The following morning, Owen woke up with a smile on his face. Later that day they were going to be heading back to earth, which meant anything else he wanted answers on, he would need to ask today. He hadn't been able to bring much with him, since he had appeared after partially blowing himself up, so packing was easy.

He wasn't sure how much time they had left before being teleported, but he assumed he would have a couple hours. He had done almost everything he had wanted to do, but he still was curious about several things, but most specifically magic. Who didn't want to master spells and the like, so far he had a good idea of how to activate essence marbles, but he wanted to do things like spells.

Went he moved out to the courtyard with everything in hand, only Briar was sitting there waiting for him and Owen gave a wave as he made his way over. "How has freedom been treating you so far? Have there been any major changes yet, or has this realm limited that sort of stuff?" Briar smiled wide and Owen had to fight the urge to shudder. Briar had managed to change their appearance overtime and they had begun looking more and more human, but there was still the uncanny valley experience.

Ignoring it, Owen smiled back as Briar started talking. "Not much has been able to change. This seed item that Xerxes gave me is going to help in creating my own hive, but there are some limitations to it. Such as, I am not allowed to create one on earth, though technically I was given permission to create one wherever Xerxes creates his area there." Owen nodded, before he felt like he needed to ask a question. "So, does that mean you are going to be leaving our group for a while?" Briar nodded and two separate system screens appeared in front of him.

*Briar - Level 35*

*You have been given the quest, New Domain. As your kind had stagnated without your presence, reestablish yourself as a hive leader of the Roseborn.

Completing this quest will end your stagnation.*

Only a little part of Owen was surprised. He had gotten some of the credit for enemies killed by Briar in the past and he hadn't noticed their level increase by very much, despite being fed the corpse of every enemy they had come across since their first evolution. Owen just sort of nodded and gave Briar an awkward smile. "I am going to practice a few things, do you think you could help me out while we wait for Lucas and Xerxes?" Owen asked as he began forming another essence marble.

Briar nodded and before Owen was able to finish his, Briar had made almost a dozen. Owen's eyes bugged out for a second before Briar's voice cut through the air. "Xerxes had me practice so may times, to try and help out Lucas, that I don't even need to think about it any more." Owen laughed slightly, "Wow, that's awesome, Lucas might be better than me at purifying them then." He didn't recognize the look Briar flashed him, but he felt like he caught a hint of meaning.

"He didn't purify any of them did he?" Owen asked, immediately feeling a little tired. Briar grinned and nodded, before pointing an accusing finger at him. "By the way, it is your fault I ended up having to make so many for him anyways, Xerxes liked the idea so much after you had done it that the past several days have just been me trying to convince Lucas to purify even one of them." Owen winced slightly, but they both laughed then.

Lucas ended up joining them not long later and he and Owen shared a few words, before Lucas ran over and started talking excitedly with Briar. It made him really happy to see them getting along, especially now that Briar couldn't exist on his arm as a bracelet any longer. It was one worry gone from his mind, but now he needed to figure out what was going on with those on earth who didn't end up getting pulled away by their sponsors.

While he specifically didn't have anyone that he was specifically close too, he was still worried for Myra and Peggy's family. He hadn't remembered either of them being high leveled, so he had been worried for them, but he could only hope for now that they were okay. He had felt guilty for not having checked earlier, but he had only remembered to ask about them after he had talked to Myra about it the night before.

He spent a the rest of the time waiting for Xerxes feeling slightly awkward around Lucas and Briar. he hadn't really spent much time with either of them in the past month and it didn't help that that had made up more than half of the time he had known both of them. Still he joined in some idle chatter every now and again, as he began trying to change the shape of the marble into something else.

He made eye contact with Lucas one time during his experimentation and the kid rolled his eyes, but Owen still caught him looking at what Owen was trying to do from time to time. By the time Xerxes had met with them in the center of the courtyard, Owen had managed to make a ring out of essence, as well as several other shapes, though he still hadn't figured out how to purify the mana differently to create a different effect with the activation.

He tried to ask Xerxes when he had shown up, but Xerxes shook his head and gestured for them all to get close. "A couple things you will all need to know, you will not be sent back to earth immediately, there is a location that will act as a go between. More than likely it will be the announcement for a system event, that will begin once you arrive back on earth. Secondly, while I would love to continue to be all of your teachers, things are beginning to progress rapidly and the system is going to want you all to figure out some things on your own." Xerxes started.

He turned to Owen then and gave an apologetic smile. "Your friend, Peggy, ended up being trained by a powerful sponsor known as the World Father. If you have any questions about magic, she is going to be able to answer almost every question you might have. The last bit of advice I can give to any of you," He started as he turned his attention back to everyone then. "Focus on the feeling energies give you and don't shy away from learning from others, even if you are stronger. Lastly, spend more time focused on how your vitality and mana work together. Spend some time on that and you should get a decent boost in not too long." As the final words left Xerxes mouth, Owen saw a yellow shimmer of energy coat both Briar and Lucas.

Owen barely remembered advice he had been given by Xerxes earlier on and threw out a hand to grab Briar, his hand landed on their shoulder, just before they were all teleported away.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

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Xerxes smiled and almost gave himself a pat on the back. His timing had been impeccable and he had managed to say almost everything he wanted to say before his students were teleported out of his realm. Glancing down into his periphery, he smiled at the small window that displayed a system message.

*Congratulations, you have trained three separate inductee's, calculating results...

