After the starting few days at N.O.V.A, the curriculum changed drastically, the combat and theory classes were joined by some extra stuff: languages, maps and geography, monster analysis, world discoveries, technical system. Raviel felt the academic obligations growing on his shoulders, tremendously every new day.

The days started to blur together.

Finding his pace, Raviel settled into a brutal workaholic rhythm.

Lectures in the morning with Evelyn— mana theory, rift history. Then leo's combat class were physical exertion was treated like an achievement itself, while some newly added professors like Jake, Rita and Sarena taught the general subjects.

And after all that?

Six hours with katana, daily.

Everyday.

Sometimes more.

Raviel trained like a maniac in order to raise his katana Mastery. Slowly...slowly his Mastery was increasing despite the intial stagnation at eight percent.

Instructor Leo's words kept ringing in his mind.

'Pressure is exhilarating.'

So Raviel made sure it was.

Downward and upwards slashes, horizontal cuts. Controlled swings with addition of his gravity affinity to relearn the entire balance of the blade. The sound never stopped whenever he trained in his personal training room provided by the academy, unlike the normal students, rankers had the option to train personally in their own designated training rooms.

By the twelfth day, his bodily exertion was catching upto him.

On Tuesday night, long past the dinner hours, Raviel entered the training dorm again. The massive spherical light adjusted itself for eye comfort.

Walking with a towel draped over his shoulders, Raviel saw a group of three people who were in the lounge area.

He noticed them first.

Kai Crafton stood near one of the vending machines with his naginata resting against his shoulders.

Aron and Cinnia were talking about something that seemed quite important, every time Aron would speak, Cinnia's brows would furrow in disbelief.

Seeing all three of them at the same time.

Raviel slowed for a few seconds.

'Well, that's new.'

Only Kai noticed his presence and gave a small quiet nod. Aron and Cinnia just briefly looked at Raviel's direction then flicked their heads, back to their conversation.

Raviel nodded back, nothing more.

Walking down the curved path, he found his room and swiped the access card, and walked into the room. The door slid shut behind him with a soft thunk.

He summoned the katana, from his ring.

'Focus'.

Inside the room, Raviel lifted the blade and swung.

Once.

Then again.

And again.

After repeating this pattern multiple times, his hands trembled.

Raviel lowered the katana and let out a slow breath.

'This isn't taking me anywhere.'

Frustration bubbled up in his mind. He had done this pattern for a whole week and yet...his Mastery had just increased by a meager zero point-five percent.

As he looked at the blade.

A thought crept in— quiet at first, then louder the more he thought about it.

'Lightning...'

He already knew lightning wasn't just for external attacks. It could also be routed through the body — muscles, nerves, reaction speed. That part was still doable at his Adept level Mastery in lightning affinity.

But, his mind went somewhere riskier.

'Eyes'.

If lightning could accelerate nerve signals...could he push it into his eyes?

Could he see faster?

Could he...?

Slow motion.

The idea made his stomach tighten.

He knew his current limits. His lightning affinity was capped at Adept level which could not be progressed further. One mistake...one slip up and he could blind himself or damage his nerves due to his poor control.

He hesitated.

Then laughed quietly holding the katana in his hands.

"This...this is a bad idea"

Still, his feet didn't move away.

'Sigh, I am so dead.'

He closed his eyes and whispered.

"...[ MINDLOCK ]".

The world dulled instantly.

Sounds flattened. Colors lost their meaning. His breathing became controlled. His thoughts narrowed down to a singular line.

Carefully— very carefully — he guided a thread of his lightning mana upwards.

First attempt.

The moment, the mana came in contact with his pupils, everything went white.

His thoughts trembled.

"Fuck.... fuck.. shit"

He shut it down immediately. His vision returned in patches of white and black.

He tried to open and close his eyes, repeatedly, to make his vision come back to normal.

He waited for ten minutes.

'I can still do more'. His body screamed at him to stop, but, his mind remained steadfast in the pain.

He waited.

Then tried again.

Second attempt.

Aiming for better control and slower flow.

Still — his vision flickered, distorted like pieces of broken glass. His head throbbed, nausea crawling up his throat.

He killed it again.

His hands trembled from the leftover adrenaline.

"Third time's the charm", he muttered.

"Last attempt, can't do more than this."

He swallowed and focused

This time he didn't try to push the lightning, like he did it in his first two attempts.

He guided it...slowly.

He felt his pupils dilating.

And suddenly —

The world felt slower.

Not stopped...not frozen.

Just slower in his eyes.

His own breath felt heavy, like moving through an intense pressure. He in this slow state, saw how the dust motes shifted in the air.

Raviel's eyes were filled with a slight blue glow in them.

And that's when he noticed something strange.

He lifted the katana.

The gravity mana along the blade didn't look solid anymore. It looked… liquid. Uneven. Pooling more near the edge, thinner near the spine of the blade. Like uneven patches of oil on a surface.

'So I was training wrongly from the start'.

He realised that in his slow state, he adjusted it.

Instead of forcing gravity, he slid it.

