Ultimately, Zane decided not to upgrade to the next tier. The only reason he considered upgrading was because he thought he was facing a true Upheaval. However, after he spent some time with Meditation active, thinking about the information the system gave them, Zane quickly changed his mind. He decided to take his own advice and make sure he prepared as much as possible. So, with Meditation still active, Zane began to focus on the mana around him.

Mana Manipulation and Mana Control were the final two skill that Zane wanted to raise to the max level before he upgraded his tier. It wasn’t absolutely necessary for him to train these two skills, but it would be extremely beneficial for him to do so. These two skills would give him better understanding and control of one of his three energies. This would make forming his source field a lot easier and his source field would be much stronger.

To improve the level of his Mana Manipulation and Mana Control skill Zane gathered the mana in his surroundings and shaped it into different forms. A ball, a shield, a sword and a spear. Each time Zane focused on making the form as solid as possible by increasing the density of mana.

After Zane finished increasing the density, he started focusing on the type of mana he was using. He started with fire mana, then he focused on earth and then he focused on air. The mana in the air changed shape and colors as he continued to practice. A reddish orange shield, a brown sword and a white spear. Sometimes Zane would mix the different types of mana causing to different colors to appear at the same time.

Teacher Isabelle created this exercise for Zane to improve his ability with mana. Out of all the magic training methods she had him do, Zane enjoyed this one the most. Zane practiced until he only had thirty percent of his mana left. Once he dropped below fifty percent, he could feel his head start to hurt and the pain became stronger the less mana he had. Zane began recovering and analyzed the results of his training.

Currently, Zane’s Mana Manipulation was at level thirty-nine and his Mana Control was at level forty. The training had caused the experience for both skills to rise by more than twenty percent. The increase did not come as a surprise to Zane, but he was surprised by an increase in another area.

The proficiency of Zane’s meditation art had increased during his training. It didn’t increase by a lot, but the increase was greater than what he received from sitting still. Zane was surprised at first, but he realized he was focusing on weapons while he manipulated mana. He consciously focused on the shape of the weapons he created and subconsciously focused on the will of the weapons.

Zane was excited by this discovery and wanted to immediately begin practicing right away. However, he knew that he had to recover first. So, Zane resigned himself to taking in the mana in his surroundings as he did his best to quickly recover. Once he recovered, he would continue his training until it was time to meet with the others.

Eventually, two hours passed and it was time to meet up. With mental communication they had no trouble finding each other. The group met up, talked and separated as they headed to the arrival location.

“I really hope the system isn't making us face a real Upheaval.” Shane said with a grim expression.

“It won’t,” Zane replied confidently. “The system wants us to grow and improve. It wouldn’t want or let us all die pointlessly from an Upheaval.”

“That’s what you’ve been told,” Sam stated. “You have no way of proving the system cares about any of us.”

“Yeah, for all we know the system is evil,” Brad added. “It could have been created by some evil god that’s doing all of this for entertainment.”

“If the system wanted us to die it there are easier way to do it,” Zane explained. “It could have the Divine Spirits order the Messengers to kill us. I’m sure an evil god would still find it entertaining and it would take far less effort.”

“That does seem a lot easier. Have any of you ever been through an actual Upheaval?”

“No,” Sophie answered “But, we’ve all heard stories about it.”

“I’ve experienced an Upheaval before,” Zane said.

“What?” Jason and the others shouted.

Zane nodded and calmly replied. “Teacher Isabelle took me to a city experiencing an Upheaval. Teacher said that the Upheaval was stronger than normal, and many people would die. She was right. Countless experts came forward to defend their homes and countless experts died. However, they didn’t falter at the thought of death. Everything happened like the stories said they would. Humans were united in heart and mind, fighting to push back an endless sea.” Zane started to smile as he remembered. “I remember being so moved that I tried to charge forward and fight the mana creatures myself.”

“Did they manage to win?” Brad asked.

“Yes, they won.”

The group tried to ask Zane more questions about what he experienced, but he only shook his head. The group saw that Zane was unusually silent and unresponsive, so they quietly agreed not to ask him any more questions. The group continued to talk amongst themselves in a subdued tone mindful of Zane’s current mental state.

