Painful

"You will have to complete seven stages in order to absorb mana. Listen carefully!", Drey warned sternly. He looked absolutely serious.

"Okay. I am listening", Travis said as he listened attentively.

He had never seen Drey so serious. In fact, this was the first time Drey really looked serious about something. He was simply curious. He wanted to know what made Drey so serious.

"I think I should let you know what you are up against. At least that would be fair.", Drey sighed and said helplessly.

"Hmm", Travis just nodded his head.

"The first thing you need to know is that what we are about to do is very dangerous. It's so dangerous to the extent that you can lose your life if we fail!", Drey said sternly, dropping the bombshell on Travis. However, compared to what Drey expected, Travis didn't react to what he said at all. Not even a bit.

His face remained emotionless. Completely, emotionless. This surprised Drey very much. He knew that Travis was very brave and smart but at least he was expecting some kind of reaction. However, not only did Travis not react to what he said at all, but his eyes were also flickering with mixed emotions as if he was contemplating something.

"I am ready. You can do whatever you want as far as there is a possibility of me surviving, do it. Even if it can take away my life!", Travis said after a moment of silence with a strong, determined face as if he was going to overcome any obstacle that was thrown at him.

Travis had a dream. It was one he had since he was a kid. It was to be the superhero he always saw on the television. He wanted to become strong, Strong enough to protect his family. He never wanted what happened to him around five years ago to never happen to him again. He didn't want to experience that again. The feeling of losing someone close to him.

"Huh?", however, compared to Travis, Drey was still in a daze, and haven't recovered from Travis' sudden outburst. He continued to look at Travis as his eyes flickered with emotions as if he was trying to forget a tragic past. After a while, a slow smile formed on his face as he looked at Drey.

"What? Why are looking at me with that weird smile on your face?", Travis asked feigning a confused face. To him, that smile looked creepy. It gave him goosebumps.

"Heh, since you are so serious, let's not waste time. I am going to explain all the steps in absorbing mana.", Drey said.

"I am ready", Travis nodded his head firmly.

"The first step is the sensing step. In this stage, I am going to help you sense mana. I will help you in this step. It's very easy. You going to have to use the technique I gave you on your first spirit training. That technique will help you sense the mana in the air"

"The second stage, the vessel creating stage, is the stage where you learn to create a vessel in your body to keep the mana you will be absorbing. You will have to use the vessel creation technique that I gave you. It's really easy…"

'So that's the main reason why you gave me all those techniques, huh?', Travis thought as he remembered the first time Drey handed him a technique.

At that time, he was so mixed up and didn't understand their use of them. However, he understood now. It seems that Drey has been planning this since the first time they met.

"Hey, Travis, are you listening to me? You seem absent-minded", Travis suddenly saw a wave of hand right at his face as he was lost in thoughts.

"Oh, I am fine. I just remembered something.", Travis said as he blinked his eyes.

"Hmmm… I see, if you are okay, then listen attentively.", Drey said to Travis.

"Okay! I am listening!", Travis said.

"Hmm… okay great! The third step is the connection stage. In this stage, you create a connection between your sensing and the vessel. It's easy, you can do it yourself!"

"As for the fourth one, it is the transferring stage. At this stage, you will have to use your sense to absorb the mana into you're the vessel you created."

"And as for the last stage, the absorbing stage, you will have to absorb the mana into your vessel. This is the most dangerous aspect! One small mistake and you can lose your life. It is very painful. It's far more painful than whatever you've gone through so you have to prepare.", Drey said sternly.

"Hmm… I see! Let's do this!", Travis said as he closed his eyes.

"Okay, then, start reciting the first technique I gave you. Let's do this!", Drey said as he held onto Travis' hand.

*****

"Hmm… This is the last stage; you were able to pass through all the steps with ease. However, the last step isn't going to be easy. It will be very painful since you are introducing a new source of power into your body!", Drey said to Travis who was currently drenched in sweat.

He thought it would be very easy to complete the steps before the last stage. However, he never knew that it would be so difficult. However, he was able to pull through with his body tempering and his comprehensive ability. If the easier steps were this difficult, he didn't know what to imagine in the last stage.

"Hmm…", Travis just nodded his head to indicate that Drey should continue.

"You should also not pass out under any circumstances. If you do so, you will die. I am very serious. You should never pass out!", Drey warned in a stern tone.

"Hmm", Travis then furrowed his brows, showing his worry for his own life before nodding his head.

"Okay let's begin!", Drey said as a huge amount of magic power began to enter Travis' body.

Waves and waves of mana began to enter his body through all the pathways including his skin! However, after a moment of silence,

"AHHHHH!!!!!!~"

A huge wave of pain hit Travis as the mana got into his body. It was really painful. Every movement sent waves of throbbing pain through his chest and back. It was exhausting and he felt sick, but there seemed to be nothing he could do about it.

His eyes darted all over, desperately searching for a way to relieve his body from this miserable feeling. With the passing of each moment, the pain only seemed to get worse and worse. For a moment he feared it would never stop.

It had seemed like the pain had been there forever and in a way, he was getting used to it, but at the same time, the fact it might stick a little while longer was terrifying. Perhaps against his better judgment, he swallowed the pain and continued onward, but took at least some care to prevent making it worse.

His vision went blurry as tears filled his eyes. He had never experienced this feeling before. His eyes darted as he tried to remain conscious but with it, all ended in failure.

"Don't lose it! You will be done soon!"

Drey continued to shout at him telling him to try to stay conscious but he didn't hear a thing. All he could feel was pain.

Suddenly, Huge waves of pain, more painful than the former hit Travis as he tried to remain conscious. Travis then lost it.

"AHHHH~!"

With a loud shout, everything went blank. He did the thing that he was warned never to do. He lost his consciousness.