CHAPTER 40: WARMING UP
John ignored him and tried tapping into his domain.
Now what?
[You heard the metal man. Draw it out.]
How?
[Just try to do it.]
John frowned.
That's not helpful.
[Shush. Get to work.]
John clenched his jaw but didn't argue. He was too tired. Instead, he exhaled slowly and focused on the energy pooled in his domain. Then he imagined it moving, flowing out of his domain. Down his arms. Into his fingertips.
Nothing happened.
What if I try to imagine it first?
He closed his eyes and turned his attention to the purple threads. They drifted through his domain like blood vessels, weaving through everything.
The threads are probably related to my lightning affinity. The abyss below is... well, the abyss. The entire space is my void. And the red core must be... the unknown affinity.
He pushed the thought aside.
Okay. Just to be safe, let's go with lightning.
He paused. How would it even look?
His mind drifted back to Earth. All the movies, anime, and manhwa he'd consumed. He thought of all those characters standing wreathed in lightning, filled with power.
Thank you, he thought to the people of his previous life. For your creativity.
He formed the picture in his mind. Lightning dancing across his body. Wrapping him in power.
He imagined it.
And then—
Purple energy surged from the threads. It flooded out of his domain, into his limbs, across his chest. Purple arcs crackled along his arms, his shoulders, his neck.
It worked.
It actually worked.
Then—
BOOM.
A shockwave of lightning exploded outward. Light flooded the room. Trainees shouted, scrambling back. Someone hit the floor.
Everyone stared.
John sat frozen, purple lightning still flickering across his knuckles. His heart pounded in his ears. The room suddenly felt a lot smaller.
Varric finally looked up from cleaning his blade. He gave John a long stare.
John started to sweat.
Then he went back to cleaning his blade.
John let out a breath of relief.
I thought I did something wrong for a moment.
[Congratulations, minion. You have come one step closer to being qualified to serve me.]
You still aren't dropping the minion stuff.
john didn't hear Echo's response as he was swarmed by his group mates.
Nico was the first to move, scrambling over on hands and knees, eyes wide. "Dude. Dude. How the hell did you do that?"
John raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"
"Are you seriously going to tease us right now?" Amara said, ears flat. "Just tell us how you did it."
"Yeah, don't hog all the fun," Adam muttered from somewhere behind them.
John ignored them. His hands were still crackling. He could make it stop. He just didn't want to.
"How did you do that?" Liora's voice cut through the noise. She was standing a few feet away, arms crossed, ink-black eyes fixed on him.
John looked at his hands, then at her. "It's pretty simple, actually. You just need to imagine it."
"Imagine?"
"Yeah. I think what you imagine has to match your affinity. For me, it's lightning. I pictured it covering me. Like..." He searched for words. "Like it was already there. I just had to let it out."
Liora tilted her head. "That's it?"
"That's it."
She gave a nod and sat down cross-legged. The others followed—not just her, but most of the squad. They closed their eyes and started trying.
Except Nico. He was staring at John with a strange look.
John looked back. "What?"
"Nothing. I'm just surprised." A pause. "No, hurt. That you answered when she asked and not me."
John shot him a glare.
Nico just grinned, closed his eyes, and sat down.
John watched him for a moment, then looked around the room. One by one, the others were starting to get it.
Amara was first. A faint dark haze crept over her claws—barely visible, but there. Her ears perked up. "I felt something."
Adam let out a small yelp when a flicker of blue light sparked across his palm. "Whoa. Whoa. Did you see that?"
"Amazing," Thalia said from across the room. But she was smiling. A small red glow was building around her fingers.
Even Thomas managed to produce a wisp of golden smoke from his clenched fist.
Within minutes, the room was filled with small lights—flickers and sparks and hazy glows. Varric stood up.
His gaze swept over everyone present he gave a nod of approval.
"Pair up," he said.
The room shuffled as people grabbed their partners. John expected Nico to come his way. Instead, Sylas appeared in front of him.
John looked surprised for a moment, then smiled a little. "Sylas."
"Idiot."
John's brow twitched. He'd been stuck with that nickname ever since the survival trial, even though he had no idea why. He just shook his head.
"You ready?" Sylas asked, cracking his neck.
"Always."
Sylas moved first.
Vines erupted from Sylas's arms—thick, green, moving like snakes. They lashed out at John from all directions.
John didn't think. His hand went to his back, and the Evolstice Blade was in his grip before he realized he'd summoned it.
He swung. The blade connected with the first vine—and bounced off. So did the second, third, fourth, and the rest of his strikes.
