--


    The promotion from an ordinary cadet to an interim officer requires not only an umtion of merit points but alsomendations from the people around him.


    Of course, there were hidden criteria that determine whether one is eligible for a promotion or not, but since the camp was severelycking in manpower, these hidden criteria had be very loose.


    As such, there''s practically nothing that''s barring Cedric''s way into an early promotion.


    And as early as this morning, Cedric was summoned and was told that he had been promoted to an Interim Officer as of today. His badge received another line, his authorities and permissions have increased, some privileges are now avable to him, but so were more responsibilities.


    Cedric didn''t shy away from the promotion. He already anticipated this event due to his awareness of the camp.


    As a newly promoted Interim Officer, Cedric''s yearly quota of merit point requirement increased to 5000 from a meager 1000. Fortunately, with the expertise he disyed so far, earning enough isn''t so much of a problem for him. Moreover, since he was just recently promoted, he was given a grace period of until next year to fulfill the quota requirements.


    He truly didn''t need it since if he continued with his activities, earning enough merit points to fulfill the quota isn''t a problem for him. But still, it''s nice to know that he had this grace period.


    On another note, now that Cedric has be an interim officer, some of the more difficult tasks in the camp have be avable to him, like handling the supplies, monitoring the cadets, suggesting new ideas to increase the promotional power of the camp, and more importantly, patrolling the void.


    Yes, the Void Walking task has been avable to him. And unlike when he was a mere cadet, he no longer has to go through numerous checks to see if he''s truly qualified for the task. He just needed to sign up, and he''d be included in a team of Void Walkers.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Right, to make sure that he''d be well equipped just in case he actually went on a Void Walk, Cedric received another upgrade module for his Void Suit, which increased its durability and resistance against the influence of the void. He already installed this update since it takes no time at all.


    Actually, Void Walking is almost a certainty for Cedric, especially if he wants to be promoted from the interim officer to a team leader.


    Performing at least three Void Walking tasks is a requirement for the promotion. And that''s on top of more merit point umtion andmendations from his fellow Interim Officers.


    But if he''s satisfied to remain as an interim officer for the remainder of his required tenure here, he doesn''t need to bother himself with this. He could just continue doing what he''s been doing since the beginning, and the camp couldn''t do anything about it.


    Since Cedric has been promoted, he can no longer stay in the Cadet Dormitories. He had to move to a new location, and it''s located deeper into the camp, closer to the Scarlet Division Wall.


    This part of the camp isn''t essible to cadets, mostly because the majority of the most important sectors of the camp were located here. Those who were unqualified had no business being here.


    As an interim officer, Cedric now had ess to arge bulk of resources that the camp offers. This includes not only some high-quality treasures, supplements, and equipment, but also training areas.


    Of course, they cost merit points. Nothing is free here, after all.


    Touring these facilities, Cedric soon discovered that if he wanted to increase his mastery over the Cosmic Furnace Spell, he wouldn''t have to go over the troublesome or indirect ways to do so anymore. The camp has training areas he could rent to gain more insights to speed up his progress. Of course, this is under the impression that he had enough merit points to afford them.


    It''s not a secret that many are struggling to increase their mastery over the Cosmic Furnace Spell. The more ambitious one was, the more difficult his spell became. It''s also not a secret that many of those who came to the camp just wanted to gain ess to its resources to improve their chances of bing cosmic-level experts.


    That''s why areas that specifically help in mastering this spell could be found in this camp and in others too.


    These training areas areplete with venues and learning materials to use, allowing one to increase their mastery over the Cosmic Furnace Spell. The cheapest one was the Five Fundamental Elements Chambers. As for Lightning, Space, Time, Life, and Death, they are also avable here, but they''re more expensive than the former.


    Aside from these, there are also other areas that provide enough assistance to pretty much everything, be it practicing other spells, gaining deeper insights intows, enriching one''sbat prowess, simted fights against void creatures, etc. Everything''s avable here so long as there''s merit points to spend.


    From this, one could definitely say that if they want to gain ess to the true riches of the Border Patrol Guardians, one must strive to be an interim officer first.


    **


    "Ah...so that''s how."


    Cedric''s eyes zed as he gained deeper understanding of the Earth and Metal Refinement Chapters.


    With a wave of his hand, two plumes of me with varying colors appeared on each hand of his. On the left, there''s a deep murky brown plume of me, and on the right, there''s a deep obsidian me. They represent his current level of understanding of the Earth and Metal Refinement chapters, respectively.


    Of course, this was far from enough for his requirements. But considering that he couldn''t even summon these two yesterday, his progress could already be said to be extremely impressive.


    Right, Cedric''s was currently in one of those training areas. He''s now simultaneously learning more about the Earth and Metal Refinement chapters at the same time.


    For 50 merit points per day, Cedric can have ess to all sorts of documents and insights of those who mastered the Cosmic Furnace Spell. If he adds 10 more merit points, then he could receive appropriate practice tools for the application of his mastery.


    Due to Cedric''s expertise, he had gained almost 10,000 merit points during his stay as a cadet. Spending 60 merit points to improve his mastery over his refinement chapters was no-brainer to him.


    The same couldn''t be said for other cadets, though. Especially those who aren''t as skilled and as diligent as he was. To them, paying 60 merit points per day was simply too much or too expensive.


    But Cedric didn''t care about them. His focus was only on himself. To him, this wasn''t really expensive. Especially since, after bing an interim officer, his earnings will just increase even further.


    He could still remain as a forging master and a healer, but since his performance was expected to be at the level of an interim officer, obviously his pay will also increase.


    Now that he had some degree of mastery over the five fundamental elements refinement, Cedric could begin cycling through them ording to the requirements of the Cosmic Furnace Spell.


    Summoning a training dummy, Cedric snapped his fingers, and five plumes of mes with varying colors appeared around him.


    With a flick of his fingers, these plumes shot towards the dummy, forming a five-cornered pentagram formation. And with a grunt, Cedric unleased their might, causing the mes to congrate into tall walls of mes.


    Soon, the rich aura of the five elements filled the room. And when the time was right, the mes touched the dummy, and instantly, a reaction urred.


    Boom!!!


    The training dummy exploded into splinters, some shooting towards Cedric, which he blocked with a timely unleashed barrier.


    Cedric''s face didn''t look good. After a moment of deliberation, he said, "Failed. Too much initial force. The ratio was all wrong too."


    After jotting down the cause of his failure, Cedric took out another training dummy, which is provided by the camp by the way under those 10 additional merit points he spent, to start another attempt.


    In his practice, Cedric broke at least 10 training dummies through various causes. In Cedric''s opinion, though, this counts as his own death.


    See, these training dummies are special. They are created to simte the reaction of a person experiencing the cosmic furnace spell. These dummies were mimicking the qualifications and foundations of their summoners. And since this was the case, it meant that Cedric practically blew himself up 10 times already.


    Knowing this, how could anybody expect him to be happy? Furthermore, this was just the start. He hasn''t even added the lightningws yet.


    This result practically tells him that he''s not yet strong or skilled enough to handle even the baseline refinement requirements to enter the transitional realm of life evolution. How could he be happy?


    Fortunately though, this failure was practically harmless to him, and he could simte and perform trials and errors until he discovered the perfect ratio for his needs.


    "Don''t rush it. Stay patient and focus. You''ll get there eventually," Cedric told himself before summoning another practice dummy.