Alex regrouped with his friends, and they made their way back to the dorms. This time, Julia was joining them as they were headed to Alex's room to discuss what the instructor had brought up with Alex.
"So, what did you and the instructor talk about?" Ross asked as soon as they sat down on the couch.
Alex sighed and relaxed in his seat, "Nothing much. But he has noticed my situation."
"Your situation? You mean your level barely increased over the past few months?" Alex had made mention of the different things he began to notice about himself ever since he survived the cosmic mana wave. Of course, he hadn't made mention of his experience in the origin domain to them yet.
Alex nodded in acknowledgement before continuing, "The strength I displayed during the spar didn't match with my level, even with my higher physical stats compared to everyone else when we awakened."
'He must have been able to tell where my level is at. So, it must be very obvious when I was still stronger than everyone when they were the ones showing an increase in their cultivation.'
"Is that really an issue? I doubt your level remaining the same affects your rank. And even if level translates to strength, you are still stronger than all of us." Ross was not seeing the issue here.
The issue here could solely be Alex's cultivation needing more time than them to increase his level. Hearing his response, he realised he hadn't informed them about the reason his cultivation wasn't increasing despite cultivating every day.
Looking at how they were staring at him, he decided to finally come clean.
"There's something I haven't mentioned to you guys yet." His words made them curious as to what Alex would keep from them. Of course, they also understood that everyone has something to keep to themselves.
"My cultivation isn't increasing because my cultivation speed is slow…" He said, observing their expressions, noticing how their expressions hadn't changed.
"… The reason is that when I cultivate, all the mana I absorb goes to strengthen my individual cells instead of being stored in the manitoria. That is why my strength keeps increasing even though my level remains the same."
Hearing his words, Ross and Julia were briefly stunned. He had told them that his strength increased when he cultivated, but the reason behind such a thing was never disclosed to them.
"Initially, I thought it was normal and with time, my mana would increase, but it didn't."
Julia was slightly confused about what Alex said, "Wait, mana isn't stored in your manitoria? Then how do you power your abilities?"
Expecting such a question, he explained, still leaving out his hypothesis for such a phenomenon.
"Well, the energy I use comes from somewhere else. It still flows through my mana channels, but it just doesn't originate from the manitoria. And before you ask, I'm not sure from where it's originating."
His words still confused the two. It went against all they knew about how the energy called mana is utilized. And while this was simply from what humans have studied so far, it was still accurate.
Julia slightly furrowed her brows staring at Alex. She could tell there was more but was unwilling to share for whatever reason.
'Trying to get him to spill would only put him on the defensive, and I don't want to argue with him. Hopefully, he will eventually come around.' As these thoughts flowed through her mind, she made a mental note to talk to her uncle to see if he had ever seen anything like what Alex described.
Alex quietly waited for them to digest his words, observing their facial expressions. He also noticed how Julia showed a slightly doubtful face, but there was nothing he could do about that for now, and Ross on the other hand had the look of someone trying to come up with a solution after being given the data he needed.
"Does the energy you use remain after using your abilities?" Ross asked, his hands folded and under his chin.
"Let me show you instead." The other thing he had noticed was that the VR world could not mimic that energy, and his profile worked the same way as everyone else. The only thing it got right was his strength and level.
Stretching out his right hand, he called upon his power and just like the previous times, the energy came from nowhere, passing through his channels and gathering in his palm.
He created a hard light construct of a short blade. The construct appeared so real one may not be able to tell the difference if they weren't there when it was made. Its edges gleamed with a sharp silvery light.
Ross slowly stretched his hands to touch the blade. His movement was deliberately slow, and this created some sort of tension in the room. Now that they knew that the energy powering his ability was not mana, there was a certain kind of caution in his actions.
When his hand made contact with the blade, nothing happened, causing all of them to release an exhausted sigh.
"What was I even afraid of?" He jokingly said, trying to dispel the created tension.
"So, what do you guys think?" He inquired after Ross' small test. Julia still had a pondering look on her face. And once Alex turned to her, she looked at Ross, meeting his gaze. It seemed he also noticed the same thing.
Alex saw their actions and waited for them to come clean. Julia turned to him and told him what she felt when he created the blade.
"When you created the blade, it gave off a certain vibe that felt dangerous."
Ross nodded, agreeing to what she said. Alex, on the other hand, felt nothing, so it puzzled him. However, his racing thoughts quickly came up with reasons why they felt what they felt and he didn't.
'I see… The origin energy does not affect me, but to others, it's dangerous.' He thought and then focused on Ross.
'But when he touched it, he felt nothing.' This contrast made no sense. If it was dangerous to be around it, shouldn't it also be harmful to them when it comes into contact with them?
'Maybe it had to be used to inflict damage?' Of course, he had no intention of testing that on his friends. For now, he understood that the energy he used was somewhat dangerous to the people around him.