Ezra woke up with a yawn, his bone snapping as he stretched and then proceeded to sit up.
Afterwards, he took a look around and promptly sucked every item in the chamber into his space ring, except for his bed.
'Let's sleep a bit more' he thought.
—----------
Waking up once more, Ezra opened his doors to see the siblings lined up in armor.
Their faces bright, having rested well.
"What are you doing?" Ezra asked.
"What you told us to"
"I never said to wear armor, or are you trying to announce to every bystander that we are people with status?"
They coughed awkwardly, not having thought of the matter like that.
"We'll be traveling in normal clothes"
They turned with haste to go change, when Ezra stopped them.
Rubbing his head, he said…
"I've decided that we'll begin our journey tomorrow"
They rubbed their heads, Theron eventually speaking…
"Might we know why?"
Ezra turned to him, raising his index finger.
"Simple. I cannot estimate the danger along the way, nor the dangers at the academy. So today, everyone's advancing. You have more than enough training"
They beamed.
"Like your first sessions, I'll be guiding you and strengthening you with mana"
"Now, let's have the girls go first"
—-------------
Ezra sat cross-legged in his chambers with Roxanne sitting in front of him, her back bare of clothes.
"U-um, c-could you-"
"Hmm?"
"Could you hurry up? This is embarrassing"
Ezra stared for a minute before nodding.
"Okay"
He exhaled.
"From this point, you must not look back" he repeated.
"No matter what happens, you must not look back. Do you understand?"
She nodded.
"We'll begin" said Ezra.
"It might hurt a bit"
He took out a mana stone and placed it in his mouth, directing the mana to his palm, which he placed on Roxanne's back.
"Mmm!" Intense pain assaulted her as Ezra's mana seeped into her body and then into her veins.
"Concentrate" he said, forcing Roxanne to shut her eyes to make sure the mana didn't deviate.
From her pores came black liquid - impurities - followed by tainted blood.
For the next hour, Roxanne remained still, sweating all over as Ezra's mana continuously intruded her body, cleansing it before subsequently taking the mana as hers.
Her veins bulged and her hair fell off while her face grew red with heat as pimples formed and popped, expunging the impurities in her head.
Only after the second hour did Ezra deem her impurities to have been cleansed substantially and stop the process.
While she exhaled with panting breaths, Ezra's voice resounded…
"Clean up and lie down somewhere"
As she got up, he added one more thing…
"Tell Velora to come in"
As Velora was smaller, it took Ezra only one and a half to finish.
Without resting, he cleansed Ashton and Johan, both taking three hours respectively.
At the end of Johan's session, it was close to midnight.
Looking at his quivering arms, Ezra smiled.
'I guess this is my current limit'
Theron's turn would be at dawn.
It was astounding, going from doing the cultivation sessions monthly to having them done in the same day.
You couldn't have better proof of Ezra's growth!
And that made Ezra smile the whole night.
—-----------------
Dawn came early, at least Ezra thought it did, and Theron's cultivation session began, ending after four and a half hours.
Ezra took a one-hour nap and then cultivated for another two to get fully recovered.
Afterwards, he called the siblings into his chambers and had them arrayed in front of him.
The siblings had advanced to Advanced-rank months before. Now, they were to breakthrough to Expert-rank.
His gaze pervaded them all.
"First of all, I congratulate you all for getting this far"
The siblings froze, taking glances at each other, wondering if they heard right.
Ezra coughed to displace the awkward atmosphere.
"Your achievements are outstanding, but beyond this castle, there are far too many geniuses, and worse, old monsters"
He continues…
"Outside, the enemy comes unexpectedly, it does not care for age or for what 'potential' you might have. In a situation where you end up in battles against those above you…shall you have any other choice but to die?!"
No one spoke.
"I guess we all agree on that. So, I'll have all of you advance to Expert-rank before we leave"
"But that might take days. What of the academy entry tests?" Ashton spoke out.
Ezra waved his hands.
"If we miss the tests, then so be it. Regardless, we will be leaving the castle. I have never fancied working on someone else's time, are we clear?"
"Yes"
"Also" he stared them down.
"You will all be advancing today"
They froze again.
"Are you serious?" asked Theron.
"Have I been joking that much in the past?" they shook their heads.
