With money weighting his pocket, Himo bought several formation rods and a qiclock from a student. He returned to the formations’ section. With Phylia right behind him, he walked to the counter and greeted the receptionist. “Hello!”

She looked up from her paperwork. “Oh, you are the student from the other day. How may I help you?”

“I’ve got a few of these and I’d like to try them.” Himo showed her a formation rod. “Where can I go?”

“Sure. Exit this building and take the second portal on your left, the first on your right, and, lastly, one directly in front of you.” She drew the path on a piece of paper as she spoke. “You’ll find there the training hall. It’ll be full of special rooms where you can try new techniques, magics, formations—anything, really—for the price of 1 D-coin every two hours.”

The receptionist passed him the paper. Himo thanked her and left with Phylia.

The two followed the drawn path—for once, he didn’t get lost—and soon reached their destination, a hall that spanned as far as the eye could see. Countless students walked atop the red-carpeted floor. Some traversed the countless doors on each side; others conversed as they waited for their turn.

Himo's eyes scanned the hall. Each door had a small rectangular light that flipped either green or red. He walked up to one of the few green lights. "I guess it's open," he muttered as he inserted a coin into the corresponding fissure, and the green turned red. The door opened.

Himo and Phylia passed through the doorway. And they found themselves in a vast field of green.

Himo’s eyes widened. “This is… just like being outside!”

Blades of grass undulated on gentle hills spanning from wall to wall. Walls and ceiling painted a vivacious blue sky, aided by a sun shining from on high. The sole field matched the size of a small house.

Stepping on the grass, Himo checked the qiclock: three different needles turned and quivered continuously. While Phylia ran about, he recalled what he had read.

“Let’s see… For the shield formation, eight rods should be enough.” He stepped forward and brandished a rod. After inserting a surge of his khenqi in it, he planted it in the ground. “The first is done!” He repeated the process with the second, the third, the fourth, and the rest. Himo gave a last glance at the qiclock. “Perfect!”

He stepped a few meters back and activated the formation with his khenqi.

As he expected, the surrounding Qi coalesced through the rods. The rods glowed, then shone in a valiant red light. And they exploded. The formation erupted into a cloud of fire whose force turned grass into cinders and rods into rockets—rockets that punched into the walls, making eight distinct holes.

Himo blinked. “What?”

Ding!

[You successfully forced a formation to explode, something thought impossible by most!]

[You obtained an achievement: The Bomber]

[You obtained 1 BS point!]

[You now have 69 BS points!]

“What’s goin— oh, free points.” Himo’s lips curled up. As he walked over to collect the rods, he asked, “System, do you have a video of the explosion?”

[There is nothing the system doesn’t have. But, what does the user needs it for?]

“Show it to me!” Himo grabbed the closest rod and swung it. Aside from a splinter, it was undamaged. “I want to see what went wrong with my formation. These rods aren’t cheap.”

[The price for showing the video and revealing the cause of the explosion is 20 BS points.]

“Ah! You give one and you take twenty! So unfair!” Himo rolled his eyes. “Very well, take my points!”

[Subtracting 20 BS points…]

[Thanks for your patronage!]

[You now have 49 BS points!]

[Close your eyes to view the video.]

Himo did as instructed, and the video of the prior minutes replayed behind his eyelids. He saw everything from when he entered the room to after the explosion occurred. He replayed it twice more, but his only gain was a deepening frown.

“System, you said you would explain, right?”

[The user is quick to give up.]

“It was twenty points. Just tell me!”

[The cause of the explosion is the Myriad of Ways cultivation technique.]

“Wait, wait, wait...” Himo pinched his nose. “You’ve given me a defective technique?”

[The system is fair and just; any technique from it is devoid of flaws. The reason the technique meddled with the formation is the user’s inexperience.]

“What are you implying?”

[As its name implies, the Myriad of Ways cultivation technique allows a myriad of ways, an endless amount. Those “ways” are neither special techniques nor magic—they are the ability to warp one’s own khenqi to assume different properties. Coincidentally, the user’s standard khenqi conflicts with the formation.]

“Oh, this sounds overpowered!” Himo’s eyes lit up. “So, how do I warp my khenqi to use the formation?”

[Naturally, by trying until it works. Good luck!]

“Give me a solution. What ‘good luck’!” Himo stomped his feet.

Phylia sat beside him as he decided to try his luck. He gathered the five rods, shoved them into the ground once again, and lifted a hand to his chin. “How can I alter it…” His brows furrowed as he squeezed his eyes shut. “What if I… were to consider it a color?” He babbled about several theories until he resolved to infuse the rods with khenqi.

After checking the qiclock one last time, he backtracked until he hit a wall and stared grimly at the five rods. Within a second, Qi coalesced yet again—a transparent wall arose from them and closed above to form a dome.

“I did it!” Himo laughed.

[...]

“It works just like in my dreams!” Himo darted to Phylia and high-fived her. “Yay!”

“Yay!” She giggled.

“Now…” Himo grabbed one of the rods and whirled it with his fingers. “It’s time to make experiments!”

By the time they walked out of the training room, both green and blue had vanished, replaced instead by a charred black. Only then did he learn that destroying a room had a consequence. A consequence of ten D-coins.