A week after the incident with the shadow monster..
"I can keep going." Alexander breathed heavily, sitting crossed legged after a heavy training session with Nakamura. Their training had become fiercer and more destructive as Alexander strived to work harder. Dust and pieces of rock settled down
"I commend you on solidifying you battle sense. It has become sharper, your strength has hardened, and your foot work is excellent. You have the foundations you need for the trials." Nakamura sheathed his sword and sat down with Alexander. "You are, what my teacher would call, a genius talent. I don't know what assailed you that night, but I can see your need to become stronger take over you."
"I just don't want to be as weak as I was that night. I don't want to die helplessly. I have too much depending on me. You understand, right?"
Nakamura was silent for a time, reminiscing on a distant memory, and then spoke. "I once walked the same path as you do now," Nakamura said, his voice carrying the quiet weight of someone who had traveled far and endured much. "I, too, was consumed by the desire to grow stronger through hard work and determination. My teachers called me the genius of my generation, and those words became both my pride and burden."
He paused, allowing the silence of the training grounds to settle around them.
"As the youngest of my family, I believed I had little chance of ever inheriting my father's place. So I sought another path. I wanted to surpass my brothers in every way—to prove that even the youngest branch of the tree could grow taller than the rest."
A faint smile crossed his face, though his eyes held the memory of old struggles.
"But strength is a mountain with no summit. There came a time when my progress stopped. No matter how much I trained, no matter how fiercely I pushed forward, I could not overcome the weakness within myself."
Nakamura looked toward the distant estate, his steps slow and steady.
"It was only when I turned my gaze inward that I discovered the truth. The greatest opponent we face is not always before us. Sometimes, the enemy standing in our path is the reflection staring back at us."
He glanced toward Alexander.
"Remember this well. A warrior who cannot conquer himself will never conquer the world around him."
The two left the training grounds and made their way toward the estate. Alexander walked in silence, carrying Nakamura's words with him. They were not the words of someone who had merely gained strength—they were the teachings of someone who had lost, endured, and found a deeper understanding of the path he wished to tread.
"I see the wisdom, but I don't know how I would be able to face my self. As it stands, the trial is in three days and I have yet to truly feel in control. I'll think on it while I go see Max about some new invention he's happy about. If we pass the trials, maybe you could teach me that sword style."
"I would be honored to teach you our sacred techniques. I may have something to help you confront the enemy whithin. It could be dangerous, but if you are serious, It can help."
They parted ways and Alexander stepped down to Max's workshop. The door to the workshop was decked out with tech and sensors that scanned Alexander and opened.
"I will never get used to that. Braniac, I'm here. I see your weird gadgets but not yooou."
The chamber appeared less like a room and more like the heart of some ancient mechanical beast brought back to life. Devices and wires covered every surface, each one humming, clicking, and releasing bursts of energy through intricate channels of metal and light. Strange contraptions rested upon the workbenches, their sharp edges and articulated limbs shifting with quiet precision, as if waiting for the command of their creator.
Along the walls hung countless tools, cables, and components arranged like the veins and arteries of a colossal machine. Wires descended from the ceiling like metallic vines, connecting one invention to another in a vast web of artificial ingenuity. Every corner was filled with the remnants of countless experiments tubes containing mysterious substances, half-built constructs, and fragments of technology that seemed decades beyond human understanding.
The chamber itself was enormous, yet the endless sea of machinery made it feel strangely confined. There was no empty space, only layers upon layers of invention stacked upon invention. Standing within it, Alexander felt as though he had stepped inside the mind of a genius-a place where imagination and engineering had merged into something almost alive.
BANG! Cough! Cough!
A disheveled head of brown and soot covered hair appeared from behind a large liquid filled container. His white lab coat ruined, his glasses hung off his soot covered face. "So the patient has finaly arrived. We'll, the testing device just hates me, but the prototype is ready. I call it Line. A communication device to keep us in touch during the trials. I won't bore you with the details but infuse it with mana and it'll transmit what your thinking for a set amount of time. It's nearly invisible goes on your temple, here, and lasts for a couple months."
Max attached the device to his temple. Alexander directed a strand of mana towards it, sending a thought through the device.
"*-*-*"
"That was... unnecessary. Well, yours work and now I just need to give it to the rest of the team. I'll see you tomorrow and make sure you take it off at night."
"Experiment‐(4) gave some strange results during their sleep cycle..."
