After the class ended, Nova made his way through the thinning crowds of students until he reached Mr. Parker’s office. He took a breath, entered, and stood silently in front of the heavy wooden desk. Mr. Parker looked up from his paperwork, a flicker of genuine confusion crossing his eyes as he took in the student standing before him.

  "Nova?" he asked, his voice trailing off. "What are you doing here?"

  Nova let a small, calm smile play on his lips. "Didn’t you say that anyone who wants to enter the special class should come to your office to register?" he asked smoothly. "Well, I am here."

  Mr. Parker actually shuddered, his pen hovering over a stack of forms. "But you... you..." He trailed off again, his mind racing to find an explanation. A few seconds later, his eyes narrowed as a realization struck him. "Did you hide your strength all this time?"

  The teacher quickly readjusted his expression, forced his face back into its usual strict, professional mask, and acted as if nothing strange had happened. He pulled out a registration form and began the process of adding Nova to the special class. Without looking up, he asked, "What is your current cultivation level?"

  "It is Rank 3 Awaken Realm," Nova replied clearly.

  Mr. Parker gave a short, sharp nod. "You will still be at the very bottom of the special class, you know. After all, Rank 3 is the absolute lowest cultivation level permitted in that group."

  Nova nodded his head solemnly, putting on the serious, determined look of a kid who was willing to work hard despite having a low level of talent. Deep down, he knew he couldn't exactly tell the truth, that he couldn't just say he had jumped from nothing to Rank 3 in a mere fifteen days. In this world, most people take months or even years to make that kind of progress, depending entirely on their individual talent.

  Nova was certain that if he revealed the truth, he would be a dead man within days. He knew how the world worked; there are always crazy people out there who simply don't want to see a new genius rise to power. Specifically, there is the Beast God Cult.

  Simply put, these were people who had given up on the human race; instead of fighting the beasts, they joined hands with them in exchange for benefits. It was an anti-human organization that lived to worship a mysterious 'Beast God.' Their doctrine claimed that resisting the beasts was futile; according to them, the only way forward was to welcome the monsters and wait for the arrival of their god to achieve salvation.

  Of course, with his worldly experience, Nova didn’t believe a single word of that. He knew it was all nonsense designed to trick the lower and middle-level members of the cult into doing the dirty work. He also suspected the high-ups of the Federation weren't fools; they likely knew the cult had deeper, darker goals. But the cults were like shadows—hidden in the dark, blending in with normal citizens and even infiltrating the government. That was why they were so nearly impossible to find and annihilate.

  Just that morning, the news had reported a genius being assassinated in a Tier 2 city, and everyone suspected the cult's involvement. Since Nova very much intended to live a long life, he wasn't going to be foolish enough to admit he achieved in fifteen days what others do in months.

  While he was thinking of all that, Mr. Parker finished the official process of registering him into the special class. Nova looked up from the desk and spoke clearly, "According to the rules, since I am now in the special class, I can choose any technique I want from the school library."

  Mr. Parker gave a small, approving nod. "Yes, that is your right."

  "So, can I go now, sir?" Nova asked. Normally, Mr. Parker would have said no and made him wait, but since Nova was his favorite student, he agreed. "I have already sent a message to the library supervisor, so he will allow you entry."

  Nova said thanks and moved towards the library. After a five-minute walk through the quiet campus, he saw the library building and entered the cool, silent hall. Once inside, he walked straight towards the desk where a middle-aged man was sitting. The man looked up from a stack of books and said, "Mr. Parker messaged me about your situation."

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  The supervisor gave him a tablet to choose what he wanted. On the tablet screen, Nova clicked on the filter and selected "Breathing Technique," and on the attribute section, he selected "Non-Attribute." After browsing for a while, he didn’t find anything satisfactory. Nova thought he would not find anything and planned to choose any random technique and leave, but just as he was about to give up, he saw a very interesting name: The Black Hole Breathing Technique.

  He stopped for a moment, his eyes widening, then clicked on the description to check. The Black Hole technique takes absorption of the aura to another level, as the description on the shelf explained. When you perform this breathing technique, you become like a black hole who absorbs all aura; not even a slip of aura gets past you. The quality and quantity of aura are also quite decent.

  Nova showed the screen to the supervisor and said this is the one he wants. The supervisor looked at it and sighed. "That technique? Like other breathing techniques, you will not get any attribute bonus. The only advantages are its high absorption and the high quality and quantity of aura. It is good, but not as good as getting attribute bonuses to enhance the performance of your martial arts."

  Nova nodded his head politely, but in his heart, he thought that of course it is good to have an attribute bonus, but with that also comes weakness. For example, if I use a fire attribute breathing technique aura to perform fire attribute martial arts, then it might get 10% more or less of a bonus depending on the grade of the breathing technique. Now, the problem is if the opponent uses a water breathing technique; his water attribute technique will restrain the fire attribute technique in the condition of the same level of cultivation.

  It is just a simple example; in a real battle, lots of other factors are at play. Another factor is time. Not everyone has a system like Nova to instantly learn or master a skill, so they have to prioritize. Other people think that strengthening a specific direction is the right choice, but Nova is different. He doesn’t want any weakness, so he will practice all kinds of techniques. For more efficiency, he is practicing a non-attribute technique, but he can't say that to anyone.

  The supervisor nodded. "Okay then," he said, handing Nova a small data chip. "Go to the cultivation room right there and practice until you comprehend it completely and familiarize yourself with the flow. When you are finished, return the chip to me."

  Nova nodded and walked into the quiet cultivation room. Once the door was shut, he took out his Modern Communicator—which was really just a fancy name for a high-tech mobile phone—and inserted the chip. He began watching the instructional video and the detailed explanation of the technique.

  After watching it just once, he heard the familiar chime of the system notification. It informed him that he could learn the F-rank Black Hole Breathing Technique for 1,000 points. Without hesitation, he clicked "Yes" to instantly learn the technique.

  A surge of knowledge filled his mind, but it left him with a problem: what should he do now? It wasn't normal to learn a brand-new breathing technique in just a few seconds. To avoid suspicion, Nova decided to wait for fifteen minutes before heading back out.

  When the time had passed, he walked out of the room and handed the chip back. "I am done learning," he said simply.

  Instead of the normal expression he expected, he found a look of pure shock on the supervisor’s face. Nova felt a bad feeling in his heart and asked, "What is the problem, supervisor?"

  The supervisor stared at him. "How did you do it? It takes even the most genius students at least two hours to comprehend a new breathing technique and familiarize themselves with the flow."

  Nova’s heart raced. Damn, I need a good idea or I am doomed to die in the cult's hands, he thought. If the Beast God Cultists found out his true talent, he would be a prime target.

  Nova quickly spoke up. "Supervisor, you misunderstood! I didn't actually comprehend it yet; I just memorized it. You see, I am a genius student when it comes to liberal arts, so I have an excellent memory. With my low talent, I know it might take five or six hours to fully comprehend the flow, so I just memorized the video by heart. That way, I can go home and slowly figure it out there."

  The supervisor calmed down after hearing that. "Are you sure? Even if it takes longer, we can just call your parents to inform them you will be late so they don’t worry. If you return the chip now and then forget a part of the technique later, it won't be easy to get it back from the library again."

  Nova stayed firm. "I have confidence that it will not happen."

  The supervisor shrugged and took the chip. "Do as you please. Just don’t blame me if you get home and realize you've forgotten a step."

  Nova let out a silent breath of relief. It worked, he thought. As long as his true talent does not get leaked, those mad Cultists of the Beast God Cult will not come after his life, and he will not die.

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