[Breakthrough?] asked Andrew surprised.

[Affirmative. Host has already reached the limits of a Mana Apprentice. Staying in this stage for longer will bring no benefits.]

[Not even if I further increase my control?]

[Negative. Hosts control won't increase any further due to limitations to the Mana root. Further increasing host's control can only be possible if host first increases the grade of the Mana Root.]

[Status]

*

Host: Andrew (Create Family)

Species: Human

Level: 9 (Mana Apprentice)

Exp: 999/1000

HP: 300/300

Mana: 900/900

Strength: 10

Constitution: 11

Stamina: 9

Vitality: 9

Agility: 12

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 20

Wisdom: 10

Available points: 0

Mana Root: Grade 6

Mana Control: Level 22

Occupation: Array Master (Array creation success rate permanently increased by 20%.)

Elemental affinity: Time (Extraordinary+), Wind (Negligible), Water (Negligible), Holy (Negligible)

Skills:

{Inventory(Lv 1)}

Host owns a small independent space in which non-living things can be stored. (1 cubic metre)

{[Inspect(Lv 2)}

System is able to analyze things using the knowledge of the host and knowledge accessible to the system.

{Slow(Lv 7)}

Create pressure with the surrounding time elements reducing the speed of the target by 14%. Dependent on the strength of the host and target. The effect can be increased if host is the target.

{Accelerate(Lv 6)}

Attach the surrounding time elements to the body and accelerate them increasing the speed of host by 12%. Dependent on the strength of the host. The effect can be increased if host is the target.

{Time barrier(Lv 3)}

Freeze the time elements in a certain area to create the effect of a barrier. Durability is dependent on the strength of the host.

{Time Blink(Lv 3)}

Floods the body of the host with time elements and uses them to revert back to an earlier state. Current mana allows for a 0.5 seconds revert.

{Temporal Edge(Absolute Skill)}

Host conjures a temporal blade which is then thrown at the desired target. Once the blade comes in contact with the target, the flow of time will accelerate differently on the edges of the blade. Skill limited by Mana. Current mana allows for a difference of 0.1 seconds.

*

[Hmm, my control hasn't increased in the past months at all except for when my mana root got upgraded. I'll trust you on this one.] He thought as he found a more secluded place in the forest. He sat down cross-legged on the ground and put his hands on his knees.

[So, uncle Coral said that to become a Warrior, you need to start infusing your own body with mana. You should try to fuse the mana with your cells. The goal of the Refinement Stage is to increase the affinity of the body with the mana you control so that it wil be prepared to hold the core that will be formed in the next stage. Otherwise, the pressure from a core would continuously damage the body.]

[Ok, here we go.] He thought as he started concentrating on the time elements surrounding him. The elements started getting sucked into his body.

This is the purpose of the usual meditation which replenishes the mana of a Mana Apprentice. However, the mana would reside in one's blood and wouldn't affect the flesh or other organs. Now, Andrew is trying to push the mana outside of the blood vessels and into his flesh.

[Eh?] a gasp almost left his mouth.

[It's too easy.] As soon as the mana left his blood vessels, his cells were like hungry wolves which found something to feast on. He still needed to guide the mana but he found no obstruction from his body in the fusion process.

[Host's control is too high for the natural cell-mana rejection to have any effect.] Andrew almost didn't hear the System's words as he was too engrossed in the almost euphoric feeling. His breathing became stronger as he almost moaned in pleasure.

[Too good, it feels too good. It's as if I've slept for all my life and only now my body is truly beginning to wake up!] he continued to furiously push the mana into his flesh and organs. After a few moments, his body started giving off a small radiance.

[Congratulation host! You have reached the Refinement Warrior stage.]

[Awarded 5 attribute points.]

[Warning!]

[Unknown interference with host's mind! Analyzing...]

[Attempting to block.]

[Attempt 1 failed.]

[Attempting to block.]

[Attempt 2 failed.]

[Attempting to block.]

[Attempt 3 failed.]

Andrew didn't hear any of the messages of the System as he was still in that amazing state. In the next moment however, his eyes became as white as snow.

[Eh? What is this..? Where am I?] he asked as he confusedly looked at the scene in front of him.

A truly apocalyptic scene, that's the right term. He was on a seemingly familiar street surrounded by ruins of buildings. He looked at his hands confused.

[What is this strength...it's overwhelming...]

A great roar snapped him out of his confusion. He looked to the sky and saw a gigantic winged lion flying towards him. While his thoughts were still in disarray, the lion almost reached him.

"Andrew! What are you doing??" a scream came from behind him as a figure flew past him and threw a punch at the lion. As the punch connected, the lion exploded in a pool of flesh and blood.

"Shawn?" he quickly made sense of the figure in the air.

"Don't get distract.." Shawn screamed but he didn't finish his words as a small bird seemed to have teleported behind him.

*Boom*

A huge explosion occurred as Shawn was thrown a few kilometres away, his situation unknown.

"Ah!" Andrew's breathing became heavy.

"What is this pain..." His thought was suddenly interrupted by a sound that resembled music. He turned to his right and he was left dumbfounded.

The ruins of a huge castle greeted his view. In front of it, in the now huge open ground as most buildings collapsed, what seemed to be thousands of people were kneeling on the ground, each of them humming a song. They were old and young, men and women, and their faces held great sadness and even despair.

