Two weeks had gone by in a blink of an eye and all the while Andrew couldn't help but be in awe towards the monster he was creating. Cage could now make the translucent gas, which was mana he released, form various shapes and could maintain it for minutes at a time. Doing so was very tiring though it wasn't physically taxing apart from feeling a little drained due to expending mana, but the mental burden was not insignificant in the slightest. Cage was covered in sweat from his most recent practice session, but he felt he was close to a breakthrough.
His current goal was to reach Stage one, but it was still proving difficult. He had yet to accomplish something that was worthy of recognition, but he was determined to get there. He figured it was only a matter of time, sooner would be better than later though. Cage's current level of control could be considered to be the average level for a Stage one high-level. this was already an impressive level by itself, especially considering that every subsequent Stage would have better mana sense.
While his level was impressive, it wasn't enough to be considered a feat. He wanted to continue practicing, but he was out of mana. It would take some time to rejuvenate so he began to let his mind wander to unwind a bit. He went to put his hands behind his head, but the binding cuffs on his hands made it uncomfortable. He thought about how the only person he was remotely close to was Andrew, he was Stage Two but incredibly talented and had a natural instinct for combat. Cage couldn't help but think that Andrew should have risen to Stage Three if not Four.
'Now that I think about it, why hasn't he? he has been doing it for a long time, and he has been here a lot longer than me. I also haven't seen him cultivate once!'
Succumbing to curiosity, he proceeded to ask Andrew. Cage got up and walked over to Andrew who hadn't moved in the past hour and was had the aura of a rock. He poked him, "How come you don't cultivate? With your talent and time you should have at least increased a Stage right?"
Andrew's eyes remained closed but he opened his mouth. "That... was some time ago, and you're right. I would have probably been Stage Four by now... Sigh."
His face showed a hint of sadness and regret.
"You have probably already seen me coming back pale after my treatment right? And you already know that I have been in these mines for around 60 years. About 16 years ago, I had tried to reform my soul. Do you know what normally happens when you try to reform your soul but fail? Normally you would die because the core of your soul would be in pieces. Your soul is your very being if it is broken then you would become a husk. Your body would be alive, but you would be like a doll."
Cage was in shock. Andrew thought Cage was shocked for a very different reason than the actual one. Andrew thinking that he was surprised that Andrew almost died, but Cage was surprised because he had already reformed his soul but that when he was doing it only one wrong move and he would have died.
'... I could have died but didn't even know it. Just how the hell did I even manage to survive?'
Not being one to complain about being alive, he continued to listen to Andrew's explanation to his inability to cultivate.
"The reason why I'm alive is because I had assembled all the pieces of my soul, but only one piece was slightly misaligned. As a result, I didn't die but my soul was more or less crippled. I was considered lucky. I am now unable to cultivate with my method. I will never be able to advance my Stage or even my level..."
Cage felt like Andrew was cheated out of his future. He couldn't help but feel sad and frustrated for Andrew after hearing his explanation.
Andrew, sensing the change in Cage's emotions, wanted to make him cheer up. To Andrew, there was no sense in looking at your past mistakes.
"I actually just had a good idea so there's no need to look so down. Watching you increase your mana control gave me an idea just now that I should do the same! I might not be able to advance my Stage right now, but I can still increase my skill's strength!"
Cage considered Andrew as his dad more or less, so hearing that he could still get stronger and hadn't given up made him feel good. "That's great! Old man, make sure you don't fall behind me!"
You might think that Cage calling Andrew "old man" was rude, which it probably was, but Andrew had said he didn't care what Cage called him. Cage believed in the law of equivalent exchange, if Andrew would call Cage "kid", then naturally he would call Andrew "old man".
Andrew put a big smile on his face. "Who knows, maybe in the future we will find a treasure that can help me cultivate again! It's a big world after all..."
Andrew sat up from his bed. He no longer had the aura of a rock but of a calm and gentle breeze.
-=-=- [ ??? ] -=-=-
Boom!
In a large cavern, something moved at a speed impossible to track with the naked eye and dodged explosions that were occurring all around. Explosions could be heard consistently. With the sound of laughter, a voice of a man was heard. "Ha ha ha ha! You'll have to do better than that to beat me, you insect!"
"Tsk.. shut it, you dog."
A man and woman stood in the middle of an area that looked like what you would find after an artillery bombardment. They both clashed repeatedly multiple times every second. The man would try to get closer to her to get within striking distance, but the woman would constantly maneuver away to avoid his strikes or create distance.
The man jumped back, he had a glint in his eyes. " I hope you have fun with this one, It's my newest skill!" The man reared back to throw a punch, "[ Dusk Beam! ]"
He launched his fist forward, A beam of pure darkness expanded from his fist at a breakneck speed and pieced the chest of the woman.
The woman clenched her teeth, "Go to hell! [ Ground Zero! ]"
The woman pointed her hand at the man. A massive explosion occurred where the man stood and enveloped the surroundings in a 300 meter radius. It incinerated all of the surroundings and some unfortunate small critters. A shock wave spread out from the spell,The woman was visibly drained from an attack of that scale. Her face was pale and it seemed as if the blood had drained from her face, the wound in her chest certainly wasn't helping either.
The woman waved her hand. With it, a large gust of wind spread out and dispersed the dust thrown up by her spell. A large crater could be seen, but there was no trace of the man.
Suddenly, The man emerged from the woman's shadow. He had escaped the terrifying explosion, but was by no means unharmed. half his chest was covered in burns, and both his legs were charred black. "I could have died had I not escaped, as expected of your strongest spell!"
Contrary to expectations, the woman wasn't in an ideal condition to finish him off either. She had very little strength remaining due to the mana drain and wound she had received. Practically her entire lower chest was gone.
Now that the fight had stopped, their appearances could be seen. But something was... off. The man had dark gray fur on his fore arms and calves and he had fangs protruding from his mouth. he had blue eyes that seemed to hold infinite wisdom. He also had well built muscles and one could tell just from the aura he had, that he was incredibly strong.
"As if you would die from that, I could have died if your skill had hit me a little higher you know."
The woman had snow white hair. She also had deep blue eyes that complimented her hair. With a figure that would leave anyone's mouth agape, she looked overall very charming. However, she too wasn't a human. Her lower half consisted of a spider, she was an arachne.
"Ha ha ha, the fact is it didn't though! I guess our fight ends in another tie, I know I can't continue and you probably can't either."
The woman nodded in agreement. "as much as I hate to admit it, we are equals and will probably be equals for a long time. We have been doing this for a long time now after all and neither of us can seem to get the upper hand..."
"We still have nineteen moons until the final fight, I don't intend to hold back either. We will meet here again in a moon."
"Before we depart, I was able to sense your son. He should be able to return around the time we finish up challenging each other."
The man melted into a shadow and disappeared. The woman could only sigh. They had always fought every couple years, they always had a friendly rivalry because they were both Lord class beasts and wanted to see who was stronger. Hence, they always fought. More often than not, waves were caused by disasters of some sort be it natural or creature caused.
The woman also turned around to leave the battlefield, she turned into a blur and was gone in an instant.
The woman and man both had a strange feeling about the future, they had a gut feeling that something interesting would happen soon in the not so distant future...