Like smoothing water over cold metal.

His grip tightened.

In that moment he knew, he had to swing it.

So.

He swung.

Fast.

Too fast.

The katana moved — and for a split second, it felt like the world couldn't keep up.

A thin black line appeared in the air where the blade had initially passed.

No exploding sound.

No flash.

Just a clean, terrifying shhk—!.

The black line faded a heartbeat later.

Raviel stood frozen.

"…holy shit!."

Then something warm touched his cheek.

He blinked.

Drip.

Another drop fell onto the floor.

Red.

The drop was red when he glanced at the floor.

His vision burned now. Sharp, aching pain bloomed behind his eyes, like needles digging in behind every nerves.

"....."

"Fuck...aaahh! It hurts— hur—!".

He instantly shut everything down — [Mindlock] gone, lightning gone, gravity gone. His knees buckled and he crouched, grabbing a towel from the side rack and pressing it to his face.

It hurt.

Badly.

Not pain but blinding pain.

He pulled the towel away just enough to see the cotton stained in red.

"This is not good". He muttered hoarsely.

He wiped his eyes carefully, breathing through clenched teeth, then slowly stood up, swaying a little.

"Yeah, Infirmary. Definitely infirmary."

He dismissed his katana back in his ring, and pressed the towel hardly over his eye and stumbled towards the door.

Just as he took out his access card.

The status screen flickered to life.

Raviel looked at the screen and smiled happily. He swiped downwards in hurry.

____________________

[MARTIAL MODULE]

Everscent Severance [ ★★★★★ ]

Mastery— (_____ 15%)

Stance: (unlocked)

□ Kurochō □: Channel gravity throughout the katana's edge to increase the overall speed and weight. Forming graviton lines for a few seconds which create an immense pressure for trapped enemies.

To be unlocked....

==============================

For a second, he forgot everything else.

The pain felt like a distant memory for a few minutes.

"…no way."

His mouth stretched into a stupid grin.

"I actually.... I-i fucking did it!"

He let out a sharp laugh, half delirious, half proud of his own progress.

And then warm liquid ran down his fingers in the mid of his celebration.

Drip. Drip.

He looked at his hand.

More blood than before.

"O-Oh Sshit."

The pain spiked again, like his eyes were on fire now. His vision blurred worse, dark spots creeping in from the edges.

"Okay, okay, celebration later," he muttered, panic creeping into his voice. "Much later. It seems now"

He slammed the status screen shut, wiped his face again with the towel, and broke into a run down the curved hallway.

"Infirmary, infirmary, infirmary... where are you~"

His footsteps echoed as he sprinted, heart pounding and eyes burning, but even through the pain.

He was smiling.

....

In training dorms.

A figure kept on practising even when it was well past midnight.

The lights were dimmed to night mode, the wide space empty except for him and the dull sound of metal cutting air.

Whoosh—!

Kai spun the naginata in his hands, the blade flashing white as it lurched downward. His footing slipped slightly. The strike went wrong and broke its momentum halfway.

"Fuck," he hissed.

He reset his stance and swung again.

Too stiff.

"Fuck!"

He slammed the butt of the naginata into the floor and leaned on it, breathing hard while sweat dripped from his chiseled jawline.

"What the fuck am I doing wrong…"

His grip tightened.

"Why does it feel like those bastards have everything handed to them?"

His mind betrayed him immediately — faces he didn't want to think about came running to his mind.

Ezio, Isabelle, Aron, Cinnia and Valerie.

The clan heir's.

The genrational monsters.

The prodigies.

He laughed under his breath, but there was no humor in it.

"Rank six," he muttered. "I'm freaking rank six."

The words felt empty in his mouth.

"What does that even mean?"

He lifted the naginata again and attacked the air wildly, strikes rough and uneven, mana flaring without control.

"Rank six, but still nothing in front of them."

His chest burned.

He remembered today's duel between Adrian and Ezio. He remembered just how little time Ezio had taken to completely overwhelm Adrian.

The match had just ended in four moves.

Infact, Ezio didn't even try. Yet, he stil won.

The memory stung as Kai knew, how strong Adrian was and he knew how much he had to practice again and again and again just to reach where he was now.

It felt unfair.

Kai felt disgusted at himself for being envious of their talent and...everything they had.

His parents faces surfaced in his head without asking.

Both of them sitting in their tiny classrooms, teaching non-awakened kids. Low pay. Long hours. Smiling like it was enough.

'Just do your best, Kai.'

'We're proud of you, baby'

Proud.

That statement hit him hard.

"They took loans they'll never finish paying," he muttered. "Debt stacked on debt just to get me into Nova."

Another swing. Harder this time.

"They don't even know what it costs to stand here."

The blade trembled as it stopped mid-air.

"I can't fail," he whispered. "I-i don't want to fail..."

But the envy crawled up anyway, ugly and heavy.

"Rank six," he whispered again.

Then quieter, almost broken.

"What the hell is that worth… when I'm standing next to gods?"

The training room stayed silent.

And kai...he kept on practising till his body ached.

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