Chapter 67: Come to the Front
Paike had expected that this lecture would not apply to him. After all, he was one of the only two people who passed the trial. And he was pretty sure that he could have kept going. It was a bit disappointing to have the first real lesson in the advanced class be something he couldn't learn from.
It turned out that he was very very wrong.
"Paike!" The elder called. Paike straightened. "Come to the front. Those who did well will be rewarded."
Paike stood and walked to the front of the class and stood facing the elder. At first, he thought he might have been used as an example, but that wasn't it.
"Your qi control is abysmal." Elder Ji stated bluntly. "As a Topaz cultivator, this trail was easy for you. You should have been working on fine-tuning every use and flicker of qi the entire time. Instead, you coasted through on raw power. It was good you didn't fail, but I'm disappointed in your work ethic."
Paike knew better than to argue. He had been criticized for many things, but not working hard enough hadn't been something since he was a little kid. It was one of the few things he was relatively proud of. But he also knew he couldn't disagree; he had been relying on power for the trial, and any excuse about how his qi was slow was just that, an excuse.
"Circulate your qi for me." The elder ordered. Paike completed one loop through his channels.
"Again."
Paike did it again.