Chapter 111 - Ectasy

Layton subconsciously exuded his conqueror's haki in the form of martial intent he quickly recalled his intent when he remembered he was still in the martial art lecture room.

Receiving the intent back into his body he scanned his body once more, his cell structure and organs were optimized and subtly changed arranged in what Layton felt was the optimal structure, Layton felt he could create a meridian energy system but decided against it, first of all the meridian system was not necessary as his psionic and spirit was already closely combined to his body and secondly he was still a wizard and was still at the first level of practice regardless of his status as a champion it was not ideal for him to delve too deep into the martial arts way.

Opening his shut eyes Layton noticed the room was already half empty the lecturer had already disappeared along with some students, while others still had their eyes shut in comprehension and some just sat down not ready to leave yet. After a quick glance around Layton stood up and headed for the exit.

Once out he didn't head towards his place of residence but headed towards a pagoda shaped building not far from the martial academy headquarters, the pagoda shaped building was the ecstasy tower, it was a simple building with minimal decoration on its body only the large sign that read ecstasy tower on its body.

Ecstasy tower was basically a high class restaurant, their meals were top notch in the whole school city both in practicality and taste, the tower was so close to the martial arts department because the martial arts department were one of those who had a high demand for precious meals with high nutritional value due to their mode practice after all most of the resources that martial arts practitioners needed were in form of pills or precious edible resources.

Layton at the moment did not have the credits to buy even their cheapest meal here, but he was here because of an invitation that had been sent to him as he was leaving the lecture room, the invitation was not grand it was just some simple words asking if he was interested in a conversation and a free meal at the ecstasy coupled with a ticket for a reservation already made.

Although as a wizard Layton's dependence on food was low but it didn't mean he didn't have an appetite and a chance to eat at the famous ecstasy Layton wasn't going to pass that up, and as to whether the invitation was true or false, the probability of him being tricked was low one was because of the form in which the invitation was sent, it was sent directly to his mind while he was about to leave the lecture room and the sender did nothing to mask or hide his emotions making Layton able to fully perceive that there was no malice or ill intent in the invitation, also invitations which contained reservation to the tower such as that which was sent to him could not be faked.

And the other reason he accepted the invitation was his intuition, his intuition was telling him that there was no harm in accepting the invitation and he might gain some unexpected benefits. Although Layton got to know especially during the holy grail battle during the final battle with Igor that his intuition could be deceived, Layton still trusted his intuition very much coupled with the fact that this was school city where the student's basic safety was guaranteed Layton saw no harm in meeting up with the stranger that sent the invitation.

The tower was not in its busiest hour but there was still a sizeable amount of traffic on the premises, individuals of all shapes colours and sizes walking in and out, although Layton had been in school city for some time he was still amazed at the diversity of different humanoid forms walking around.

Stepping into the tower doors he was greeted with a faint refreshing aura that emanated from all parts of the building, the lavish Chinese style decoration were not placed randomly but followed certain runes and established numerous intertwined and integrated arrays that served the main purpose of filling the room with a peculiar aura, the aura was a combination of various positive auxiliary effects most of which Layton could not recognize, but from the few effects he could recognize Layton could ascertain the preciousness of such an arrangement.

Taking his mind off the environment Layton ignored the enchanting demi humans that were the waiters and followed the induction provided by the invitation in his mind to an empty booth, as soon as he got closer the mask of light that covered the booth dispersed and Layton was granted access.

"Hello I am Shi Chen; you must be Layton the wizard champion." The words came out from a bald headed muscular young man who was seated in the room, he had an air of innocence around him and a baby like face that fit his milky white skin and sky blue eyes, he let out a beaming smile as he gestured towards the couch on the other side of the table in front of him.

"How do you know me; I don't think we have met anywhere before?" Layton asked curiously as he sat down on the seat offered to him, it hadn't been up to 24 hours that he understood what the whole deal about champion practitioners was about so he was curious how this stranger knew.

"I have met with Igor and he mentioned you to me so when I saw a wizard in the martial arts basic lecture room I knew it was you." since Igor was a champion it was very likely he already knew about Layton's champions status but Layton could tell this was only half the truth. As if perceiving Layton's doubts Shi Chen continued "Well because of my special practice I noticed the rune on you and the only reason a stage 1 wizard practitioner would be in the martial arts basic class was only if he was a champion."

"So what do you want?" Layton asked getting straight to the point, he didn't believe Shi Chen would do all this just to meet him after all from the little Layton could perceive the bald headed martial artist was strong, although Layton was not arrogant he knew of his strength level and most stage 1 practitioners around school city did not give him the feeling of strength he felt from Shi Chen, after all not all practitioners pursed strong combat prowess.

"There is demand for runes especially from those who can exude martial intent." Shi Chen said straightforwardly as he adjusted to a more comfortable position on the couch.

"Martial artists also use runes?"

Shi Chen started to explain upon hearing Layton's question, "Although the 3 big civilizations have different practice systems they are also intertwined and connected take me for example, my practice is special and involves the use of runes but I am still a martial artist, there are countless other practice systems like mine which involve the knowledge or resources of the practice system of other civilizations."

As he said so he seemed let go of some restrictions on himself, his exuberant vitality was no longer hidden and made the temperature of the room rapidly rise, Layton could perceive the monstrous vitality hidden under his skin, and with his perception Layton found that Shi Chen's blood bones and skin were filled with minuscule runes that seemed to temper and nourish his body at all times, although these runes were not complete they were mostly a patch up of different incomplete runes that Shi Chen had somehow inscribed on his body and using the body's natural adaptive nature to evolve those incomplete random runes, remove the ones harmful to him and duplicate the advantageous ones smelting them making them part of his being and using them to temper his origin