A series of loud bangs and clashes echoed throughout the arena, where Damien and Ruby were seen fiercely clashing. Two months had passed, and by now, he had made significant progress.

Dashing forward, Damien unleashed a series of slashes at Ruby, who blocked them in quick succession. Ruby then countered with a fierce jab at Damien’s head, which he dodged effortlessly. They continued to clash, the sound of swords hitting metal rang loud with each strike. Seeing an opening, Ruby immediately struck out, expecting to win another sparring session. To her surprise, Damien smiled.

Immediately after Ruby attacked, Damien made use of the opening in her guard and swept her legs out from under her, causing Ruby to fall to the ground with a thud.

A look of surprise flashed across Ruby’s face, but it quickly faded into a smile. “Congratulations on another win! That was a good strategy; I can really tell that my training has paid off.”

Damien scoffed at her words. “The record is still heavily in your favor—fifty wins for you and only fifteen for me.”

Ruby shrugged in response. After a few more hours of training, Damien returned to the inn where he and Ela were staying.

“Welcome back!” Ela greeted him as he walked through the door. “How was the training?”

Damien smiled proudly. “I won another session today! It won't be long before I start winning them all,” he said with a smug look on his face.

Shaking her head at his antics, Ela turned back to focus on what she had been doing. Seeing her turn away, Damien couldn’t help but glance at her for a few seconds and taking in the view of her back. After a few moments, he looked away and cleared his mind before opening his status.

Name: Damien Atlas

‘Age: 200 years’

Level:45

Race: High human/Shade (F rank)

Bloodline - High shade

Titles: The first to awaken, Storms Child, Shades primordial.

Class: Origanls descent

Stats:

Health:300 —> 375

Mana:300 —> 375

Strength:215 —> 290

Agility:200 —> 275

Defense:175 —> 250

Intelligence:195 —> 270

Perception:175 —> 250

Willpower:165 —> 240

Skills: Mana breathing (Divine), The original (Primordial), Storms blessing (legendary), Lightning fast (rare), Expert Samurai (Rare), Flicker of the original (epic), Originals knowledge (legendary), Pure mana manipulation (Rare) semi-space manipulation (Epic)

Points to distribute:110

Looking at his status, it was easy to see Damien’s progress, whether from his training or simply leveling up in general. His samurai skills had upgraded from common to rare, allowing him to wield a katana with much greater proficiency than before.

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Adopting a meditative position, he began to circulate his mana using his mana breathing skill. This practice had become a habit, as it helped him study his skills and techniques in much greater depth, enabling him to come up with new applications for them.

As he focused on his skills, Damien contemplated each one carefully. His mana breathing skill seemed straightforward, but it was designated as a divine version for a reason. Unfortunately, even though the skill helped him understand things more deeply, he struggled to discover if there were better or additional uses for it.

His other skills were also relatively simple and did not require much examination. "Lighting Fast" merely increased his thought process and speed to insane levels. However, "Flicker" was one he had been reflecting on quite a bit, and he believed he was getting closer to understanding its potential. The last two skills he focused on the most were "Pure Mana Manipulation" and "Space Control."

With mana manipulation, Damien had learned a great deal and was now able to accomplish various tasks, such as attacking, defending, or even crafting if he wanted. In contrast, he found the space skill to be much more challenging and struggled to make any progress, primarily because he didn’t know where to start.

While he understood the concept of space, he lacked sufficient knowledge about it, which presented a significant obstacle. To advance with the skill just like he had with the others, Damien needed to comprehend what space was, what it could do, and how it worked. Before the system existed, humans believed they understood space, but now Damien recognized how naive that notion was.

Even when considering elements like wind or rain, while the people of Earth grasped some of their uses, they only understood a fraction of them. Damien believed that for any given element, there were nearly countless ways to utilize it; the challenge was discovering those applications.

Focusing on the space skill, Damien sat in deep meditation for hours, striving to uncover any insights. Eventually, Ela called out to him, “Damien, let's eat.”

Hearing her words, an excited expression appeared on his face. He hopped to his feet and made his way to the table, eagerly grabbing a plate. Not long ago, Ela had begun cooking for him, and Damien had instantly fallen in love with her dishes. Although he had enjoyed her cooking before the system, that food had not been enriched with mana.

Now, however, the meals were made from monster ingredients, and the meat was packed with mana, making it taste almost heavenly. Combined with seasoning and various cooking styles, the food was even more delightful, not to mention the joy he took in eating what she prepared for him.

Across the table, Ela rested her chin on her hands, a loving smile illuminating her face as she watched Damien demolish the food she had spent hours preparing. The past few months with him had brought her the happiest moments she had experienced in what felt like centuries; he had become the only thing she truly cared about anymore. Ela honestly believed that if she ever lost Damien, she would not want to continue living.

That’s why she was committed to doing everything possible to ensure that never happened. For the last two months, Ela had pushed herself harder than ever before and had reached E-rank. She could feel the difference that came with achieving this rank.

Now, Ela had complete confidence in her ability to defeat any lower-ranked opponents that came her way. Even if she found herself surrounded by dozens of level 40s, she believed she could take them all down with ease. This newfound confidence stemmed from the fact that when one upgrades their rank or level of existence—what some refer to as leveling up—their body changes to better suit the skills gained from the previous rank. As her body adapted, using those skills became much easier and significantly more powerful.

She had asked the system about this, and according to its explanation, the higher you elevate your existence, the more firmly you root yourself onto a specific path. For Ela, having focused on spirit and wind skills, her body had adapted accordingly.

As a result, any skills not related to her affinities would not be nearly as strong as those that were. Once Damien finished his plate, Ela took it and placed it in the sink before she heard him speak.

“Ela, I think it's about time I hit E-rank, and after I do that, we should head to the Irritated Zone.” Hearing his words, Ela raised an eyebrow but remained silent. Instead, she nodded in agreement.

“If that’s the case, until you reach E-rank, I will have Ruby train you as much as possible. That way, you will be as prepared as you can be before we set out,” Ela stated calmly. Though he grimaced at the thought of Ruby pushing him even harder than before, he reluctantly agreed, understanding it was for his own good.

Seeing him agree, Ela smiled. “Good. Now, how about you show me your progress with your mana training?”

Damien sighed inwardly at her question; it signaled even more training, even after the seven hours Ruby had already put him through.