It was now Saturday, and Neraxis had spent all of his free time training alongside Celina.


    Aurelia tended to join in from time to time, but it was usually just minor deflection practice, as she was much weakerpared to them.


    Nheless, in the past few days, his stats had increased a fair deal.


    +-----+


    Status


    Name: Neraxis Valen


    Age: 16


    Stigmata: [Fragment of Cmity {71.3%} (Seals Unlocked: 2)]


    Affinity: [Eclipsed Abyss {SSS}]


    —Perks:


    [Aura of the Abyss] (NEW)


    [Unyielding Vitality]


    [Cosmic Sight]


    —Stats:


    Rank: E+ -> D-


    Strength: E+


    Agility: E+ -> D-


    Stamina: E+ -> D-


    Intelligence: D- -> D


    Mana Capacity: E+


    —Secondary Stats:


    Luck: I+


    Charm: B


    —Skills:


    [Eve of Ruin {E}]


    [Swordsmanship {F -> E}]


    [Ster Dominion {A}]


    [Minor Reflect {D}]


    [Sword Dash {F}]


    [Restorative Cut {E}]


    [Vampiric Dominion {A}]


    [Aegis of Eternity {C}]


    [Crimson Sovereignty {S}]


    —Fragment of Cmity Skill Tree (2/???)


    [Simple Horizontal sh]


    [Simple Stab]


    +-----+


    Neraxis stared at his stats with satisfaction.


    Finally, he had managed to reach D- rank, and from the looks of it, his progress was not slowing down.


    However, there was one thing that kept nagging him, and that was his perk, {Aura of the Abyss}.


    It had absorbed some Frostst time and gone silent, but now, a message appeared.


    Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire


    He clicked on it, disying the perk and, surprisingly, a new option.


    [Perk (1/3): Aura of the Abyss: A dark, star-speckled energy surrounds them, passively eroding objects, sapping strength from foes, as well as bending light and space subtly. (NEW) Erosion hasbined with Frost, making each attack passively freeze your enemies. Toggle ON/OFF]


    —Sapping effect: 10% less damage done by those affected.


    Immediately upon reading it, Neraxis activated the perk with a hint of excitement.


    In an instant, his hands were wrapped in a murky ck substance, streaked with flowing white, akin to water.


    But it was clearly ice—a very small amount.


    Now that''s a massive upgrade, he thought and turned to the training dummy in his room before sending out a single punch.


    On impact, the dummy''s wooden head formed visible ice crystals.


    However, not even a single momentter, those crystals turned ck, and the entire dummy disintegrated, not even leaving a trace on the ground.


    Before his excitement could grow further, Evangeline spoke. [Your phone is ringing, by the way. Someone''s spamming you.]


    Oh, thanks. Neraxis toggled Aura of the Abyss off and went over to his phone, only to see a few messages sent by none other than Ae.


    <Ae: Hey hey!>


    <Ae: If you don''t reply, then I''m not giving you any sweets.>


    <Ae: ...I''m just kidding, I will. Reply when you get this.>


    Neraxis tilted his head before replying. <Neraxis: I''ll be there, 7:15 P.M. right?>


    She replied immediately. <Ae: Yup, I''ll send someone over to pick you up, so be ready, ''kay?>


    <Neraxis: Okay. I''m going to head out for a bit, so I''ll see you then.> He wrote, and after she reacted to his message with a heart, he put his phone down.


    It was time he actually trained his mana, after all, he was currently at a bottleneck.


    All his stats had increased, but Mana Capacity had not.


    That was why he decided to practice it now, as he still had several hours left before he had to meet up with Ae.


    But practicing it would be difficult, considering the first step was to figure out the main properties of his affinity.


    From what Neraxis had gathered so far, the basic ones were Destruction, rity, and Resilience.


    Those were the basic ones he could figure out based on the perks.


    To reach D- rank in Mana Capacity, he had toprehend one of them to a decent degree. Therefore, Neraxis chose the easiest one, rity.


    He had always prided himself on his perception, but it seemed he had merely been yed all along.


    Therefore, this was the first concept he wanted to figure out.


