It had been about three months since I started training in mana usage, with Amber coming to assist me four days a week. The remaining days were either for rest, gathering herbs from one of the forests outside The capital Mirage, as it seemed like James wanted these herbs for something, or I spent time hunting some animals in the same forest.
My relationship with Amber became better and I felt more comfortable around her and the others except for James, I also felt significant progress in both my strength and speed since the beginning of training, but I still couldn't land a single hit on Amber. Every time she saw my improvement and I started approaching her, she would increase the power and accuracy of her attacks.
Bang!
"Agh!"
Another attack of hers hit me, throwing me back even further, I nearly threw up in here.
"Hey, what are you thinking about during battle? Focus on fighting," she said, more sternly than before.
"S-Sorry."
She even became stricter than ever, now I know what my friends meant about having an older sister, that you can never top her.
I was seriously sweating a lot before she said, "alright, let's stop for now."
"H-Huh? Why stop? Isn't it a bit early?" I asked, frustrated that I still had no improvement, I mean., I never had any improvement and maybe if we continued she would just continue to wipe the floor with me literally, yet I felt that she was running away, a real loser mentality.
"It's not the problem, your teacher is coming back today."
"Really?!"
Adam always left without telling us anything about his destination or when he would return, this time he literally left for nearly three months, I was excited of course yet, angry, I mean, isn't he my teacher? shouldn't he be the one training me, not Amber?
I immediately threw this silly thought away as I remembered how he melted a huge boulder the size of a building with one attack.
"Yes, but there's something else happening today, so you need to get ready for it, you can't go all tired from me beating you."
"What's happening?"
Amber smiled, putting her finger in front of her mouth and said, "That's a secret."
"Tsk, whatever."
We left the place and headed back to Mirage, then made our way to Hans's restaurant. Amber knocked on the door, and we entered.
"Hello, Mr. Hans."
"Hello to both of you. How did the training go?"
"As usual, nothing new."
"Hahaha, don't worry Ali, one day you will defeat her," he chuckled, then looked at me surprised a little before looking at Amber, "It seems today has finally come, as the same day of Adam's return right?".
"Wait, Mr. Hans, you also know?" I turned my gaze towards Amber, "Seriously, I am really curious, why does everyone know about this thing except me?"
"Because you are a rookie."
"No way Sherlock?! you are such a genius big sister."
"Hmm? What is this Sherlock?" Amber was curious, Hans was too.
I smirk and say "It's a secret."
"Oh come on, tell me please, is it a thing from the outside world?"
"Maybe."
We had our lunch, and then I noticed something odd. I turned to Hans and asked, "Why is the restaurant empty today?"
Amber who was sitting next to me, answered, "Mr. Hans closed the shop early today because of the Thing we were talking about."
"Will you ever tell me what's happening?"
"Not yet," she replied.
"..."
I sighed frustrated and started to think seriously about how to defeat her next time, but here I thought of something I never thought of before, 'why do she and my teacher use fire and I can't?'
"Hey Amber I have a...," Before I finish my sentence we hear the door open behind us.
"What's this, Mr. Hans? Did you close the shop to celebrate my return or something?" Adam entered through the restaurant's door.
"Where were you?" I asked him with a stern look.
"Hey, what's with the cold greeting to your teacher whom you haven't seen in a while?" he teased.
"This was the longest time you've been absent, so you owe me an answer."
Adam approached me, took a closer look, and said with a genuine smile, "Looks like the celebration isn't for me today."
"hmm?"
"Exactly," the queen of secrets said with a smile.
"Will any of you tell me what is going on?!" I shouted in anger.
"Wait, let me eat first. Mr. Hans, prepare something for me to eat," Adam said.
"Right away," Hans replied, going to prepare a meal for my teacher. Meanwhile, I sat with Amber as she kept giving me that teasing smile.
After my teacher finished his lunch, the four of us left the restaurant immediately, heading to James's lab.
"Not yet? just what are we doing here?" I said.
