Ever since Medusa had died, Helial had been training every day, non-stop, because he knew that he would never stop facing stronger and stronger enemies.

Since returning after his experience alongside Alexander, most of the boy's skills had reached the Master rank. At this rate, it was not long before they all reached the highest possible rank.

Yet despite the efforts and knowledge the King of Madonia had taught him, Helial still had a bottleneck to deal with, one apparently impossible to overcome.

Every muscle in his body reacted, charged with energy, while his fingers drew strange patterns in the air. Luminous indecipherable letters vibrated in mid-air, releasing a mysterious Aura.

With each movement of Helial's hand, the circles full of luminous symbols rotated and enriched with new letters.

After a few minutes, the space all around him was completely covered with runes, but Helial did not seem willing to stop.

The young man began to gasp as he bent on one knee.

The Runes, unlike the Formations, required the user to consume their Mana without external supports. Formations, however, allowed the use of catalysts to merge with the Mana of Heaven and Earth. This minimal difference made the Runes much more practical and strong in battle, because they had no condition to be used, just that the caster had to strong and expert enough to create them.

Each Runic Framework that Helial had created was able to amplify the effect of some of his own Abilities. Several Runic Frameworks, once drawn on the ground, were able to increase exponentially the speed of those who set foot on them. However, to operate them correctly, it was necessary to know exactly where to put your foot, and only who created those Runes knew, to prevent the Runes from having the opposite effect to the desired one, exploding and damaging the warrior himself.

"What do you think of this?" said Helial, raising one hand towards all the Runes but with the other on his knee to support himself. He had just consumed all his Mana. The fact that he was standing was already a miracle.

Frankenstein had watched his training in silence, studying his companion's every movement from a corner of the room. "This is the Skill you were telling me about, the Perfect Background?" asked the Goblin curiously.

"Yup. It was given to me while I was training in the Time Block."

Helial avoided adding more details. He had decided that specifying every single detail of his meeting with Alexander would be superfluous, because he was sure that none of his friends would fully understand the real meaning of what he had experienced. They weren't ready to know what huge scenario they were already playing on.

Alexander.

Iblis.

Life.

Destruction.

Amaterasu...

If they had known about all these things, it would probably have done them more harm than good.

However... of all the members of the Tristia Team, Frankenstein had proved himself a true genius, overcoming every limit of what Helial thought was possible. His Skills had all reached the Master rank, even surpassing Helial's knowledge. Although the latter had an incredible experience, Frankenstein looked like a monster out of a horror book.

His deductive ability and intuition had allowed him not only to learn how to create terrifying devices, but to bring Art of Devices to the Master rank, even higher than Margherita's when she was still alive.

Frankenstein had only one main Skill, Manipulation of the Elements, but he had already managed to bring it to the Master rank.

“By combining a multitude of Runic Frameworks, Perfect Background allows you to create the ideal battlefield. Speed, Attack, Defense. It is a kind of Formation, but it can be created in a few minutes, allowing you to use it anywhere."

Helial nodded. He was sure that Frankenstein would understand the workings of this technique only by watching it. If not, then Helial wouldn't even have bothered to call him for help.

“Your Skill is stuck at level 20 and can't level it up, huh? Usually, a Skill at level 20 needs only a little push before reaching Master rank. Still, it doesn't seem to be your case. How many weeks have you said it has been stuck? "

"Five."

"Five weeks at level 20. You are also able to use Perfect Background, a Skill that, from what you have told me, only those who reach the Master rank can use to the fullest."

"The consumption of Mana is so high because the Skill is not at its maximum efficiency," commented Helial, in despair. "If I could level Runic Art to the Master rank, I would also be able to level up Perfect Background and Runic Control."

Frankenstein scratched his chin as he looked at Helial.

"How much Mana do you have at the moment?" asked the Goblin.

Helial opened the Statistics screen and pushed it with his fingers to get right it in front of Frankenstein's eyes.

Name

Helial

Race

Human

Title

Disciple of the King

Primary Class

Champion of the Runic Forge (Unique Class)

Primary Affinity

Light

Primary Profession

None

Level

104

Exp.

323.423/1.930.000

HP

18.530/18.530

MP

1.200/85.423

Strength

215

Stamina

233

Mental Energy

210.324/210.324

Intelligence

240

Wisdom

195

Dexterity

170

Present Effects:

Physical Endurance 5%

Vitality Regeneration: 1800% Health Regeneration: 1800% Physical Resistance: 3000% Magical Resistance: 3000%

Stat Points to distribute: 516

"You cursed monster," swore Frankenstein, looking at Helial's Stats.

Although the young Human hadn't trained physically in the Time Block and monstrously increased only the rank of his Skills, he had truly terrifying Stats.

Not even most of the warriors at the pinnacle of the Second Phase, beyond level 170, possessed such Stats.

"Why didn't you use all those Stat Points?" said the Goblin, widening his eyes.

Was it a joke? Not only was Helial so powerful, but he hadn't even use all the Stat Points?

So how the fuck could he have such high Stats?

Damn it! Apparently, Frankenstein had underestimated their leader's talent.

"Master's orders," Helial shrugged.

“Putting aside the issue of Runes for a moment: even the accumulation of Stats is absurd. I have studied from some books that Iblis provided me and, according to my theory, what differentiates the various Phases, in terms of quality, is basically Stats. In addition to the changes our body undergoes, there is a precise relationship between Phase and Statistics."

Helial sat up and activated Communion of Mana.

Skill Activated:

Communion of Mana

You are able to best circulate the power of Mana in the most suitable Meridians.

You can move very quickly as you accumulate and regenerate your Mana.

Lv: 1

Rank: Master

Exp: 64%

Present Effects:

MP regeneration: 100 Mana/Sec

Skill Amplification: 10%

Physical Skill Amplification: 5%

A divine Aura covered Helial.

Frankenstein was speechless again.

The speed with which Helial recovered Mana was terrifying. In a few minutes he would have recovered all Mana lost just before. Discussing with Helial, Frankenstein had discovered that, at first, Communion of Mana had allowed the young man to recover even more MPs per second, but preventing him from moving while using the Skill.

Now, after bringing Communion of Mana to the Master rank, it seemed that Helial was able to run and engage in normal combat at the same time he activated it.

By rubbing his temples, Frankenstein tried to ignore all the incredible information he had gained in such a short time about his leader and spoke slowly: “Runic Control and Perfect Background don't depend just from Runic Art. Runic Art also depends on them."

Solemnly, Frankenstein turned his back on the boy and walked off confidently, frantically, as if he had something in mind. Maybe he had found a new topic to inquire about, maybe he would have thought of new theories to help Helial improve.

"Runic Art also depend on them?" Helial did not understand exactly what Frankenstein meant, but he had received excellent food for thought.

The young man watched his friend Goblin walk excitedly and stumble badly on an empty plate Snowflake had left in the room.