor passed through her eyelids.

"Isn’t it exhausting to be alone?" Kieran says as he thinks back on the last five months where he has lived through the rifts.

Without Runihoril and Luna, he didn't know what would have become of him. He cannot imagine what she must have experienced, rejected by her race and ostracized by the students of the academy because of them.

"Why not become friends?" he said suddenly.

There was silence between them for a few seconds before Elseria finally spoke.

"You can get in trouble if you stay close to me," she said in a weak voice.

"It doesn't matter. I usually attract trouble anyway," Kieran replied with a smile.

'Why is he so nice to me? We don't even know each other,' Elseria thought, looking at him without saying a word.

As time passed, the next Professor entered the class. Kieran quickly recognized him as one of the two Professors who had greeted him the day before for his inscription.

'It's him?'

"Hello, everyone. I'm Professor Andrew, and I will be your Professor for combat lessons," Andrew said, quickly introducing himself while glancing in Kieran's direction.

"Since I don't know the strengths and weaknesses of everyone in this class, we're going to go to the combat field to do a combat practice so I can evaluate you," Andrew explained as a silver light emitted from his body which surrounded all the students before they all disappeared with him.

Sleds

Today, a reader asked me what the title for the second volume was, and I replied, "Ostrion Academy Arc". I didn't really put any thoughts on the volumes' titles' names (This was also because I suck at naming things). The first was "Ozryn Arc" and the second "Ostrion Academy/Transcendantal Academy Arc", they were very basic, and so I thoughts of some names for them and changed them. The first Volume is now named "Scattered Dreams" and the second is "For You, Veiled In the Dark". Thanks, sashanobot, for your comment. It makes me think about it and come up with better names (I think).