Isaiah had already gone back to his office. He sat on his chair behind his desk as moonlight shined through the window to fall upon his figure.

Hig fingers were tapping on the desk, tap tap, as he waited for the arrival of someone. Knock knock, his door was knocked as he called out, “Come in.”

Lily opened the door and came in, she was wearing more comfortable clothes since Isaiah had told her to. When she first heard Isaiah call her to his office after work, her face got flushed red and her heartbeat drummed up till it was close to escaping her chest. Only after he told her that it was for her Rank 1 advancement did she manage to calm down, maybe even feeling a little disappointed.

She still felt a little awkward but kept her professionalism and didn't let it leak outside. She knew that her job came first, “Mr. Isaiah, I have arrived as you told me to.” She stepped forth till she was standing over his desk looking at him expectantly. Her excitement was high as she was finally going to advance to Rank 1 like she always wanted.

Isaiah nodded, “You arrived at the right time”, he pointed towards the center of the room where a formation layed, it was powered by 100 whopping mana gems! A total value of 100k GC.

Lily’s eyes widened as shock took over her soul, she immediately turned towards Isaiah, “Sir, is this formation for me? I couldn’t pay for these even after years.”

Isaiah got up holding his armrests, he straightened his back and walked towards her. He put one arm on her shoulder and shifted her gaze to his, “The reason I don’t pay you much is exactly because of this.” He pointed back towards the formations, “You get to have benefits like these exactly because I give you a low salary.”

Before she could express her gratitude Isaiah spoke once more, “Now sit.” She couldn’t start her sentence and immediately sat cross-legged right in the middle of the formation. His usually relaxed tone now soaked in heavy authority, a contrast that Lily was used to by now.

Isaiah came behind her and put her hands on her shoulder, “Initiate your mana circulation technique”, Lily did as told, she knew it wasn’t time to feel embarrassed, “Yes, Sir.”

Her middle-tier technique got initiated as her inner mana slowly started to get refined by the environmental mana. Isaiah nodded once he felt her technique, It surprisingly wasn’t too bad. At least good enough to take her up a Rank.

Her technique focused on taking small chunks of environmental mana as small needles and stabbing her inner mana, it was a technique that suited her well.

“Now, relax both your body and mind. Just purely focus on your mana circulation technique.”, Isaiah got outside the formation, then activated it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

All 50 mana gems’ mana were sucked by the formation. Isaiah controlled the formation to encapsulate the mana to create a dome full of mana with Lily in its center. This method required high mastery over formations and couldn’t be performed by any random mage.

Making sure the formation wasn’t disrupted nor broken when dealing with such high amounts of mana required not only high knowledge but also high mana control which both were Isaiah’s strengths.

As time passed and as more and more mana started to drown her, Lily couldn’t help but start to panic a little but forced her heart to calm down as she remembered that her boss was overwatching her advancement. She focused all her attention back to her mana circulation technique just like how Isaiah had told her.

Soon she felt something within her awaken as a rising feeling overtook her, it continued to build up till, SHOO! The formation broke and the mana worth 50 mana gems was let out in to the environment, causing a small mana torrent within the room which Isaiah easily controlled to stop with a clench of his hand.

Despite the formation breakin there was a smile present on his face, “Congratulations on reaching Rank 1, Lily”, his gaze was looking at the beautiful woman in front of her covered in sparks of lighting all around her body.

Lily looked at her body as her eyes became watery, she got up and walked towards Isaiah to give him a hug, “Thank you, Sir” Isaiah gently caressed her hair as he returned the hug.

Lily came from a poor family without, her childhood was rough but she never gave up. She enrolled in a great business school with a scholarship and graduated to make a good career for herself. But her life took an upwards turn when she went from working at Louie’s firm to becoming Isaiah’s secretary through his recommendation.

Now that she was at Rank 1 thanks to him, she couldn't believe all the worries she first had when she learned that he would be her new boss. Feeling emotional she look up at Isaiah with her amethyst-like beautiful eyes that further shined due to the tears threatening to fall, “I still remember your promise, Sir.”

She was alluding to what Isaiah said when they first met about how she would be his secretary forever till death, back then she thought it was odd and maybe even a little scary but now it warmed her heart.

Isaiah chuckled holding her chin gently, “I stand behind every promise I ever gave, and will give.”, hearing him LIly nodded and went back to hugging him.

Isaiah laughed at her state, he knew why she was like this. She probably got drunk from being exposed to too much mana. Just like how Blue Dust drug was just mana shard dusts, the same went for being exposed to too much mana for prolonged periods of time.

He took to the garage and helped her inside his vehicle. He got into the driver’s seat and started to drive to her home. It was a short journey as they soon arrived, he got out and looked at her house. It was a small but nice house with a small garden filled with flowers she took care of.

Isaiah opened the passenger’s seat’s door and helped her out of the vehicle, he put her arm around his neck and carried her inside her home.

He directly took her to her bed, took off a few excessive clothes like her jacket etc. and laid her on the bed. Since she was Rank 1 now and wouldn’t feel cold, he purposefully didn’t put a blanket over her.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, “Goodnight, I’m expecting you in peak condition in the morning.” His words made her chuckle, her ears were red and steaming due to him kissing her forehead.

As he was headed out he heard Lily’s voice coming behind him, “Thank you for today.”, then she surrendered to the sweet embrace of sleep as Isaiah continued steps with a chuckle.