BXBX NOVEL Chapter 182 Practice, Practice, Practice
Lee Seng spent the next additional week following the same routine. He didn't feel like he was ever in the right headspace to do homework, so he spent most of his time working out and practicing his abilities. The teachers had told him he could have an additional week extension on all assignments until he was out. Lee Seng's irritation grew and he would stop and sit there four a couple of hours and push through all of his homework and log his training into the Specialization courses.
Lee Seng's specialization classes came with loose instructions. 'Practice for 20 hours/week using your powers.' He spent most of his waking hours training. The hound invasion was the only thing social media talked about and being trapped within the walls only made him feel worse about what happened.
He replayed the events of the golden hound ambushing him and his friends. It was the only thing that drove him to practice. He needed better control so he could fight efficiently in dangerous spots like the sewer tunnels.
'I have too many weaknesses that showed during that ambush…' Lee Seng thought as he pulled out three black balls underneath his bed. These balls were infused with Dark Matter and given to him to practice with. Ms. Winters had brought up many ways he could train during his quarantine. He had to request for these balls, so he could practice. The balls could be brushed and pop back to their original sizes. Lee Seng's Glass practice logged in more hours due to his simple grasp of Glass usage.
'My control sucks, so I need to work on this in order to grow and not worry about bringing buildings and cities down with me.' Lee Seng reminded himself. 'Gravity can be used in a variety of different ways. If I continue to follow the theory that I can alter and change the law of gravity to my will then I should be able to suspend myself and others around me in air.'
Lee Seng pulled away from the balls and watched as they started to hover in the air. He had been working on getting down his control and one of the ideas he got was to work on floating. The balls were his way of handling his power on other things, in case he had to float his friends or teammates ever again. Lee Seng kept his eyes on the balls and watched as they stayed in their positions.
"Rotate." Lee Seng whispered to himself. The balls started to slowly spin in a circle as he spun his finger around in the air. He pulled his finger back and watched as the balls came to a stop. "What was the current longest time? 3 minutes, 2 seconds?" He turned his fist and unraveled it. His palm pointed towards the air as he slowly made it rise. The balls slowly rose into the air. Lee Seng continued to do simple motions and watch the balls respond.
He slowly started to feel the effects of his negative creeping up his arms and legs. He pushed past the three minute mark and quickly was being pulled to the ground. Gold and white wisps floated off of his body, immediately pulling most of the negative effects off of him. Lee Seng tapped the phone in his pocket, marking the time before he had to turn on the White Fox Cloak.
He continued with speeding up and slowing down the balls for an additional four minutes before he started to feel the effects of his negative weighing him down. With a heavy sigh, Lee Seng released the balls and collapsed onto the floor. He would wait for his negative to lighten up and do more training. He'd switch from controlling the balls to floating in the room by himself and then doing both at the same time. Lee Seng continuously switched what he was doing and didn't stop until he heard soldiers coming in to give him dinner.
The familiar pounding at the door alerted him and he dropped to the ground, pulling the balls to him. He plucked them out like apples and watched as two soldiers pushed in a cartful of food between them. The second soldier closed the door and stood next to the door. Lee Seng tossed the balls to the side and wiped his sweat off as he jogged over to the food.
"Your dinner has arrived." The first soldier spoke. He motioned for Lee Seng to take the cart with him. The second soldier put their hand up and stopped him from grabbing the cart. "Another thing, Chang."
"Hmm?" Lee Seng looked back at the first soldier. The soldier turned to face him.
"Tomorrow you'll have blood pulled. If the toxic levels are gone, you'll be free to leave the facility." The soldier told him. Lee Seng smiled and let out a huge sigh of relief. "The doctor will come in like usual and give you a checkup. The checkup will be done by Dr. Valentin, himself."
"W-why Number 5, himself?"
"He told me you'd understand if I said, 'check up.'" The soldier responded. Lee Seng's brain ticked and quickly nodded.
"Ah, alright. Got it. Will the others be let go too?" Lee Seng asked. The soldier motioned for Lee Seng to grab his food as the two soldiers moved towards the door.
"You can ask the doctor tomorrow, yourself." The soldier responded. They both stood with their backs at the door and watched Lee Seng.
'They actually gave me an answer for that question.' Lee Seng smiled. He pushed the cart over to his bed and sat down. He devoured the food and chugged the two pitchers of water that was given to him. He pushed the cart back over to the ever-watching soldiers and took a couple of steps back. The soldier assumed their formation and the first soldier knocked on the door. A couple of seconds later, someone opened the door and they filed out.
"Guess I will leave tomorrow if everything goes well." Lee Seng spun around his heel. "Now I should probably address the rest of what happened…" He sat on his bed and turned to face the door.
'Are you gonna tell me what happened or not?' Lee Seng asked. He pulled his phone and casually looked at it. He didn't want to look like he was just staring at nothing for no reason.
'And what do you want to know?' Keng asked.
'You already know what I want to know. You've avoided answering it for nearly three weeks.' Lee Seng leaned forward and tapped the group chat. He had access to a lot of things in this place, but the only thing he couldn't access was his texts and the group chat.
'Fine, I'll tell you but you but you have to promise me you won't get mad.'
'I already promised you I'd wait and now you want me to not get mad?'
'Your temper is showing. Promise me, Lee.'
'Fine, I promise!' Lee Seng's face soured as he scrolled through his social media. News was all about the same thing. Him and the state of the Academy. Keng spent the next couple of minutes retelling what happened after Lee Seng lost consciousness. The Protocol took over and clearly knew about Keng existing. The Protocol protected Lee Seng from a lethal blast and Keng had no choice but to appear to protect Lee Seng. He told him about his attempt to spare the Inmate, but was forced to take the Inmate's soul and Dark Matter away from him. Lee Seng sat in silence, finger lingering over a random vlog video.
"I didn't expect that to happen…" Lee Seng whispered.
'It was either him or you. I did what I had to do.' Keng spoke.
"No, about Ritsuka potentially seeing you!" Lee Seng shouted. Keng quickly hushed him and Lee Seng looked up. He threw his phone to the side of the bed and grabbed the suitcase underneath his bed. He began to fish for clothes and quickly wandered into the bathroom.
'What're you doing?' Keng asked.
'I'm gonna check the stats.' Lee Seng answered. He pulled the glass door open and locked it. The frost moved across the glass and Lee Seng set his things down and turned the shower on. The bathroom was an open concept. The shower had no walls or curtains so Lee Seng just moved over to the corner it was in and turned it on. He walked back to the bathroom door and stripped himself and started to shower.
'Why're you checking the stats? What's that gonna do?' Keng asked.
'I wanna know how many souls I got.' Lee Seng told him. He clawed over his heart and felt the familiar uncomfortable feeling. The soul orb pulled out slowly, glistening in gold and silver. Lee Seng lifted it up to his eye and stared into it.
Soul Eater Lv. 3 150/300 +120
Devour (Dark Matter Eater) lvl. 3 35/300 +34
Partial Fox Form (White Fox Cloak) Lvl. 2 100/200 +41
Tail Manipulation Lvl. 2 140/200 +20
Shapeshift Lvl. 1 87/100 +86
Other:
Guardian Orb of Life
Soul Bead Lvl. 2 30/500 (700) +10
'Ten souls?!? That's it? I guess those red hounds don't exist…' Lee Seng tapped his chin. 'Then why ten souls? You only killed the Inmate so…'
'Human souls are worth more than monsters.' Keng answered. Lee Seng turned to look left, water covering the right half of his face.
'Human souls are worth ten souls?!?'