*NARRATOR’S POV*

Inside a room in the freshmen male cadets’ dormitories, one particular cadet sat cross-legged on the floor. He was naked from the waist up, with only some jogging pants on.

The cadet had his eyes closed while three different types of energy currents constantly spined around him, slightly distorting the space around him. Each energy had a really contrasting color to it, one was really light cyan, another was of a darkish red with black tints, while the last one was of totally white color.

There was a tri-colored dome-shaped barrier covering him, sharing the same colors as the currents of energy and stopping any of them from going anywhere farther than 2 meters around him.

With each inhalation he took, all this energy entered his body, and with each exhalation he did, the energy once again went out of his body and started surrounding him.

Two hours had passed, and the only thing that could be heard inside the room was the slow respiration made by the cadet sitting on the floor. His body was sweating all around, but he didn’t even try to move. It was as if he had turned completely into a statue, his breathing being the only signal of him being still alive.

All three currents of energy mixed and separated in intervals, causing no impact between them, as if they were mere gas painted in different colors.

That is, until one slight vibration happened over the bed, signaling the incoming message in the smartwatch.

The cadet sitting on the floor opened his eyes at this slight vibration, their iris was of red color, with pupils shaped into a slit with an abysmal black color. They weren’t human eyes, even if they were adorning a totally human face.

At the opening of his eyes. Every current of energy currently surrounding him accelerated, spinning a few times around the cadet until they finally made it inside him with one last intake of air.

*HOUUU…*

One last exhalation was heard inside the room, but this time, nothing happened when the cadet exhaled. And even the tri-colored dome-shaped barrier slowly disappeared.

*CRISTOPHER’S POV*

“Well… It has been some time since I had to do this kind of training…”-I said as I stood up from the floor.

I came back a little more than two hours ago, after separating from Olivia who went to train on her own.

I, for myself. Did some training of my own. Which was basically moving mana, Natural Energy, and Draconic Energy, all around my body. Reinforcing every part of it, with three energies at the time.

This had two purposes. The first one was wasting them. In order to increase and empower them. I first had to waste them. And this the best way to do it. It was somehow similar to how I used Natural Energy to help Olivia and Hajin recover their stamina. But in my own body, and with the actual use of the three.

The second purpose of this training was to keep a balance of the three. It was an actual problem when your three energies weren’t in total balance. While they would not reject each-other and make you explode, they would devour themselves, making it harder and harder to use the one that you haven’t trained.

In that case, the only way would be to mix them all completely and separating them into equal parts. Which could actually be a really dangerous thing to do and would take a lot of time.

“So… Who was the one to text me?”-I walk up towards my bed, where I left my smartwatch in order not to damage it with the currents of energies going through my body.

“Mm?”

[Kim Hajin: Thursday. Hunting Club. That will be the day we’ll kill Sven.]

[Cristopher: Are you sure?]

[Kim Hajin: Yes. I hacked into Chae Nayun’s smartwatch and spied on their conversation. They have some kind of bet going on, and would probably be together. There’s a big chance of Sven confessing to her.]

[Cristopher: And once she rejects him… He will probably attack, right?]

[Kim Hajin: Exactly… That’s the best moment for us to act.]

[Cristopher: Roger. Share your coordinates with me that day. You follow them, and I’ll follow you. That way we’ll be able to keep a constant vigilance of them.]

[Kim Hajin: Why don’t we follow them together?]

[Cristopher: It will be weird. They’ll think something is going on. We can’t let that happen.]

[Kim Hajin: Oh, right.]

[Cristopher: Don’t worry. I won’t be far away. Also… There’s something I want to check.]

[Kim Hajin: What?]

[Cristopher: If my list actualizes while looking the Djinn transform. Or if I have to personally kill them or injure them for it to happen.]

[Kim Hajin: Oh, so? How do you plan to do that?]

[Cristopher: Easy. I’ll be watching you killing him while being close. Like really close. In case something goes wrong I’ll be able to act. So, don’t worry. It’s a fool-proof plan.]

[Kim Hajin: Okay. That doesn’t sound bad.]

[Cristopher: Though… I highly doubt that it would work. It would still be good to test any possible way.]

[Kim Hajin: What about being close to the Djinn?]

[Cristopher: Nothing. I already checked the list, and I walked close to Sven when going out of the combat training. The only thing that changed was Zepar, and only the word ‘enemy’ was added to him, and it probably has to do with me fighting another servant of his…]

[Kim Hajin: Got it. You’ll probably become some kind of Djinn Hunter.]