"Just be patient for a little longer," Amber replied.
"...Alright."
"Have you returned?" James asked upon seeing us.
"Yes, did you miss me, Mr. Dan?" Adam said with a smile.
"I told you not to call me that way, you brat as if I would miss someone like you. From here," the scientist said, walking ahead of us as if directing us somewhere.
'Even he knows and I don't, great,' I thought.
We walked a little further into the lab, then all stopped in front of one of the many doors in the huge lab. Here I noticed everyone kept looking at me.
"W-What?"
"Didn't you figure it out yet? You've reached the breakthrough point to the eighth level," Adam said.
"The eighth level?!"
"Yes," Amber said. "We're all gathered here today to witness your breakthrough to the new level."
"B-But... did you really have to keep it a secret?"
"Hahaha, it started with little Amber here, and we followed suit," replied Hans with a laugh.
I sighed and said, "And why did you all gather?" I asked.
"Listen to me, my student. A breakthrough is an important event in the warrior's life, no matter the level. So, during a breakthrough, you always find the warrior's comrades and acquaintances with him to congratulate him," Adam explained.
"Three months have passed since you entered the True Realm, yet you're still ignorant of many things, reminds me of some kind of a brat."
Adam rubbed the back of his neck nervously and said "J-just enter that room, for protection."
"Protection?"
"Of course, a warrior during a breakthrough is vulnerable to external factors, you don't want to breakthrough and someone is attacking you."
What Adam just said makes sense, as I won't be able to defend myself there, I was about to ask if I needed protection they are the only ones here but I stopped, I noticed James was so angry that I wanted to leave quickly.
"Alright," I complied, stepping into the room through the metal door and allowing it to close behind me.
The room was dark, with the only source of light being the door until it was sealed shut from the outside, accompanied by some strange sounds indicating its tight closure.
Lights illuminated from above, revealing the spacious size of the room.
"Ahem, can you hear me?" Adam's voice began emanating from speakers installed in the ceiling.
"Yes," I replied.
"Good. Do you remember what you did when you first broke through to the ninth level? There won't be much difference."
"Alright," I said, adopting a meditative position.
"Notice the mana leaking from you; it's small, and you don't feel it. That means you're on the verge of breaking through to a new stage."
'So, that's how all of them knew except for me? How foolish of me not to notice something like this in my own body,' I thought.
"Your mana is unstable; focus well," my teacher yelled through the mic.
I cleared my mind of other thoughts and focused solely on the energy within me, concentrating, concentrating, and concentrating until I finally felt the leaking mana and began stopping it altogether.
"Yes, well done. Don't forget to breathe and wait for the right moment to unleash your power, just like last time. when you feel your body as a filled cup, you'll know the right moment when it comes."
"The right moment, the right moment," I repeated in my mind.
I kept circulating my mana in the mana core and out and each time I felt like my body was filled with something, like the leftover of my mana even when I returned the mana back to my core some stayed there to fill more and more, before...
"Now."
The sensation of my body exploding happened again, both frightening and euphoric as usual.
I had finally broken through to the eighth level, feeling the excitement and increase in physical strength and mana, I spread mana through my body again with that feeling of being untouchable, though I was already humbled by Amber and Adam.
The door opened, and the four observers entered.
"Congratulations on breaking through to the eighth level," Adam said with a broad smile.
I smiled back and said, "Thank you all."
"Hehehe," Amber stepped forward, cracking her fingers, and said, "Alright, let's see how much your strength has increased now."
"W-Wait, shouldn't we—"
Adam interrupted, saying, "Yes, that's a good idea. Let's fight now."
'Screw you, treacherous teachers.'
"Don't worry, little brother; I won't increase my usual strength except for half of it now," she said with a menacing grin.
I knew there was no escaping this fight, so I stood ready and said, "Only 50% increase? As if I'll win if you don't increase."
"Alright, let's begin."
The girl standing 20 meters away from me, both her hands ablaze with her crimson flames, and she began unleashing a series of fierce fire attacks in rapid rhythm, but they seemed much slower to me, this time.
