Old man was surprised by Alex's question. "The Fundamental Training Formula doesn't separate the attributes during absorption, so the speed is slow. The filtering takes place by your body. When the source energy enters your body through the pores, depending on the attribute of your body only some attributes would be allowed in while the rest of the source energy would be bounced off."

Alex asked further. "Can the attributes of the body be changed?"

The old man shook his head. "I don't know of any such method. Right now you should be focused on sensing the source. Did you do that?"

"Yes, I was just planning to use the fundamental training formula, but I wasn't sure what limited the speed of absorbing the source energy." Alex replied.

The old man was put into thought. "I'd say that the limiting factor for the rate of absorption is the circulatory pathway for the energy flow within the body. But don't try to experiment with the pathway, because it would wreck the stability of absorbing all the source energy attributes equally."

Alex nodded before returning to practice. At this moment, he sat down in the dojo practice room in a lotus position and synced with the completely transparent statue within his inner world. Then the Statue opened its eyes and looked beyond the black smoke to see the world of source energy.

Alex followed through the process of the fundamental training formula to gently lead the energy towards himself and then absorb it through his pores.

Initially the energy was sticky and not pliant to Alex's coercion but eventually the energy slowly began to surround his body and gently drill in through his pores. Alex felt a gentle p.r.i.c.kly sensation as a thick and viscous transparent gel began coursing through his veins and capillaries along the designated path before gravitating to his chest.

Alex enjoyed the gentle yet p.r.i.c.kly feeling as the source energy slowly collected in his chest, right in front of his heart, gently congealing together. Alex was surprised by the thickness of the source energy, it almost felt like a liquid within his body. The practicing went on for a few days in this manner.

In school when Alex came to cla.s.s he found that something seemed to be wrong. Everyone had a fearful look on their faces. No one seemed to be talking so Alex ignored it and walked out to go to the vending machine to grab a drink.

At that moment he came across Lily, who seemed very pale as well. She was walking with a friend. Both the girls seemed to be frantically discussing , when they saw Alex drinking tea, outside his cla.s.sroom in the corridor.

Lily walked up to Alex. "Alex, you can still be calm in such a situation?"

"Hey Lily. To be honest I don't know what's going on. The atmosphere at school seems to have suddenly turned bleak?" Alex asked her.

"Two students from the school and their families were murdered last night." Lily said.

Alex was shocked. "What? Have the authorities caught the perpetrators?"

Lily shook her head. "No. It seems to be the terrorists who have been attacking civilians, it seems they are now targetting students in our school. Both the students were from 3-C."

Alex nodded. "This seems serious. Thanks for the information, you should be careful as well."

At that moment the friend of Lily interrupted their conversation. "Lily, who is this person?"

"Min.. this is a friend of mine, Alex. He is in cla.s.s 3-F." Alex nodded towards this person called Min. However the girl acted like he was air.

"Let's go back Lily." Min grabbed Lily and walked away.

Alex shook his head. He didn't care about this right now. These terrorists were targeting students? He hoped that the government could investigate the case quickly.

When he returned to the cla.s.s, the solemn atmosphere once again bore down on him. Alex sat down on his seat, and calmly began absorbing source energy.

At that moment , Alex's neighbor prodded him. "Hey Alex, I've noticed you were out there with the girl named Lily."

Alex was irritated by the interruption, but he calmly responded. "Chris, what about it?"

"Everyone is cla.s.s had been gossiping that you are dating her." Chris replied.

"And who exactly is everyone?" Alex made a peculiar expression. "And how is it your business? Can you see the atmosphere of the cla.s.s? Do you think people care about this c.r.a.p?"

Chris was stunned. "This... the cla.s.s does feel very somber. What happened?"

Alex shook his head. "I heard two students pa.s.sed away. You ask the others."

Chris was stunned and stayed quiet after that. "Two students died?" He wondered with shock.

Alex ignored him. Soon Tutor Kim entered the cla.s.s. He looked very serious. "Two students and their families have been murdered by the terrorists holding battle cards. The terrorist group has been identified to be Scarlet Tide. I want all students to be very cautious. We have a feeling that Scarlet Tide has decided to target the Pinnacle High School.

We will hold a memorial now, for the two deceased students."

Back at the dojo, Alex talked to the old man Ren about this. "Old man, it seems a terrorist group is targetting students from my school. Have you heard anything about this?"

Old Ren nodded. "I have heard about it. The government is scrambling to identify them."

"How come they can't seem to identify the perpetrators, with cameras everywhere?" Alex asked.

"The terrorists are probably using disguise cards to hide themselves." Old Ren said.

"Disguise cards?" Alex asked.

"They are one time use consumables. They probably purchase it from the Card Black Market." Old Ren sighed. "It seems that the terrorists are all people with the blood attribute cards."

Alex wondered for a bit. "Old man, is there anything you can teach me to defend myself? How can I protect myself from a card user like this terrorist in an emergency?"