The Author's POV

Squeek—! Squeek—!

"Hold still."

Squeezing the syringe in his hands a couple of times, only till a clear liquid dropped from the body of the needle did Joseph let out a satisfied smile.

Licking his lips, he walked up to a burned body that was laying down on a rectangular metal plate; the man's hands and feet were bound by metallic latches.

Rolling his chair forward and arriving before the burned body, Joseph proceeded to put some gloves on.

Plack—! Plack—!

Glancing at the man laying down on the table, Joseph started to speak.

"I know that this is only our twelfth dosage of many, but trust me, what I'm doing is for your best."

Grabbing onto the man's shoulder which was filled with blisters, Joseph leaned his body closer and brought the syringe next to it.

"A perfect soldier is one that can perfectly blend with the world we are currently living in. One that can understand the human heart, yet at the same time, not have one. One that can watch the whole world burn before them, yet feel nothing from it."

Pressing his fingers on the man's arm, Joseph looked up.

"This might hurt a bit."

Squeek—!

He squeezed the tip of the syringe, and the liquid and 876's body started to spasm uncontrollably.

A rattling sound came out as a result of the latches binding 876, moving up and down. Taking the syringe out of 876's body, Joseph turned around.

"Don't hate me too much, 876. All I'm doing is breaking you so that one day you don't break."

***

"Uahgh!"

My eyes opened abruptly and my body shot up.

Lowering my head and staring at my bedsheets which were drenched in sweat, I forcefully opened and closed my eyes.

"Haa...Haaa...what was that?"

Clenching my teeth, I leaned back on the bed.

'Shit, just when I thought they had stopped...'

The nightmares about my time at the Monolith.

There used to be a time when I had nightmares every day. As time passed, the nightmares had become a lot less frequent.

Especially in Issanor.

Ever since I reunited with the others, I had thought that the nightmares had stopped.

The last time I had gotten a nightmare regarding my time at the Monolith was about half a year ago.

Just when I thought I had overcome my inner demons, the nightmare suddenly came again.

'Was it because of what the professor said yesterday?'

It could be.

Having him remind me of the incident and his talk about inner demons may have reignited the memories that I tried so hard to forget.

"Haaaa..."

Covering my face with the palm of my head, I let out a long breath.

Feeling the warm breath on my hand, I slowly got out of bed.

"What time is it?"

Taking my phone from the side of the bed, I looked at the time.

[Tuesday, 4 : 31 A.M.]

"It's still quite early."

the phone, I

Don't care about the funds, or anything else, just find whatever you can find on him.

paranoid, however, the situation yesterday really triggered

really a coincidence? I wasn't so

I

'I should train.'

on the ground, I closed my

though I was extremely strong amongst those my age, I was a far cry from

me to think about the

to do

"Haaa..."

closed my eyes, I sensed millions of different colored particles roaming around

had taken back in Issanor, my perception of psyons drastically increased. If I had to make a guess, my perception

"Huuuuu...."

up and the particles in the air started to move in a

before long,

"Hm?"

my

weren't only

were in fact a couple of yellow-colored ones as

'Light psyons.'

little. That was because their presence only

to understanding the fifth and final movement of

***

8:30 A.M.

from the sky, enveloping

place was already packed with students. Everyone stood by the side

middle of the grounds. Along the way, I saw

everyone

the

thought about it, although the professor may not be good at explaining, perhaps the situation was different when put into practical

'Let's observe for now.'

watch, my

before I entered the academy, I received a message from Smallsnake. In his message was

: Thomas D.

Age : 48

Wife and

.

break through to rank where he stagnated till now. Unable to breakthrough to rank. He is a professional in mana and psyons control, and

---Read more---

'Everything checks out...'

eyes away from my watch, I gazed in the direction of the professor who was currently displaying to the students how to coat their weapons

start off by diverging the mana in the air and call out for the preferred psyons. Once you have managed to select the desired psyons, fine-tune them to

him from where I was, he didn't

his background checked out. There was nothing strange about him, yet, something about yesterday's conversation really

I couldn't really explain.

it really

now that I have demonstrated how to do

Thomas's

toward the area around him, he

would like for everyone here to start practicing. Space yourselves

I felt nothing as I

the other students. Help them if they

"Understood."

away from him, I glanced at the students who had taken out their weapons

different colored hues started to appear on the bodies of the students. Some were brighter

me, secretly, I channeled the mana inside of

for this, but it was a habit I had developed back when I was in

choice of weapon

next to a familiar face, my gaze couldn't help but

"Thank you."

on her face. Taking a closer look at her, I couldn't

in the

of each individual in the class, and from there, I was able

her choice of weapon was

her weapons which were glowing in a purplish-pink

the individual psyons in

"Yes ."