Andrew once again entered the world of nothingness. It couldn't be considered void nor darkness. It was just pure and untainted emptiness.
There was nothing...
It was nothing...
Time, Space, Life, Death, Emotions and many more aspects of existence were absent.
Andrew wasn't and was there at the same time. He didn't exist nor he was a background of this emptiness. He wasn't even an observer...
This feeling couldn't be described with mere words...
He couldn't feel how much time has passed, he didn't know if he was alive or dead, sometimes he even doubted if he even existed...
This emptiness lasted for as long as nothingness since time didn't exist here nor does the concept of eternity.
But Andrew knew that if he desired he could exit this nothingness...
Eventually, he was forcefully pulled out of the emptiness by an unseen force.
He returned to reality...
To the physical plane...
*ID: 0273701 your time is up* an androgynous voice announced in his head.
Andrew just simply stood up and exited the room as he headed towards another facility.
He wasn't discouraged by the lack of progress for 10 freaking years, he understood that there should be some problem behind such restriction. He might not know the solution to it, but he sure will not cry due to failure.
'If you find a problem, find a solution' this was his philosophy, the philosophy of not giving up.
Next, he headed towards *General Training Grounds*. It was similar to the building of Meditation Zone, but much more massive since it was area area for physical training.
It wasn't crowded contrary to Andrew's expectations. There were a few demons going around minding their business.
General Training Ground was structured like Meditation Zone, it's first floor was just a big empty space while the second floor consisted of various training private rooms.
As usual, Andrew put his token into the slit and the door opened.
*ID: 0273701, Special Access Granted* Andrew was confused by what it said, until his mind clicked and he remembered about the special perks that he and Eve will be given due to their status as true winners.
Andrew entered the room and unsurprisingly it was extremely spacious.
'Good, my movements will not be hindered' Andrew concluded as he walked towards the center of the room.
He wondered whether the perk that was mentioned by the system was active or not.
'It shouldn't be just a simple training ground?' Andrew mused as he looked around the place.
Yet there was nothing irregular occurring, it was just a simple dark room with nothing in it.
Andrew thought about it until he said the word that might activate the perk.
"Access!" he shouted out loud to garner any reaction, and it sure did!
*What number of opponents would you like to fight?*
the system asked.
Andrew didn't think much and said.
"Start from one opponent, once I defeat it add one more opponent and keep going until I can't handle it anymore" Andrew wanted to test how far his limits went.
*Generating: 1vs1, Existence: Mortal, Difficulty: Escalating, Weapons: Random* the voice said as air in front of Andrew started to distort.
A figure shimmered into existence. It looked like a manikin and had no facial features. It was lean and had a fair amount of muscle, there was a long sword in its hands.
Andrew didn't expect the system to give the manikin a weapon while he was unarmed.
'I should have added more details, anyways let's see how fast I am' Andrew thought as he was prepared to counter his opponent.
*Start!* the system announced and the puppet shot towards him with a long sword in its hands.
Within just a second it crossed a 10-meter distance as it swung the sword right towards Andrew.
Andrew had a calm expression on his face as he sidestepped the moment the sword was swung.
The next moment, the puppet received a kick right into its abdomen. 1800 kilograms of pure force made the puppet fly for dozens of meters until it met the wall.
Andrew didn't just simply wait for the puppet to slam into the wall. The moment the puppet hit the wall, his knee went right into the puppet's jaw.
The force of his kick left a deep bump in the puppet and the knee kick was the game finisher since the puppet's head was ripped out of its body due to the sheer force of the knee kick.
*Lv1 opponent eliminated, Generating: 1v2, Difficulty: 2* the system announced as the defeated puppet just disintegrated into thin air.
At the same moment, 2 similar puppets appeared right next to Andrew. Both of them wielded double daggers.
Andrew picked up the long sword which wasn't taken away by the system for some reason.
The puppets shot towards him as they both launched one of their daggers.
Andrew swiftly dodged the deadly projectiles as puppets were intent on exploiting the temporary opening.
