Zachariel abruptly opened his eyes and rolled on the floor.

'Bang!'

"Ouch!"

His head bumped on the sides of his bed.

`Damn it!`

He scratched it to soothe the pain.

`What kind of crazy woman was that?`

Her shrill voice could haunt him for ages, and the dark mist that enshrouded her, along with the wraiths that were stuck underneath, was extremely horrifying and otherworldly.

Their shouts that could draw out one's negative emotions struck horror in Zachariel.

`My dreams are getting crazier and insane every day! Can't I have a few happy dreams for a change?`

It was something he did not want to experience again.

The pain receded after a while.

He looked around his room and saw blood on the floor and his clothes.

`Alright, got to clean that up.`

He gathered his dark mana essence and guided it to where the bloodstains were.

`This dark mana essence sure is handy when it comes to things like these.`

He wondered if other people also did what he did.

`What are you thinking about?!`

That didn't sound good. What if it was used by criminals and other evil-minded people?

He shifted his thoughts and inspected the insides of his body instead.

`The lines did spread into my heart. Its beat became faster and stronger. I wonder what else did it enhance.`

Zachariel sighed in relief.

`Enduring that pain was worth it.`

He would have cursed that magic screen that came out of nowhere if he did not receive any benefits from the so-called 'Visceral Enhancement'.

`Since it enhanced my heart, did the green lines also enhanced my mana nerves, mana core, and dantian core?`

He thought of it and then reminisced his past experiences.

`My mana control is really superb, and I was able to store that huge dragon's humongous amount of qi essence without being full. There must be other things it enhanced.`

Zachariel concluded.

He looked at the time. It was almost 9:00.

`Time to go.`

He stood up and prepared for the day.

…

He exited the dormitory and went to the Great Weaponry School.

He saw Lia waiting for him on the same spot.

`Does she really have to do this?` Zachariel was confused.

"Zachariel!" Lia waved her hands and approached him.

"Lia, why are you here?" Zachariel asked.

"Nothing! I just want to go to school together with you!" Lia replied.

`This is bad.` Zachariel didn't feel good about it.

The Emperor's eyes were on him. If the Emperor knows that he and Lia were that close…

`I need to find a way so that I could make or persuade Lia not to meet me here on a regular basis.` Zachariel put it in his mind.

"Zachariel, are you okay?" Lia wondered why Zachariel did not respond to her.

"Yes. Let's go." Zachariel snapped out of his thoughts and went together alongside Lia.

As they walked on the large pathway, they heard the people conversing about a familiar subject.

"Hey, did you hear? 2 days ago, the Imperium guards were looking out for some suspicious people inside the Imperium Capital City!" A male student talked to his friends.

"Really? From where did you get that information anyway?" His acquaintance asked.

"My father, of course! He's an Imperium guard and he was on duty that day! He told me to be more careful when going outside or else I might get kidnapped! He said that because there's a rumor that those suspicious people were linked to the missing students at this point!" The male student replied.

"Oh no! Does your father know how those suspicious people look like?" Another student asked.

"I heard they covered themselves with something dark, probably dark mana essence! Luckily, no one was hurt or dead. The witnesses said that the dark figures were fleeing or something." The male student emphasized.

"That's scary. Those people won't come to harm us, right?" A female student worriedly asked.

"I don't know. The Imperium guards had already heightened the security inside the Imperium Capital City. But still, better be careful when we go outside!" The male student advised his friends.

Zachariel heard the gossips and he was instantly intrigued about the matter.

`Thankfully, I was able to escape from them without divulging my identity, or else.`

The witnesses could've tracked him and he would've been arrested by the Imperium guards.

They would then link him to the 'missing students' case from the last week, and the public would then persecute him.

"Zachariel, are they talking about that incident 2 days ago?" Lia softly asked. She was worried for Zachariel and herself.

"Yes, Lia. Don't tell anyone what happened again. Otherwise, we will be in big trouble." Zachariel replied.

Lia nodded.

`The guards won't arrest him, right?` Lia asked herself. She didn't want Zachariel to end up in jail because of her carelessness.

`I don't want to be a burden to him, and everyone else! Lia, train harder! Cultivate harder!` She swore in her mind.

"Those people won't abduct me again, right?" Lia asked a question that Zachariel had no clear answer to.

"Lia, don't worry. There are Imperium guards all over the city. Those people won't easily abduct you again. I'm also here if you need help." Zachariel replied and patted her head, however, he worried in his mind.

`This is getting complicated.`

He had a lot of things to do, and one of them was to guard himself and anyone close to him against the Emperor.

