The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance
Chapter 19 Four Down

Juliette once again nodded obediently. Damien smiled and gently rubbed her head. "Which is why, I want to ask you. Would you prefer us going two on one against these fellas."

"Or... would you want to test your own strength as well?" He said, slowly and calmly.

The angel was his opponent. Hence he had defeated two trials so far. And he was still not aware of his limit.

Then there was Juliette, who still had two more trials to partake in. In short, even if he pit himself around her level, and say that he had a total of three trials, they still had three opponents to fight.

Minus one

The next coming trial in a few seconds could be ignored. Hence, there were two more opponents. At minimum at that.

Plus, Juliette also required to mature, combat wise. So he proposed, looking forward to her thoughts, and what she preferred.

"You... you want my opinion?" Juliette confirmed as she looked at Damien with bright eyes. They were shining with joy and happiness. This was husband material. She thought.

"Who else's?" Damien clicked his tongue at her. But Juliette did not mind. She only responded to his question. "I think I am ready to fight an opponent by myself."

"Alright." Damien nodded. 'Think? How cute.' Je thought, not saying it out loud.

At this moment, wind suddenly picked up from all directions. And it was gathering towards one singular point.

Above them.

The wind gathered in tides, forming a small tornado. Then moments later, the small tornado shrunk until it was around a meter in diameter.

The tornado was now spherical in shape. The wind circulating around it being quite powerful. Capable of forcefully bending trees.

Then out of the spherical tornado, a child-like humanoid being formed of nothing but wind appeared.

It was similar to the fire spirit, but with a rageful expression instead. But it was nonetheless cute, and extremely adorable.

Unfortunately for it...

"..."

The moment it appeared, Damien hurled the angel halo within his hand towards it. It flashed like a golden light at sonic speed.

It's instinctive response was to trap the halo within a wind ball before it could reach it. That was a normal, and clever response from its side. Especially considering it's age as well.

If, the angel halo was not tinkered with.

BOOOM!!!

The moment the angel halo was bombarded with the intense winds, it immediately triggered itself into a premature explosion.

And maybe thanks to the wind, the explosive power spread out even more. Even Damien did not expect this destruction.

[ TING!!! ]

A notification then chimed within their consciousness moments later. Both Damien and Juliette stared up in silence.

"..."

"..."

Damien did of course intend to do this. He just did not expect the opponent to be a wind spirit, and to make things even easier for him.

The time of appearance and death were almost instantaneously. It just appeared, and died. Fast and swift.

Just like that.

[ You have killed the Lvl 2 Windborne Spirit, Sarrd. You have obtained 16,5 units of Life Essece ]

[ Due to being a level lower than your opponent, Life Essence obtained has increased by ten percent ]

[ Bonus effect has been applied. You have individually obtained 36,3 (36) units of Life Essence. Your partner has obtained 33 units of Life Essence ]

Juliette also received the same notifications. But more this time, as this was her trial and not Damien's.

[ TING!!! ]

[ You have killed the Lvl 2 Windborne Spirit, Sarrd. You have obtained 16,5 units of Life Essece ]

[ Bonus effect has been applied. You have individually obtained 33 units of Life Essence. Your partner has obtained 36 units of Life Essence ]

[ Congratulations. You've obtained the following resources: Spirit Shard(Impure/Tier 1), Bracelet of Sarrd(Superior) ]

[ For defeating a trial opponent, you have obtained the following rewards: Extra Ability(×1), Tier 1 Random Treasure Chest(×1), Spirit Fragment(1/4) ]

Both were still in a daze. Especially Juliette, who did not expect one of their battles to be so easy and free flowing.

[ Your partner has shared their obtained Life Essence with you. Do you accept? ]

Such a notification pulled her out of her daze. She hurriedly accepted, then leveled up. She now had 19 units from before, plus the extra 69 units from right now.

A total of 88 units of Life Essence.

Enough to Level up!!

And to Level up, she did.

