Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

Elior followed Professor Aleister without even considering where his old mentor was talking to him. He surely wanted to hunt some metal fiends to build a few weapons. Even though the second trial will not be that difficult for me, weapons always had their use. And it's always better to have more of them.

They walked deeper into the junkyard, both keeping their noses filtered with mana, still, the sight was not anything good. The sun was still in the mid-sky, and they were supposed to be here until the sunset. Not a lot of time, considering there were after metal fiends, it was not a lot of time. Those things were not savage, but they were best at hiding.

"Your progress in spells has dwindled in the last couple of months," Aleister said, still taking large strides in the junks.

That was, of course, the truth. First Elior was recuperating from his injuries. And even though his external wounds healed within the day, even the cracked bones and twisted muscles with the help from Progression, his mana path was another story.

There was still the glitch for fusing with more things than his body and soul could handle. Whenever he got worked up in any mana related skills or ability, the glitch appeared with the pain and as well as the frizzing up. That was the reason why he had not gone hunting in the meantime in the deep of the night. Those things were already dangerous enough, going with a half-injured mana channel and the glitching soul will do nothing more than courting his own death.

He will let the lackeys of Shadowblood run rampant a little more, though they have been silent like the masked reaper after the event. And yes, they were calling him the Reaper now, though it's an image of a killer, nothing else. The federation or even association will never leak news of something cleaning up their shit. And Elior had no problem with it. It was the most reasonable thing to do. If he wanted glory, he would have brought daylight without the mask. But something was better to be dealt in the deepest of the night and by some heinous killer.

At least, those weak-willed would think more than twice before selling themselves. His warning was clear. Become a lackey of Shadowblood or even any ghost organization. The next head might as well be thiers.

Coming back to the topic, Elior could still practice, but it was not with wearing the training suit. Moreover, his attention was elsewhere.

In the battle against the third-order corpse fly, he had touched the realm of unity. One with the universe. He barely just touched and with his current state, it was a damn miracle. The unity realm gave him more peace of mind whenever he was doing anything concentratedly. Meaning everything turned easy if he did one thing wholeheartedly.

He did not have to imagine the void all the time in his concentration, as this was something superior and else. With just touching the realm, his mana recovers as well as stamina recovery doubled, though he had some trouble keeping with the touch all the time.

There were some other benefits, but he was far from claiming them at his current level. Other than the training to stabilize the realm of unity, he was also practising his Abstraction of Void, as well as stealth ability. There was one movement skill he would like to try, but the glitch from the mismatch of his body and soul made it even impossible to even try it.

A football-size metal ball-like thing suddenly rolled towards his leg, wailing as if it was alive. Seriously, there was no way for one to tell this was a chaos fiend. Other than some hideous robotics, it appeared nothing different. Yes, that was a metal fiend alright, and this one seemed to have heated more than what it was capable of digesting. If not taken care of it, this thing could blast here, though the slow bomb was far less compared to the self-destructing one.

This one did not appear that high level. Elior inspected the thing and found it was barely level 24, though this very thing could go for about a couple million credits if not more. Just the corpse, without purifying the alloy it was growing. Though a live one would possibly get better.

"A small, weak one," Aleister said and finally stopped. He turned towards Elior after looking at the fiend. "I reckon you do not fancy this?"

Elior shook his head once. Surely he could make something out of it, but it would not even reach the level of his twin rapiers. Well, that is if he did not mix in other materials.

"Can I ask you a question considering I'm almost your mentor in spells?" the teacher asked, moving fast on his legs.

"Sure." Elior was equally fast.

"Why are you so hurried about everything?" his old mentor asked. "You don't strike me as the snobby, power-hungry type, nor the one after glory. Would it hurt you to slow down a little, and take your time in your carrier? After all, it's only been a couple of months."

"Is it about the trial?" Elior asked.

"Yes and no," Aleister said. "It's even more than just a trial. The trial is only to show the wretched humans of the lower realm where they stand. Though it gives them some recognition, but all that only for recruitment. The nobles from motherland only look to recruit a few promising players, nothing else. They don't care about our struggle, nor do most of them have the luxury to do that. their situation was no better than us, and in some place, it's worse.

"I'm not against working for such people or even working in the mother world. I myself was there for some time, but one still has to take care of his home first."

Elior looked at his old mentor, biting his lips. No, he was not feeling guilty or anything. He was just recalling the old days. Old days where this man trained me to be the man he was now.

"I heard what you face in your other trial, but I am not sure what it did to your mind, that you become so hasty." The professor's voice became stern. "Haste is not the way. You need to learn. It is not a competition, nor don't need to prove yourself to them or anyone. At least not now."

"I understand," Elior said and pulled the football-sized metal beast in his arm. The wailing turned heavier and the metal beast started to shake. "But you need not worry, professor. I'm not looking for a competition, nor I want the glory or to prove myself."

The wailing turned stiff, and now it was only the shaking and warping of mana surrounding it.

"Elior, what are you doing?" Aleister asked instantly, looking right at the small metal beast. "Put that away, quickly."

Even though it was small, with such close distance, it's more than enough to make a mess of Elior's mess.

"You need not worry, Professor," Elior repeated his word, and the professor was unsure if he was talking about the bomb in his arms or about their conversation. Either way, he moved fast towards Elior as the warping sharpened. "I'm doing this only because of necessity. The shadows were moving under our noses, they were preparing something. A storm perhaps, something that may collapse the very core of our heart."

The metallic carapace on the body of the metal beast started to tear, emitting hot air and steam as well as the explosive mana. It was only a single second way, blasting apart Elior's body.

Aleister ground his teeth and made a seal with his arm to create an invisible spell of the spatial type. Sweat beads formed instantly on his forehead and his face reddened. If it was his peak, it wouldn't be so difficult, would it? But he had to do it. After the injury, he got a couple of decades ago. wielding more than what he was capable was just like the bombing of his mana core, identical to what the metal beast was doing, though he was trying his best to incinerate his body in the process.

Invisible chains of spatial force surrounded him in the instant and he threw them towards the bomb Elior was holding. He was not sure if he could stop all the damage, but he might be able to save the life of this poor boy.

Unbeknownst to him, before even his chains reached the metal bomb, it stopped on its own. No, the stop was not the right word. It did blast in incinerate, but everything was still in Elior's palm.

Elior's face turned no better than his old mentor as an invisible force put a powerful barrier surrounding the explosion, limiting it within the range of his palm.

"You need not worry, Sir.. I'm barely doing what I think necessary."