The Extra's Rebellion
Chapter 50: Meditation class

Chapter 50: Meditation class

Zephyr stepped out of the booth, the afternoon sun casting a warm glow across the open-air mall.

After Mr. Fisher had abruptly left, the entire class had dispersed just as quickly—groups forming naturally, conversations picking up mid-stride. Zephyr, however, was the lone figure drifting through the crowd like a shadow out of sync.

With nothing better to do, he wandered back toward the booth. Last night’s movie still lingered in his thoughts. The world were advanced enough to screen play, make a flying carriage and an AI assistant, but he had come to a conclusion. This world had advanced far, only to halt at the threshold of convenience and style, just like Naruto, who had train and computers but refused to move forward.

His next class was meditation, and unsurprisingly, he was looking forward to it. That brief session earlier the other day had yielded shocking results—his thoughts sharper, body lighter. It was like unclogging a drain and feeling the current rush through.

He passed the room where he’d had class that morning and found himself in front of a different door—one marked for meditation.

The moment he opened it, he could feel it.

Aether.

It clung to the air, thick and unrelenting, pressing down on him like a weight on his chest. The room wasn’t just filled with it—it was soaked. The walls, the floor, even the silence seemed heavy with power. He inhaled, and the Aether pushed back, asserting its presence.

For a moment, he just stood there, letting the sensation crash over him.

And then he stepped inside....He stepped inside, and the door closed softly behind him with a soft click.

The air was dense. Every breath tasted like damp earth after a light rain. The Aether pressed against his body and penetrated his pores in his skin, his Aether hearth roared as it broke down Aether and transported the neutral one throughout his body.

His pale skin took a deeper shade as his skin became flushed, his blood rushing and olliding in his body. His heart was beating so loud it seems as if it was beating besides his ear. He calmed himself down as he took in the class.

A circle of students sat in silence on woven mats, their postures relaxed but unnervingly still. Some had their eyes closed in deep focus, others flickered faintly with ethereal outlines, Aether gathering around them in delicate strands. No one acknowledged him. No one needed to.

’They are few of them’. That was what he realized as he stared at the class. From what he could see he could tell that only commoners were here not a single noble in sight— except him if he was even considered a noble.

At the center stood a woman—tall, statuesque, with pitch black hair spilling over her shoulders. A blindfold wrapped across her eyes, yet Zephyr felt the intensity of her gaze pierce through him.

"I am Nyra Solmyr, call me instructor" she said, her voice cool, rippling across the room like a dropped stone in water.

Zephyr Opened his mouth to speak but she spoke faster than him. "In here, am the only one allowed to speak".

Zephyr instinctively straightened, the weight of her presence demanding reverence.

She extended a single finger and pointed to a circle near the back, an unoccupied mat etched with swirling glyphs that pulsed faintly with light.

He moved slowly, each step like wading through a dream. When he finally sat, the floor beneath him throbbed with energy, as though he were sitting on the back of something vast and ancient.

"Close your eyes," Master Nyra commanded.

Zephyr obeyed.

Darkness bloomed behind his eyelids. He shifted in the mat and eventually got comfortable but his body was restless. The blood surging through his body didn’t slow down a bit, it was like he took a sugar bomb, his body tingling with sensation he never felt before unless he was doing what any man of culture did behind the scenes.

’Get it together Zephyr’. He tried to calm himself down but it was harder than he thought.

"Take in lesser and shorter breaths. The air in here is full of Aether and inhaling large volume of it is like talking in drugs".

Zephyr listened to her but his body was’nt listening to him, instead of slowing down he instead began to take in larger volume and soon begun to gasp on it.

"Slow down, anymore of it and it would be like you’re flying". Nyra said to him but didn’t take any effort to help him, it was like she didn’t exist there it was here voice that was present.

’It’s not slowing down’. To his horror his body begun to choke on it. His refined Aether soon realized the effect the world’s Aether was having on him, so a clash between the residing inhabitant and the alien began. Soon his body begun to gasp as his body became over-saturated and begun to choke on it.

Then he fell, but the fall was violent or sudden, it was soft, it was as he was dozing off, it was as if he was.... floating.

’Am I flying’. Zephyr Wondered, his mind was like a sieve his thoughts disjointed and it slipped through his mind like water trapped in a palm. In the blackness behind his eyelids he was soaring through the sky.... he was high on Aether.

A tap. Two tap. Three tap. Violent shaking.

"W-what. Ethan? Am up am up". Zephyr woke up to violent shaking— the signature skill of his elder brother Ethan. His mind was foggy yet refreshing as he struggled to hold on to his thoughts.

It was like he took a long nap, his entire body was refreshed and he never felt healthy in a long time.

"What’s happening?". He muttered, the blurry face of Ethan gradually got replaced by a blindfolded woman.

’Who’. He moved from his position and nearly crashed into the wall behind him. He stared at his previous position then at his current position, his speed surprising him.

’How’. He was genuinely confused, why wasn’t he in his room, why was this lady here, he didn’t remember having a girlfriend not to talk of a blind one.

"Zephyr Demios it’s time for you combat lesson any slacking off and you would be late". Her voice chimed in the now empty room.

’Demios who? What is she tal—

Then it came crashing on him. The silver white void. Zephyr Demios the ruined heir. Aetherless. Birthmark. The train. The academy. Lunethra’s Divine Cataclysm. Meditation class.

A few moments passed as he remembered, then with a sigh he spoke. "W-what happened?". His voice was low and jumpy like someone nursing a throat sore.

"You passed out". She folded her hand under her chest, tapping her feet on the floor, showing either her annoyance or impatience.

Zephyr frowned. "For how long?".

"Exactly one minute fifteen seconds after you entered the class, so that the entire three hours of this class". She said her feet increasing in her tapping. "You should get to combat class, it starts in three minutes.

With that she left the small room which clearly isn’t where he passed out.

He rubbed the back of his head as he walked through the door while using his other hand to cover his yawning mouth. His body was so relaxed that he released yawns as he walked.

He flexed his hand feeling the nimbleness that had settled on it, he could feel that his strength has increased and not a slight increase but a minor one.

"I gained two things today". He got to sleep a very refreshing sleep and even got an increase in strength.

"I can definitely get used to this". Who wouldn’t want to sleep and achieve what he had sought to gain. Sleeping and getting stronger "Who wouldn’t want that".

And with that he stepped into combat class, his mind and body lagging behind.