Life Giver

As the first student stepped in front of the large crystal, he and the rest of his fellow students eyes were glued to the crystal, attempting to peer into its secrets.

It was roughly 2 meters high and 2 meters wide with a rugged spikey appearance. The crystal had not been processed meaning it's natural form was this irregular shape, it's surface flickered with an array of dark colours. The crystal was covered by an oil like sheen over a deep black foundation, a array of alternating dark colours were refracted by the sunlight that attempted to mesmerise the onlookers.

On the ragged surface of the crystal there were occasional flat smooth area's around 20 cm in diameter, it was impossible to tell if they were naturally formed or created by cultivators with special techniques.

Suddenly, as the first student who was stood in front of the dark crystal was beginning to wonder what he should do, Instructor Redfire chuckled to himself before he shouted out.

"Ten at a time!" Instructor Redfire shouted out with an unusually large grin on his face.

Instructor Redfire was very excited today, this excitement stemmed from his enjoyment over watching his students grow and also because of a certain 'test' he enjoyed taking part in every year that would begin later.

"Ten students will be tested at a time, stand around the crystal and touch one of the smooth area's of the crystal!" He explained.

Nine more students stepped forward from the queue and surrounded the dark crystal. They each extended a hand, leg or even a tail to make contact with the crystal and then looked at Instructor Redfire once again, awaiting his instruction.

Instructor Redfire nodded, "This dark crystal has a special resonation aspect, it's colour will change depending on the strength of the Qi energy a cultivator inputs into it compared to the maximum strength of Qi energy the cultivator can display. Basically it tests the quality of your Qi flow."

"All you need to do is maintain a Qi flow of less than 2% to maintain a red colour on the crystal. You will have one minute to adjust yourselves and practice with the crystal before we start."

The students were quick to use this practice time, some of them quickly sat down to relax while others tested out the dark crystal.

Just as Instructor Redfire had explained, the crystal displayed various colours around where the students touched before in seemed to stabilise on the red colour.

Standing nearby in the queue, Zaya explained some other details to Casmir and Balon.

Zaya quietly whispered "This 'dark crystal' is just a depleted high Grade Qi crystal with a darkness affinity, probably Grade 5. I've seen one of them before in my clan and they are VERY valuable and have various uses."

"However they are often flawed, especially if they have been used repeatedly for a long time and this crystal looks pretty old. Normally a used crystal of this type would be one complete colour but this one is clearly starting to break down."

Zaya smiled slyly at this point as if she had found a loophole, "This is good for us because it means the accuracy of this crystal is flawed, even if you slip up and your Qi flow goes above 2% for a few seconds the crystal wont react."

Zaya looked at Casmir at this point, he had the weakest Qi flow control of the three of them, everything she was explaining was for his benefit. Balon had been training his Qi flow furiously all week, he had reached 1% Qi flow and Zaya didn't need any more Qi Flow training at all.

Casmir was busy training with Zaya most of the time so his weakest part was his Qi flow, they had tested him as best they could and he could reach 1% Qi flow but they couldn't be sure if he could maintain it for long enough.

As the trio spoke, the test began for the first batch of students. It was obvious which students would pass or fail from the start, a couple of students were unable to manifest the Red colour at all only manifesting orange colours denoting a higher Qi flow causing them to immediately fail.

Most of the remaining students manifested a red colour from the crystal but a couple of them created a purple or even blue colour.

Instructor Redfire explained in a low voice that spread out to all the students quietly, making sure not to disturb the students being tested.

"A purple colour represents a Qi flow of 1% or less, a blue colour represents a perfect Qi flow of less than 0.01%. Orange and yellow colours are above 2% but do not worry if you fail, this is just the beginning of your lives as cultivators, just do your best." Redfire explained, paying special attention to those students who had just failed.

Hearing the instructors words, those 2 students who failed perked up slightly but it would take time for them to fully recover from their failure.

Instructor Redfire told them to stay and watch, they wouldn't be the only people to fail so having other people to talk to about their experience would help them move passed it.

As the first batch finished their test, one more Elemental student failed his test as he struggled to maintain his Qi flow. It was clear that this students was trying his best, he was shaking and his aura was fluctuating almost violently but in the end that Red colour faded to orange and Instructor Redfire told some senior students to take the clearly exhausted young Elemental to rest.

The various students and Instructors could only pity the young Elemental, it was a shame he failed but there was nothing they could do about it.

However what the new students didn't expect was that after a few more tests, Instructor Redfire would separate the students who failed into a group who should retake the test later and another to join Instructor Do'Shan for some further training later.

This small gesture allowed the new students to have a greater understanding and respect for Instructor Redfire and led them to appreciate him as a teacher.

It was only later that Casmir, Zaya and Bolan all stepped up to the dark crystal, they took their places and started to practice and prepare themselves for the test.

Zaya seemed quite relaxed but she was actually a little bit nervous, not for herself but for Casmir.

She couldn't help but murmur to herself subconsciously "I'll beat you up if you don't pass.."

As Balon and Casmir finished adjusted themselves, Instructor Redfire called out to them.

"I hope you are all ready by now, touch the dark crystal and we will begin."