Yet, with a backstep and a round-house kick, Andrew made one of the puppets fly while the other one threatened to cut his still-raised leg into pieces.
He swiftly retracted it and the puppet missed his leg. An opening appeared due to the massive swing that the puppet made and he gladly exploited it.
The puppet was kicked straight into the face as it fell back due to the sheer power and speed of the kick.
Andrew jumped into the air so high that he did a double-flip and went crashing towards the laying puppet's head.
The puppet's head was smashed into pieces as grey liquid leaked from its disfigured head.
After confirming that it was dead, Andrew dashed towards another puppet. It was still recovering from the kick as it was about to stand up.
But Andrew didn't let the chance slip up, he just simply kicked the head with full force and it caved in!
'Tough, but not tough enough' Andrew joked in his mind.
*Lv2 opponents eliminated, Generating: 1v3, Difficulty: 3* the system announced as the defeated puppets just disintegrated into thin air once again.
Then, 3 puppets holding various weapons appeared in his view.
'I will enjoy this battle as much as I can' Andrew smiled as he shot off towards those soon-to-be scraps of metal.
For the next 3 hours, sounds of metal clashing with metal reverberated in the room...
___
*Lv10 opponents eliminated, Generating: 1v11, Difficulty: 11* the system announced as there were limbs and bodies scattered everywhere.
"Stop!" Andrew issued the command as he butt-fell from exhaustion.
The puppets disappeared and no more followed after.
'The opponents were pretty tough, each had a different style and weapon. Moreover, they could easily combine their attacks to corner me. This training ground is extremely useful for close combat enjoyers' Andrew concluded in his head as he sat in the lotus position and started to meditate.
After a while, he opened his eyes as he expelled all turbulent emotions with exhale.
He stood up as he decided to head towards the next and the last available training grounds for mortals. As usual, the entire building was empty and there was almost no soul present.
Andrew exited General Training Grounds as he headed towards *Existential Hall*.
He calmly headed towards there without anyone bothering him.
Eventually, he arrived at another cubically shaped building. Contrary to Ranking Hall, it was way smaller. Just 20 meters tall.
Once Andrew entered the facility, he saw rows and rows of small cubicles. Most of them had open doors indicating that were unoccupied.
He chose one and once he entered the door behind him closed.
Andrew observed the insides of the cubicle as it was nothing in particular. Just a cubicle with pitch-black walls.
He looked for a way to activate it since there didn't seem to be any instructions on how to operate it.
He just randomly put on his hand and the walls of the cubical lit up. A bunch of incomprehensible nonsense appeared on the walls.
Andrew could only understand the word *Analyzing* as everything else was an unknown gibberish to him.
Several seconds later, everything calmed down as a list of information appeared...
*Existence: Mortal
Race: Demon
Age: 17
Mana Affinity: Average
Body Readiness: 100%
Mind Readiness: 100%
Mana Comprehension: 0%* the list stated...
Andrew's eyes went wide open since 10 years of ceaseless effort had led him nowhere?!
He couldn't believe what he was seeing!
His Mana Comprehension was non-existent!
Mana comprehension indicates one's understanding of mana and the subsequent progress towards becoming a mage.
Yet, Andrew's comprehension didn't even exist...
All those ten years of effort...
For nothing?!
The next moment, Andrew took a deep breath and exhaled all turbulent emotions as he calmed himself down.
'There is a solution and I must find it!' he stated in his mind as his cold demeanor returned once again.
He tried to look for solutions from the books before, but none of them had a recorded case like Andrew's.
All of them stated if a mortal fails to become a mage even after years of meditation it might be directly tied to their affinity to magic, but Andrew had an average one!
The affinities of mana were classified as followed:
Null
Insignificant
Average
Irregular
Exceptional
Unique
Absolute
Average affinity is for those people who have healthy and working mind's eye, while irregular and above for those with powerful bloodlines.
Null is a theorized classification since living every being existing in this plane is believed impossible to not have a working mind's eye. It might be flawed like in the case of Insignificant but it still can be worked on.
'I must get to the root of the problem!' Andrew vowed to himself.