Spirit's Ascension-Chapter 70—Body Forging

With steady steps, the students entered into the so-called Forging Hall.

The students were hit with a heavy wave of heat. The kind that made the skin tingle.

It was so hot that they could feel the tips of the uniforms burning away.

"Welcome to the Forging Hall," Eleanor said with a sly smile.

She led them further into the hall towards what appeared to be the back area.

In that region, the elders and other teachers could be seen standing before a boiling pool.

The pool contained milky white water that gave off intense steam.

Even from so far away, Cole could feel the heat. He unintentionally gulped down a mouthful of saliva while staring at it.

"Ohhh no, no, This region is too potent for you kids," The elder suddenly said when he observed the students’ expressions.

They immediately released a sigh of relief when they heard that.

"Someone will be leading you students to your area; this is for teachers."

"Teachers? So this works on them too," Cole thought.

And they didn’t have to wait too long for someone to come and lead them.

They were led through the side of the boiling pool towards a part of the pool that was much more shallow.

The whitish appearance had become much more transparent in this area, and the water wasn’t bubbling as much.

"Dive in as soon as you are ready; there’s no time limit, but I have to warn you, try to gain the most of it, but don’t strain yourself the moment you feel you can’t handle it, get out of the pool," The man said before turning to leave.

Cole didn’t rush to enter; he stood by the edge and observed the bubbling water.

Others weren’t as meticulous as he was, though; they had already dived straight into the pool.

After observing for a while, Cole dipped his finger straight into the water.

"Hmmmm," He made out softly.

He could feel his body having difficulty absorbing something in the water, causing quite a lot of pain.

"Not even close to the pain I felt at that time; I should be able to handle it well enough," Cole thought.

With that thought in mind, he slowly slipped into the boiling substance.

The pain was immediately multiplied as the surface of contact changed.

From his neck to his toes, pain originated from everywhere and surged straight at his head.

The combined pain from all of those places made it almost unbearable.

It took all he had for him to remain in the water, not to involuntarily jump out of it.

Cole struggled to open his eyes to check out the others, and he was immediately taken aback by his observation.

Everyone else only displayed a slightly pained expression. No one else looked as if the pain were that high.

"Why is it so different for me?" Cole questioned.

There was no one to answer his question, so Cole could only keep quiet and persist.

The longer Cole stayed in the water, the better he began to feel; despite the change being extremely small, Cole still noticed.

His cells were voraciously devouring the content of the water, causing a strange strength increase in them.

Cole could even feel his muscles tightening and his body becoming more and more condensed.

"Even though it is extremely painful, the reward was much better than I expected," Cole thought.

Time went by, and the small changes in Cole culminated and produced more obvious effects.

Cole had slowly acclimated to the pain, up to the point that he could completely ignore it.

From that moment on, Cole completely lost track of time; he only sat in the pool of water while being completely engrossed in sensing the changes in his body.

One by one, the students left the pond, and each and every one of them stared weirdly at Cole.

They had all expected him to be the first to leave due to obvious reasons.

And since he had advanced, he hadn’t participated in any battle that could inform the other students of his advancement.

"There’s really something special about that kid," some of the students not familiar with Cole thought to themselves.

Time flew by, and at this moment no one else was still in the water. They had all felt their limit and left.

But Cole’s body didn’t seem to have a limit; it kept devouring the content of the water and strengthening.

Cole didn’t realize this, but his late awakening had helped him in more ways than he knew.

Normally, When kids awaken their Innate Spirit at 16, their body could immediately begin passively absorbing Life energy.

This strengthens their cells to a certain level before they actually begin their cultivation journey.

Cole, on the other hand, didn’t have access to all of it, as he didn’t have an Innate spirit until much later.

This special privilege has left his cells in an extremely hungry state.

As time went on, the people around Cole began growing increasingly worried and skeptical.

"Something must be wrong with him; he can’t just stay there completely motionless for nothing." Someone spoke up.

"He might be dead; his weak self probably couldn’t handle it," Cole, a newly made enemy, added.

"So dumb, can’t you see his chest heaving?" Bryan responded to him harshly.

They feared further problems from waiting for too long, so the students decided to report to the man that instructed them earlier.

After a while, the man arrived. Upon his arrival, he stared at Cole with a slightly surprised expression.

"Though unusual, this situation isn’t unprecedented; some people have higher resistance and can stay much longer."

And with that conclusion, they all waited by the poolside for Cole to get out.

Time passed even more, and the instructor became even more shocked.

Since he had been here, he had never experienced studying for so long.

"I better get the elder; something must be seriously wrong," The man thought while he hurried away.

In the pool of water, Cole was slowly being pulled out of his tranced state as he felt the effect diminishing at a considerable rate.

"No no, don’t stop now," Cole muttered.

But there was nothing that could be done; when the effect completely vanished, he reluctantly opened his eyes.

"That was refreshing," He said while standing.

All around him, everyone stood in their position with wide eyes.

"Anomaly" was the word that flashed across all of their minds.