"That's the Academy! This is the Blood Fortress!" realization dawned on Andrew. The new questions in his mind didn't have time to be formed as thousands of roars and screeches came from behind him. He turned around and saw an endless sea of beasts dashing towards him and the people in front of the castle.

His survival instinct kicked in and he was prepared to burst with the unfamiliar power he was feeling inside of him. That action was stopped however, as the song behind him became stronger and stronger. The song seemed to stretch the cords of space as millions of air blades formed above the endless beast army.

Rivers of blood starting flowing and thousands of beast died every second, but there seemed to be no end to them. As Andrew wanted to join the people behind him he was shocked by their appearances. They were visibly getting skinnier, their hair started turning white and even the children's faces became sucked in.

"What...no, stop!" he run towards them but he stopped in his tracks while he looked at the sky. There, two young women were levitating with their palms connected. Their faces showed a look of great concentration as a green radiance appeared around them.

"Aisha...that should be Aisha, right?" Andrew asked himself in confusion. The woman above had the same characteristics as his sister and the energy she was emitting was all too familiar with him. The confusing thing was that she looked to be at least 25 years old. As his mind was questioning everything, the eyes of the women above snapped open.

The green radiance became blinding as the shadow of a great tree hundreds of metres tall appeared above them. The leaves of the illusory tree started falling down, and they soon reached the kneeling people. As the leaves touched them, their faces regained their youthful appearance and their hair switched back from white to their natural colors.

"Amazing..." Andrew was surprised. The next moment however, he spotted a black arrow flying in the sky at unimaginable speed. It was flying towards Aisha.

"Noo, watch out!!!!" the unfamiliar power he was feeling burst out and he found himself flying towards Aisha.

"No...it's too fast...no no no no I won't make it" he was truly despairing at this moment. He saw the arrow reach two metres behind Aisha and his eyes became red.

In the last moment however, the figure of a beautiful woman appeared in the space between Aisha and the arrow. Her body was enveloped in darkness as the arrow hit her. There was no sound, no explosion. The next moment, her body started crumbling at a fast pace.

In her last moment, tears appeared in her eyes. Her lips moved but it was unknown what she wanted to say as she disintegrated.

"Sarah..."

"Who is....ah, ah.."

"This pain, this heart-wrenching pain..."

"Why do I feel my heart hurting so much..?"

"Why do I feel like I have lost my own life there....?"

"Why is the sky so dark...?"

"Who are you??" he screamed at the sky as tears were involuntarily flowing from his red eyes.

A huge explosion sounded from behind him and as he turned around he saw Shawn's bloody figure in the sky. His hair was in disarray, his glasses cracked and his left arm was thorn. He was surrounded by thousands upon thousands of flying beasts which were attacking from all directions.

Shawn turned around and smiled at Andrew, a smile which cracked Andrew's heart. The next moment, the air around Shawn became distorted before the very space exploded. The blast was so powerful that it annihilated even a significant number of the beasts on the ground. A huge shock-wave threw Andrew a hundred metres back.

He stood there kneeling, grasping his chest, chocking. The next moment, he vomited a mouthful of blood.

"Why do I care so much, why is my heart aching so much..???" his tears became tears of blood as the power inside of him became unstable.

The next moment, a huge pressure enveloped the world. A pressure so strong that it seemed like it wanted to crush the whole Earth into a black hole. The people on the ground started exploding one after another becoming stains of flesh and blood. In the end, Aisha screamed as her body turned into a mist of blood.

"No..."

"Why, why, why, why ???" Andrew's mind became blank.

"What is this???"

"Why are you showing me this....ha, ha, hahahaha!!" he started maniacally laughing. His laughter was accompanied with choking sounds as he was choking on his own blood.

A figure appeared in the clouds, falling rapidly towards Andrew's location. It was a red haired middle aged man, or what was left of him anyway. His left arm and leg were gone and he had a huge hole in his chest.

His right arm picked Andrew up as he rapidly flew into the distance.

"Leave me..."

"I want...to die..."

"Ha, haha..."

"Please kill me..."

The man looked at Andrew and then opened his mouth. What Andrew wasn't expecting was that while the man was clearly saying something to him, all he could hear was a song. A beautiful song, which was soothing his very soul. It was as if the song was calling him. He let himself get absorbed into it.

In the next moment, his eyes snapped open. He was covered in sweat and he was breathing heavily. He looked around, only to see himself sitting on the cold ground, numerous patterns drawn in formations around him.

He could still hear that soothing song calling for him. As he looked around, he spotted an old man playing what seemed to be a harp. As the old man saw him getting up, he stopped playing and crushed a transmission crystal. The next moment, a red haired middle aged man appeared in the room. The old man bowed for a second and then excused himself.

"You are finally awake." a sentence which seemed like no other exited the man's mouth. Andrew looked at the man and suddenly had a great urge to kneel and pray.

"You saw it, right?" the man continued calmly.

"W-who are you?" asked Andrew through his uneven breathing.

"You should already know that, right?"

"N-no, I d-don't.."he was starting to calm down.

"Who am I? Say it!" the man was becoming impatient.

"I really don't know!" Andrew's voice was starting to regain its normal tone.

"My name! Say my name!" an invisible pressure started escaping the man's body and as it reached Andrew, the boy's eyes shined.

"You are.."

"Eternal Night."