"Some knew it as The Supremacy Struggle, while others dubbed it the Powershift Crisis, and a few even referred to it as the Neo-Human War. But in the end, it doesn't even matter. It was a world war that exacted a heavy toll in lives, all in pursuit of deciding the world's ruler."
Oneiro met Ethan's gaze, then slowly raised a hand to obscure 'his' face. "Since you already know this to be an illusion, let me show you what did happen. But first, let me change to a more comfortable look." His hand blurred, fingers shrinking, and his body dwindled until he became as small as a fly's wing.
Ethan's face distorted: "What are you doing? Are you kidding me?"
"What? Do you not like my true form? Regardless, let's change the location."
*zzesh*
As if in a virtual reality, the environment blurred, and shortly after, Ethan found himself in the sky, gazing at a vast, lifeless desert.
„This is the place we're the big war should have taken place."
„Should have?" Ethan asked, confused.
„Well, technically speaking the first round did take place. The war was inevitable and the ones fighting did follow orders. The fight and the usage of different powers through the air was a firework and a sight to behold. The most amazing thing about the fight was the breakthrough in ranks that did happen." Oneiro continued and zoomed to an individual that was controlling fire around him.
"The pressure of survival did unlock the hidden potential of those who did accumulate experience and who trained their body to the brink. And while scientists said that everyone did have a different limit, it was not known how to increase it. No one really knew what it meant to break through a rank and what the consequences would be, but the increase of their physics and the increase of mana output was more than apparent ."
The Individual that Oneiro zoomed in was attacked by 3 other individuals and while he was about to die, he roared like a beast, he was not ready to get taken down just like that. In his mind, he was a superior being that was destined to much more than a small battlefield like that.
**ROOOOOAAAAARRR*
And just when one man was about to hit him hard with his blade, he came back to his senses. He opened his eyes and catched the blade with his bare hands.
At this moment everything stopped. It was as if someone had clicked the pause button.
Ethan looked to his right and saw Oneiro concentrating on something and suddenly the whole optic of this world changed. It was as if one would change the game settings to x-ray vision. Then he zoomed in to the guy's mana core, which was smaller than an apple core.
"What I am going to show you now is the process in which the manacore of a human being increases from the beginner rank of awakening to the middle rank. And while there are many ways to break through, all of them require some kind of pressure."
Then like magic everything expat the mana core was deleted and it was zoomed in to the core until
it got as big as a watermelon.
"Manacores are alway blue. While breaking through the mana core gets denser and denser and the color also gets darker and darker until it is difficult to differentiate from black. And that's where the real potential can be measured. The faster the mana core gets close to the black, the less "potential" there is to break through since the blackish hue are impurities that manifest while breaking through. And while many people think that a breakthrough would cleanse one's body from impurities, the opposite is the truth."
Ethan was shocked. Ethan was confident that he had read many books about mana and awakening abilities, but somehow he never got a chance to read a book about this, as if his grandfather never wanted him to get in contact to read this.
Oneiro knew what Ethan was thinking, thus he added. "It would have done you no good knowing this before accumulating enough experience. Neither your Valor or Epimetheus would have wanted you to think about things that are out of your reach. And while building a solid foundation is important, by only reading books about awakening and not being able to do different tests, there could be an instinctive limit that you would place on your mind, making it difficult to think outside the box."
"Don't worry, everything will be clear once I finish my explanation." Oneiro comforted Ethan.
"What you see right now is the process of breaking through, to give you some idea of how this happened. And while your rank is not the only factor about your straight, it is one of the most important ones."
Then he zoomed even closer to the core.
"As you can see there are some engravings that start to appear on this core. Until now no one knows what the conditions for those appearing engravings are, but when breaking through to the next realm those engravings can manifest one more affinity making you a versatile awakened. The highest affinities one can have, as all we know, are four since there's no one who wields more the four powers."
Then he looked Ethan in the Eyes and paused for a moment: "This was until your father made a major breakthrough in his research."
Ethan was somewhat unfazed by this revelation. He still didn't know how to feel about his father's actions. If he could believe what he had heard so far, then his father was responsible for the suppression of knowledge, something Ethan had grown to cherish.
