"As promised I'll teach you an exclusive technique."
Jin sighed in relief upon hearing his master's words, for the first ever his master's smile seemed genuine...he'd only notice recently that the dull, dark, and gloomy look of his master that appeared to be an endless abyss had turned into a bright, and vibrant look.
'I guess working as a headmaster changed him a bit...'
Jin thought as a soft smile appeared on his face.
"Ok, I'm gonna demonstrate it now while I explain it to you."
Dune relaxed his body as he focused his breathing, he closed his eyes as the air around him compressed.
"First fully relax your body as you take in the mana of nature through your breathing, you still remember the technique I taught you right?"
"I do, please continue."
Jin answered as he observed his master's movements closely, not even blinking once.
Dune, as he gathered the mana around him he slowly compressed it and transferred it in front of him, then a huge violet box made of mana appeared in front of him.
Although this process may have seemed normal to an average superhuman, Jin's senses was warning him of the dangers of such technique.
'What is that...it looks just like a normal mana compressed box yet I feel uneasy just looking at it.'
After completing the box Dune slammed his palms together as the box shrunk to the size of a billiard ball as Dune kept pouring mana into it.
"Did you notice yet?"
He asked Jin whilst keeping an eye on the box.
"No, but I've been feeling uneasy this whole time after you created that box."
Dune chuckled as he glanced at Jin as he gestured at the box for Jin to focus his senses on it even more.
'So something was different with it.'
He looked closely at the box as he tried to sense the mana inside it, and upon trying this Jin was surprised he did not feel a singly ounce of mana as though it was hollow.
"Did you get it now? Hurry cause I've been putting pressure on this for a while now."
After hearing his master's words Jin finally realized what type of technique it was.
As Dune released the telekinetic pressure on the mana box it immediately expanded to the size of an entire football stadium.
Upon seeing this Jin was shocked, he looked around him noticing the scenery had completely change, he was now in a sea of purple water, as Jin touched it his hand burned.
"What happened??"
Jin asked while flabbergasted at what suddenly happened.
"I created a temporary realm..."
Jin's eyes dilated after hearing his master's words, a technique that can create a personal realm was unheard of, something that had never crossed people's minds since it was simply too difficult that it could be described as pure insanity.
'To be able to create a realm...just how much mana does master have?!!'
"In this space my general power is enhanced and I can control the terrain here to be whatever I want...though it's based on the affinities and elements I've learned."
Dune said with his hands on his back, seemingly relaxed despite the enormous amount of mana that had to be used to create something like this.
After witnessing it himself Jin was very eager to learn it, a new opportunity for a way to surpass himself has appeared before him.
"Teach me...I know that what you demonstrated wasn't all the steps."
'He's quick to catch on, as expected of my student.'
Dune sighed as he deactivated his realm.
"Follow me, I made a storage room in this place before, I stored some elixirs there to help you with your mana pool."
*Mana pool- The amount of mana an individual has gathered after awakening as a superhuman.
Jin was a bit surprised by this, since even the lowest grade elixirs cost a fortune to buy, and the highest grade elixir that Jin had ever consumed was just a B-Grade elixir.
'A storage of elixirs...my expectations may be a bit too high but I have a feeling master stored some high grade elixirs there.'
As they walked towards a single direction a single wooden room appeared in the fields of flowers, Jin hadn't noticed when it appeared yet they were already in front of it.
Jin was overwhelmed as he felt a surge of mana when the room appeared.
"After I stored a certain amount of elixirs here it started to cast it's own barrier to make it invisible."
Dune said as if he hadn't felt the powerful surge of mana.
'Just what has master stored inside there for it to be able to create such a perfect barrier and let out mana as powerful as that??'
Jin asked himself with a bewildered expression. As they went inside Jin was met with yet again a wave of powerful mana, He used his Eyes of God to appraise the elixirs as his face turned pale from utter shock.
