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

staying in the academy. Don't care about the

situation yesterday really triggered something from

what happened yesterday really a coincidence? I

phone back, I closed and

'I should train.'

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

I was extremely strong amongst those my age, I was a

was no time for me to

had to do was train, train, and

"Haaa..."

I closed my eyes, I sensed millions of different

in Issanor, my perception of psyons drastically increased. If I had to make a guess, my perception was probably around the same as

"Huuuuu...."

up and the particles in the air started to

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

"Hm?"

my brow

there weren't only green

were in fact a couple of yellow-colored ones

'Light psyons.'

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

fifth and final movement of the [Keiki

***

8:30 A.M.

shone brightly from the sky,

the place was already packed with students.

calmly walked toward the middle of the grounds. Along the way, I

like everyone is

arrived, the chatter

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

'Let's observe for now.'

at my watch,

I received a message from Smallsnake. In

Thomas D.

Age : 48

Wife and two

.

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

---Read more---

'Everything checks out...'

of the professor who was currently displaying to the students how to coat

preferred psyons. Once you have managed to

him from where I was, he didn't look

checked out. There was nothing strange about him, yet,

I couldn't really explain.

it really just

I have demonstrated

moment, Thomas's voice

toward the area around him,

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

time, I felt

the other students. Help

"Understood."

glanced at the students who had taken out their weapons and had

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

secretly, I channeled the mana inside

particular reason for this, but it was a habit I had developed back when I was in the forests. Just so that

of weapon you

to a familiar face, my gaze couldn't help but land on the brass knuckles in the individual's

"Thank you."

silly smile on her face. Taking a

the top

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

choice of weapon

pointed at her weapons

on the individual psyons

"Yes ."