A week has passed since my pathetic performance of showing everyone my fake magic affinity spell, Right now I’m on my way to the Master’s office, earlier today he contacted me through telepathic communication magic and has said he’d tell me his findings from the research he undertook.

I see the familiar huge doors which indicate that I’ve arrived at my destination, the doors open without me even knocking and I walk into the dimly lit room where the Master awaits me, as what happened last time the doors slam behind me, I can’t get used to that I thought inwardly.

“I've been researching your race and magic and looking through all types of books trying to find answers and I've found a clue in an ancient scroll which is impossible to tell how old it is, all I know is that it is extremely ancient, I had to ask an old friend of mine for help on translating the scroll because It was written in an ancient language which seems to be forgotten, luckily this friend is one of the few that are fluent in this ancient tongue, the scroll talks about an island which is somewhere in the vast oceans that seem to stretch on for eternity on Ula, It says how on this island that is barren of life there is a rift in the middle of the island, this rift according to the scripture was named ‘The abyss’, they named it this because no one knew how deep it went and you couldn’t see even 2 meters in due to how utterly dark the place was, they tried to explore down there with their best mages but none of them returned alive, some even called it the gateway to hell because of it’s appearance”

The Master took a deep breathe and carried on,

“One of the adventurers who traveled to the island tried to explore the abyss even after the mages went missing, he was the one who wrote this scroll it seems, he talked of walking not even 3 meters into the abyss when he saw the bodies of the mages who traveled in before him, he was shocked and terrified because the mages who went in were some of the best mages on the continent at that time, they all died not even 3 meters into this hell hole, he talks of the foul energy he felt and the strange noises he heard when he entered, what made him leave was when he walked in and saw a strange beast with red eyes looking at him whilst chewing on the mages carcasses, he ran as fast as he could and never looked back then wrote this scroll to warn people”

I gulped and held my breath, how could such a hell exist? that's surely just some legend I thought.

“I know what you’re thinking Zepp, and let me tell you I believe this scroll due to how heavily guarded and safe-kept this scroll was, I had to pry this from the hands of the Elven royal family and you know how much they like to keep secrets, I also promised I’d return it to them as soon as possible and we struck a deal”

I couldn't believe what the Master was saying to me, it was like a myth or a legend told to scare adventurers, but it's actually real.

"But Sir, what's this got to do with my magic, are you sure it's not just a coincidence they're named the same?"

"No Zepp, I'm sure of it, the scroll also mentions that he felt a strange mana in the air when he entered the abyss, he said it was like the air was charged with creepy, condensed and almost suffocating mana, this could be the key to what one of your magics is, abyss magic, something related to the abyss, however, don't take my word on it until I've researched more on this place"

could this place actually be related to my abyss magic? I asked this question over and over in my head trying to contemplate the answer.

After calming down I reassess my priorities and ask the question I've been dying to ask this ultimate mage ever since I first met face to face with the Master,

“Sir, I know this might seem a bit too much but can you help me get stronger? I’m fed up of being weak, I want to be strong, strong enough to protect those who I love from everything, can you please help me Sir, I know I'm pathetic, weak, a maggot, a frail bug but please I'll do anything”

The Master looked at me for 5 minutes without saying anything, he looked in deep thought and his eyes were surveying every inch of my body whilst his hand stroked his big white beard, he then nodded and looked like he’d come to a decision.

“Young one, as we don’t know much about your race or magic we’ll have to start with basics, your body.

You will need to become stronger physically to match up to mages whilst you still can’t use your propper magic, Hmmm I don’t know whether you’ll make it, it’s just theory so far and hasn’t been done, hmmmm”

The Master looked at me again and surveyed my with his eyes,

“Sir! I don’t care what it is! I’ll do it!”

Before I could even think I burst out my passion, I want to be stronger! I want to be able to protect Mother luu, Sina & Sena from anything and everything and make it so they’ll never be sad, frightened or scared!

“If you have that much passion boy, then I’ll place my faith and expectations on you, what I have spent centuries developing is a new method of advancing and overcoming evolutionary limits of the body, this method will make you stronger, fitter and faster than you ever thought was possible If the process matches my calculations in theory, do you want to be my first and only guinea pig?”

“YES!”

without evening thinking I blurt out my answer, this is a no brainer, who wouldn’t want what The Master just offered them? I don’t care what I have to do.

“Boy, I’ve name this method the advancement cultivation #1 or AC1 for short, let me explain it for you;

The idea of this is for your body and mind to be synced perfectly, both in harmony, this is a lot harder than you’d think, meditation is the key to this, you will train in the day and meditate at night, I will personally train you in the day and I’ll show you the meditation right now, first off you have to relax your whole body, try and feel every cell in your body and match your breathing to the rhythm of your heart beat, these two have to be perfectly synced and your body has to be as calm as water for it to work, when you reach this stage you will feel you are more tuned into the mana that surrounds us as does the very air, feel the mana and the elements and let it flow through your mind and body, when you get it perfectly flowing, it will start to ever so slowly fuse with your body over time, this will strengthen your mind, body and compliment the physical training you do in the day, It’s never been tested before so i’m still not sure on the finer details but the theory should be sound.

