110 Mental Endurance

Overwhelmed by the familiar burst of comfortable mana, Greyson felt the muscles in his body all relax. Just like last time, his meditation was unfortunately cut short.

"Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark, and Lightning absorption rate and affinity extraordinary. Also, some space element detected, however, absorption rate and affinity are low and average accordingly. Other elements meet the standard; the participant will now proceed to the second level." Almost like deja vu, Greyson went through the same process to hear the same result. Only this time, a tinge of disappointment showed on his face. Although he knew it was almost impossible to increase his talent with the space element, somewhere in him he wished that the result would be different by some miracle. Shaking his head, he knew that he was just being greedy. Someone who could manipulate seven elements getting disappointed by not having an eighth? Being unappreciative should have its limits. Calming himself down once more, Greyson jumped through the familiar black portal. The minute he arrived on the other side, he was struck by a fiery heat. Sweat instantly began beading down his face while his clothes uncomfortably clung to his body. Just seconds and the heat already felt intolerable.

"Hell's Fire, huh."

Mumbling under his breath, Greyson realized the name was no exaggeration. In fact, it suddenly felt like an understatement. Knowing this was not the time to be having stray thoughts, he adjusted his state and began to meditate. Absorbing the fire element mana around would at least help him cope with the heat in the beginning. However, he was also aware that the whole point of this exam was to test his mental endurance, not his talent. This sweet respite would end at one point, and he would have to just push through with his determination. He was confident in his ability, but to say he was completely without fear and worry would be lies. It would definitely be challenging, because none of his teachers and enemies have ever really pushed him to his limit in this manner. Words are easy to say, but he could not be sure that his perseverance was really up to par...

"No! The minute I remain like this I will fail no matter what. I can do this!" Whispering the latter words to himself like a chant, Greyson broke out of his contemplation. Knowing this was no time for doubts, he forced the doubts out of his mind and only continued sitting within the sweltering fire. In a way, he wondered if this beginning feeling of doubt was also part of the test and expected by the Dark Phoenix when they created the altars.

Time ticked by slowly. Seconds felt like minutes, hours like days, Greyson started losing track of how much time he spent in this fire. He sweat so much that he felt dehydration start to set in. Typically, he never felt thirst after awakening his magic. The water element kept him hydrated without actually consuming water. In Hell's Fire, however, the elements except the fire element were restricted. All that was sustaining him was the fire element, but even that was reaching a limit. His skin already changed from just red towards actual burns. Pain from the blistering skin set in and Greyson could only grit his teeth and bear it. Used to always healing himself right away, Greyson underwent a hard time at first. Grunts of agony and labored breathing proved the increasingly unbearable pain caused by the flames. Just when he assumes that he is reaching the end, the flames would increase in heat and amount. Afraid of having his hopes dashed once again, Greyson stopped trying to think about the time or the end. He could not conclude which was worse: laying in a constant wait with no end in sight or the pain from his body slowly roasting within the fire.

"D*MN, IT'S SO F*CKING HOT!" Barring nothing, Greyson shouted profanities and realized that the release actually made him feel a little better. Granted, he was not a fan of cursing, but he did feel a certain catharsis. Maybe this was why all commoners cursed more than the upper class? They required the release much more than the wealthy and content. Laughing in spite of his situation, Greyson was surprised such a sudden and nonsensical thought would even cross his mind.

"Maybe I'm already going crazy?"

More time slipped by. At this point, Greyson's vision was beginning to blur and his consciousness slipped in and out. He was almost sobbing because it hurt so much. At that moment, the pain just stopped. In his mind, Greyson thought it was because the burns were so severe that his nerves were already damaged thus he could not feel the pain anymore. When the pain ended, the black portal also opened up. Contrary to before, Greyson did not need to get up and go through himself. The portal opened underneath him and automatically sent Greyson away. Landing onto a hard metal floor, Greyson did not even try to heal himself. Knowing the challenge was over, he closed his eyes and slept. Rest lasted a long time until he woke up with a start while hissing in pain. His elements began nourishing and restoring his body by itself. Obviously, this healing process was much slower than if he cast his light element spells, but it still eventually healed him to the point where he could feel the pain again. Not willing to endure another second of the pain, Greyson cast his strongest healing spell, Breath's Resurrection. While this spell used up all his mana at once, it worked like a charm. Repose set in throughout Greyson's body and his skin began to peel off as a new layer grew in. By the end, he was like a newborn baby. Smooth and flawless white skin grew back on his body. Sighing in relief, Greyson could feel that his mana stores were completely empty once again. Turning to meditation, he peacefully absorbed the mana in his surroundings.

