The dantian was cracking, and it was happening quicker than Raze had expected. It took him a big event like going against the Light Faction Elder to reach the third stage, and he thought it would be the same again for the fourth stage.
With a lack of crystals for energy and needing to split crystals between growing his magic core and dantian, it would take him longer to progress compared to others. This was expected. Although he had the potential to be stronger than the others, it took him twice as long and twice the amount of resources.
However, it seemed like the bottlenecks that were harder for those to break through might be different for each individual, and having already gone through a hard bottleneck before for himself, this was a lot easier.
Using the extraction technique on the strong, powerful third-stage warrior while they were still alive allowed Raze to consume all their energy, and when his dantian started to break, the student had been dropped on the floor. His body was lifeless, shriveled slightly but not to the point where it looked to be dehydrated. It was hard to tell much difference since the student was already somewhat malnourished and looked mostly like bones before they even started fighting.
"Is this it? Am I reaching the fourth stage now?" Raze thought.
The cracks in his dantian grew and grew until finally, it had split apart. It broke, growing large in size, and underneath a layer was solidifying. A wave of Qi burst out from his body. All of the students in the dark space felt a gust of wind hit them, but the wind itself seemed energized and filled with energy. Shortly after, a pungent smell entered their noses.
Although the others couldn't see it, a small amount of black smoke was almost coming out from the pores of Raze's body, escaping into the air. It was another layer of impurities that had gathered in his body; they had left, allowing him to become more complete, stronger, faster, reach another stage, and even somewhat extend his lifespan.
"Oh, it looks like from that fight, you managed to break through to the next stage. I'm guessing you're now a stage 3 Pagna warrior?" Feebie commented.
Feebie had no clue what stage Raze was at, but she had witnessed him using strength at the level of a second-stage warrior during the event against the main disciples. Somehow, using his skills, he was still able to beat Ricktor, who was at a higher stage than him. This was why she also didn't think it was too odd for the White Dragon to have bested the Yellow Headband stage 3 warrior either. Due to the darkness, she mostly had to use her other senses to imagine how the fight went on.
There were some things she did find strange, but nothing too shocking that would make her suspicious of the student. Besides, she knew he was one to use some demonic techniques, and she herself didn't know most of them in the first place.
What she was wrong about was the stage that Raze had broken through to; he was now at the 4th stage, a feat that only one in every hundred thousand Pagna warriors could achieve at his age, a true talent.
"As you can all hear or see, the Yellow Headband student has lost," Feebie announced. "But in the process, it looks like our White Dragon was able to progress to the next stage. It appears that even he is benefiting from this assessment nicely."
"Which is why the assessment will continue for all of you, and I can't wait to see the results down here."
Her words were noted by the students because there was a said prize for winning. A prize that made it so the other students would even consider facing the others in the first place.
"Wasn't he meant to be free from this place if he won?"
"Is she saying we have to stay down here with him?"
"Wait for how long, until everyone is dead? Isn't it clear that he'll be the only one left alive?"
The tension in Raze's fist continued. After winning the fight, he thought he had an easier way to get out of here and explore, to do the things he needed to do. But he should have expected that they would go back on their word, and that everything was just for show.
'Being in the Academy the way it is, is no longer safe. I fear that the same thing will happen to me as it did at Alterian. Dame is right; I need to act faster,' Raze thought to himself. 'You were the ones that brought this on yourselves.'
"All of you are to be warned, the second-year students of each of the color headbands are going through this as well," Feebie stated. "The Blue Headband wearer here will be joining the second-year students."
"Remember, all of you are battling for the same places, and when I return next time, I might be bringing them with me. So I expect to see some results in here. If you want to grow and survive, you can't just wait and cower in the corner; you have to strive even higher."
With those words said, Feebie and the rest of the teachers decided to take their leave. They started to scale the side of the walls, while one of the teachers picked up the Blue Headband student. When they reached the top, the metal hatch had opened slightly, and all of them escaped through. The light from above quickly closed up, and the entire room returned to one of darkness for them all.
No longer did it feel like the same place they were in before; everything felt a bit different now. The first ones to leave the dark place were the main disciples, standing further apart from each other than they did before, and after that was Raze, Dame, and Simyon.
They had their own things they needed to do. The first place of concern for them was one of the seclusion rooms. They could see Safa had placed Liam on the ground, and she had already done some work. She had used the restore spell around his stomach, restoring the wound to what it was before. It had already practically closed up completely, but Liam's skin still looked slightly pale.
"Here, take these," Raze said, throwing two pills, one red and one blue in color. "The red pill will heal him slightly, but it won't be as good as your restore spell. I'm sure you've tired out quite a bit anyway. As for the blue pill, it will help him restore his own Qi, allowing his body to do the rest of the healing that you can't do."
Safa nodded and quickly gave Liam the two pills. She placed her hand under his jaw, forcing him to chew them a few times, knowing it would be slightly hard for him to swallow. Everyone's throats were practically dried out due to the lack of water. Still, the energy was passing through him, and color was returning to his face somewhat.
"So, judging by your actions there, are you taking what I said before into consideration?" Dame asked.
"Do you always ask questions you already know the answer to?" Raze replied.
"Well, I just thought I would give you some peace of mind while you're gone," Dame said with a smile. "I'll look after these three. In the meantime, we won't just be doing nothing. Everything that I have learned through my years of life and having already gone through the Pagna Academy, I will teach them all. While down here, I'll make sure that they become even stronger than the main disciples."
Hearing this, Raze decided to pull out another object, a small warrior statue he had on hand.
"Now that Safa can produce magic as well, she will be able to activate this," Raze explained. "Maybe you can use this in your training as well."
Just then, there were a few coughs from the floor, and Liam's eyes were wide open. Small specks of blood landed on his clothes and the ground, but not too much for them to worry about.
"From the sound of things, are you leaving this place?" Liam asked.
Raze looked at all of them in the eye and gave them a nod.
"Well, when you return, are you going to do what I think you're going to do? Are you going to take out that Clan head? If you are... I need to at least get a hit in myself!" Liam shouted and started to cough some more.
"No," Raze replied. "I plan to return, and when the assessment is over, I don't plan just to take out the Clan head. I plan to take on the whole Academy. So all of you, get stronger. Get strong enough so you can pay them back with your own hands because that's the only way to get out of this situation."
"And that's the only way these people will learn!"