I swiftly evaded the first three huge fireballs.
"Hahaha, what do you think now?" I boasted.
"Heh, was the increase in strength not enough? Very well then," the flames in her hands grew larger and redder.
"I wish I hadn't spoken," I muttered in regret as I took a deep breath preparing for the second round of attacks.
***
Amber began preparing more powerful attacks to unleash on the eighth-level boy. She raised her arms overhead and formed a line of eight cohesive fireballs, the largest and most dangerous attack she had ever made, this was impossible to dodge as she did not put enough space between them.
"Let's see what you'll do now," the girl said as she launched her attacks towards Ali.
The line of fire raced forward at a bigger speed, leaving the boy with no choice but to break through it head-on. Here, the girl waited for him to penetrate her attack to deliver the final blow as she usually did to him.
But what happened was completely contrary to any expectations.
"Huh?! Seriously?!"
Amber was shocked as Ali made the same mistake he had three months ago, he jumped over the fire attack leaving himself vulnerable to attacks in the air.
The girl felt disappointed at her little brother's foolish idea, even though he knew it wouldn't work, as he advanced with mana concentration in his arm to attack her.
"What a fool, I told you this method wouldn't work," the girl said as she prepared for her close-range attack, instead of attacking him in the air she decided to let him attack her to teach him that even if he did get to her he wouldn't win in a close fight.
"I'll give him a good punch to the head this time to make sure he doesn't repeat it," she thought.
"Hmm?" Here, the girl was surprised by something... Different.
***
"She thinks I'll repeat the same futile attempt, but..."
Of course, I wouldn't repeat the same futile attack, but this was a necessary step to make her lower her guard. I made a gamble that she wouldn't attack me with a long-range attack now, all I needed to do was get close enough.
I hadn't yet reached the point where I could strike with my fist, but that wasn't my aim, I am not stupid enough to fight a fourth-level martial artist at close range.
'now.'
I was a 2-meter distance from her yet, I released all the mana in my hands and launched a sudden, unexpected, long-range attack. I knew my attack wouldn't stray more than five meters, but that was all I needed now.
"H-Huh?" The girl was taken aback by my attack, which delayed her reaction, but...
Bang!
Amber moved her hands in a way creating a huge fire wall that hit me, in response to the attack, she used the largest fire move I had seen from her. The fiery wall propelled me backwards with great force, but I stopped suddenly in the air, Adam stopped me from colliding with the wall again, by making me fly again with his strange abilities.
"That was a really stupid and fun idea to fight someone stronger than you, but at least it made her lower her guard."
Amber walked towards us, "Yes but you still lost."
"Shut up, that wall was unfair."
"Hehe," the girl laughed and said, "Alright, sorry, I was surprised for a moment."
"No matter, you've improved a lot, Ali," Hans said as he approached us with the James.
James said, "And you, it's not like you to lower your guard like this."
"Hehe, I didn't expect a martial artist in the eighth level to use a long-range attack against me in that situation, especially since he didn't obtain any element yet."
"Element?"
"Yes, every warrior can train in a specific element once they reach the seventh level," Adam replied to my question.
this was all a new doze of information but like usual I decided to just accept it.
"So, Teacher and Amber have the fire element?"
"Yes," Amber replied.
"And what about you two?" I looked at the cook and the scientist.
"Me? I have the earth element," Hans said.
"... I have the cloning element," James said dismissively.
"Wow, earth and...? Wait, cloning?!"
Adam said, "Well, there are many strange elements you'll see in the true Realm. Cloning is an advanced version of of basic elements, well it's complicated so leave it for later."
"When we talk about strangeness in elements," James said, "won't you be the most unusual one? Mr. The Unique Warrior."
My teacher smiled awkwardly, scratching his neck.
"What do you mean?" I asked James what he meant by his words.
"In fact, little brother," Amber said with difficulty, "your teacher is the only one in history who possesses two different elements."
"... Huh?!"