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Inside a luxurious room filled with exquisite decor, three figures could be seen. Two of them seemed to be conversing with each other, while the last one was laying on top of a table, no motions were seen.

At the moment, the stunning pale-skinned Grand Magus Zenoia was staring at the person in front of her, a disciple of her, "Did you do exactly like what I instructed you to do, Xion?" The grand magus said with a sharp glint in her eyes.

Facing his grand master, Magus Xion tried to calm his nervous state and answered, "Yes, master… He actually took two pills instead of one…"

"Two Spirit Foundation pills? And he survive those?" Grand Magus Zenoia asked with disbelief. But as he nodded his head as a sign of confirmation, Magus Xion was sure he could see traces of elation in his mentor's expression.

The gorgeous grand magus turned even more excited the moment she saw the confirmation. While Magus Xion was a little taken back by the reaction of his mentor, he still voiced the thing that he worried the most.

"Master… Is he going to be alright?" Magus Xion asked, pointing his finger at the figure laying on the table.

Grand Magus Zenoia was silent for a moment, "I don't know, Xion. Probably not." The grand magus chuckled, as she heard the words coming out of her own mouth.

Upon hearing the last words spoken out, the expression on Magus Xion changed as he pleaded, "Master, he is a good kid. Can you help him?"

"Of course I can, Xion.. but I can only do half the process. The rest of it will be depending on him. Let's see if this kid has the will to succeed."

After she said that, Grand Magus Zenoia raised her hand. In an instant, Emery's body, who had laid unconscious on the table, started to float into the air.

Several seconds passed, as the grand magus chanted and casted a spell. Immediately after, the shadow beneath grand magus' figure suddenly moved by itself and unexpectedly rose to the air towards the floating Emery.

In the blink of an eye, the shadow went into Emery's body, covering his entire body with a layer of impenetrable darkness.

Due to the spell, Emery was slowly awakened from his unconscious state. Still in half-conscious condition, Emery was startled when he realized he couldn't see anything around him, only pitch black darkness. Thanks to the spell that encompassed his body, Emery could not see past the layer of darkness, but he could still faintly hear sounds outside of it.

While he tried to perk up his ears, catching anything that could help him identify where he was, Emery suddenly felt a strange sensation in his entire being, as if hundreds of small ants were crawling all over his body. The sensation was both painful and soothing at the same time.

"A Dark Core is truly a fascinating matter…" Grand Magus Zenoia mumbled, causing Magus Xion's face to change. "The way the ancients cultivated... Hmm… I wonder if the kid thought of this or if it was because of an accident."

A perturbed expression appeared on Magus Xion's face, as Grand Magus Zenoia worked on Emery's body. Well, his worry was not without reason, as his esteemed master currently didn't look like treating Emery at all. Instead, it looked more like an experiment.

Moments later, the focused Grand Magus finally spoke again, "Yes. As expected... There are bits and pieces of the three different elements stuck inside his dark core, causing it to turn chaotic, as it is unable to filter the energy of the three elements correctly."

Grand Magus Zenoia then flipped her hand and casted another spell. The layer of darkness around Emery's body swiftly waved all around, creating a swirling black vortex.

Inside the vortex, the now fully-awakened Emery felt the spell slowly made his chaotic spirit core relaxed, as it slowly released the tension it held. At the moment, Emery felt as if a tight blockade within him had been destroyed without traces, he could suddenly breathe the air seamlessly.

Still excitingly examining the changes occurring inside Emery's body, the grand magus didn't leave Magus Xion in the dark, as she proceeded to explain her findings, "The pain was coming because he was unable to absorb all those surging energies from the pill."

But then, Grand Magus Zenonia was suddenly startled, as she delved deeper into Emery's dark core. The expression on her face indicated she had found something unexpected. Whatever it was, it must be extraordinary to make even an esteemed grand magus surprised.

Grand Magus Zenoia found a particular dark energy lingering in the depth of Emery's dark core. Curiosity filled her, the grand magus casted another spell, trying to reach deeper. Alas, she was frozen in shock as the mysterious energy bounced her probe back.

On the other hand, Emery could feel something slowly brewing inside him, right in his spirit core. A sphere of energy was growing and then, in an instant, an explosion occurred within his spirit core. Emery felt a rush of spirit energy flowing through his body. His spirit core was once again undergoing the evolution to the next stage.

[Spirit core of Darkness - stage 4]

[Your spirit force had increased tremendously]

[Spirit force 185].

Emery was astounded as he saw the notification that appeared inside his mind. That was an immediate increase of 30 points! He suddenly felt refreshed, as if he was reborn. Emery felt as if his whole body was being lifted up full of energy.

The moment Grand Magus Zenoia retracted her spells, Emery finally realized the situation he was in. He quickly got off the table and knelt in front of the grand magus. "Thank you for your kindness, grand magus." Emery said with a hint of gratitude in his voice.

Emery was silent for a few seconds, waiting for the grand magus' response. Alas, it seemed the grand magus was somehow lost in her thought. Magus Xion, who noticed his master's condition, asked with a worried tone, "Master... Are you alright?"

That was the exact moment the grand magus returned to her senses. And the next thing she did was staring at Emery. A disbelief was seen on her face, before it suddenly turned into laughter.

"kid… you can go now..."

Not only Emery, but even Magus Xion also found the reaction the grand magus showed to be very strange. But the two of them surely didn't have the guts to ask why. Hence, Emery quickly gave another gratitude and excused himself together with Magus Xion.

When the two of them left the room, leaving Grand Magus Zenoia alone in there, the grand magus finally returned to her composed self. She walked towards one of the information cube floating in the room and searched for something in the academy database.

Browsing through the database, Grand Magus Zenoia opened the profile list of the academy's second year acolytes. She then accessed the profile of one of those acolytes, to be more precise, Emery's. As the grand magus read through the file from his recent accomplishment to his first year history, her eyes suddenly glowed the moment they landed on a certain incident that happened in the first year.

To be continued