    Cosmic Sight was rity, and judging from the perk''s description, it could be broken down into Precision, Foresight, and,stly, Guidance.


    Precision—to obviously enhance uracy and hit vital points more easily.


    Foresight—predicting an opponent''s moves by reading their muscles.


    Andstly, Guidance—something that would give him an instinctual feel for where his attacks were supposed tond, essentiallybining both Precision and Foresight.


    Even thinking about it made his head hurt, but nheless, Neraxis began attempting to grasp Precision first.


    For that, he would head over to Seraphina, who had promised to train him.


    Therefore, he grabbed his ne and soon was transported to her realm again.


    Yet instead of doing anything, she was merely lying on a patch of ice with a bit of snow, creating snow angels.


    "Huh?" She stopped, startled. "You''re here?"


    "Yes, I need help." Neraxis got to the point, ignoring her slight embarrassment.


    "What is it, darling? Need a skill again?" Seraphina asked, but he merely shook his head.


    "I need your help with training," he stated and slowly closed his eyes.


    Neraxis had a decent understanding of mana. Therefore, he was able to weave it around his body however he liked.


    By sending his chaotic mana to his eyes, he gained a measure of rity, greatly enhancing his perception.


    But the strain he felt was a bit much, the control was way too raw and unrefined, so he soon stopped the mana flow.


    "Aha... I see." Seraphina nodded, walking up to him. "You need help controlling your mana, is that it?"


    "Pretty much. I''ll do what you wanted me to do right after we finish," Neraxis said, quoting their contract.


    "Hahaha!" Sheughed before stretching out her hands. "Let''s get to it, then! Spread your mana across your entire body."


    "But I only want it in my eyes for now. It will take a bit too long if I do everything at once," Neraxis protested.


    But she merely shook her head with a chuckle. "You underestimate yourself, darling. I want you to try and then judge whether you can do it or not."


    Neraxis thought for a moment before reluctantly nodding and giving it a shot.


    Most of his mana was passively gathered in his heart. Therefore, he sent each little bit of it out evenly, making it course through his veins.


    here was some strain. However, it wasn''t as serious as he expected, only a little more than when he had tried redirecting the mana into his eyes.


    "Condense it a bit," Seraphinamented, and he did just that, reducing the amount of mana he was outputting into his body.


    Immediately, Neraxis gained greater control over it as the strain all but disappeared.


    Yet he couldn''t avoid the mana drain, as it was still consuming around 5% of his total mana every second just to keep his affinity covering his body.


    But if he could manage to do it simrly to how he did it with Aura of the Abyss, then such a big power boost could be donepletely for free.


    As he was lost in his thoughts, Seraphina suddenly brought her hand down, directed straight at his head.


    However, despite the speed, Neraxis was able to track it perfectly, seeing faint glimmers of where the attack could hit—until finally, finding one path that made the most sense: his heart.


    Kicking the ground, he pushed himself backward, narrowly avoiding Seraphina''s sharp nails, which had a tiny amount of blood on them from slightly grazing his chest.


    I nearly died... But it worked? I used Guidance or Foresight, I think? He heaved a few exhausted breaths, just to meet Seraphina''s warm smile.


    And before he could question her actions, she suddenly summoned an ice mirror and held it up to his face.


    Neraxis''s eyes, which were supposed to be purple with tiny stars inside them, were now a nk, full-ck color.


    This is...? Is this supposed to happen?@@novelbin@@


    [For the first few times, yes, until you get used to it,] Evangeline assured.


    I see... Neraxis nced at the still-smiling Seraphina. "Thank you, I wasn''t expecting to understand my affinity''s concept so fast... Though I still can''t control it that well."


    "I''m always here to help," Seraphina stated before forming a throne of ice and sitting on it. "Not like I can be anywhere else. Just make sure to do what you promised, okay?"


    "I''ll do that now. See you in a bit," Neraxis replied, and soon, she summoned a blue portal, which he went through in an instant, appearing back in his room.


    Less than an hour toprehend a single category''s properties, whereas he was expecting it to take upwards of a week.


    But now that his mind was at ease, he would finally do what he promised.


    Therefore, Neraxis got ready and headed outside.


    His destination—the mall.