"You guys will be staying here for a whole month, and you're not leaving that portal until the training is over----"
As Jin's master was explaining Jin was distracted by the mission the system gave him, his master's voice became increasingly distant as he read the mission, while Emilia's eyes shined as she listened carefully.
{Mission Assigned: Train with ???? For 1 month}
{Rewards: (Varies Depending on the Trainer's Evaluation)}
Jin dozed off as he read the mission, memories of his past training slowly resurfaced...the trauma done to his younger version was both mentally and physically as it scarred him till this day.
"System, are you actually kidding me...did you look at my past and specifically pick this mission to make me suffer??"
Jin whispered nervously yet his eyes never wavered...his resolve to take back his powers never weakened, he clenched his fist as he calmed down his breathing.
"----Did both of you get all that?"
"Yes!"
Jin and Emilia answered in unison, upon seeing this, their master smirked knowing their resolve to complete their training.
"Alright! First, Jin we're gonna need you to get back to level 6 so that both you and Emilia are in the same level and no one will get left behind during the training, Jin considering you're current power you should be level 3 right now..."
"A disappointment considering you were my disciple."
Their master said as he covered his mouth while laughing.
'Does this guy even wanna train me or just laugh at me...I've been curious for a while now, how strong is my master.'
Jin then used his skill to appraise his master's stats his eyes turned bright blue, and after seeing his master's stats he was baffled...his master surpassed the boundaries of a human.
{Stats}
Name: Dune Apeiron
Sex: Male
Age: 67
Race: ???
Superhuman Level: 11?
'Level 11?!! And why is his race hidden?? Could this be related to the phenomenon that happened to him 5 years ago?'
Once again Jin's head was filled with questions that he could not yet answer.
'And I also can't believe this guy's 67 years old despite looking as young as me...'
"What're you thinking about Jin?"
His master asked while approaching him.
"Ah it's nothing, so should I just meditate and breakthrough the levels until 6 so we can start?"
Jin said with a confident tone as he slowly got into a lotus position.
"Can you do it though?"
Jin shrugged.
"Can I? We'll never know unless I try."
Dune after hearing what Jin said laughed uncontrollably as his face was filled with excitement, He sighed deeply as he remembered how Jin was like back then.
'I almost forgot the enormous talent this monster has!'
He said as he couldn't hold back his smile whilst looking at Jin.
"How about we make a bet? Get to level 6 in a day and I'll personally teach you a technique I made myself and if you don't you won't be receiving training from me!"
Upon hearing this Jin's eyes widened with exhilaration.
{Sub-Mission: Attain Level 6, Time limit: 24H}
"Let's do it!"
Jin said before he closed his eyes as he focused on the mana in his surroundings, because Jin had already reached Level 9 before his affinity with mana was already way above that of a Level 3.
But after meditating Jin felt something off... the air around him was different...wait there was no air around him at all, he opened his eyes, and everything was dull as if he was in a black and white canvas and moreover he could feel mana better...no! He could "See" mana, due to his attribute superhuman senses plus his great affinity with mana Jin surpassed the level of "Sense", in short, Jin entered the "Mana Dimension" The purest dimension that was previously theorized before Jin discovered it.
Upon witnessing this Jin tried to touch his master yet he simply went through him, neither his master nor Emilia could see his mana form.
'What happened?? What are these? Don't tell me this is the Mana Dimension???'
Jin asked himself as he saw orbs of mana floating around him, they were mana's with different colors, and Jin instinctively knew that the amount of energy they possessed varied, the orbs varied from different shades of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet and black, with red having the lowest energy and black having the most energy.
As Jin tried to touch a red orb it seemingly got absorbed by his body as soon as he touched it, Jin noticed a slight difference in the amount of mana he had but it was not significant.
And upon closer inspection, the orbs with higher energy were moving faster than the ones with lower energy, making them harder to catch.
'I wonder what would happen if I caught a black orb...'