Casmir reached out to the crystal, his senses were heightened as the Qi energy swirled inside his body as if ready for battle.

"3.." Instructor Redfire called out.

"2.." He continued as Casmir closed his eyes.

"1.." He said in a quieter voice as the dark crystal began to shine under the students influence.

"Begin!"

The Qi energy in Casmir's body was released, it flowed through his body into his arm and through his hand towards the crystal.

The flow of energy seemed ferocious and unstoppable at first but as it flowed through Casmir's body it was slowly restrained and it seemed like a humble stream of water as it entered the dark crystal at a steady pace.

The dark crystal shined a deep red but Casmir paid it no attention, he had closed his eyes and was doing his best to ignore his other senses, focuses solely on the Qi energy in his body.

For the first few minutes Casmir seemed like a peaceful monk, the waves of Qi energy inside him were quelled easily and the dark crystal even flickered purple on occasions.

But as time passed, the purple faded and a deep red filled the part of the dark crystal Casmir was influencing.

Sweat started to appear on Casmir's forehead as the muscle's inside his arm began to lightly twitch on occasion.

The Qi energy inside of Casmir was still flowing peacefully but Casmir was beginning to tire, his control over Qi energy stemmed from his cultivation and the pathways in his body that the Qi energy flowed through.

Casmir needed to keep these pathways tightly under his control, he had tensed his muscle's, calmed his heartrate and relaxed his nerves to create a small pathway that limited the Qi energy he would release into the crystal.

However over time his muscles would start to weaken and relax, his heartrate would increase in order to refuel his muscle's and his nerves would react to the uncomfortable sensations he was feeling.

All of these things would cause his Qi flow to be erratic, so he needed to control them and firmly take hold of anything that would loosen his control of the Qi energy in his body.

In the 7th minute Casmir faced his first disruption, a small muscle near his wrist twitched and caused the Qi flow nearby to grow into a wave.

Casmir forcefully controller his hand and used his Dantian to supress this wave, thankfully by the time it reached the tip of his finger the wave had dissipated and the Qi flow was unperturbed.

Casmir raised his vigilance after this event, his face had scrunched up momentarily and the nearby Zaya and the Instructors clearly saw his problem.

Instructor Featherfall, a younger man with black wings from the Dark-Angel sub-race of the Angels race and also a new Instructor, took notice of Casmir predicament from the side lines.

"Oh, it looks like that student has encountered some trouble.. Does anyone want to make a bet on weather he passes or not?" He called out in a slightly high pitched voice.

Instructor Featherfall was rather excited by this whole test, it was his first time watching the students, some of whom he had personally trained, be tested. Throughout the day he had been commenting excitedly and almost cheering on the students like a mascot, naturally he did this quietly so few of the students had realised this quirk in his personality.

Normally the other Instructors would just ignore him but for some reason Instructor Redfire suddenly spoke up in response to his bet.

"I'll bet you a Darkness Slug for 5 hours of Qi control training for that young man." Instructor Redfire announced with a big grin on his face.

This was the first time anyone had bet with him so Instructor Featherfall immediately nodded, Darkness Slugs produced special resources that were of minor help to him and he would gladly trade that for 5 hours of his time.

"That's a deal Redfire! Haha, now it's interesting!" Instructor Featherfall said as he glued his eyes on the clueless Casmir.

With only two minutes left Casmir was facing his second 'test', he was starting to lose control over the Qi energy he was releasing from his Dantian.

To control his Qi flow in the best way, Casmir would only release a small amount, around 5%, of the maximum Qi energy he could from his Dantian. This would then be tempered and controlled by his body until it was stabilise at 2% at the end of his arm.

However now, the amount of Qi energy Casmir's Dantian was releasing was growing, a cultivators control over the Qi energy released by ones Dantian was always harder train and most low level cultivators opted to partially control what was released by dispersing it with their own body.

It was like trying to control the water flowing through a pipe with one valve, compared to using many valves. Using one valve was easy but the consequences couldn't be avoided after the water passed that valve, by using multiple valve's one could minimise the risk of accidental overflow.

Now that Casmir had more Qi energy flowing into his body, he needed to divert more away from his hand or too much would flow into the dark crystal.

Zaya standing nearby was calmly watching Casmir as if she wasn't taking the test herself, she saw that he was starting to struggle but she couldn't do anything to help him.

Suddenly Casmir started tensing and relaxing his other arm rhythmically, Zaya smiled when she saw this.

Casmir had diverted the majority of the Qi energy flowing from his Dantian, into his unoccupied arm then he was using it by tensing his muscle's forcefully. This would greatly reduce the Qi energy going into the arm that was touching the dark crystal, however it could only be used for a short while.

The Qi energy was still building up it was just slowed down and if the Qi energy built up too much, he would injure himself and injuries caused by Qi energy build up would instantly disqualify you.

In theory, Casmir could simply jog on the spot to release his Qi energy much more effectively but this would distract him and cause many other problems that would effect his Qi flow. Casmir could only choose a simply action that didn't require much thought or effort to reduce the Qi energy in his body without distracting himself.