Alexander left the lab and went to the team room to focus on his core. After going through emense mana deficiency and near death from mana fatigue, he made a habit of coming as Lunaris ran a check on his body.
'Everything is clear. No abnormalities detected.' Lunaris scanned his entire body multiple times.
"Well I guess now is a perfect time to use those rewards from defeating that creature. If you go into safety mode as you upgrade, I should be fine till the next day. Let's see,"
Guardian lvl 2 (Newly Unlocked)
Rank D
//Body:14"15
Magic: 10 "12
Stamina:7"9
Resistance: Heat: 3%, Phy:1% "10%
Skills:
Heart of the Sovereign
Shadow Chain
Undead:0//
'I got two skills I still haven't been able to use from the Scroll of Darkness, I received as a quest award. I also gained a couple of levels and increased my stats a bit. With this system I can definitely get stronger, far easier than with just Lunaris and training with the team.'
Alexander thought back too the way he felt so weak at the docks where Kahawai shot a searing hot beam through his shoulder. Now with his increased stats he was on level with Kahawai's strength but not with his experience.
'For every point in a stat I feel like I have done three months of training. I don't exactly know what makes them increase, whether its Lunaris devouring materials, or completing missions for A'rathèl, or all of the above. I don't have much time till the Trial, so let's absorb the rest of those mana stones and reach atleast high Rank D.'
Alexander took the remaining stones from his inventory for Lunaris to absorb. Their bright red an yellow glow showed they were from lower D ranked creatures. The pulse of mana looked like a small universe within each crystal.
The nanites swarmed the stones in the thousands. While it would take some time to absorb, he turned his attention to the chaos within his core.
From the calm of his Core before, now stormed a maelstrom of elemental energy colliding uncontrollably within his core.
Fire burned wildly, water smashed and buffeted, and the other elements smashed against each other in a chaotic display.
When others accumulated magical power they slowly tamed their individual mana like a well worked out muscle. Alexanders mana increased haphazardly, leaving his inexperienced Core unable to adapt to the increase in the strength of mana.
In the team room, he would constantly release the chaos within him and absorb it, allowing him to gain more control each time with Synergy.
//Passive skill gained: Mana Heart: Beginner; level!!//
Mana heart was a natural skill one Cultivator got after years of training their bodies and Cores to absorb and control mana. Though invisible without a system, Alexander received Mana Heart with his continued use of Synergy. His chaotic core came under control, with the elements finally harmonizing.
'Done, and I received a skill for it. My mana is finally manageable now, even though it's still meager compared to a natural Hunter. Is this how Guardians become so strong. I can feel something strange, like a crack or hole in my core. I guess the uncontrolled mana did some damage to my core. Hopefully when Lunaris finishes upgrading, she can do something. For now, I should read that..'
Alexander took out a book that elder Kelani left him after his rank nearly rose to (C). A book called Magic runes for beginners, a tome specifically taught to the Akami children at a young age. He studied the works for hours while using Synergy, breathing in and out and circulating mana through his Core.
According to the book, mana and the world were one and the same, nothing could live or be without mana. When one breathed in, they breathed in all mana. To Alexander, this concept confused him.
'How could mana be together but separate in my core? What's the difference between me absorbing mana and storing it?' He thought.
The book was mostly basic runes to instruct them on tier 1 spells and Arrays. The spell Kahawai shot him with was there, and many others he memorized. Knowing how useful those spells would be in the trial.
Something concerned Alexander even more than his future as a Hunter, or even his own health. The shadow creature he fought was dangerous, but lacked any combat ability. If there were more, stronger than that one, then how was it that he never heard of them before.
He thought back to how he felt, the fear of dying, and deathly otherworldy aura it exuded. A sense of danger rose once again as shadows and Darkness reacted to his will. Instinctively, his shadow shot out three chains made of shadow and smoke out towards the wall. The chains embedded themselves into the wall and latched on, becoming taunt.
Huff Huff
The thick chains embedded in the wall and the mana in the room was absorbed at a high rate through the chains, flowing into Alexander.
"Alexander!?" Seraphina asked, walking into the room with a plate of food. Suprise etched on her face at the scene.
"I..I can can explain!"
Guardian lvl 2 (Newly Unlocked)
Rank D
//Body:14"15
Magic: 10 "12
Stamina:7"9
Resistance: Heat: 3%, Phy:1% "10%
Skills:
Heart of the Sovereign
Shadow Chain
Undead:0//