He could not protect everyone, and he had to choose which one of them should he protect.

Amelia? Lia? Luiz? His classmates? His family? Anastasia?

He didn't know the exact answer.

`I need to increase my strength before it's too late. Sir Matthias and the rest should have a plan already.`

He doesn't want anyone of them to be met with a tragic end because of his own powerlessness.

Zachariel breathed deeply and continued walking along the large pathway with Lia.

…

They soon arrived in their classroom.

"Oh, Zachariel! You're here! Your polearm is just here. Look!" Luiz waved at him.

Zachariel was confused. `My polearm? That thing that the senior gave to me?`

He approached his desk and saw the 2.2 meters long polearm lying against the wall beside his desk.

"We just saw it lying there when we entered the classroom. We didn't even know who left it here." Luiz explained.

"The three of us guarded it in case someone tries to steal it from you." He pointed his thumb at the back.

It was Luka and Teddy.

"Thank you."

Zachariel nodded to them.

"No problems, Zachariel! You helped us train so we thought of doing back something for you too!" Luiz scratched his head.

It felt both good and embarrassing when someone is thanking him for his efforts.

"Zachariel, can I touch it?" Lia excitedly asked him.

"Go ahead. Be careful, it's very heavy." Zachariel reminded her. He took a seat and closed his eyes.

He was nurturing his heart with the liquefied qi essence when he suddenly felt light-headed.

`Wait, I'm running low on oxygen. `

He stopped nurturing his heart and breathed deeply, trying to draw more air towards his lungs.

His heart was pumping blood so fast that his lungs could not keep up.

`Hmm? Where'd this knowledge come from by the way?` Zachariel held his head and massaged his temples.

The word oxygen was something he did not hear before.

`Is this the other word for air?` He guessed the meaning behind it.

Meanwhile, Lia approached the polearm and touched its wooden shaft with her fingers.

`Wow, it's so smooth!`

She tried to grab it but it was as heavy as what Zachariel told her. She looked cute when she did that.

"It sure is heavy, right?" Luka remarked.

"Yeah, even I could not lift it earlier. I wonder just how strong Zachariel is." Luiz sighed in defeat.

He looked at Zachariel who was currently seated and had his eyes closed while he massaged his temples.

`This guy, He's way too calm!` Luiz remarked.

The three of them left Zachariel alone and surrounded the polearm along with Lia. They curiously looked at it as if it was some strange artifact that was recovered from some ancient civilization.

"Everyone, Sir Rufus is here. Get back to your seats now!" Iria announced.

Luiz and the other two boys were irritated when they heard her voice, but they could not do anything about it.

After all, Luka and Teddy did not want to become like Luiz who was kicked in his eggs.

Everyone returned to their seats and waited for Instructor Rufus to arrive.

…

"Everyone, we'll proceed to the second, third, and fourth-round today. We have a lot of time and all of you should've trained during the rest days." Instructor Rufus looked over the entire class.

He was shocked when he saw Zachariel again.

`He's back?`

He regained his composure and announced to the class.

"To the training area, now!"

…

Instructor Rufus stood atop the platform and took out a square box with a hole in the center, large enough to fit any of the student's arms.

"Good, now, for those who passed the first round, take your number and I'll call you out. Lia Milelli, you will participate in this round. Fight well!"

He called out to the students.

"Yes sir!" Lia responded.

The students approached him and picked a number from the square box.

They then rolled it open.

"Damn it, I'm the first to go again!" Luiz was frustrated.

"Luka, Teddy, what about yours?" He asked.

"9," Luka replied.

"7." Teddy also replied.

Luiz sighed. The other two wickedly smiled at him.

"Luiz, stop being a wimp! I thought you were a man?!" Luka teased him.

"That's right, Luiz! You said it yourself, didn't you? That you're going to show off to the whole class today?" Teddy also followed suit.

"You two!" Luiz pointed his finger at them.

"Stop that little commotion right there, boys!" Instructor Rufus reprimanded Luiz and his company.

The three immediately behaved.

`Those damn idiots!`

Iria mocked them in her head.

"Who's number one?!" Instructor Rufus asked.

Luiz and Vargas raised their arms.

`Damn it, to think I'd match up against this big guy.` Luiz cursed himself for being unlucky.

Instructor Rufus nodded while taking a note of their names.

"Number two?!"

Diega and Kaela raised their arms.

"Number three?!"

Instructor Rufus continued to call out each number.

…

"Good! We will have 9 matches today. All students who will participate, fight well! Let's start! Luiz Carrico vs. Vargas Mendez!"

Instructor Rufus announced.