pjbooks Chapter 127: SECLUSION
Chapter 127: SECLUSION
"What did you and the Patriarch discuss?" Sylvester asked Silas.
Silas sighed. "I already told you. It is none of your business."
Silas stared through the spaceship’s glass.
The ship had not started moving, but the students had already settled in.
This was a different spaceship that looked like a city from the outside.
But the inside was something else entirely.
The space was at least comparable to a planet’s surface.
"The ship will move in seven minutes. Enter your room within that time," the ship’s AI, a floating blob of energy, said.
"I will find out soon enough. Just so you know," Sylvester said, turning away with a smug smile.
Silas raised a brow.
"This guy never ceases to amaze me with how stubborn he is," he muttered.
"See you soon," Amelia waved, turning to find her own room.
Billie only nodded before leaving.
"Does her dual face skill affect her normal behavior?" Silas muttered, already taking calm steps toward one of the vacant rooms. "Sometimes she acts warm, and sometimes she acts cold."
Silas did not bother to dwell on it.
"Asher, you can stay in the room next to mine," Silas said, resting his hand on the door knob lightly.
Asher bowed.
The door clicked and opened slowly.
Silas entered without delay, closing it behind him.
The room was as simple as the previous one. A pod, a bed, and a bathroom.
Silas did not much care for elegance.
He sat in the pod.
A soft hiss echoed through the room as the casing covered him whole.
"The ship will depart in five seconds. Buckle up."
Five seconds passed in a blink and the ship began to rise.
Slow at first, barely noticeable to the candidates already locked in their pods.
Then a tremor swept through the ship as energy passed through it in a burst.
The ship accelerated in an instant, dashing through the atmosphere without any buildup.
From takeoff to leaving the atmosphere, less than three seconds passed.
But to the candidates inside the pod, it felt like three hours.
The pod hissed open, releasing a thick fog.
Silas waved it away.
"Well, I can cultivate in peace here," he muttered. "No disturbances, and I can feel myself approaching the limit of my core."
As he said those words, he drew in a slow breath.
Just a few days ago, he had been thinking about how far he was from filling his core.
But now, after deducing a better cultivation technique, he had reached that point in less than five days.
"Let’s see if I can break through to the Ascendant Realm before we reach the academy."
"But before that, I should probably tell everyone so they don’t start worrying."
Silas had no idea how long the breakthrough would take, so he felt the need to warn the others first.
"Rion, send everyone a message that I will be in seclusion for a long time and they should not worry about me."
After a brief silence, Rion replied.
"Done."
Silas nodded, then walked toward his bed.
He sat, legs folded into each other, settling into a lotus position.
Like that, time began to pass.
"Sylvester, you need to stop doing this," Amelia said, shaking her head in what felt like genuine disappointment.
Sylvester furrowed his brows.
"I only wanted to check if the food was alright," he countered.
While both of them bickered, Billie stared through the glass at the vast void beyond.
She rested her head on one arm languorously.
"This is too boring," she groaned.
She had once found joy in watching the void for its beauty.
But after a month of staring at it, it had come to look ordinary.
"If only Silas were here for a spar."
At the mention of Silas, the other two joined in.
"He could have made things more interesting and kept this one in line," Amelia added, jerking her thumb toward Sylvester.
Sylvester shook his head. "Always blaming me for everything."
Billie furrowed her brows and stood up.
"You are being too loud."
Sylvester waved her off. "No one would miss you if you disappeared. Don’t worry."
Billie tilted her head.
Her chest rose, then settled.
"I do not have the time for you right now."
"But what do you think Silas is doing?" Amelia asked Billie.
"Unknown object approaching ship."
The AI alarm blared through the vessel as red lights flooded the corridor.
Billie’s brows furrowed.
"Is this an attack?" She asked.
"That should not be possible. No stellar pirate would stop a ship bearing the Academy’s insignia," Sylvester replied. "It could be another vessel passing through."
"What are the odds of that?" Amelia asked, rising from her chair and moving toward the window.
"To be honest, unless someone was waiting beforehand, the odds are close to zero."
Sylvester replied, following behind her.
The three of them began walking towards the window.
Not just them, everyone in the ship were moving towards the place too.
"What is that?" Sylvester asked.
He had not finished the words when the spaceship shook.
It was violent enough to send everyone tumbling.
"It is an attack!"
The yell was like a starting gun.
They were about to move when the entire space fell silent.
Not intentionally. A power had descended over them all.
Then they saw Levi appear in their midst.
His gaze moved with precision toward a small mote of something in the air.
"Everyone, the spaceship is under attack. You are not to panic," he said.
A flicker, and he was gone.
What had just happened?
The question haunted the minds of everyone there.
And why would he tell them not to panic?
"He should be able to handle it," Sylvester said, pushing himself up from the floor.
"Is he really that strong?" Amelia asked.
Sylvester looked at her with quiet disbelief.
"He is comparable to a Vice Tower Master, and at such a young age. He is less than a million years old."
He said those words, then paused, as if waiting for them to settle.
"Not only is his strength absurd. His talent is even more frightening."