The notification that stated his dark core had become erratic brought an untold amount of shock; so much Emery's mind went blank for a moment. In fact, things swiftly moved toward the worst direction after said notification.

Not only did he lose the ability to cast any spell, the notification was also the last thing he saw from the symbol on his hand. He tried to bring up his stats and expected the familiar window to appear on his mind. But, the result was nil - nothing happened.

​​

Bad news. This was definitely a huge, disastrous problem for him.

Without even wasting a mere second, Emery immediately bolted as fast as he could toward the direction where the stone formation was.

His heartbeat grew faster and louder as he ran through the woods, hoping that Killgragah had a solution for this unexpected problem. The dark core, after all, was the dragon piece of work.

A few minutes later, Emery arrived at the stone formation and immediately shouted with all his might. "Killgragah! Open up! Something is wrong with me!" Emery's voice trembled greatly, clearly showing his anxiety over this matter.

Deprived of his ability to cast spells, Emery could only hope that the dragon could listen to his shout. Otherwise, this matter would definitely turn into a mess with dire consequences he certainly couldn't handle.

At the end of the day, this would be the end credit for Emery, if he completely lost the ability to access the symbol on his palm.

Fortunately, his worry was unwarranted as Emery soon saw a black line manifested in the empty air. It gradually grew before spreading out into a standing rectangular shape, opening up the path.

The Khaos space was basically Killgragah's domain, therefore, the latter should be able to directly find out what happened as soon as he entered.

As expected, the moment Emery stepped into the familiar dark space, the voice of Killgragah could be heard resounding through the air. "Huh! I knew this would happen! Come closer!"

Emery became half-assured when he heard the dragon's words. It seemed the latter had an inkling of what was going on with him, which was good news.

With just a glance from its part, Killgragah had caused Emery's body to rise up to the sky. In the next moment, a glowing energy diffused out of the former and went into the latter.

In the blink of an eye, Emery perceived a foreign force going into his body and, with it, an extraordinary sensation overcame him. It was as if he had just been struck by a chain of lightning.

As Emery waited for Killgragah's examination, he noticed the dragon, who normally became emotional about the slightest thing, suddenly looked serious.

"Those three elements will be the downfall of you!" Killgragah muttered, before adding a scoff in the end.

In the meantime, the 'chain of lightning' sensation that Emery felt coursing through his body still didn't stop. Instead, it became even fiercer, as it kept jolting him painfully with each passing moment. Naturally, he gave his all to hold himself together.

Unfortunately, the examination Emery initially assumed would only go on for a dozen minutes or an hour at best continued for several hours, until he no longer had the capability to bear the excruciating pain.

Emery was about to fall unconscious and say hello to the dark abyss when a loud sound jolted him out. "Don't you dare to give up now, kid!!"

Upon hearing the dragon's words, as well as the threat laced on it, Emery quickly brought his consciousness out of its lethargic state and gathered his focus into something - anything to keep him awake and hold on, as he couldn't afford to lose consciousness now!

Suddenly, something he had buried and confined into the deepest crevice of his mind, a matter he had forced himself to neglect for more than 6 months, poured out to him. The face of a girl, her tears and the words - goodbye.

Emery gritted his teeth in exasperation, clenching his fist so hard he didn't realize his fingers had dug into his palm. Then, he screamed his heart out!

"ARGHHHH!!!"

BOOOOMMM!!!

An explosion of energy abruptly materialized in Emery's dark core and bursted out at lightspeed velocity. The energy avalanche swiftly made its way throughout his whole body, spreading out to all its parts.

Killgragah let Emery go of its grasp and the latter swiftly fell to the ground in a half kneeling position on the floor. His breathing was extremely ragged, as if there was no air around him. A moment later, the thing he had awaited, the familiar notification, once again popped into his mind.

[Your dark core had evolved]

[Spirit Core of Darkness – Stage 5]

[Your spirit force had increased tremendously]

Emery's situation at the moment was like he had finally got off from a knot that nearly bound him to death. He once again felt the existence of his dark core and, following it, was the symbol on his hand.

[Emery Ambrose]

[Battle Power : 60 (45)]

[Spirit Force : 312 (236)]

[Spirit Core of Darkness – Stage 5]

[Fey Bloodline – Rank 3]

[Acolyte Rank: 8]

Finally, the dark core upgrade that Emery thought he would get before he breakthrough to Rank 8 acolyte finally came and, with it, was another 20 points boost in spirit force. He closed his eyes and delved into his body. He could certainly feel his dark core was even stronger than before.

Emery was extremely delighted that Killgragah was willing to help him this time. He truly didn't know what he would have done if the latter decided to ignore him.

But then, Emery suddenly realized something was missing, causing his expression to change greatly.

Horror entirely filled Emery's face as he discovered that he couldn't feel the connection to the three other elements he had. He was shocked, confused and terrified by the unforeseen development.

Didn't believe what he was perceiving, Emery once again delved into his body and double checked. He saw that all three were still there, next to his dark core. However, he couldn't channel his energy into them.

Emery groggily turned his head to the dragon and said stutteringly, "Killgragah... What's… happening?"

Unexpectedly, the dragon appeared to be a little annoyed by the question.

With a dark tone, it said, "Kid… do you know how much I spent to help out your problem...?!"

"And you still dare to complain to me?!"

Realizing he had said something wrong, Emery swiftly tried to amend it. "Oh...! I mean. Thank you, supreme being! I am forever grateful for your helping hand… But, please bestow me some of your wisdom in this matter"

Killgragah was silent for a moment before it opened its mouth and spoke in nonchalant manner, "It's simple, actually. I helped enhance your dark core and severed the connection it had with your three elements. This way, your problem is solved."

"Severed..." muttered Emery one more time, as he couldn't believe what he just heard. This word was a very terrifying word for his current situation.

"What do you mean exactly by the word severed, supreme being? Please explain it to me..."

Emery swore he saw Killgragah shrug its shoulders as it said, "Nothing to explain, kid. It's exactly what the word implies." The dragon noticed the look on Emery's face and continued, "It is what it is, kid. Your three elements were fighting against the dark core, to the point that it became unstable. And because of that, I had to invest my months of energy to solve this situation of yours, kid."

Hearing that, Emery became worried once again. He was clearly grateful that Killgragah was willing to help. However, he was also anxious as he didn't know what kind of consequences he would receive from severing the other three elements of his.

Killgragah stared directly at Emery, clearly knowing what the latter was thinking about and said, "Just forget about them, kid. Your poor aptitude made it impossible for you to keep all four of them. Just stick with the darkness element, as it is the best choice for you. Me and Khaos will make you the strongest Dark Magus you could only ever dream of before."

Emery was silent for a moment before he nodded. He was grateful, but his heart also was full of worries. In fact, he still had one very important question.

"Killgragah, you are able to reattach it again, right?"

Noticing the look on Emery's face, Killgragah scoffed and said, "At the way you are now? Very unlikely. Just do like I say and place your focus on being the master of Khaos!"

Emery was grateful for the things Killgragah did to help him. But he couldn't help but think the latter let this all happen on purpose.

Looked like it was time to check this matter with the High Priestess of Gaia.

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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,