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 sent Smallsnake a

the information you know about Thomas D. Shurle, a professor staying in the academy. Don't care about the funds, or anything else, just find whatever you can find on him.

be paranoid, however, the situation yesterday really triggered something

happened yesterday really a coincidence? I wasn't

phone back, I closed and

'I should train.'

ground, I closed my eyes and

amongst those my age, I was a far cry from those that I actually needed to

for me to

do was train, train, and

"Haaa..."

eyes, I sensed millions of different colored particles

pill that I had taken back in Issanor, my perception of psyons drastically increased. If I had

"Huuuuu...."

and the particles in the air started

particles started to separate, and before long,

"Hm?"

my brow suddenly

only green

a couple

'Light psyons.'

heart jumped up a little. That was because their presence only meant

fifth and final movement

***

8:30 A.M.

sun shone brightly from the sky, enveloping the section

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

glasses up, he calmly walked toward the middle of the grounds. Along the

everyone is

he arrived, the

now that I thought about it, although the professor may not be good at explaining, perhaps the situation was different

'Let's observe for now.'

my watch, my

the academy, I received a message

Thomas

Age : 48

Wife and

.

of thirty-nine, he managed to break through to rank where he stagnated till now. Unable to breakthrough to rank. He is a professional in mana and psyons control, and hence why he was selected by the Lock as a professor two

---Read more---

'Everything checks out...'

I gazed in the direction of the professor who was currently displaying

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 pursue the

from where I was, he

nothing strange about

I couldn't really explain.

really just

I have demonstrated how to

moment, Thomas's voice rang

toward the area around him,

Space yourselves out,

time, I felt nothing as I stared him in the

the other students. Help them if they have any

"Understood."

him, I glanced at the students who had taken out their weapons and had started channeling their

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

around me, secretly, I channeled

habit I had developed back when

choice of weapon you have

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

"Thank you."

her face. Taking a closer look at her, I

ranked in the

the first thing I did was memorize the files of each individual in the class, and from there, I was able to find out that the girl next to Sophia

of weapon

I pointed at her weapons

individual

"Yes ."