Saturday evening.

Training ground.

It had been a whole week since we started practicing our coordination.

A boy was lying on the ground, unconscious, but he soon woke up and said in a tired voice,

"Why do I always end up fainting?"

"Because you always lose focus. Also, you’re bad at close combat. You should train more and at least learn to coat your body with mana. Even a small, weak layer would still help," Asher said while drinking juice.

Adam nodded at Asher before looking to his left. A short distance away, Noah was lying on the ground as well. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Adam asked, "Why are you still lying down even though you’re awake?" while standing up himself.

Noah turned his head toward him and said, "Nothing. It’s just more comfortable to lie here than stand up. And who knows? If I keep lying on the ground, I might get enlightened and improve my mastery over the earth element."

Adam stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"He finally lost it. It seems your company is really affecting the way he thinks," he said while looking at Asher.

Aria then interrupted, saying, "So, what do you think about practicing tomorrow?"

Asher replied, "I can’t. I’m planning to break through to Gold Rank tomorrow."

Aria nodded at him and said, "I guess this is enough coordination training then, so we don’t really need more practice."

Adam then said, "I’m actually surprised you’re still only Silver 7-Star. You should’ve reached Gold long ago."

Asher replied, "That’s because I spent most of my time training my abilities instead of cultivating."

Adam nodded and said, "Fair enough. You must’ve trained really hard."

Asher replied, "Yeah. I was so close to qualifying for the semifinals of the Terror World Championship."

Adam looked confused and asked, "Wait... what championship?"

Asher replied, "Terror—the battle royale game championship. What else?"

Adam looked at him for an entire minute. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then stopped himself and simply walked out of the training ground while muttering,

"I’m going to go crazy if I keep talking to this guy."

Asher looked at Adam leaving and then said, "He’s really weird. I wonder if he fell on his head when he was a baby".

Aria and Noah just looked at him before saying, "Yeah, you’re probably right."

After training, they had no energy left to argue with him, so they also left the training room soon after.

Asher then also left for his room.

And then the whole day passed peacefully and quietly, just like always.

Next Day

Sunday

2:30 PM

Inside a private training room.

This room had a very high concentration of mana and was also extremely durable, so even if an accident happened during a breakthrough, the surroundings would not be destroyed.

While breaking through, there was always a chance of failure. It could cause injuries to the mana core, and in rare cases, even lead to death.

The most common reason for failing a breakthrough was losing concentration midway through the process.

That is why it was advised to perform breakthroughs in a safe and quiet environment where no one could disturb you, and these rooms were specially prepared for that purpose.

In the center of the room, Asher sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

For once, there was no lazy expression on his face, no headphones, and no juice in his hand.

The only thing present was silence.

Mana slowly flowed around him like invisible currents, gathering toward his body from every direction.

The concentration of mana inside the room was so dense that even breathing felt slightly heavier.

Asher calmly regulated his breathing while guiding the mana through his mana core again and again.

Minutes passed silently.

The mana around him began moving faster.

At first, it was only a gentle flow, but soon it turned violent.

The surrounding mana started rushing toward him like a storm.

Cracks began appearing on the floor beneath him from the pressure alone.

Sweat slowly dripped down his forehead, yet his expression did not change.

Inside his body, mana continuously compressed itself again and again near his core.

Once.

Twice.

Ten times.

The pressure kept increasing.

Normally, most people would stop after reaching their limit and slowly stabilize the mana before proceeding further.

But Asher continued compressing it without hesitation.

If someone had seen this, they would have called him insane.

The mana inside the room trembled violently.

Then suddenly—

Silence.

Everything froze for a brief second.

And in the next moment, a terrifying wave of mana exploded out of Asher’s body.

BOOM.

The entire room shook violently.

The protective formations engraved on the walls lit up instantly to contain the pressure.

Dust rose into the air as the mana storm spread throughout the room before gradually calming down.

Asher slowly opened his eyes.

This vessel has also reached Gold stage.

It was not really hard to breakthrough for Asher since he has breakthrough to Gold many time.

After breaking through to Gold Asher checked his body, he mana capacity has increased by 3 times and also his body has became stronger.

Now it won’t be a problem to survive in test.

Asher then practiced his mana control for an hour to get used to the changes in his body strength and increased mana.

After that Asher left the training room and headed to his room for a bath.

After taking bath he rested or played game for most of the time.

Next day

Everyone was standing in front of a portal.

This portal was connected to an island.

The island had no human inhabitants and was populated only by beasts, most of which were low-rank creatures.

Any beasts of higher rank had already been killed by the professors, so there would not be much danger during the test.

In addition, several guards would be watching everyone carefully in case of any unforeseen danger.

Soon, Professor Elisa arrived and said, "You all will be transported to an island for three days with nothing but your weapons, and you will have to survive there for the entire duration. You are also free to attack each other. As soon as someone is deemed unable to continue, they will be eliminated from the exam and transported back here by the supervisors, who will be watching your every move throughout the test."