{Grade A}{Grade A+}{Grade A}{Grade AA}{Grade A-}
All the elixirs there were grade A and above but the thing that caught his eye was an unknown elixir.
{Grade ??}
Although the elixir looked normal on the outside, it wasn't normal for his eyes and the system to classify things as unknown.
Jin's body instinctively moved towards the elixir as if he was bewitched by it, and without realizing it, the elixir was already in his hands when he came to.
"When did I grab this?"
Jin asked himself as he gazed at the elixir, Dune glanced towards Jin as he saw what he was holding.
"I didn't expect you to discover this."
Dune said with a nostalgic yet gloomy look on his face.
"If you want to, you can take it otherwise it'll just gather dust there, and it's probably the best elixir here to help you grow your mana pool."
Jin was confused at his master's words, he knew the rarity of this elixir yet he's just giving it away.
"Master, where did you get an elixir this rare?"
Upon hearing Jin's question Dune looked at him with a neutral look, as Jin couldn't tell what he was thinking about.
And suddenly Dune's tone turned serious and glum, he's eyes seemed to waver as for a moment he was in complete silence.
"It's from one of my expeditions a couple years ago, a memory I really don't want to remember...just take it."
He said as his mind drifted off to his past, an event that should never happen again and something that he desperately wanted to forget, The deaths of his former comrades haunted him to this day as he clenched his fist.
"Are you okay?"
Jin asked.
"Ah, it's nothing...I'm fine, now take that elixir and let's go back, this shack is full of dust."
As Jin followed his master back they were in complete silence as they walked, he noticed his master looking a bit down after their conversation, from time to time Dune would stop in his tracks as if he was thinking about something.
Upon arriving, they saw Emilia already awake as she was in a lotus position, they noticed the ends of her hair turned from jet black to a calm mix between white and blue.
"Training as soon as waking up I see."
Dune said as he approached Emilia, Jin noticed that his master had completely hidden his gloomy side from Emilia as he smiled brightly as if nothing happened.
Emilia opened her eyes as she glanced at Jin, she noticed the immense growth of his mana as she tilted her head in curiosity.
"You gained back some of your former power Master Jin."
She said whilst smiling brightly.
"Oh right, Jin before we start training I want you to restore the terrain here that you destroyed."
Dune said as he smiled brightly as he gave Jin another time consuming task.
[Sub-Mission: Recover The Destroyed Terrain]
Jin was a bit annoyed but his worries regarding his master gradually faded as he realized that he's back to normal.
"Ok, I'll start now so we don't waste any more time."
Since the grass and flowers that got destroyed had properties of mana in them Jin had to expend some of his mana to regrow the grass and flowers again, it was easier than Jin thought.
After completing the task Jin went back to his master who was sleeping on a field of flowers to finally start his training.
"Those flowers aren't as pure as mine though? I won't accept that."
Dune said before he went back to sleep.
"...Tsk!"
Jin reluctantly went back and as he tried to match the amount of mana the other flowers had he completely emptied his mana pool, as he passed out from exhaustion.
A few minutes later upon waking up, Jin immediately went back and did the same thing again with his mana pool not fully recovered yet, and as expected he passed out again.
He kept doing this despite being physically exhausted yet he pushed through to show his resolve to complete this mission, Jin repeated this process as he couldn't even catch his breath.
Because of his mana pool being emptied out repeatedly it gradually grew in size and his output became stronger without him realizing it.
And after finally getting all the flowers to match his master's he closed his eyes as he passed out for the last time, and he dreamt of the child again.
This time the setting was different, the boy was in his white room sitting in the corner trying to stop himself from falling asleep as his head kept falling.
Another difference this time was that Jin could move freely instead of being stuck on the boy.
'This feels so vivid, where have I seen this before...'
Jin roamed around a random corridor as he looked for the man wearing the lab coat, the place where he was seemed to be an abandoned hospital..., and whilst he was walking he caught a glimpse of something inside one of the rooms.
To Be Continued