[Cristopher: I prefer the term, Djinn Slayer. I knew a few of them. Though, the ‘Djinn’ in that name referred to another type of creature.]

[Kim Hajin: Really?]

[Cristopher: Yeah.]

[Kim Hajin: Oh, by the way, Kim Suho invited me to some kind of reunion this Friday. I think it has something to do with the recent attacks. Apparently, Chae Nayun recommended me.]

[Cristopher: Oh, nice. That’s good.]

[Kim Hajin: Yeah… I’m planning to make things advance faster… To try and save a few people.]

[Cristopher: How so?]

[Kim Hajin: You’ll see. After all, I asked if you could go, and he said only if you were trustful, to which I said yes. Well, in reality, I had to do a lot of convincing, but taking into account Kim Suho’s personality, it was still possible. So welcome aboard.]

[Cristopher: Oh… You really didn’t have to do that… Well, whatever. I’ll go and at least accompany you…]

[Kim Hajin: Thanks… I was slightly worried about going alone actually…]

[Cristopher: Don’t worry man. I told you already. We both have to do our very best.]

[Kim Hajin: About that. Tomorrow I’m going to pick some weapons in a Dungeon. Was going to ask you… But taking into account what you told me… I think it’s better for me to go alone.]

[Cristopher: Aether? Sure… You better go by yourself. We better evade any possible change I could make there. Still, remember this Saturday we’re going to a dungeon. I already have one in mind.]

[Kim Hajin: Perfect. I’m going to sleep then.]

[Cristopher: Sure, go ahead.]

“Guess tomorrow is kind of a free day… Well, with classes canceled tomorrow and Thursday, it will be pretty boring. Guess I’ll just be training or something.”

Right as I was planning my training session for tomorrow, I felt my smartwatch vibrate twice.

[Rachel: Hello Cristopher-ssi… Can we talk tomorrow?]

[Mark: Hello dude… Can we talk like, tomorrow? It’s about what happened in the Mock Dungeon Trial…]

“…”-I stay there looking at the two new messages that came to my smartwatch. “Well… I may have expected it from Mark… But Rachel texting me is… Weird…”

I merely stay there thinking about what to answer. So, I did what should probably be the best choice.

[Cristopher: Sure. Let’s meet tomorrow at 5:00 PM in Aroma Mocha, that coffee shop close to where we take anti-personnel classes.]

I sent the same text to both cadets. And shortly after both of them answered with an ok, so it means we all will be meeting tomorrow at the same time.

“Doesn’t matter what they want to talk. I’m sure they both can do it at the same time, after all, we’re all teammates.”-I said before going to take a shower to sleep.

***

It was Thursday morning, almost midday. And no. This time I didn’t wake up this late.

I actually woke up at 5 and trained as I did yesterday night until complete exhaustion, which means, I trained until 8:00 AM. After that, I had to rest for like thirty minutes. I always thought that exhausting my mana or any other kind of energy was worst than exhausting my body… At least the body could recover with mana or Natural Energy, but you had to wait for a natural recovery when you exhaust your energies…

After that, I took a shower, only to go and start running around Cube's campus for a few rounds. With a constant speed of 60 km/h, just to keep it at a low profile. Though I kept running for quite a bit, only getting to my room at 11:45 AM.

“Now… Just take a shower and wait for the hour to see these guys…”-I said while going inside the bathroom.

***

Getting out of the shower, I start putting on my clothes, and that’s when I noticed the gauntlets on the table in front of the coach.

“Oh, right!”-I facepalmed. “I forgot to look into that! Well… I better do it now. After all, I have nothing to do.”

For the record. Training in the Gravity Room is canceled for the moments. After all. All sessions get recorded in the control panel, so unless I want Hajin to waste SP uselessly every day or I want to completely reveal my ability, it would be good not to train in there. That’s why I’ve been training more my magic power, Natural Energy and Draconic Energy instead. At least until I find a way to use the Gravity Room safely.

“Let’s see… First… The gauntlets.”-I said as I grab the gauntlets.

[Fire Drake Gauntlets]

[Gauntlets made from the scales of a Fire Drake. A pair of gauntlets that only a true champion can wear.]

[Defense. Equipment.]

[These gauntlets grant a great defense to their user. Thanks to being made of Fire Drake’s scales, they can reduce the damage taken from fire attacks to a certain extent, only when the attack is received by the gauntlets. They adapt to their user’s size.]

