Kael trained without pause.
He lifted weights until his muscles trembled, ran until his lungs burned, and meditated until his mind thinned into something sharper than steel. In the span of a week and a half, he reached a strange proficiency—he could enter meditation even while performing physical activity.
The hundred–kilogram dumbbell felt light in his hands.
He remembered watching boxing matches as a child with his father—two men wrapping their hands in cloth before exchanging relentless punches. Back then, they had seemed invincible.
Now, Kael was certain he could defeat even the strongest among them.
It was not an exaggeration.
He was already stronger than any normal adult.
Soon, he began implementing extended meditation sessions—four cycles of sixteen hours each, consuming entire days. The schedule alternated strictly: one day of brutal physical exercise, one day of meditation.
The first three long sessions were fruitless.
On the fourth, something shifted.
He remembered Darius's instruction—holding something unbearably heavy above his head while meditating. Without hesitation, Kael dragged the two-hundred–kilogram weights into the center of the training hall. He sat cross-legged and raised the weight above his head.
Two hundred kilograms.
Arms trembling.
Back straight.
He began to meditate.
A familiar scene emerged.
He stood before the eye again.
But this time, it was different.
When he first experienced it, the box he held contained a seed—something that enhanced comprehension and materialization. Now, he was alone. The eye before him was blurred, distant, almost indifferent.
Without Kael realizing it, a second eye—no larger than a peanut—materialized in the real world before him.
A bug flew lazily through the air.
It crossed an invisible boundary.
The small eye flickered.
The bug vanished.
Gone.
Kael remained in position for sixteen hours. The eye in his mind grew clearer and clearer… yet never reached the lucidity he had felt while holding the box.
From that day onward, his training became pure meditation.
Fifteen days passed.
Seven of them were devoted entirely to deep sessions.
Stolen novel; please report.
On the eighth day, something happened.
While meditating, he felt the eye manifest—not just in his mind, but in reality.
Satisfied, he opened his eyes to end the session.
"AAAAAA—!"
An eye the size of half his head hovered inches from his face.
"Frick—! That almost scared me to death!"
The eye floated silently, unmoving.
Darius, watching from afar, immediately realized something—despite its weightless appearance, the eye weighed thirty-six kilograms.
Kael cautiously pushed it with his hand.
The eye shot backward, flying in the direction of the push until it slammed into a wall and stopped.
He stared at it, amused.
Then he tried moving it without touching it.
The eye began circling him slowly—half a meter per second.
Kael felt a draining sensation. He activated meditation while remaining awake and focused. He poured his will into the eye.
It began spinning in a one-meter radius around him.
Faster.
And faster.
In eight seconds, it reached 160 meters per second—nearly half the speed of sound.
A grin spread across his face.
For a fleeting moment, murderous thoughts surfaced. The ones who ruined his life… he could kill them.
But then he remembered his master.
Remembered how even Darius had suffered.
Kael's will sharpened—not reckless hatred, but controlled resolve.
He would exterminate those pests.
He would grow stronger.
The humming sound intensified as the eye sliced through the air at subsonic speeds. He maintained it for two full minutes before exhaustion overwhelmed him.
When he meditated normally, he extracted small amounts of energy from his reservoirs.
Now, he was ripping it out violently and funneling it into the eye.
Worse still—it was inefficient.
More than half of the energy was lost, consumed by acceleration and air resistance.
He rested ten minutes.
Then did it again.
He repeated this cycle the entire day. By the final attempt, he lasted two minutes and forty-one seconds.
He was ecstatic.
For two weeks, he repeated this training every other day.
Nearly a month had passed since his master sealed himself away.
Kael thought he trained alone.
He did not notice Darius watching him from the window—smiling faintly.
This time, Kael pushed with everything he had.
The eye spun at the same terrifying speed.
Five minutes.
Ten seconds.
Darius stepped outside, astonished—not by the destructive force, though it was immense—but by the duration.
The eye required constant energy due to air resistance. Sustaining that speed was far harder than achieving it.
The eye finally slowed and disintegrated into particles.
Kael dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.
"You are truly strong," Darius said.
Kael looked up.
"What surprises me is not the power you release per second. In that regard, you are slightly better than average—among geniuses you are a normal genius on that side."
Kael blinked.
"But the duration…" Darius continued. "Your reserves are vast. Maybe the strongest genius in that aspect"
He crossed his arms.
"However, you are inefficient. Around sixty percent of your potential energy is wasted. Turned into heat"
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"You are like a massive barrel with a narrow faucet, but what will the other faucets size be, bigger?."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"When you awaken your second power… what kind of beast will I witness?"
Only then did Kael properly look at him.
His master's torso was bare, fuller than before. His missing arm had regenerated nearly one-fifth of the way. A green light pulsed faintly at his side.
"I will be fully recovered in four months," Darius said calmly.
Kael nearly jumped with joy.
"Master, will you train as well?"
"Of course. My training is essential. I have matters to attend to."
His gaze hardened.
"My powers are destructive. The process will differ from yours."
Kael hesitated.
"May I watch?"
Darius seemed reluctant. But seeing the excitement in his disciple's face, he relented.
"When the time comes."
He then added, "Tomorrow morning, we walk to the test site."
Kael's eyes widened. "Test site?"
"A selection trial," Darius replied. "To become a hunter."
The next morning, Darius asked Kael to out all his will into this run
If you show profficiency in this run, you will be tested in the hunters HQ
Kael didn't understand what the test was but he knew it was important.
once more—the eyes rotated, this time reaching a stable two hundred meters per second.
Darius watched carefully.
Not the speed.
The endurance.
Five minutes and thirty seconds.
The eye dissolved.
"You have passed," Darius confirmed.
Master and disciple walked back to eat in silence.
Tomorrow—
The selection process would begin.