As the group walked and talked, they arrived at the arrival location. They could see that a lot of people had already gathered and were sitting down waiting for the messenger to appear. Everyone was separated into groups like in the beginning, but there was a difference to how the groups interacted. Instead of avoiding each other, the groups were talking and interacting with each other.

Zane could sense the nervous and uncertain feeling that permeated through the air. He knew that the communication between the groups was caused by everyone’s worries about the Upheaval. Zane’s meditation had given him some clarity and confidence about the situation, but the nervous air threatened to take them away.

Right before Zane and the other were about to sit down, they saw a man waving to them from afar. The muscular physique and blond hair instantly gave away the identity of the man. He was Adam Peddler. The same man that they had met on the first day of the starting village.

Brad suggested that they head over and the others agreed. Adam was in a large group containing more than thirty people. He stepped away from his group and walked up to greet them with his hand out. Brad and Sam walked forward to shake it. Adam then slightly bowed to Zane and the others before speaking.

“It’s good to see you’re all doing well. I’ve had more than a few friends die in the forest.”

“The first night was ruff,” Brad said. “The only reason we survived was because of luck.”

“That’s right,” Sam agreed. “If it wasn’t for our meeting with Sophie and the others we might not have survived.”

“I also met a few friends myself,” Adam said. “All of you should come and sit with us. We can discuss the Upheaval Defense quest together.”

Zane and the others accepted Adam’s invitation. The people in Adam’s group were sitting down in a poorly formed circle. Zane and his friends sat down near Adam on the outside of the circle. After nine days, Zane could no longer distinguish humans from different world based on sight alone. When Zane looked around the circle, he only saw his fellow human beings.

“Do you have any special information about the Upheaval you could share with us?” Adam asked.

Although his question was directed to the whole group, Zane knew that he wasn’t interested in Brad and Sam’s answer. Zane looked at the others and mentally said he had no intention of speaking. The others agreed and pushed Sophie forward as their spokesperson.

“We probably don’t have any more information than you do,” Sophie answered. “However, we strongly believe that the Upheaval isn’t a death sentence. It’s most likely weaker than the Upheavals that would usually occur on our world.”

“Can you explain how you came to that conclusion?”

Zane started tuning out the conversation that Sophie was having with Adam. He didn’t know Adam well, but he remembered that he liked to ask a lot of question. Sophie would probably be spending the next few minutes satisfying Adam’s curiosity. Zane didn’t mind explaining things to people. He actually enjoyed providing helpful information to other humans. However, when he thought about having to explain things to Adam, he felt like talking was a tedious and exhausting task.

Seeing Adam again wasn’t a bad thing though. In fact, it made him think about another person he met on his first day at the starting village. Zane began looking around the area to see if he could find Old Saber. After they fought together in the forest Zane began to feel a slight connection with him. However, after they met on the first night, Zane didn’t meet with him again.

Before Zane could begin conducting a thorough search of the area, he saw a blinding light shine from the altar in the center of the arrival location. After a few seconds the light went away, and they saw the Messenger they met in the beginning. Zane and the others stood up and bowed in greeting to the Messenger. An uneven chorus of voice sounded throughout the area.

“Greeting little adventurers, we meet again,” the Messenger said with a smile. “As you already know I’m here to give you all an explanation about what you can expect in the next five days. I was planning on teasing all of you for a bit, but I decided to tell you what you want to know from the beginning. I’m pretty sure that you all will have a mental breakdown if I don’t. So, here it is. Tier one will be the highest tier of mana creatures attacking during the Upheaval.”

A sigh of relief rang out through the entire area. Zane felt his entire body relax as he let go of a hidden weight on his shoulders. Although he had some confidence that the Upheaval would be weaker than normal, he had no way of knowing for sure. Listening to the Messengers words was equivalent to drinking a mana potion after using all his mana.

“Hahaha, that’s great news!” Shane shouted. “I really thought we were going to die.”

“I agree,” Jason said. “The entire time we were waiting I felt like a blade was against my neck.”

Everyone at the arrival location started speaking all at once. Zane could see some people shouting for joy while others hugged their friends and roared with laughter. Everyone continued to vent for a few minutes before finally settling down.

“I’m glad you’re all so happy to hear me speak,” the messenger said. “Now that you have all calmed down, I will continue with my explanation. I suggest you try not to get too excited or I won’t be able to finish everything in time.”