Eternal Freedom's Ascension

Chapter 205: Spark of a flame

Kaiser returned to his room, feeling oddly relaxed.

Instead of preparing a light meal as usual, he took his time to make one of his favorite dishes, spending close to an hour before the food was done.

"Bless this food, by the..."

He paused, suddenly asking himself a question.

Were there truly gods that heard their prayers? Before the Era of Awakening, humanity had a strong belief in gods.

However, after attaining power that seemed divine to themselves, humans began ignoring the existence of gods—divine deities said to transcend mortality and rule over the world.

Although there were still some persistent groups of people who believed in worshipping certain gods, they were few compared to the population of the world.

’Hm... whether gods are real or not, sufficient strength and power should be enough to find out, right?’

Nodding to himself, Kaiser picked up his spoon and began eating.

The pasta meal was prepared with carefulness, so the taste was just right. Though, it was a bit too peppery.

’I like it like that.’

After washing the plates and cleaning his hands, he changed into comfortable clothes, then sat at the edge of his bed.

A familiar old book appeared in his hand, taken out from his storage relic.

’It has been a while since I studied runes. Since my father’s servant gave it to me, I shouldn’t neglect it.’

In just a few minutes, Kaiser had slipped into deep concentration, relearning the structure of the Light rune.

Somehow, it felt simpler and easier to memorize. He even found out the mistakes he had been making, and mentally simulated a successful experiment.

’I don’t have materials with me currently. I guess I’ll postpone the actual thing then.’

Moving onto the next rune, he recognized it as another simple rune—a growth rune.

After reading the description, he suddenly remembered the flower he had pocketed while returning from the library.

From his wardrobe, he fetched his school trousers, then took out the flower.

It was already wilting, but it still retained its beauty.

’Hmm...’

Placing it on the desk, Kaiser studied the Growth Rune carefully, memorizing every part of it.

Then, he decided to draw it on the flower.

However, there were a few things he wanted to prepare before doing that. To cultivate an actual plant, one needed some soil, and a suitable jar for initial germination.

Getting a random bottle was easy, and he sliced off the top half with a knife.

Getting soil was a bit complicated, but thankfully, the academy had already done that. By his window, there were two jars with soil in them, meant for planting flowers.

They were empty though. The academy probably expected the students to plant and cultivate the seeds themselves.

Kaiser opted for using a transparent water bottle since it would be easier to transport than the clay vases by the window.

After pouring some soil into the open bottle, Kaiser then began to draw the growth rune on the petals of the wilting flower.

It was tedious, and he could only manage to draw two neat ones on two petals—but it was enough.

Pouring essence into the conduit runes, they lit up, and then flower began transforming. The petals closed, covering up the core of the flower.

Then, he noticed a rapid change. The closed flower swelled in size, as if it contained something growing inside.

In just a few seconds, it had become the size of a coin. Finally, the enlargement stopped and the petals wilted, revealing a small fruit.

It was like a walnut, and after cracking it, there was a small seed inside.

’Oh? I didn’t think something this simple could be interesting.’

Bringing out the seed, he drew another growth rune on it, then immediately placed it into the soil in the transparent bottle.

’Let’s see...’

He waited, focusing all his attention on the bottle.

After a full minute, the surface of the soil trembled, and a pair of fresh leaves sprouted, slowly growing until it reached half a meter tall—then stopped.

Kaiser stared at the new plant, suddenly feeling breathless.

’It’s amazing... runes are amazing...’

It felt like... with essence and the knowledge of runes alone, he could become a god.

’Haa... this book is really a treasure.’

Like a kid, Kaiser immediately grabbed the book and continued studying the runes—for hours.

............

When night fell, the campus was already quiet. Kaiser left his room quietly, heading out to do a few things, then returned in less than an hour.

In his hands were sachets containing seeds of different flowers he had gone to purchase from the agriculture section of the Killian Mall.

Once again, he got busy using growth runes repeatedly.

By the time he went to bed, he was already feeling mentally drained.

Without lingering at all, he fell asleep.

The next morning, his eyelids fluttered open to see sunlight streaming in through the open windows.

’Ugh...’

He squinted, feeling a mild irritation in his eyes.

’I slept well—again.’

Escaping from under the covers, he checked the time. It was almost nine o’clock.

It seemed even his biological clock failed to wake him from the comfortable sleep.

After taking a bath and brushing his teeth, Kaiser slipped into a pair of matching shorts and a top.

The temperature was mild today, so he didn’t want to wear anything that would make him feel too hot and sweaty.

He left his room like a normal student, heading down to the lobby through the elevator.

There were a few students in the elevator with him, but they were all glued to their phones, ignoring him.

Ding!

The elevator doors opened, and he stepped out before anyone else.

To his astonishment, the lobby was crowded, with students huddled together and whispering to themselves.

"What’s going on?"

He heard Hazel’s confused voice as she stepped out of the second elevator, looking around too.

The two locked eyes, then quietly approached each other.

"Have any idea what they’re gossiping about?"

"Unfortunately, none."

At that moment, Hazel’s phone rang. It was Liam.

She picked the call, her expression unchanging.

"Yes? Alright, I’ll check it now."

She ended the call, then checked the news forum of the academy.

There was shocking news in the headlines.

’Yoghurt clerk attacks first-year student and almost kills him. The student is now in the infirmary, and the clerk has been apprehended by the authorities.’

Hazel blinked. This... was serious.