Jin roamed around the mana dimension as he absorbed more and more mana orbs, aside from the fact that he got more mana, his mana also became purer and stronger than before.
-----
A couple hours passed.
While in the mana dimension as Jin increasingly got bored of getting red through cyan orbs he tried to catch and absorb a blue orb, the speed blue orbs flew was only slightly slower than Jin, meanwhile violet and black orbs flew at immense speed with black seemingly teleporting around.
Meanwhile at the normal dimension Dune was teaching Emilia a technique to further enhance her power output.
"Simply just focus your energy at your palm whilst also taking in mana using the breathing technique I taught you, this should allow you to last longer in fights while also having a stronger power."
Dune said as he demonstrated the technique.
And after releasing the energy, a narrow beam fired from Dune's palms destroying everything in its path with just the air it released.
Upon seeing this Emilia was stunned as her jaw dropped, she had never seen such astonishing control and power before.
After seeing this Emilia immediately tried to copy what her master did and as she extended her palm, she focused his energy at the furthest point before finally releasing it.
Surprisingly Emilia perfectly copied what her master did as a beam of energy fired from her palm even though it didn't have as much power as her master's her control was almost as good which left Dune in complete shock.
'This girl seems to have tremendous talent as well...'
Dune said while glancing at Jin, analyzing his progress.
"Hmm...impressive he's already at level 5!! But level 6 is on another level since it's at the Elite Stage and the difference in mana needed for each level after 6 is immense..."
Jin noticed this since even though he had absorbed countless orbs it seemed like he wasn't making any progress.
'Was getting to level 6 in a day too much of a gamble?? If I don't make it master really won't teach me...'
Jin got more desperate as he tried to catch a violet orb as he got more and more frustrated.
'What is this?! Every time I get closer to it, it just gets faster..."
"...Wait every time I get closer to it?'
Jin had a sudden realization, all he had to do was calm his body as he made his body completely still and focused his breathing...it was as he expected the violet orbs slowly started to come to him, but the black orbs still didn't stop nor even slow down at all.
After a few seconds Jin finally absorbed the violet orbs close to him, he felt a sudden surge of powers as his veins pulsated from the immense mana he was getting.
Dune saw Jin's body as his veins bulged as if they were going to explode, it was pulsating...yet instead of a green color it had turned to blue, and then suddenly Jin started to emanate powerful winds similar to Emilia but with one key difference...the winds were stronger sharp gusts of winds flew throughout the area
"What's going on?!"
Emilia shouted while protecting herself from the sharp winds.
"It's here...the return of the strongest."
Dune said whilst gazing at Jin's body, his eyes were locked onto him as though the winds didn't have an effect.
'He awakened a Mana body...he's turned into a true monster...'
Dune said as a slight smile appeared on his face.
And meanwhile Jin went into a tranquil state, he wasn't in the mana dimension anymore yet he still couldn't feel anything.
'Where am I?'
He asked himself despite not seeing anything nor could he feel, hear, smell, and taste anything, Jin tried to get into a lotus position expecting himself to go back to the real world.
After a few minutes Jin finally felt something, he could feel intense winds, a few seconds later he could hear his surroundings and a moment later he could smell his surroundings as well...and a moment later he could taste his saliva.
And finally he could see again.
After awakening Jin noticed the damage he had done as he was still levitating, he completely destroyed the terrain around him as the once beautiful grassland was turned into an unrecognizable barren land.
He saw Dune protecting himself and Emilia as she passed out from the increasing power of the winds, Jin met Dune's eyes.
Dune's face had a slight grin, Jin noticed that he was genuinely proud of him.
"You're finally awake...that took you long enough."
Dune said to Jin as he descended.
"...It seems you completely skipped the 6th level and got to the 7th...You won the bet."
Jin was overjoyed, not only from the bet but also from the rewards he got from the system.
"As promised I'll teach you an exclusive technique."
To Be Continued