Not since her betrayal at the hands of her so-called friends had the healer so strongly felt the specter of death. In one moment, she'd been trying to help the boy control his anxiety. In the next, it had felt like the maw of some ancient beast had opened up right before her ready to swallow her whole. With everything she had within her, she had immediately created distance between herself and her student, ready to defend herself just in case this was some kind of attack from him. She hated to think this way of the boy, but after once being betrayed, she wasn't willing to be that blindly trusting of anyone ever again. Noting the slight look of bewilderment on the boy's face was a small comfort to her. It seemed that he was just as confused about the situation as she was. However, some dark, cynical part of her couldn't help but whisper to her that his shock and confusion were because he hadn't expected her to escape whatever trap it was that he had just sprung. Recognizing that it was

Alena had already felt ice settle in the pit of her stomach when he first met the gaze from those eyes. That ice, however, seemed to spread out and encase her in a coffin of fear when the eye turned to Olivia. It wasn't that there was some powerful reaction or emanations from it when it turned to regard the avatar hosting the mind of its original. Instead, it was the exact opposite. There was absolutely no reaction from it. To the entity regarding them, the difference between the two of them was like that of a five-year-old and a six-year-old to an adult. Whatever it was that was looking at them through that eye was far more powerful than even Olivia's true self. And from the way Olivia herself seemed to have gone still as a statue, she too seemed to have picked up on this. Olivia's head dropped in a bow towards the eye. "May I know in whose presence I am," The familiar's voice broke the silence that had engulfed the cave. It was jarring to hear the complete seriousness in the voice

He'd been awake through it all. Greg had felt it firsthand when a foreign mind had tried to take over his mind. After his initial surprise at the sudden change that had taken place and the fact that his body was suddenly starving for mana, he had wanted to explain to his teacher that he wasn't trying to attack her in any way. He had seen the suspicion in her eyes and while he understood it owing to her past, it still stung to have her suspect him of wanting to harm her in any way. But just as he was about to argue his innocence, his mind and body felt like an insect dumped in amber. Suddenly Greg was little more than a spectator in his own body. At first, he thought that this was some strange side effect of transitioning between one tier and the next. That's, however, when he felt him. You'd think that after encountering one being of titanic power, the next one won't have such an impact on you. But as Greg felt just the edges of the mind trying to take over his own he despaired. H

On the healer's first layer, were her clothes, her face her figure, and any outwardly visible item or aspect of the healer. All of them were tagged with the grey color which was the lowest value designation from what Greg was picking up from the being. On the next layer, much to Greg's shock, he found himself looking at his teacher's internals. From her brain, heart, liver, to her very bones, it was all there, and much to Greg's discomfort, each of them was also assigned a value. Her brain bore the most value, followed, unexpectedly enough, by her liver! All, of them, however, were still in various shades of Grey. A fact that didn't really shock Greg all that much. To a being at the level of the one that had reincarnated him and the one currently trying to take him over, a mortal body, even a tier-seven one, was probably of very little value. But while the being didn't seem to value much that he saw, Greg had one of his long-standing questions answered in this most unexpected of way

Not surprised by the question, Greg furrowed his brow pretending to concentrate on remembering what had happened. "I finished the morning infusion then... it's all a jumbled mess past that. Di... did I threaten you?" Greg asked his teacher looking both horrified and unsure of himself. Greg knew that it would be a bit too convenient if he forgot everything, so he gave his teacher a chance to frame the events that took place after he transitioned to the first tier. Alena smiled at him. "It's a new awakening method. I might have overreacted a bit when something felt off," She said. "You passed out shortly after crossing into the first tier, it seemed that your body needed a bit of time to acclimate to the new power residing within it," She explained. A look of incomprehension crossed her expression as she continued. "I can't tell you how or why, but your mana pathways widened to about three or four times what they were supposed to be," His teacher explained. And though he had to be care