...

Only after a couple of days of relaxation did Greyson ultimately open his eyes to look around at the third level. Seeing as he was able to peacefully rest and recuperate in an empty metal arena, Greyson knew this must be the battle challenge instead of the scavenger hunt. Otherwise, he would see more of the volcano's natural environment. Throughout this entire period, no one was sent to this place to fight him thus he assumed he was in a similar situation to his earlier opponent, Michail. He would just have to wait until a suitable opponent arrived to challenge him.

A week of waiting later, Greyson started to sincerely sympathize with Michail. When he arrived to the third level at the Earth Altar, he was thrown off by the other's enthusiastic and loud response. Yet, sitting around in this room with nothing, he could feel himself shaking with impatience. Not even his meditation was going properly because his thoughts would not stop from straying due to his restlessness and agitation. There were still three more levels of intense fighting for him, yet he was stuck here waiting for an unknown period of time. The group would most likely finish before him once again, just for a different reason this time. Thankfully, his wait only lasted until the next day. A black portal opened on the other side of the arena and another body fell in. A red robust body with sharp black horns protruding from her forehead, an extremely buff female magic beast appeared in front of him. At least, he assumed she was a magic beast. Throughout his studies, he never came across a species that looked like this. The figure was human-like, but there were obvious differences such as her red skin, horns, muscles, and over 7 foot stature. Left gaping, Greyson felt that he was speechless. Looking closer, her condition was not too great, and she had plenty of heavy injuries and cuts with some burns all around her body. Noting that she was not burnt to a crisp like him, Greyson inferred that she was sent to the Lava Titan challenge.

This unknown species look startled to see him and tried to get into a ready stance right away to fight.

"Don't bother. Take your time to recover fully. I was in a much worse condition than you and got more than enough time to recover. I would rather not take advantage of your injured condition." This was not Greyson speaking out of some half-baked chivalry, since she was sent here, the Black Phoenix's tests must have deemed her a proper opponent. She was strong, and he did not need to protect her. This was him hoping to have a decent fight with a powerful opponent. These kinds of opportunities do not come along easily. Yes, he could just defeat her now in but a breath, but what would that prove to himself? That he could beat down opponents at less than half their strength?

"Do not underestimate me." The enemy spoke through a heavy accent that Greyson could not identify, however, he still comprehended her.

"If I really underestimated you, I would just attack you now. Because I would believe you now and the healed you would have the same result, therefore there would be no difference in the end. It is because I respect your strength that I wish to defeat you at your best. If I really lost, then that means I do not deserve to move on to the fourth level."

The opponent merely grunted in response and sat down promptly. To Greyson's shock, the red beast turned into an aqua-scaled creature with webbed fingers and feet. Using the water element, the injuries healed at a swifter pace. This change in an element he could understand. It was the complete change in her physique that he could not wrap his head around. There were magic beasts that had more human-like transformations, but he had never heard of a magic beast turning into a completely different one. Unlike the light element, the water element healed more indirectly and slowly, so the opponent took a couple of days to completely heal herself. Patiently waiting, Greyson felt at peace as he took this time to meditate. Now that the enemy and end of this level were in sight, he felt much lighter and less anxious. While he enjoyed some free time, Greyson decided to concentrate harder on his older memories and see if he could figure out what race his opponent. Other than the major races: humans, elves, dwarves, and magic beasts, there were multiple minorities that existed. But no matter how much he filed through those various groups, Greyson could not discover one that matched with the thing in front of him. Unable to dial back his curiosity, he tried directly asking.

"What race are you? Are you just a rare magic beast tribe?" He probed. No answer came. The opponent did not even bother looking up at him. Shrugging his shoulders, Greyson assumed this was a sensitive topic. Similar to Lucius, maybe this creature possessed rare abilities and were hunted down to almost the point of extinction.