A few more weeks passed and Ning had safely gotten used to daily life.
He would start his morning when Alexis woke him up. He would then train for a while with Alexis on things he told him to try or do.
After nearly 5 hours of training, he would get something to eat, and rest for a bit before training for the next 5 hours.
After that, he would eat again and would use the next 5 hours as his free time, which he would use to go find food or check out the city.
After the 5 hour period was over, he trained for nearly 8 hours, and finally went to sleep.
The routine was exhaustive, but it was working. Ning was starting to get very good at using Aether in ways he didn't know were possible before.
It was early in the morning on a random day for Ning. The days had been monotonous so he didn't really know how many days he had been here exactly.
He was training with gravitational energy, to see what he could do.
He was training to crush a tree from the inside as he created what was practically a mini black hole.
He put gravitational energy onto the center of the tree and pushed in as much gravity on it as possible and soon, the tree started crumbling before being completely destroyed.
Ning stopped and the black hole disappeared, leaving behind a fallen tree that had half of its trunk missing.
Alexis nodded in approval. "Great, you can do that now too," she said. "There are a few more things I have still to teach you, but for now, you should go find a job for yourself."
"A job?" Ning was a little surprised. "We need money?"
"No, it's just a job that is suitable for you. Go to the valley today, to the City lord's manor. They are going to announce something today," Alexis said.
"Oh, what is it?" Ning asked curiously.
"It would be better to find it out yourself. Go, you should be able to reach the place right as they announce it," Alexis said.
"Alright then, I'll go," Ning said and left.
He walked out of his house to the road and took the road all the way down to the valley.
He had been there a few times, but each time he had only roamed it and did nothing else as that was Alexis' order.
The further Ning walked downwards, the more houses he started seeing.
The valley was about 5 kilometers in radius, so it was quite big for a place that was considered to be one of the weaker cities in the Freelands.
A decent-sized river went across the city right through the middle, separating it into two halves, that had now come to be known as either the Lord's side or the Tower's side, because of the City Lord and the Aether tower being located in either half.
Despite being on the other half of the city, the City Lord's manor was next to the river, so it was still at the center of the city.
The valley was full of nothing but houses, and rarely could Ning see a place or two with food growing in it.
From what Ning understood, people did originally farm in this place. However, as they slowly stopped for some years and those lands got taken over by others who wanted to live there, the farmlands in the city started to dwindle.
Now, the farmlands only existed on the mountainside where fewer people wished to live in compared to being safe near the tower and the city lord.
Ning saw people moving, gossiping about something. 'Did the news of the announcement already spread?' Ning wondered.
He crossed the bridge atop the river and finally reached the Lord's manor.
The area was already crowded, so Ning was forced to say quite far away. He waited for a while, and finally, a short man with a cane walked out of the manor.
He had thick hair on the side, but barely any on top of his head. That look somehow seemed to suit his spherical head and body.
He was almost two heads shorter than the next man that walked behind him. This man looked younger, which still put him somewhere around 35 years old physically.
Ning could only guess his age physically, as his real age would be impossible to tell with analyzing him. After all, this man was an Aether expert from the Aether tower.
A few servants walked by the side and held out a metal speaker next to his face, waiting for the old man to speak.
"Ahem! So I assume you all have gotten the news about the announcement," the old man said. "I beg your pardon for trying to keep the announcement secret as even until this morning, we weren't sure if this was happening."
"Only a few hours ago did we finally get the confirmation and are now going to announce it," the old man said.
The crowd whispered amongst themselves, wondering what the announcement was about. Their city lord was certainly making it sound quite great.
"I will let brother Waxil announce the news as it pertains more to him than it does to me," The city lord moved backward.
The tall person from the Aether tower moved forward and took the speaker in his hands before speaking into it.
"As you all may know that some things have come to revelation in the last few weeks."
"Many of you may have even gotten your hands on it. Of course, I am speaking about the techniques that let people absorb Aether as they want to," Waxil said.
People started whispering again. They might have been a small city, but they had indeed come to learn about it all.
The city that lay beyond the mountains had printed tons and tons of scrolls that taught people how to gather Aether without being naturally gifted at it.
Many people from this city had gone to buy those scrolls for quite some price as well.
"Because of this, many talented individuals that were previously unable to increase their Aether ranks have now started popping up throughout the cities all over the world."
"This had become great news for many, but it has also become bad news because of some," Waxil said.
Ning listened to it all and nodded. He had indeed thought about this problem when he started spreading the scrolls.
But he couldn't stop improving the lives of the many because of a few people's bad thoughts. It wasn't like he could find out who would go on to becoming evil once they got stronger.
Humans were a fickle thing, and their emotions were more fickle. Some had a change of heart more often than they changed clothes.
"Because everyone is now strong, people are starting to disobey the law because they have the power to do so. And we, as the keepers of law are having a really hard time because of it."
"So, effective immediately, the Tower for this city will now hire 30 talented individuals to help us keep the law."
The crowd suddenly turned silent. Had they heard him correctly? Did they really just get the opportunity to join the tower?
Some people immediately started questioning if this was volunteer work or not.
"This is an actual job with great pay, and all you will need for it is a great understanding of Aether as well as having a high Aether rank," Waxil said.
Somebody shouted out loud and asked, "We have no knowledge of how to become a lawman. Do we still join?"
"Do not worry if you don't know much about law and such. You can learn plenty about it after you join the tower. You will go through an extensive course in the law and fighting tactics once you join."
People started getting excited. Earning money was quite hard in this place where people got their lands for free and could grow food by themselves easily as well.
Aside from that, the tower was the strongest organization in the world. Being a part of it meant that they would get status and protection like none out there.
"Since there will be quite a few people amongst you that will join, we will have to put you through some tests to see if you are capable. So, get ready for that," Waxil said.
The crowd got nervous and excited at the same time.
"There is one more thing," Waxil said to intervene into the crowd's joy, turning them silent. They intently listened to what he was about to say.
"This information comes directly from the headquarters of the Aether Tower over at the Serian Empire. If there are any of you that are exceptional in the ways of Aether, the tower is willing to take you over to the headquarters to rear you as one of their own."
"If you are able to do that, there won't be anything in the world for you to worry about."
Waxil put aside the microphone and left the stunned crowd.
Suddenly, the crowd got rowdy. They rushed forward to try and be the first to apply for it.
Ning stood where he was with a curious look on his face.
"I had thought the Tower would lose influence once the people learned about the existence of absorption technique. But somehow they are using this opportunity to strengthen themselves. Not bad," Ning thought.
Credit should be given where it was due. Ning chuckled a little to himself and walked forward to apply for it as well.