"Good. Like before, girls before boys"
Like so they begin, Velora taking the lead this time.
Without fanfare, Ezra began the advancement session.
"Listen carefully. Like yesterday, I'll be imparting mana into you, only, it'll be four times the normal amount. And this time, not only must you blend it into yours, you must circulate it through your veins and keep at it until I tell you otherwise. Clear?"
"Y-Yes"
Then she muttered…
"I'm not sure I can properly control that much mana"
"I know. That's why I'm imparting four times the normal amount. Just focus on controlling what you can control, and I'll be watching over you. Are you ready?"
"I-I-" she stammered, but Ezra chipped in…
"You don't have to worry. You've done this many times already. Besides, you didn't endure all that training to quit here, did you?"
She shook her head and inhaled.
"I'm ready"
Ezra's heart calmed. Emotions would just get in the way.
His right palm laid atop her bare back, with his left palm atop his right palm.
"Good. Brace yourself"
He threw a mana stone into his mouth as he said so, and in the next instant…
*Bom*
Velora's chest heaved as mana came gushing into her body.
A sense of euphoria hit her for a few seconds before she regained her senses.
"Don't worry about anything else except absorbing as much mana as you can"
The mana she didn't absorb would go on to filter impurities, which would then be filtered out of the body.
Her eyes glowed blue due to the overwhelming concentration of mana, while her green hair gained luster.
She puked out blood from time to time, tainted blood, and leaked blood from her ears and from the pores on her nose. Such were the effects of mana filtering out the impurities.
She was in an intense battle, ignoring the itches and pains to focus solely on absorbing mana and adding it to hers as fast as possible while making sure to keep the mana circulating through her veins.
Of course, no matter how great her concentration, it was ludicrous to expect to maintain such concentration over a long period of time.
Ezra knew so too.
Mana began swirling around them, and the rate at which impurities were expelled got faster.
If it gets expelled too fast, it could damage Velora's internal organs.
'It's almost time' Ezra wasn't going to let it get to that point.
Ezra planned for the process of breaking through to be a very short one, less than ten minutes long.
Sure enough, when the sixth minute elapsed, he gave the signal.
"Begin" he said and immediately ceased the flow of mana.
Velora went into action, circulating the mana in her faster than before. With Ezra's stopping the addition of more mana, there wasn't anything more to absorb.
Now, she was refining.
Circulating the mana faster and faster had it begin the process of condensing, till it felt like a foreign liquid in her body.
At this point she knew…
'It's ready'
In one go, she directed it to her heart.
"Mmm!"
Blood smashed against her shut lips and her eyes grew bloodshot as a result of the mana's density…but she wasn't stopping!
'I'm not going to let all that training go to waste'
With renewed resolve, she directed it to her Beast Core situated at the center of her chest.
It was an orb the size of a fist glowing neon green.
The moment the stream of mana entered into it via a blood vein, Velora's heart rate quickened.
Pride came upon her as she had succeeded, but some final touches remained.
Now, her heart was settled, but she didn't just let the mana settle into her Beast Core, instead, she had it begin circulating.
Once the rotation was initiated, she took a breather, opening her lips to have the blood pour out while she maintained the rotation with a single arm.
Her other arm grabbed the potion containing a refined bloodline by her side and gulped it down.
Like a creature of its own, the bloodline moved with purpose and arrived at the Beast Core in seconds, merging right into the rotating ring of condensed mana - that of the highest quality!
She inhaled heavily, her eyes rolling backwards, and just…froze.
Minutes went by with Ezra watching the situation calmly, while being baffled and fearful inside.
'Come on. He said it would work'
And then…
*Ahh!*
She unfroze and began making a cacophony of wails while holding her head.
Ezra distanced himself, holding a stance for battle.
Her body parts changed forms randomly and sporadically over the next few minutes as her wails grew louder.
Ezra was glad the chamber was sound proof at times like this.
Five minutes into wailing, her wails began to subside, and then…
*Boom!*
From her came a wave of blue light that sent Ezra flying.
He quickly got to his feet with a smile embedded in his lips.
'She did it!' he shouted inwardly.
The wave of blue light was also known as the light of advancement!
Ezra had succeeded…or had he?
Velora fell face flat right after.