Damn. These things are super hard.
"Well, I hope that was a good warm-up," Sylas said with a smile.
"What?"
As soon as he said that, John was hit with a vine straight to the chest.
The air left his lungs. He flew back, hit the ground, and skidded across the floor.
He lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, gasping for breath.
[Get up.]
Working on it.
John pushed himself to his elbows. Sylas was already walking toward him, vines retracting.
"You're too slow," Sylas said, offering a hand. "And you hesitate."
John took the hand and pulled himself up. "I don't hesitate."
"You do. Every time. You think before you move. That's a fraction of a second your enemy doesn't have."
John brushed himself off. "Noted."
Sylas nodded and stepped back. "Again."
John nodded, but this time, he had a crazy idea.
The main reason he'd lost was speed. So why not increase it? And what better way than lightning?
He drew energy from his domain. Purple lightning crackled across his shoulders, down his arms, wrapping around his whole body.
And then—
The world changed.
Everything slowed. Sylas's vines moved like they were underwater. John could see each one coming before it arrived. He stepped left. Dodged right. Weaved through the strikes like they weren't there.
He closed the distance in a heartbeat and threw a punch.
Sylas's eyes went wide.
He barely blocked it and stumbled back. "What the—"
John didn't stop. He threw another punch, followed by a barrage of sword slashes and kicks. His body moved faster than his mind.
For a few glorious seconds, he felt untouchable.
Then Sylas adapted. Wood armor crawled over his arms, thickening his defense. Vines wrapped around his legs, anchoring him to the ground. He didn't try to dodge anymore. He just took the hits.
John's hits bounced off the wood like stone.
"Your turn," Sylas said.
A cloud of green mist burst from his palms.
John's lungs burned. His vision blurred. The lightning flickered.
Wow. Poison? Seriously?
Damn it.
He backed off, coughing. Sylas didn't give him a chance to rest as he started attacking with his vines. Each strike felt heavier than the last as the poison started to weaken John. He couldn't dodge like before. His body was slowing down.
But he wasn't done yet.
He pulled more lightning. Not for speed this time. For range. He thrust his palm forward and let a lightning bolt fly toward Sylas—even he himself didn't know how he did it.
Sylas raised a wooden shield. The bolt hit and cracked the surface, but it didn't break through.
Sylas smiled. "That's all?"
John smiled back. "No."
He ran forward, jumped over the next vine, and kicked the cracked shield. It shattered.
Sylas staggered. John pressed the advantage—quick stabs, low kicks, lightning flickering with every strike.
Sylas laughed. He was laughing.
"Where were you earlier?" Sylas asked, blocking another punch.
"Warming up."
They clashed again and again and again. Neither was winning. Neither was losing.
They were just... fighting. Lost in the moment, forgetting where they were.
"Time to switch."
Varric's voice cut through the chaos.
John and Sylas both stopped, tired but still satisfied.
"Well, that felt good," John said as he did a light stretch. He was feeling better. Earlier, he had found a way to purify the poison in his body using lightning—even though the exact process was still unclear to him. He would make sure to study it later.
"You mean you feel good after losing?" Sylas said.
John raised an eyebrow. "Was I fighting a different person? I distinctly remember kicking your ass."
"Did you?" Sylas tilted his head. "I seem to remember you coughing up my poison."
"And I seem to remember giving you a beating and you just taking it."
"After I let you."
"You didn't let me do anything."
Sylas's grin widened. "Keep telling yourself that."
While their argument was getting heated, a voice interrupted them.
"Can we talk for a moment?"
Both Sylas and John turned their heads.
Daren stood a few feet away, arms crossed, expression unreadable. His eyes flicked between them, cold and calm.
"What do you want?" Sylas asked.
Daren ignored him. Looked directly at John. "I wanted to speak to you."
"I have nothing to talk to you about," John said.
Daren took a step closer. Both Sylas and John tensed.
"This is important," Daren said, then gave Sylas a side-eye before looking back at John. "I'd prefer if we could talk more privately."
"You can say what you want right here," Sylas said.
Daren's gaze didn't leave John. "If you say so. I have a message from... Dark. As you know him."
John's face went pale. Shocked. He tried to compose himself, but the brief slip didn't go unnoticed by Sylas.
"Hey, Sylas," John said. "I'll be right back."
Sylas's jaw tightened. His eyes flicked between John and Daren. Then he gave a reluctant nod.
"Fine."
John followed Daren a few steps away—close enough for Sylas to see, far enough to talk.
John didn't waste any time.
"I want to know everything."