Fortunately this method did work for a while but it wouldn't hold until the end of the test, fortunately Casmir had one last trick up his sleeve that he believed would carry him through until the end of the test.

On the side lines Instructor Featherfall was remarking at Casmir's situation.

"Oh, oh, clever boy! I still don't think he'll last like this though.. Eh Redfire?" Instructor Featherfall said with a gloating smile on his face.

Instructor Redfire didn't even react to him, causing Instructor Featherfall to almost pout.

"Come on now.. You and I know that he won't be able to burn his Qi quickly enough to avoid injury if he stays like this... I've got you on the ropes now!" He called out teasingly.

Unfortunately Instructor Redfire didn't care either way, he simply watched Casmir carefully, making sure Casmir wouldn't injure himself and cause Instructor Redfire to be punished by Master Bluefire.

With only 40 seconds left for this test, Casmir body was reaching its limit, he wouldn't last more than ten seconds so he calmly activated his last trick, the Life Body Cycle.

Suddenly his body started to heat up, his senses were heightened and his body was filled with energy. Casmir resisted the urge to release this energy and focused on tightening his control over his arm, constricting the pathway his Qi energy was flowing through perfectly.

The Life Body Cycle gave Casmir perfect control over his body and even helped to some degree with his Dantian, allowing him to return to peak condition. The only problem was the inescapable urge to move his body, to burn this energy that filled him, Casmir didn't know if this build up could ever cause him damage but he knew using this strategy he could easily last a minute to complete the test.

Casmir believed that to outsiders he simply looked like he was using his upmost effort to control his Qi flow, however he didn't realise that the Instructors saw it differently.

"Damn.." Instructor Featherfall exclaimed from the sidelines.

"You tricked me good this time Redfire.. How'd you know he could display a Qi technique already?" Instructor Featherfall asked with genuine interest.

The Instructors could see through Casmir's sudden swell of strength and understood that there was something strange going on with him, the only possible explanation they could come up with was that Casmir was burning his excess Qi energy with an internal Qi technique.

Qi techniques were usually only trained when one reached Qi Grade 2 because of their requirement on control but occasionally cultivators had inborn Qi techniques related to their affinities and could be controlled naturally.

Instructor Redfire was naturally unaware of this so called internal Qi technique but he couldn't simply brush it away, even Instructor Do'Shan and Brail were interested.

"He's my sister's disciple, I wasn't sure if he would pass myself, I just thought I would give him a chance.." He explained.

The instructors were satisfied with this answer but Instructor Featherfall seemed to be even more interested in Casmir at the mention of Master Bluefire.

"Oh! He's Bluefire's disciple?... Interesting... I'll make sure to teach him thoroughly!" Instructor Featherfall said with a bright smile on his face.

Instructor Do'Shan who was standing nearby rolled her eyes as she understood what was happening.

"Give it up Feather.. You'll get roasted by her before you get a chance to do anything..." She said with pity in her voice.

Apparently Instructor Featherfall held an interest in Master Bluefire that was less than innocent, unfortunately for him Instructor Redfire was aware of this interest and had deliberately set Instructor Featherfall up.

He was hoping that Featherfall would stick his nose into something he shouldn't and be dealt with by his sister, Redfire couldn't stand being constantly questioned by Featherfall so he decided to teach him a lesson, or more accurately let his sister teach him a lesson.

Meanwhile Casmir's test had just ended, Zaya had quickly moved next to him to help Casmir stabilise himself.

"Quickly send any excess Qi energy to me!" She said quietly but quickly worried that Casmir would be injured at any moment.

After all while she was observing him Casmir suddenly stopped trying to release any built up Qi energy, this confused and concerned her greatly, she thought that Casmir was perhaps trying to foolishly b.a.r.e the Qi energy with his raw body.

Casmir had just taken his hand off of the dark crystal and was surprised by Zaya's quick actions but he followed her instructions nevertheless. His body was full of Qi energy at the moment and he needed to deal with it before it caused a problem.

Casmir held Zaya's hand and transferred all of his Qi energy to her quickly, as a Grade 1 advancement 5 cultivator she could naturally handle this amount of lower grade Qi energy in Casmir's body.

They stood together holding hands looking at each other for a short time, Casmir was exhausted and sweaty but Zaya was calm and steady, the contrast couldn't have been sharper.

"What are you two doing?" Balon suddenly asked as he watched the pair with a strange look in his eyes.

Zaya looked at Balon calmly as if nothing was wrong as she started to explain "I was just helping him get rid of any excess Qi energy, why?"

Zaya then suddenly realised what they might look like and quickly yanked her hand back before quickly walking away only leaving a few slightly tempered words.

"Hurry up and sort yourself out Casmir!"

Once Zaya was out of earshot Balon nodded knowingly to Casmir and started chatting to him about the test as Casmir stretched and relaxed his body while shaking his head at Balon's taunts.

He naturally understood what Balon was thinking but Zaya truly was just helping him, he couldn't think of anything to say as he was interested in Zaya but that was a complicated conversation for another time.

Not too far away, Zaya was walking back towards the spectator area with a flushed and angry face, she repeatedly told herself that she would beat Casmir up mercilessly the next time they trained together...