The Copy Mage

Damian's rage and hatred added to his desire for strength as he continued trying to recover his body, stopping only to eat his 3 daily meals at the canteen or sleep.

He was quite sure that Larry wouldn't be coming for him for a while, after being scared by Darren, but Damian had many people to be wary of including Trevor.

He was beginning to think that joining a faction wouldn't be such a bad thing, and if he could join one that Darren was in, he would be overjoyed.

However somebody of Darren's calibre would have no need for a faction that would only hold him back, and Damian knew that it was unlikely for such an enigma to waste his time forming or helping a faction.

It took Damian 4 days to completely recover from the backlash, but he felt he had recovered enough to cultivate after 3 days and cultivated more of the Golden Flame Method, building on his Maxwell Fire Soul Spirit that formed a flame within his dantian.

Damian's progress was incredible in terms of cultivation speed and he was on par with the progress speed of many of the most talented academy students that had talent and Soul Spirits grades that were equivalent to or surpassed the E:5 grade.

However, that didn't mean he was equivalent to them in terms of power as he was yet to truly train in combat and increase his strength enough. He hadn't been in the academy for long and he had already made many enemies, but with his Golden Flame Inheritance and the Shadow Steps Skill Book Inheritance, his path of progress was clear.

Continuing to cultivate for a day, he was nearing LVL 27 and his body settled at LVL 26 as he was nearing rank 3.

However, he felt that he had reached a slight bottleneck and continuously absorbing energy wasn't a good way to cultivate, as although the amount of energy and the cultivation level of the cultivator would increase, the foundations that they built their cultivation upon would be weaker and they would be less skilled in combat.

Without a strong foundation, the leap that one's strength takes in each breakthrough would be lower while the cultivator's ability to wield the strength and the density of their energy would also be lower.

This would lower their endurance and wouldn't allow them to battle for long periods of time and also meant they wouldn't be able to display as much power as one would expect from that cultivation level.

This was why cultivators that relied on pills, medication and other resources with their wealth to increase their cultivation would be weaker and less capable than a cultivator who trained and worked hard to increase their strength.

While it was also important to learn multiple skills, from all different categories, to always be prepared in battle and have a wider range of techniques to use, rather than relying on the single ability that a Soul Spirit would provide.

Damian knew this from the overview of cultivation that the Golden Flame Method provided and from his own research, and wanted to make sure his foundation was as strong as possible so that he didn't struggle to increase his strength in the future.

The weaker one's foundation was, the quicker they may be able to increase their cultivation in the lower ranks, as they skipped steps in the process of cultivation or used pills and medication to speed up the process, however, at higher levels of cultivation, they wouldn't be able to build upon their cultivation with their weak foundation.

They would also be subpar to those at the same rank as them, and knowing that, Damian wanted to make sure that his foundation was as strong as possible, thinking about the long term benefit.

Damian's ambitions were infinite and as long as there was something that could still be achieved, he was aiming to do so and didn't want to damage his future for short term gain.

He decided that it was the perfect opportunity to train in his Pyro Skills and Shadow Skills, which would increase his strength and skill, while also strengthening his foundation and allowing him to cultivate at faster speeds.

Damian headed towards the training centre where the altercation with Larry had occurred, but he was by no means scared to do so and knew that he had a while before Larry attempted to come after again.

But in that time Damian wasn't going to sit by idly, and was planning to increase his strength as much as possible, then go after Larry himself and publically defeat and humiliate him, while also copying his Soul Spirit.

Walking in, nobody would be able to tell that anything had occurred and Damian had completely recovered from anything that he suffered in his altercation with Larry. 

He received a gentle smile from the receptionist that saw him visit regularly, and he reciprocated the friendliness as he headed towards his delegated private training room.

Without wasting any time, Damian began practising the use of the Shadow Reinforcement and Shadow Speed Technique until his energy was exhausted.

After recovering, he would then practise with his Flame Reinforcement and attack using his Pyro Skills until his energy was exhausted.

He continued the cycle and continued to exhaust his body and attempt to push it past its limits, while making sure not to push his body too much and cause it damage, and he only stopped to eat, sleep and recover his energy.

Anybody seeing how Damian was training would call him crazy, but Damian continued doing so and was finding that the activation time of his skills was lowering as his mastery over them and the manipulation of his energy was increasing.

At the rate he was progressing there wouldn't be many that compare with him, but in the Aria Branch Academy and all the other branches of Akegria Academy, there were many young talented students thinking the same thing.