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."

phone, I

the academy. Don't care about the funds, or anything

just be paranoid, however, the situation yesterday really triggered

yesterday really a coincidence? I wasn't

phone back, I closed and opened

'I should train.'

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

was extremely strong amongst those my age, I

time for me to

to do was train, train, and

"Haaa..."

moment I closed my eyes, I sensed millions of different colored particles

perception of psyons drastically increased. If I had to

"Huuuuu...."

a deep breath, my diaphragm moved up and the particles in the air started to move in

particles started to separate, and before long, only green particles started to roam around

"Hm?"

my brow

closer look, there weren't only green

couple of yellow-colored ones

'Light psyons.'

their appearance, my heart jumped up a little. That was because their presence only meant one

close to understanding the fifth and final

***

8:30 A.M.

sun shone brightly from the sky, enveloping

packed with students.

Professor Thomas. Raising his glasses up, he calmly walked toward the middle of the grounds. Along the way, I saw him move a couple of students to the side to pass

like everyone

he arrived, the chatter

thought about it, although the professor may not be good at explaining, perhaps

'Let's observe for now.'

my watch,

a message from Smallsnake. In his message was a small

: Thomas

Age : 48

Wife

.

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 two

---Read more---

'Everything checks out...'

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

by diverging the mana in the air and call out for the preferred psyons. Once you have managed to select the desired psyons,

him from where I was, he didn't look suspicious

was nothing strange about him, yet, something

I couldn't really explain.

really

that I have

that moment, Thomas's voice rang

area around

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

he looked at me. This time, I

over the other students. Help them if

"Understood."

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

the bodies of the students. Some were brighter than

everyone around me, secretly, I channeled the mana inside of my

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

choice of weapon you have

couldn't help but

"Thank you."

face. Taking a closer look at her,

ranked in the top five,

and from there, I was able to find out that the girl next to Sophia was actually someone

her choice of weapon was quite

I pointed at her weapons which were glowing

on the individual psyons in the

"Yes ."