Blink!
Rex opened his eyes to a world whose background was dominated by red colors. Instinctively looking up at the sky, he saw that the blue skies were gone, only to be replaced by a violet sky with a red hue.
It was like he was in a post-apocalyptic world as depicted in novels.
Originally, he should have been terrified suddenly finding himself in a world like this but Rex felt different. Though he was sure that he had never been here before, his body felt a sense of familiarity with this place.
All around him, he could see skyscrapers that plunged into the skies. Clearly, this was an extremely advanced city, even more, advanced than the current age.
"Where is this?"
Rex asked, confused as he finally looked down at himself. He was shocked.
At this moment, he was not dressed in his familiar black pants and polo shirt. He was dressed in what he could only call an advanced combat suit.
The black and red suit was so advanced that Rex suddenly felt like he was the Ironman. In his hand, he held a sword, Berserker!
Rex was even more confused, what was he doing here?
Wrapped around the sword was a potent and extremely sharp domain mystic energy. Rex had never felt this powerful.
He felt that with just one slash of his sword, he could unleash a sword energy attack that could sweep through this large city, annihilating all life that was inside it.
As he looked at himself more, he was shocked to discover that the combat suit was changing. All of a sudden, the suit had holes on different parts, scorched marks, and other signs that revealed that it had just gone through a fierce battle.
"Ouch!"
Rex felt a sharp prick on his forehead. On raising his free left hand to graze his head, he saw blood on bringing it down.
He quickly looked up, then he drew in a sharp breath. The tall skyscrapers that pierced into the violet skies were now a shadow of their previous selves, now spotting damage spots all over.
Some of them were in flames, others were already collapsing.
Rex stumbled, taking a step backward. "Where am I?"
As if in answer to his question, a virtual screen suddenly lit up before him.
[You have activated mystic ability: Upgrade!]
[…]
[…]
[…..]
[User Current Status: Injured!]
"What the hell is this?" Rex felt even more horrified as a lot of things went through his mind.
"Did the mystic beats take over the world? Did humanity lose? Oh, God! What of Ben and Cassandra, where are they?"
"Oh, God!" Rex was going crazy as a lot of things went through his mind, but this only lasted a short while as everything changed again.
Bzzz!
The next moment, Rex saw himself in the skies, watching a massive battle that was taking place below in the same large highly advanced city.
He was no longer a participant, he now felt like a spectator.
On the battlefield, he saw himself which horrified him more. His eyes were bloody red, and a red aura like a blood river surrounded him, including his living sword as he engaged in a mindless slaughter.
Seeing the blood flying everywhere, the heads flying, and the screams of his victims, Rex felt like puking. Was that really him?
"Noooo!" He suddenly screamed. "Leave my head! Stop messing with me!"
Bzzz!
The next moment, the scenery changed again. He was still in the skies as a spectator, but the world changed, he was now in a medieval world.
He saw himself again, in the forest, hunting for game.
He succeeded in killing a massive Lion all by himself, but on his way back, he was ambushed by a snake. Rex was swallowed by the massive Anaconda.
Puke!
Rex puked this time, not able to hold back.
Bzzz!
He was in another world, as a spectator again, in different circumstances.
Bzzz!
He was in another world, as a spectator again.
Bzzz!
Rex got fed up. "Leave me alone!"
"Help! Someone, anybody, please help!"
Bzzz!
"HELP!!!"
Rex woke up from his bed screaming for help.
He jumped up, scanning his surroundings rapidly while ignoring his sweat-filled body. To his relief, the familiar old curtain was in the room, including his old reading desk, and his 5th birthday picture frame was still on the wall.
Rex slumped down on the floor. "So, it was all a dream".
For 2 hours straight, Rex could not sleep again as he kept on thinking about the dream and what it meant only to arrive at a dead end.
"What in the world is happening to me?"
He slept, still feeling confused and terrified.
To his relief, he did not enter the spooky dream world again.
…
The next day, on waking up, Rex acted like nothing happened as he met his friends who together, started preparing for the graduation battle.
All the specialized training that they needed was already done for the years that they spent in the academy; this last week was for them to consolidate their power to be at their best for the ultimate battle.
For this, Rex and his friends could do it on their own in their town.
That morning, all 3 friends first started running around the town. After awakening mystic energy, Rex's physical state improved a lot and so he was able to keep up with his friends as they ran 10 times at full speed around the town.
Filled with sticky sweat and with rapid strained breaths, they returned home and without even stopping to rest, they started martial training.
After the age of awakening, martial arts that were originally neglected by the world became normal again as it was a great aid to mystic warriors.
All 3 friends practiced their basic martial arts for an hour before switching to swordsmanship. They trained with the sword, while also training their control over their mystic energy and trying to increase its quality too.
This was the best way that they could prepare for the graduation battle.
For the remaining days of the week, this was what they did.
During this time, Rex refined and mastered his family's sword stance relative to his mystic energy. Like he was thought in school, he had been finding the best stance to better channel his mystic energy.
For example, Collins, the boy who bullied him on his birthday had to incline his hands at a specific angle before channeling his mystic energy through his fire mystic ability.
In this one week, Rex managed to achieve the same feat.
In his sword stance was his best state now to channel his mystic energy, channeling it was now so much easier and faster than he could when he fought against the mystic beast pig.
Apart from refining his sword stance, Rex also refined all his sword skills and sword techniques that were taught by his father, including the movement and defense skills that were taught in his academy.
Mystic energy was essential, but these were the basics to win a tough battle. Without specialized skills, the full potential of mystic energy could not be utilized.
Following this routine, time passed quickly, and it was already the eve of Saturday, the D-day to the start of the graduation battle.