The reason this is dangerous is because for it to work your body needs to go through hellish training, training that you never thought a person could even do, you’ll feel so tired and broken that your mind will scream at you with all it’s power to try and make you stop, but you will have to keep going and breaking your body through sheer willpower, are you still ready for this, boy?”

I gulped, my heart was thumping in my chest, amazing, Master is amazing, I nod my head to his question and try and calm my heartbeat that was either from excitement or sheer dread, I couldn’t distinguish between the two.

“Good. Boy, from now on you are exempt from classes, we’ll be starting our own regiment and you'll follow my every word, you will be my personal student, my first ever disciple in my centuries of living, this will be hard, brutal and pure hell, earn my respect and maybe I’ll even let you call me Teacher when you do”

Personal student?!, of the Master? w-wow, am I worthy enough for this? Questions run through my mind like lightning and I sweat from the expectations that have suddenly been dropped on my shoulders, I’ll have to keep the Masters reputation and become a worthy student!

“Master, when do we start?”

Master smiled at my question,

“Calling me Master straight away I see, and you're eager aren’t you boy? we start at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning, meet me here at 4:30am, I’ll make the doors react to your presence so you can enter my office when you please, you're dismissed until tomorrow, see you then, do not be late!”

“Of course! , see you tomorrow Master!”

I bowed to my new Master and walked out of his office.

Once in my dorm room I went over what he told me, I think I’ll practice the meditation in preparation for tomorrow, I still have five hours left until I midnight.

I sit on my bed with my legs crossed and straighten my back in good posture, he said relax and try and feel every cell in my body... I take deep breaths until my mind has become calm and my heart rate has lowered to a state resembling the calmness of water.

Breath.. In…. out… In….out… I keep this up for 10 minutes, when I’m finally calm I relax my mind and try not to think of anything, become one with thyself, I feel void, nothingness, my thoughts are gone and my mind is blank, I try and reach out towards the nothingness in my mind, little by little particles of all different colours enter the void in my mind, my mind is now full of particles, I’m assuming I am sensing the mana around me in this calm, tuned in state of mind and body, the particles of mana look different colours, this must be elements, some are green, some are blue, some of clear white, some are a golden hue, some are dark and some are bright red and feel hotter than the rest, like Master said I try and fuse all the element particles into one, I try over and over until I succeed after countless failures, all elements of different colours fuse into one small particle, I guess i’ll call this a mana particle as it’s a mix of all the elements into one fusion.

I then try the next step and attempt draw them into my body, nothing happens, I try and try over and over again, still nothing happens.

After almost giving up and losing track of how many times of trying I finally notice a change, little mana particles disappear from the void and get drawn into my body, when the first small particle fuses into my skin I feel a warm sensation throughout my body, it’s like the worlds greatest massage but a thousand times more heavenly, I try and draw more in but I am unable to.

I try to replicate this process again but am unable to do so, I decide to call it a day and open my eyes and feel my body, my body and mind feel refreshed and full of energy just from one small mana particle, If this is the effect of one I wonder what will happen when I master this technique? the prospects make me extremely excited.

I turn my head towards the clock in my room and look at the time, It’s 4:20am, I was startled, had I really been doing that for 9 hours and 20 minutes? , maybe my mind and body were so relaxed and in harmony that I totally lost the concept of time there, amazing.

I also realise that I feel like I’ve slept for days, I feel refreshed and serene, It’s like awakening from the best sleep you can imagine possible.

It’s 10 minutes until I need to be at Masters office, I get ready and put my standard training gear on and leave my room, once outside I realise it’s still dark, the sun hasn’t even risen in the sky and I’m starting a new day.

I arrive at Masters office at exactly 4:28am, once inside I see he is waiting for me in his typical black robe,

“Atleast you’re not late Zepp, you would of gone through hell if you were though, and I must say, you look fully of energy this morning, are you ready for your nightmare to begin?”

“I’m completely ready Master, I already tried the meditation part and ended up meditating for 9 hours and 20 minutes, I even lost concept of time”

Master looked at me and raised an eyebrow,

“Zepp you surely couldn’t of gotten results this fast could you?”

I nodded and responded nonchalantly,

“It took me a long time but I did manage to fuse one mana particle with my skin, I tried to fuse more but was unable to”

Master made a face of disbelief and grinned widely,

“Zepp, my boy, you shouldn’t of even got results this fast, it should of taken you a month or so before you even begin to fuse mana particles with your body, maybe your a genius in this aspect?, who knows, anyway, this is excellent, now we can start the higher tier hellish training straight away, boy, I’m going to break you down and rebuilt you, by the end of this day you’ll wish you were never born, now, let’s begin.”

Chapter 6

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Thanks for reading, Next chapter they'll begin the Master's specially made training from hell. :D