“Mmm… Meh, it’s not bad considering that they’re mere gauntlets… But honestly… It’s totally useless for me… I should probably give them to someone else. Maybe Hajin… Though it would be weird for him to be on the receiving end of attacks since he’s a sharpshooter. Oh well, doesn’t matter…”-I said while putting down the gauntlets, and taking the necklace with a reptile’s eye.

[Eye of Fire]

[A fire mana crystal refined until perfection with fire energy and the breath of a Fire Drake, it took the form of a Dragon’s eye.]

[Enhancing. Fire Attribute.]

[It enhances the user’s fire abilities and spells by 10%. In the case of using Natural Energy, the power increase is 15%]

“Ho… This is useful. It’s just a necklace and it gives a passive increase to any fire ability or spell, and even more if there’s Natural Energy involved… Guess this is one of the examples of how the world is adapting to me… I’m keeping this one.”-I said while leaving the necklace on the table, before putting the gauntlets inside my drawer with the rewards from the Ice Wing Queen.

“I still have to see what I’ll do with those too… I’m not really using them, and they’re just grabbing dust…”-I said as I close the drawer. “Oh, well, I’ll sleep a bit while there’s still time.”

***

*KIM HAJIN’S POV*

“I finally found it… It’s not a surprise that no one had been able to find it until now…”-I said as I look back while taking a deep breath… What was at my back, just a mere inch from my feet was a razor-sharp cliff slightly covered in vines and moss. “Whew… Thankfully I have parkour and my stigma as an insurance…”-I said as I turn back to the front, towards the entrance of a really dark cave.

Thankfully, both of my gifts made it possible for me to perfectly look through this cave. I was about to enter the Gari Mountain Dungeon. A dungeon located in the middle of a cliff, which I could find thanks to a map is given to me by the Book of Truth when I asked ‘Where’s the Gari Mountain Dungeon’. A really easy gift to use…

And my luck was even better and easier to use… I just have to do things, and the universe would help me… Walking here I stumbled upon a root, and it ended up being 7-years-old ginseng that could easily net me about 700.000.000 won thanks to its enhancing properties that are really looked for in this society. What’s better is that I could use that money for buying stocks and getting even more money.

“Well… Let’s go… Thankfully, I’m better prepared than I thought I would be, thanks to Cristopher…”-I say as I go inside the cave.

Before coming here, I checked my variable stats.

[Strength 2.075] [Stamina 2.653] [Speed 2.835] [Perception 2.865] [Vitality 2.135] [Magic Power 1.450]

I’m pretty sure these stats would be impossible to get in this small period of time if it wasn’t for Cristopher’s Natural Energy and the hardcore training… Though, my magic power is really low… It hasn’t increased too much…

Although, even with more stats than I thought, this Dungeon should be impossible for me because of its boss, a High-Intermediate Rank 1 Death Knight. Though I still could go through its hidden stage, that’s a lot easier, and had exactly the reward I came for.

While thinking about my recent increase in stats, I look deep inside the cave as far as I can with my enhanced sight, and I spot the ghost that works as the switch monster and that would guide me right towards the hidden stage of this Dungeon.

“But… Just to be sure…”-I said as I take the early ginseng I found. It had seven roots, so I took three of them.

“Let’s make a few modifications…”

Taking out my laptop from my bag. I started modifying the three roots.

I tried a few things, but finally, I decided in modifying two of them to increase my variable stats by 2 during 30 minutes when eating them, so eating both would give me a max of 4 points in each variable stat during those 30 minutes. This only costs 5 SP per ginseng root, meaning, 10 SP in total.

The last one was a little bit more special.

[Soaks into magic power to increase its power.]

That way I could strengthen any ability that used magic power only by touching it with the ginseng root. And it only cost 5 SP. All in all, it was a good investment, and I still had 4 roots more to sell in Violet Banquet.

With all preparations made, I started my way into the dungeon. I wasn’t even ten steps inside when an eerie chill permeated the place and penetrated my body. Giving me a really bad feeling. Though it didn’t stop me, so I kept walking.

After walking a little bit, I heard a ghastly sound that made me hid really quickly behind a rock-wall.

Looking right through the rock thanks to my gifts, I could find the switch monster really close to me, a ghost that wasn’t too different from a holographic man floating…

“Just a magic bullet will be enough to kill it.”-I murmur as I prepare my Desert Eagle. And right after taking a deep breath I go out of my hiding and shot it right through in the middle of the eyes.

