I! Cleaner!-Chapter 743 - 678: Playing with Sand

"Silence!"

After Leon sat cross-legged, the Sagittarius board member glanced around at the timid Cleaners in the square. His face darkened, and he pointed at Leon, yelling:

"Come over here and sit down! Sit close to him!"

?!

Sit close to the Food God? This...

"Hurry up! Sit next to him, one by one!"

Seeing the Cleaners hesitant to approach Leon, the Sagittarius board member’s face grew even darker.

"I will count to five, and anyone still standing after that will be considered to have voluntarily given up selection for the Sagittarius Palace’s secret technique. Get out immediately!"

Seeing the Sagittarius board member angered, a few Cleaners who hadn’t been eaten by Leon reluctantly approached, taking the places closest to him.

The most dangerous spot now occupied, the rest of the Cleaners, as if granted amnesty, eagerly sat by these few Cleaners, finally managing to take their seats before the countdown ended.

When the petite female Cleaner and Abigail linked hands and sat in the last row, the surrounding air instantly became unusually hot. The once open square transformed into a boundless sandy sea, with scorching winds carrying coarse yellow sand, striking everyone’s faces painfully.

"In two hours, the selection for the Pisces Palace starts, and two among you have gained recognition over there. Time is limited, so I’ll be brief."

After the opening remarks, the Sagittarius board member, sitting atop the dunes, reached into the air and caught a handful of sand blown by the wind, addressing those blinded by the sandstorm:

"Within the Twelve Palaces secret techniques, the Sagittarius Palace’s ’Abnormal Enhancement’ has the lowest threshold and is the easiest to master. But, it is also one of the longest to become proficient in. To summarize, it’s easy to learn but hard to master, with a low threshold and high potential. I reckon half of you could learn it.

However, you all are the worst batch I’ve seen. With your will and talent, none of you might truly learn the secret technique and gain recognition from the Star Palace."

Like every teacher, he delivered the "worst batch" speech, and then let most of the sand in his hand fall away, leaving just one grain. He continued sternly:

"Now, learn from me. Find a grain of sand by your side... Remember, only choose one!"

As all the Cleaners braced against the wind and sand, following his instructions to pick up one grain of sand, the Sagittarius board member pinched the sand between two fingers, gently rubbing it, then closed his eyes while sitting.

"Next, engage all your senses, feel this grain of sand, understand this grain of sand, memorize this grain of sand..."

Memorize a grain of sand...

Listening to the Sagittarius board member’s abstract description, Leon felt a foreboding.

From the looks of it, after memorizing this sand grain, won’t he ask us to throw it away and find it again in the whole desert?

Unfortunately, despite the abstract process of practicing Sagittarius techniques, there seemed no alternative. Including Leon, all the Cleaners braced themselves and began racking their brains to scrutinize the sand grain in their hands.

This sand grain, if it has any distinctive traits, is yellow, hard, somewhat coarse, and when pinched, it leaves a tiny imprint on the thumb... And perhaps that’s all.

"Have you memorized it? If you have, let’s proceed to the next step."

Disregarding Leon and others’ progress, the Sagittarius board member sat straight in the sandy sea, emotionless, stating:

"Now, condense your soul, focus your will, marshal your emotions... Compress everything about you as a human to the extent that you become the same size as this grain of sand..."

"Lord Sagittarius."

At this point, someone couldn’t hold back any longer, timidly asked:

"I haven’t fully memorized the sand grain earlier, could you provide some tips? Like..."

"Swish."

Accompanied by the sound of sand flowing, the Cleaner who just asked outrageously transformed into a handful of yellow sand, swept away by the gale, vanishing entirely.

"One person eliminated."

Without any intention of explanation, the Sagittarius board member continued speaking:

"Compress everything about you to the same size as this sand grain, then imitate the real sand grain in your hand, constantly adjust these inner aspects, letting the two converge with one another..."

Wow, does this mean even asking a question is considered lacking talent, leading to forced elimination from the secret technique selection?

Witnessing the fate of the daring questioner, the Cleaners’ expressions tightened, with no one daring to speak again.

Amidst roaring winds, everyone began memorizing the sand grain in their hand while following the Sagittarius board member’s instructions, frantically compressing their soul, will... and various other "inner" aspects, letting their innermost self converge with the sand grain.

This time, the Sagittarius board member became more patient, refraining from urging them on, instead waiting silently with closed eyes.

After about an hour, the Sagittarius board member reopened his eyes, clapped his hands, and dozen chaotic figures instantly turned to yellow sand, withdrawing from the selection.

"Alright, those whose will wasn’t strong enough to focus everything have been eliminated; the rest of you should somewhat grasp the basics."

Gazing at the remaining Cleaners, a hint of a smile finally appeared on the previously stern Sagittarius board member’s face. Observing the arduous "compression," he lowered his voice and explained:

"The reason I chose this place to teach you Sagittarius techniques is to teach you an important lesson. Even the most ordinary sand, ubiquitous in this world, each grain is unique... like my grain here."

Speaking here, the Sagittarius board member tossed the grain in his hand, which suddenly expanded countless times after leaving his hand, turning directly into the size of a basketball. Once magnified, the previously featureless sand grain indeed became special.

"This is a grain from a piece of gneiss, its surface smooth and sharp due to wind erosion, uniform in grain size, and appears to have collided with mica, adding some extremely fine scuff marks here..."

Slowing his narration, explaining the traits of the sand grain he chose in great detail, the Sagittarius board member shrank it back down, then continued speaking:

"The first step of the Sagittarius Palace’s Abnormal Enhancement technique is using our ’understanding’ of this grain to recreate our inner self as another as close as possible identical grain.

Next, we shall overlap the ’Abnormal Sand’ we’ve created with the real sand grain, enhancing its ’existence’ with our inner self.

If you can achieve this step, reinforcing all its traits without altering the sand’s original structure, and make it a ’more sand-like’ sand grain, then you’ve truly grasped the basics of the Abnormal Enhancement technique."

"..."

Making sand more sand-like... So what if I don’t have a sand grain?

After listening to the Sagittarius board member’s explanation, looking at his inner self that remained a dark blur despite compression and occasionally emitted dog barks, Leon’s mouth twitched uncontrollably.

This extremely abstract learning method... would rather have me search for sand in the desert!