You have been awarded an S grade location on the planet called Earth.*

His smile grew even wider at the available placement for his changes to earth, and he immediately began designing his portion of earth. If the system had enough resources, he could leave anything and everything Lucas and Owen would ever need, just so long as they found the area first. It was both more than he excepted space wise, but also somehow less than he hoped and the materials he was able to send that they might be able to take advantage of was extremely limited.

It would still be a lot for them, but not as much as he had hoped. Frowning, he sat down in the air, using a hint of his mental energy to allow him to float in place while he began his intricate designs in earnest.

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Owen appeared in a white space, hovering in place. He was able to move his body, but not able to change his location, so he waited patiently for the system to tell him whatever is was planning on telling him.

*Congratulations, you have achieved results in the top 1% of the population for progress made during the month of sponsored training.

You have been awarded the title, System Prodigy. This title grants a 5% bonus to all stats.*

Owen grinned and waited in place for several moments, he was still slightly upset he hadn't bee able to ask Xerxes any questions, before they all had been teleported away, but the 5% stat boost was a nice distraction. "Hey, System, what happened to everyone that didn't get called away by sponsors?" Owen asked. He didn't honestly expect a response and the only time he had gotten a response in the past had been during the secondary class test, so he had already turned his attention to something else, before he heard a voice echo through his head.

*All of those who had not been chosen by a sponsor have been experiencing a second tutorial like experience, in order to earn a sponsor or the favor of luck.*

Surprised Owen turned back and immediately asked a follow up question. "Is there any way to bring back the dead?" Even to him it had felt a little out of the blue, but it had been something he was wondering for a while. There was a part of him that had no desire to exact revenge against the sins, even though they were responsible for the death of his dad. Part of him still mostly blamed Jared for that happening, but he also knew just how much stronger the sins were, compared to himself. He had started considering the idea of resurrection, but nothing had indicated it being possible and he hadn't asked Xerxes about it either.

He was a little disappointed when the system didn't respond, but he pushed the annoyance from his mind. More than likely, it would work like the testing hall had and would only respond about things directly related to the system. "What is the next system event?" He waited for several seconds hoping for a response and apparently he had been right that it had to be about the system, cause he heard the voice ringing through his head again.

*The next event will be a fight over the domination of earth. There is a time limit of one year for preparation, before all guilds will be tested against each other, until a victor is found.*

Owen was less than enthusiastic about the idea and every idea he had had for a more peaceful life in the system began to fall apart. He hadn't actually been convinced things would be peaceful, but he already felt like he had been in the system for several years and yet it had only barely been about two months. One sixth of the time they would have to prepare. Sighing to himself, he wondered how the world would look after all of the sponsors had finished with their changes and a part of him wondered whether or not that was why it had left him to hover in space.

Several minutes passed as Owen began trying to manipulate his internal energies, before he decided he had to ask. "Why am I being held in this space?" He continued manipulating his energy as he finished imbuing all of the stars in his legs with mana. He hadn't been able to focus a lot on imbuing his entire body with mana and several times, chose to forego it with training on the mountainside instead, but now since he had nothing better to do, he was able to fill star after star, his mana being large enough that he was able to fill two entire stars, before he needed to take a break to let his resources refill.

As if it had been waiting for him to finish, he heard the voice echo through his head.

*You are being held here until the final participants of the second tutorial have finished. You are also being held here while the true waiting space stabilizes, so that it can handle the chaos energies held within your body.*

Owen was only a little surprised the space hadn't accounted for chaos, especially after he had needed to refight a replica in the testing hall. He had also had a couple conversation with Xerxes about it and found out just how rare it was to see someone using chaos. Normally, chaos would be something people would grow to be able to handle by the time they reached late into the level 200's, and they would be able to wield it more freely after reaching closer to level 500. Mostly, the reasoning revolved around the idea of risk versus reward.

Owen was someone who made a lot of decisions around this idea and it was more a miracle than anything else as to how he was still alive. Chaos was dangerous for two separate reasons, without a specific skill, its reaction with mana were always impossible to control. Meaning, if Owen had accidentally clashed with someone using mana in an attack, while he used chaos. If the two energies mixed, Owen was just as likely to be injured as the one making the attack with mana. His soul was a high enough level though, that a lot of the side effects caused by chaos permeating in the body were negated due to his strong soul.

When someone's soul got strong enough, it would act like a mold of the body, preventing a lot of the negative side effects caused by chaos. It would simply snap the body back into the shape the soul held, while it wasn't guaranteed to be fast, overtime it would fix things. But there could still be catastrophic injuries, which made it unpredictable even at the higher levels.

Owen waited in that limbo space for several hours, while he continued to imbue sections of his body with mana, and meditating to refill the energy faster. He knew others might have tried to gain as much information about the system event early, but this special area he was going to be teleported to next, was all about the system event anyways, so he felt is was more worth it to work on his progress in the meantime.

Finally, just as he was beginning to grow tired of the monotony, he felt the white void space around him shimmer for several seconds, before he found himself sitting in a large auditorium. He could see millions of people, but no one seated around him was anyone he recognized, but everyone sitting around him did have some commonality between them all. Every single one of them had gotten the same title he had, for their progress made during the one month training period.

How could he tell? Everyone nearby had a small name hovering above them, that said, System Prodigy, in fine system text. Owen sighed as he looked above his own head and saw the same title name plastered there. There was no way that this was in place to try and create issues for the next year, giving a face to every enemy you might have. No way, right? Owen groaned at the thought and wished he had asked a couple more questions before being teleported in. The one blessing to it, was that no one had been able to hide their face and even if they had, someone's mana signature was recognizable and if he ever met any of them again, he would recognize them.