Eren Idril opened his eyes slowly.
He was waking up from his semi-sleep state. And he opened his eyes to an entirely different scene from the one he saw before the inspection started.
There were various cracks on the ground as well as on the stone walls of the testing ground. The illumination array had malfunctioned, sending uneven lights. The mana in the area seemed a bit restless as if it was agitated by some natural calamity. There was a smell of ozone in the air as if Eren was very close to touching the lightning clouds.
However, Eren was most shocked by Kino's appearance. She looked like she had been in a shipwreck and had lost all her stuff. The way she was looking at him was entirely different as well. Eren couldn't put a finger on what kind of cocktail of emotions she was feeling at the time towards him. But he was sure that fear was among them.
"What happened here?"
Eren asked and rotated his wrists and neck. It felt to him that he had worked out once again and there was a certain muscle fatigue that he couldn't get rid of easily.
"You... you happened here."
In an accusatory, dissatisfying, and complaining tone, Kino spoke. The fear on her face had been suppressed. But the shake in her voice gave it away anyway.
Eren raised his eyebrows and looked around. His Meta-ranked abilities were not enough to cause any damage to his surroundings, even if he had infinite mana. As a result, he could only link the destruction to his use of Hex gear.
"What was it?"
Eren asked curiously. For some reason, he wasn't afraid of what was inside him because he knew that it wasn't harmful to him. He had only stopped using Hex spells to be in control. Not because he feared the destruction his Hex spells might potentially bring about.
***
Kirin was reminded of the mirrored soul projection of the green-eyed man when she looked keenly at Eren. She still had jitters running underneath her skin when the soul projection suddenly opened his eyes and smiled at her. The warning sirens in her brain fired off all at once and she created a distance from Eren.
Kino was aroused, afraid, and angry at the same time when she saw the green-eyed man smile at her. All those feelings had almost become foreign to her ever since she had been turned into a homunculus. But that projection somehow managed to tap into her psyche to invoke those feelings and make her aware of their existence. There was no physical intimidation involved when the man did that to her.
The homunculus could feel in her mind that those feelings were not something the soul projection wanted to cause in her. But she was to blame for making the soul mark manifest forcefully, making it interfere with the fabric of reality.
Kino canceled the soul inspection array after getting away from Eren who was still standing inside the array with his eyes closed and his consciousness half-slumbering.
The green-eyed man's gaze was very potent and his presence was going to spell doom for the testing grounds. Thus, she decided to stop her inspection of the soul mark and focus on something else.
Kino still maintained a safe distance from Eren even after he opened his eyes. She would have run away from the testing grounds if she could. But as long as it existed, she couldn't leave the ground behind and go anywhere.
***
"What was it, you ask?"
Kino sighed and straightened up her posture. She looked at Eren keenly and confirmed that he was no longer a danger. Only then did she start walking towards him.
"Frankly, I don't know what that was. But it was something the previous owner of the body had. The vessel that you are occupying right now."
Eren pursed his lips and looked at Kino before nodding slightly. He knew that letting him inspect him would reveal a few things about him. A calculated risk he was willing to take to nip the problem in the bud.
Eren was surprised to learn that the problem he was having with the Hex gear was caused by previous Eren. He could only conclude that his extraordinary circumstances in getting a second chance in life had something to do with it.
"Let me ask you something before we talk about this any further. Should I even call you Eren?"
Levine asked and stood only a few inches away from Eren. She looked into his blue eyes and realized that they carried the same depth and intensity the green-eyed man had. It was just that it wasn't that obvious as of yet.
"I am living both our lives in this body. I am Viktor and Eren both. So Eren is fine."
Eren's answer made sense to Kino because she had seen that his soul was completely in harmony with the vessel. He did not encounter conflict with the remaining soul markings of the previous Eren or the green-eyed man. All three of them had been combined to make the current Eren.
It was as if someone had brought three pieces of the puzzle together.
"Alright. Eren it is. I don't know how you came to possess this body. For the lack of better words, I'll call it a soul mark. Let me speak honestly, Eren. Getting rid of that soul mark is downright impossible for me. And I don't think anybody in Gilaahan can get rid of it for you.
I have instead suppressed the soul mark using a sealing technique. I have isolated it from your consciousness and will. I don't think it wants to harm you or create disturbance in your Hex spells. On the contrary, using it in your Hex spells will only help you get better results with time.
But it is too high for you to use right now. So I got that out of the equation for the time being using the partial soul seal."
Eren felt like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders when Kino remedied the situation, if only temporarily. With a doubtful tone, he looked at Kino.
"Is there any catch I should be aware of?"
Kino smiled before nodding her head.
"You are smart. Yes. Use your Hex spells very very carefully. The seal won't break because the soul mark isn't aggressive in the first place.
But it could get aggressive if you start feeling extreme emotions while using the Hex spells. It might also start affecting your spells and your willpower again if you use the Hex spells for a long period.
My suggestion would be to limit your usage of Hex spells and save it only for when you are in a time pinch. And in the unforeseen event that the seal stops working, you can try to get hold of your emotions using this technique. It's called the Soul Strengthening technique."
Kino was about to hand Eren a scroll that contained an unusual technique. It was a non-elemental technique that could be applied while one was in meditation. It could also be used while one was practicing their ranking technique. Eren didn't have to worry about this since he wasn't using one for himself at his current rank.
The Soul Strengthening technique also aided in making Eren's soul exert a stronger influence on his Hex spells. It did it by bringing his soul closer and closer to its awakening.
Eren was about to take the scroll from Kino's hands. But she suddenly pulled her hand away from his grip before commenting.
"Nothing comes for free in the testing ground, Eren. You'd get this technique after you achieve at least an 80 percent completion rate in the second stage or higher. You'd also be charged with something else. But for now, let's get you inside the ring."
***
A landscape of dark red sand and blood-red sky.
Eren had reached the second stage of the testing ground. Kino teleported him right away after explaining a few things to him. It was as if she wanted to get herself together by getting some time away from him.
The second stage of the testing grounds was an altered space. It had been altered using a giant spatial array.
Eren could feel that the altered space was influenced by dense fire-element mana. Apart from the red sand and red sky, there was nothing worth noticing in Eren's vision for miles on end.
His vision would get hindered by large red rocks and sparse redwood trees that had red leaves. But that was the extent of the variability the altered space provided. There was nothing else to distinguish one corner of the space from the other.
The air in this altered space reeked of sulfur and smoke. There would be random flames spontaneously appearing and disappearing over the ground or the rocks from time to time. This barren land was only prosperous for the fire and those who were able to harness it.
As such, Eren liked the environment for the second stage of the test. Incidentally, the opponents he was going to fight were also said to be harnessers of fire-element mana.
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