A couple of years later, Kyle was called to another Planet, but it was essentially a nothing-burger.
He just focused on grabbing valuable ores while killing a couple of beasts here and there.
Surprisingly, Kyle even got a third alert during his shift, and this time, it was a Moon!
Moons were valuable!
Yet, the excitement was short-lived.
Origin: Elemental Dimension.
The team was not up for a coinflip, and they used their veto on this target.
For the remainder of the time, Kyle just kept swinging his hammer.
He still had no idea what he was chasing, but it just felt like the right thing to do.
And finally…
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Kyle pulled out his Communicator and looked at the alarm, which he had set himself.
He just sighed. 'Well, back to the office.'
During these twenty years, Kyle's tenth Cluster had unlocked by 10%, which meant he would need about 180 years in total to unlock the entire thing since the unlocking process sped up with time.
Kyle looked at the messages on his Communicator and found that he had been assigned to a new target.
The time of departure was in a couple of days.
'Lower Primary Organization,' Kyle read.
When he saw the name of the organization, he blinked a couple of times.
'Mundus Seeker School,' Kyle thought. 'Weird name. Are the Elders teachers?'
'Bit of a weird name for a Primary Organization.'
'Yeah, well, guess there's some history behind that name. Wonder if their dean is called Mundus.'
'Anyway, just gotta get this over with.'
A couple of days passed, and Kyle left the branch of the Array of Stars.
He materialized on a Planet that looked a lot like Earth.
Plenty of trees, animals, and even some beasts.
Naturally, someone was already waiting in front of him.
It was an older lady just wearing… regular clothing.
No uniform.
"You must be Meteor Hammer, right?" the older lady asked with a smile.
"Yep, hi," Kyle said casually.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Teacher Cynthia, and I'm here to welcome you to the Mundus Seeker School," she said with a smile.
'She's quite friendly,' Kyle thought. 'Is that just an act, or is she actually nice?'
"Thank you," Kyle answered. "So, what's on the agenda?"
Teacher Cynthia smiled helplessly. "Well, I had something planned, but that plan was scrapped."
"How come?" Kyle asked.
"I asked the Array of Stars to send a fresh Primal Exchange Seeker. I know that you Exchange Seekers have to go through three Secondary Organizations before you can join a Primary One, and I asked for a Primal who just finished going through their set of Secondary Organizations."
"From what I know, those Primals are usually 6/12 or 7/12 Primals, and in that case, they would perfectly fit into my class."
"At the Mundus Seeker School, we divide our Students by age. Since every Primal gains 2,000 years of longevity after advancing, we split our classes into eight groups. The first one is for Primals, who have been in the Primal Realm for fewer than 250 years. The second one is for years 250 to 500, and so on for a total of eight classes."
"I was expecting a Primal in the age range of 500 to 750, ignoring the time spent as a Transcendent."
Kyle blinked a couple of times and did some math.
"Yeah, I'm in the wrong age group, then," he said.
"I thought so," Teacher Cynthia said with a sigh.
"I should just barely fall into second grade, not third grade," Kyle said. "I think in like 20 years or so, I would enter the third grade."
Cynthia looked at Kyle as her eyebrows rose.
"I think there must be some confusion," she said with a smile. "Classes are assigned in ascending order, not descending."
"No, I get it," Kyle said. "I think I have been in the Primal Realm for a bit less than 500 years."
Teacher Cynthia furrowed her brows.
Was her Student lying to her?
"Are you sure you're speaking the truth? We have to verify your age anyway. Are you sure that's the truth?" she asked with a strict tone.
"I think I know how old I am," Kyle said. "Roughly."
Teacher Cynthia looked with a strict gaze at Kyle.
"Fine," she said with professional courtesy coupled with professional coldness. "Please, disperse your Complex Law so that I can verify your age."
Kyle's Essence left his body. "Alright, go for it."
Teacher Cynthia took out two colored metal rods that were connected to a machine via a wire.
"Hold this in your left hand and the other one in your right hand," she said, handing the rods to Kyle.
Kyle held the metal rod and looked forward awkwardly.
'This feels weird,' he thought. 'This method of verifying my age is so… basic?'
Meanwhile, Cynthia activated the machine and pressed a couple of buttons.
Kyle felt some strange Energy moving through his body, but he didn't interfere with it.
A moment later, the Energy stopped, and Teacher Cynthia's eyes opened wide in shock.
Then, the machine vanished, and another one appeared.
"This machine was broken," she said with a helpless smile. "Let's go again."
Kyle shrugged as he grabbed the metal rods.
The same thing happened again, and Teacher Cynthia just shook her head in shock.
The reading was identical!
"Well, that's surprising," she said. "Are you sure you spoke the truth?"
"Yeah," Kyle said. "I'm somewhere around the 500s. Probably a bit under. I need a bit more time in the oven."
Oven?
Teacher Cynthia was a bit confused by Kyle's terminology, but she laughed politely since she realized that this had probably been a joke.
"Just to confirm, how many Clusters have you unlocked?" she asked.
"Currently working on my tenth one," Kyle said. "Give me like 160 years, and I will be done."
Nine Clusters.
This guy had unlocked nine Clusters.
Teacher Cynthia looked at the machine again.
Were both machines broken in the same way?
Teacher Cynthia had to make sure.
She took out her Communicator and sent a message to the Array of Stars, asking for them to confirm Kyle's age.
A couple of seconds later, she got her answer.
It was identical to her readings.
The Array of Stars wouldn't lie about something like that, right?
Teacher Cynthia looked at Kyle in shock.
According to his age, Kyle would need to stay in second grade for a couple more years, but he could also be bumped to third grade immediately. These couple of years wouldn't make a big difference.
Teacher Cynthia's class shot through her mind.
Five students who had managed to unlock seven Clusters were the pride of her class.
Most likely, they would unlock their eighth Cluster a short time after entering fourth grade. After that, they just needed to earn their Treasures, and they would also be able to unlock their ninth Clusters soon.
Then, it would be time for the difficult tenth Cluster.
The Students would look for a Level Three Pure Law to comprehend, which would probably take a couple of centuries.
If they were outstanding, they would unlock their tenth Cluster in sixth grade.
However, only very few managed to unlock their tenth Cluster this early.
Those who managed to do that could try to unlock their eleventh Cluster.
But by then, they would probably have less than 200 years left.
As for the twelfth Cluster…
That depended on the Student.
Usually, Students had to unlock ten Clusters to be eligible to remain Students. Every other Student would become a Teacher or join another organization.
Teacher Cynthia thought about her class.
Five 7/12 Primals and 25 6/12 Primals.
Then, there was Kyle.
A 9/12 Primal…
And if he didn't lie, he would become a 10/12 Primal while still being in third grade.
This…
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