Thanks to my gift Master Sharpshooter being at rank 8, hitting a slow monster was an easy job. Just like that ghost.

And even if the bullet only phased through it, the magic power inside it did the work, eliminating the ghost that soon transformed into particles of light.

And right at that moment, activated by some kind of event, a current of wind came from who knows where and took the sparks of light of the defeated ghost further into the cave.

{This is it! The light will take me towards the hidden stage.}-I thought as I followed the sparks of light that left the defeated ghost.

After walking for about 10 minutes, I finally got inside the Hidden Stage, a place completely isolated from the rest of the Dungeon that was also the house of a little spirit witch. Evandel.

{She’s just a kid…}-I thought as I see the little witch in a spirit body, barely 140 cm tall, carrying Aether, the reward I came here for. {*sigh…* I have to do it… Even if I don’t, Tomer will someday come and kill her… strengthening herself and the Djinn side…}

Killing her won’t only give me Aether, the formless weapon I came to look, but also Evandel’s Seed, a little seed that would someday bloom into a true witch.

In my novel Evandel was supposed to grow while surrounded by Djinns, transforming her into one of the worst enemies of humanity. You must never underestimate an adult witch. But this time… I could change it. I could make things different, and maybe one day she would grow to become a protector of humanity.

With that thought in my mind, I prepared. First, I created a Spear of Light with my Stigma’s Magic Power. It was easy, though the final result was a far cry from what I imagined. It wasn’t big or sharp enough to call it an arrow as the Stigma didn’t have enough magic power. But it’ll have to be enough.

“Well then, let’s be sure…”-I said as I take two ginseng roots and eat them. Letting all that power flow inside of me.

With almost 4 points added to my stats, I should probably be as strong or stronger than Yoo Yeonha, at least when it comes to everything but magic power.

“Now… The last step…”-I said as put the last one close to the Light Spear I made. The ginseng disappeared into the spear, augmenting its power and making it look more like a real spear. Ready to shot, I take a last look at Evandel, who was squishing the body of the ghost that I killed to come here…

*sigh…*

{Now!}-With everything ready. I prepared every strengthened muscle on my body and threw the spear towards Evandel. Hitting her right between the eyes, penetrating her head.

That should have killed her… But she merely looked at me… Slowly transforming into a vengeful spirit with the spear still penetrating her head.

“Hmm… Wait… Can we just talk about this?”

*UAAAAAAAANGGGGG*-She screamed towards me.

But only to disappear the next moment. Leaving Aether a little further away and a little seed on the floor.

“Uff… That was close… I almost pissed myself…”-I murmured to myself while calming my breath…

After I finally calmed myself, I went towards where Evandel was before, ready to pick up my reward. I first picked the seed of Evandel.

[Evandel’s Seed]

[A seed containing the soul of Evandel the witch]

“Well… I don’t know what uses it could have… But at least it won’t fall on the Djinn’s hands… That’s one enemy less…”-I said as I put inside my backpack before going forwards towards the darkness, where a slime-like weapon with a blue hue was waiting for me.

After picking it up I checked it with my laptop. And it was truly a great weapon, one that could take any Djinn towards an executive position inside their organization…

[Aether]

[A corporeal but formless weapon. Adheres to its master or his weapon, reinforcing their strength.]

[Mystic. Formless. Evolving.]

[Master Selection: It will not adhere to another being once a master is chosen. / Physical Body Reinforcement: Increase the variable stats of its owner by 0,6 points. / Weapon Reinforcement: Adheres to its master’s weapon and strengthen the weapon’s attack power. / Formless Weapon: Aether itself can also form a weapon (current rank – High Rank). / Evolving Weapon: All the above functions of Aether evolve with its owner. Depending on the states of Aether’s awakening, other functions could develop.]

“I finally have it… Though I didn’t think it would be this easy…”-I said while looking at the description of Aether.

But it seemed that I jinxed myself… Because just as I finished saying that, all around I started hearing sounds of bones moving. And it wasn’t all. Because little by little, white skeletons started forming… Each of them with some kind of weapon…

“Why did I have to speak…”-I murmur while looking all around me. “Well… Better test Aether… Don’t want to waste bullets on mere white skeletons. Also… I still have some time left until the ginseng effects wear out…”-I said while forming a club with Aether.

“Let’s do this!”-I said, going towards the first skeletons in front of me.