999 Chapter 957

Alex gritted his teeth and let out a short grunt. He was determined to keep going, to swallow the pain and deal with it later simply. But he desperately kept himself busy with mindless tasks and chores, but nothing really helped to ignore the pain. Eventually, he felt like giving up and heading to bed; tomorrow would surely be a better day. However, he knew he couldn't do that; as he was wobbling on his feet, Silveria appeared behind him and wanted to deal the finishing blow; it was at that moment Alex, who had his head lowered, smiled; his bloody teeth were scary than a ghost face.

''Blitz!!!''

Immediately upon shouting the skill name, Eterna responded and he swallowed huge amount of mana and the skill was materialized.

Many black holes appeared around them, stopping Silveria right on her tracks and from those black holes golden chains shot out.

Silveria although surprised she still calmly dealt with the incoming chains, however to her surprise while she did succeed in canceling the lightning imbued in the chains, she couldn't cancel the chains themselves and soon their sharp tips tried to pierce a whole through them.

Clank! Clank!!!

She deflected the chains with her barehand before kicking Alex flying, he couldn't completely the blow but he killed some of the after effects by pushing his body back before the Silveria's kick arrived.

Silveria who about to follow him with her next attack stopped because from the ground many black chains emerged and those in the sky vanished, she was caught off guard as those chains didn't emitted any many, making their presences furtive until they appeared and bound her.

Alex fired a crimson bullet from where he stood but instead of shooting at her, the bullet landed outside of her range thus making impossible to cancel it.

Kaboom!

The ground exploded and huge chunk of earth along some trees were uprooted, this explosion blocked Silveria's sight, Alex appeared in front of her and stopped time and sent a punch, just as he his punch touched her body, Silveria who should have been frozen vanished, her body vanished like it was a mirage.

''Fufufu! Two minutes, you managed to last two minutes, that's awesome.'' Silveria complimented as she put a gun against his head while her free arm was around his neck like iron vice.

Gulp!

Alex gulped and admitted defeat, he was happy to have lasted two minutes this time, it simply means that he was progressing.

''So where is my reward?" He asked after separating from Silveria.

''Impatient are we?" Silveria chuckled before closing one of her eyes and the next thing Alex knew was an intense assaulting his body as if a truck had run into him.

A sickening pain shot through his stomach and his arms wrapped tightly around it. It was all he could do to not collapse and wither in misery on the ground. His entire body told them to stop what he were doing, stop standing to roll on the ground to find relieve from this hellish feeling. Alex paused for a moment and contemplated every answer to this pain, weighing each option and trying to find the best one.

It became harder and harder to swallow the pain, to ignore the sensations and the voices telling them to stop. But there was no way he could give in to the pain, there was no way he woul ever give up. He could press forward and so he did, he pressed forward, every movement adding to the barrage if pain, but he kept going no matter what.

Silveria whose left eye was bleeding looked at her master and could not help but praise him for not rolling the ground.

''Well, it's just the beginning. Another round of pain will follow,his body must first adapt before the eye would be replaced.'' She mumbled before choosing a nice spot as resting place. While leaning against the tree's trunk her remaining eye never leave him.

Alex who was about to breath in a sigh of relief after the pain passed kneeled.

''Ugh!"

His head felt heavier and heavier as each pulse of throbbing pain pounded his senses over and over again. It was exhausting and the pain took its toll on his body who had undergo countless baptism to be comparable to a lesser dragon body. Tired, but unable to sleep and unable to stop it. Alex tried as best he could to block out the pain, to find some form of meditative trance in order to cope with the agonizing sensations.

And the solution he found was to take a deep breath, then another and then another. A state of calm returned to their mind for a moment. However, determined not to let the pain ruin this day he struggled onward. Perhaps not the best solution, but he had made up his mind. He would not fall onto the ground no matter what. As the pain continued to wreck havoc inside his body. He tried not to let out a single sound, his body was being changed from inside out, few strand of silver hair got mixed into his black hair.

Suddenly, the pain disappeared but Alex did not let his guard down as it was exactly what happened few minutes ago, just when he thought he passed the test, there wouldn't no more pain, a second wave arrived and now that this wave ended of course there will be a third wave.

Searching for a piece of hard wood to put into his mouth, Alex soon found one and put it between his teeth and the third wave arrived.

''Aahhhhhhhh!''

Even if he wanted to kept his mouth shut he could not more intense pain assaulted his left eye this time, he did his best not to roll on the ground already. The pain was so intense that it couldn't be described into words. He felt like someone was going his eye with a hot spoon and replaced it before gouging it again, it was a hellish torture Alex would not even his enemy to go through.

Just as he had become numb to the pain it stopped and a wave of fresh air washed over him as he fell onto the ground making a thud sound.

Silveria stood up and approached Alex who was breathing hardly, his clothes completely drenched in sweat.

''You did you best master, I'm really proud of you.'' She declared as she lowered her body and put him on her lap, she slowly caressed his smooth hair while wiping away his sweat.

''You should rest for a moment. Don't worry I'm here.'' She suggested and Alex nodded and closed his eyes, however, before he could fall asleep he received a notification.

[Two new abilities acquired.]

It was rare but this happened only when there's awesome skill or ability.

'I will check it once I wake up.' He mumbled before falling asleep.

°°°°°°

Meanwhile, in the outside world.

The city of Riverburn was built at the edge of a mighty swamp and is truly a gorgeous marvel. Its uniqueness is matched by the backdrop of a gentle mountain which have helped shape the city to what it is today.

The materials these mountains brought were of great importance, but they were also influential when it came to architectural designs as the vast majority of buildings have been built with rocks from those very same mountains.

The skyline is spreading with stylish skyscrapers and they all seem to be in perfect unison despite being different. Education is superb in Riverburn and it has attracted a lot of attention. Countless cultures have left their mark not just on the city's history, but also upon the city's identity. What historically was a city of monotony has grown into a new culture of variety and it's this that unites the 3 millions people to this day. It was the second most populated city after Avalon

It's this multicultural identity that has truly left its mark. Hundreds of ethnic restaurants, cafés and theme restaurants offer a plethora of culinary choices and those who feel hungry for something else can enjoy city exploring, one of the many parks, clubs or one of the many other recreational venues.

In the most populated district of Riverburn stood a house. From the outside this house looks nice and traditional. It has been built with sandstone and has burgandy brick decorations. Tall, wide windows add to the overall style of the house and have been added to the house in a mostly asymmetric way.

The house was equipped with a huge kitchen and one small bathroom, it also has a huge living room, five bedrooms, a large dining area and a small garage.

The building was square shaped. The house is half surrounded by a garden path.

The second floor is bigger than the first, which creates several overhanging parts on one side of the house. This floor has roughly the same style as the floor below.

The roof was low and v-shaped and was covered with red ceramic tiles. Two small chimneys poke out the center of the roof. Two roof terraces let in plenty of light to the rooms below the roof.

The house itself was surrounded by paved ground, with various party spots, like a fancy barbeque and a firepit.

Pandora (Meera) was visiting one of her former party member's house, it was Alex who brought this house to compensate the lost family and support for two years.