[ TING!!! ]

[ You have leveled up ]

[ Congratulations for becoming the first ever Civilian to reach the peak of mortality. You have been awarded with 100 units of Life Essence, 1 free Stat Point and 1 free Ability Point ]

[ Note: The Stat point can be distributed evenly among your base stats. Ability points can be used to Level up Abilities, and possibly, evolve them to the next level ]

[ From here on forth, every level up increases all attributes by 0,1 Stat Points. With a class, the distribution might differ ]

[ You have obtained the Grand Title: "Pioneer of Mana" ]

[ Pioneer of Mana (GRAND) :- Increases Mana absorbed through cultivation by 100%. And as the Pioneer of Mana, you obtain the Special Effects of being able to sense Mana from your soroundings ]

[ Due to becoming a First League Combatant, an extraordinary being, you can now absorb Mana to be capable of unleashing skills and inhuman feats ]

[ Due to becoming a First League Combatant, you have awakened your three extraordinary stats; Intelligence, Wisdom and Affinity ]

[ Due to becoming a First League Combatant, you can officially equip a Class/Sub-class (Note: Wait until you have succeeded your trials) ]

[ Once you have succeeded in absorbing Mana, you can view the information of your weapons, resources and materials thanks to the Primordial Source ]

[ ... ]

"Wow..."

Juliette was pleasantly surprised as she was bombarded with notifications. She did not have enough time to go through them all, when Damien called out to her.

"Juliette." He said lightly, and she turned to look at him. They now had three minutes before the appearance of the next opponent, which was barely enough.

"Sit down and relax your mind." He guided her, and she obediently did so. She mentally put aside the notifications in her mind for later.

Once she was seated on the cloud, and relaxed, Damien continued, "Now close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Place absolute focus on your breathing."

"When you breathe in. When you breathe out. And remember, let your body take its course. Don't hasten your breathing, nor slow it down. Just focus."

Juliette was a bit confused, but she did so nonetheless. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Slowly, she realized how her thoughts went to null.

She was not thinking about anything but her breathing. And soon enough, not even her breathing was in her mind.

It was just darkness everywhere.

"..."

Damien did not say anything else.

From here on out, a person would be able to sense Mana automatically. In fact, he could already sense strange aura circulating around her body.

And slowly, that aura became more in tune with the sorounding environment, which was breaking apart.

But her concentration was not affected whatsoever. She was within her own space.

The environment changed to a mountain region. Mountains stood tall everywhere. But both Damien and Juliette did not focus on it.

Damien was more interested at the rate of Mana absorption Juliette was taking in.

The more talented a person, the more Mana they could intake every second whenever they cultivated their Mana.

Let's take an ordinary person for example. They would absorb 0,1 units of Mana every hour, and would likewise require a month to obtain the average Mana levels of an Apprentice.

But the higher one's potential, the higher their Mana intake. In his last lifetime, he remembered that the Sage of Beginnings, before becoming such a Legend, was a Mana genius.

Like a few others.

She was capable of absorbing 0,8 units of Mana every minute. Minutes. And not just hours. Meaning that she could absorb almost 500 times more than average ascenders.

Such a feat was terrifying.

But...

Why did it seem like she was absorbing more than she was expected to? He could sense dense Mana circulating around her, dancing like waves within the ocean at midnight.

"..."

He was actually surprised and decided to keep watching. The Mana danced even more as Damien did nothing about it.

He felt that they were cautious against him. Yet at the same time, worshipping Juliette. It was strange, but he thought nothing much about it.

Mana was one of the essence that make up the world. Within the Universe, it was actually the second most important element, excluding the god's Divine power.

Maybe they felt his origin was not from this world, and hence were cautious with him. But... that still did not explain why they worshipped Juliette.

"Oh? This is a bit peculiar." Damien still did not think much about it, and just watched in interest. His expression stern and stoic. 'I wonder... what more is out of place because of my return.'

He thought, looking forward to learning more about this world. And whether his descent, would result in anything out of his control or not.