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

about Thomas D. Shurle, a professor staying in the academy. Don't care about the funds, or anything

the situation yesterday really triggered something

what happened yesterday really a coincidence?

back, I closed

'I should train.'

sitting down crossed-legged on the ground, I closed my eyes and started to

I've said before. Even though I was extremely strong amongst those my age, I was

for me to think about the

had to do was train,

"Haaa..."

I closed my eyes, I sensed millions of

If

"Huuuuu...."

the particles in the air started to move in a

and before long, only green particles started to roam around

"Hm?"

my brow suddenly

there weren't only green particles roaming around

in fact a couple of yellow-colored ones as

'Light psyons.'

heart jumped up a little. That was because their

the fifth and final

***

8:30 A.M.

the sky, enveloping the

the place was already packed with

to me was Professor Thomas. Raising his glasses up, he calmly walked toward the middle of the grounds. Along the way, I saw

everyone

the

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

'Let's observe for now.'

watch, my brows

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

Thomas

Age : 48

: Wife and

.

human domain. At the age 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

---Read more---

'Everything checks out...'

away from my watch, I gazed in the direction of the professor

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 pursue the flow of your

I was, he didn't look suspicious at

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

I couldn't really explain.

really

have

moment, Thomas's

toward the area around him, he

would like for everyone here to start practicing. Space yourselves out, and try

I felt nothing as I stared him in

the other students. Help

"Understood."

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

on the bodies of the students. Some were

secretly, I channeled the

when I was in the forests. Just so

choice of weapon you have

a familiar face, my gaze couldn't help but land

"Thank you."

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

ranked in the top

the class, and from there, I was able to find

choice of weapon

pointed at her weapons which were glowing in

the individual psyons

"Yes ."