364 Breaking into the Middle Stage

Slowly, Raze's eyes started to flutter open. The area around him was dark, apart from a faintly lit orange light coming from behind him.

He lifted his upper body off the ground and looked ahead, where he could see a wall.

"I'm still here; we're still in this underground assessment," Raze thought, slowly clenching his fist. As he did, he held on tightly.

His veins were popping on his hand, and he felt like he could crush anything beneath it.

"This is what it feels like then, to reach the 6th stage! The pinnacle of the Initial stage! But I guess from here on, it's going to be tough, just like before, it will be a bottleneck.

"I'm sure they don't separate the stages from Initial to Middle for no reason. Maybe it's best if I speak to Dame about it since he's at the sixth stage."

The whole thing was quite exciting for Raze in a number of ways. When he was going up the star levels as a mage, he had already experienced it before.

So he felt like he was just going through the same motions as last time. Although there were some differences, and since he had been through it before, he could accelerate through the star levels, but being a Pagna warrior, it was completely different.

Each time he increased by a stage, his body felt even lighter than before. It was hard for one to even imagine because with his last stage increase, Raze had felt the same way as well.

His body was incredibly light; he could move faster but put more strength into his fist. He felt like he had reached the pinnacle of a human body, and then there would be a stage after that, which would be even more drastic.

In his mind, he was just wondering what the Divine stages would feel like. The naming of them was probably because one truly would feel like they had reached the level of a god.

"After a good rest, I feel a lot better. I should check up on the others and try to see if everything is okay. If all is well, then we can plan what to do next."

When Raze was approaching the door, he could already sense that there was someone on the other side just by the doorway.

Another advantage of having reached a higher stage.

"You slept for quite a while there; I didn't realize fighting all of those took so much out of you," Dame commented. "I was keeping guard so no one would disturb your sleep, but you took so long I nearly fell asleep myself."

"It wasn't the fight; I've been quite busy on the outside," Raze replied, and it was true.

Raze knew about the items, with what Simyon had, with his special earring, he would have a body that most mages and Pagna warriors would find impossible to destroy.

He would end up being more useful than Dame realized, and it was the same for Safa, right now she was just a one-star Mage, but Raze had managed to receive a number of level 3 power stones. Now that he was back, he could give her the light magic book and increase her star level, hopefully to the third star. These two would be valuable in going against the academy.

'If we take over the academy, then I can head back to the library and find out information about the Dark Faction founder. I'll also be in a high position, to the point where Alter can no longer ignore me as well.

'Whether that's a good thing or not, we'll have to wait and see.'

As for Liam, he was a curveball. He had been doing well to keep up so far, but whether or not he would prove extremely useful in the fight, it was hard to say.

"What do we need to do, to reach the Middle stage?" Raze asked.

"There are a number of things, a high-level power stone absorbed, but that doesn't work for everyone. A special breakthrough in a dire situation when fighting."

"And some clans even speak of special rituals. However, these rituals require a number of things that we won't be able to get our hands on. Which is why I wanted to ask you about this."

Dame threw the small statue, and Raze caught it. It was the mythical item that Raze had given them before he left, just in case they really needed it.

"It's gone a little strange, the statue itself, it's gotten a bit weaker," Dame commented. "Is it broken?"

That seemed impossible, though; how could the statue break, why would it, so Raze then used his Dark magic to activate it, allowing it to show its information.

[2/5 markings of blood have been used on the statue. You are able to mark 3 more to increase the statue's strength]

'Wait, why does it say 2 of 5, to unseal the item, I gave it all five of the main disciples' blood. Wait, is it because they're dead?

'The other three main disciples are now all dead. Those that mark the statue, if they die, then the statue loses its strength.

'So it only has the strength of Ricktor and Mada right now, but if what it's saying is true, then it means now it can be marked with three more people, to increase its strength again!

'Last time I didn't use Dame's blood because I was worried about what could happen, but if we used it this time, wouldn't the statue be incredibly strong...and what if I was to use my blood as well?'