"I know that you're still very confused about your father's actions, but let me tell you that he did everything to protect his family," Oneiro once again answered Ethan's unspoken question.
Ethan felt uncomfortable, as if someone was always peering into his mind. "Can you please stop that?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Since you're in my dreamworld, your thoughts are an open book to me. This is just an instinct of my ability. If you don't want me to read your mind, just stop thinking about it. I can't force memories that you're not actively thinking about."
"Let's continue this lesson. The more engravings the mana Core can host, the more affinity one would have, and the cleaner the mana core while evolving, the more engravings would be possible."
"So it all comes back to the question of how to get a clean breakthrough, right?"
*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*
"10/10 points. That's absolutely correct! Unfortunately, there is no medicine for a perfect breakthrough. While there are many ways to lessen impurities, there's no way of removing them completely."
"The most expensive yet most effective way is to eat the meat of evolved monsters and digest them with a specific liquid from a very young age. And guess what you were doing for a long time now."
"Valor was training you from a very young age for a perfect awakening and making sure that your body would accumulate as few impurities as possible."
"Okay, now let's get back to the story."
Suddenly, everything zoomed out, and the vision returned to the standard view.
**ROOOOOAAAAARRR**
"For an easier explanation, let's call this guy Peter."
Peter caught the sword with his left hand and opened the arm of his right hand, channeling his mana.
*Baaam*
With incredible force, a fireball was created, burning through the masked man's water shield and hitting his face.
*HAAAAAA*
The masked man screamed in agony.
The other two jumped back and created a distance from Peter.
"How did he grow this strong all of a sudden?"
"I don't know, wasn't he on the brink of death?"
Then an even bigger fire was created, and Peter started laughing maniacally. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I knew it, how could this be my end?! HAHAHAHAHA. Let's start the second round."
And thus, the tables turned, and Peter attacked with more vigor than before.
"Just like that, many people started to breakthrough from the beginner rank to the middle rank, and thus the day ended with no clear winner in sight."
Then the scene shifted, and Ethan found himself in a large European office. It had shiny wooden floors and bright lights. In the room, there were many long wooden tables with metal name tags on them.
About twenty people sat on comfortable chairs around one big table with a large holographic image in the middle. They all looked focused on the front of the room, where a man in his middle years stood at a wooden podium. He was wearing a formal dark suit and held a folder in his hand."
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have good news, very good news, and some very bad news. Let me start with the good news.
Firstly, congratulations to every country that managed to have an Awakened individual break through to a higher rank. It seems like the awakening of special powers is just the beginning."
Everyone in the room understood what Mr. Schröder was referring to, as nearly every nation had at least one Awakened who had achieved a higher rank.
"Secondly, I want to congratulate everyone in this room. We, the European Awakened, have managed to secure the largest share of this battle. Our spies have obtained information on the number of Awakened individuals in other nations, and it appears that we are ahead of the curve. Currently, 50% of our Awakened have managed to break through, while other nations are averaging between 20% and 35%. This achievement is largely thanks to Dr. Manson, who has been instrumental in helping our Awakened accumulate more experience with their abilities and focus their training effectively."
However, the optimism in the room took a sudden turn when one individual spoke up.
"Mr. Schröder, you mentioned 'would' win this war. We did not gather our forces for mere possibilities! We need certainty, so what is preventing us from achieving a decisive victory?"
Tension filled the room. The speaker was the second-in-command of the European Awakened, a young man of only 18 years. He held his position due to his unique power of telekinesis and his lineage as the son of a former premier, which made him qualified for this meeting.
"Well, Mr. Eisengruber, you are correct. But you are also incorrect. Unfortunately, we need to halt this war before it reaches its climax, making it impossible to declare a clear victor."
Shock spread through the room.
"What do you mean, stop the war? Aren't we winning right now?"
"Mr. Dyson is right. We are the strongest faction, so why would we stop?"
"Mr. Schröder, we demand a thorough explanation for your statement, or we may question your suitability for this position. If this is a joke, it's a terribly ill-timed one!"
The room erupted in a cacophony of demands for answers. They believed they were on the verge of winning the war, so why should they stop now?
"Cough, cough."
Suddenly, a middle-aged scientist stood up. It was Mr. Manson, head of the scientific center and the driving force behind these remarkable achievements.