Phantasm's Blood

At Asher's dorms,

Inside the Lab room;

Ian threw the broken pieces of a glass beaker from the table into a corner of the room where many similar broken fragments had accumulated.

He then glanced at the remaining Herbs, and his face started twitching.

' Nine tries... All of them exploded, AHH, ' Thought Ian in sorrow.

He changed the sequence of Herbs, crushed them into a powder, and did everything he could think of, but ... nothing succeeded.

Even the room cooled because of the continuous exposure to Extreme Ice Attributed Herbs.

" F*ck all of this, " muttered Ian.

His frustration with this shi**y potion reached another level, surpassing his anger toward his Ex-boss.

Even Mind Cultivation, which he struggles at, looked like an easy-level puzzle in front of this sh*t.

" One last try... I already wasted nine sets of herbs; it doesn't matter even if I waste another one." Said Ian; His voice was meek, but in this silent room, it was particularly noticeable.

Staring at Aeric, who did not react even after hearing it, Ian shook his head.

' This guy might not help... ' Thought Ian.

He lifted the bunsen burner from the shelf and set it on the table.

After connecting the gas to the bunsen burner, he poured the crystallized water into the beaker and placed it on top of the tripod stand; while turning the bunsen burner to maximum flame.

At first, Ian, concerned that the gas cylinder might also explode, got swayed and decided to quit this stupidity.

However, recalling they were advanced technology and could cut the connection if the heat in the tube exceeded a certain threshold; Ian went on with it.

He ground all the herbs into powder and mixed them with liquid nitrogen before pouring them into the beaker.

It would explode best if the super hot Crystallized water got mixed with the herbs in liquid nitrogen.

Ian ducked down as soon as he poured it into the beaker, anticipating the inevitable explosion.

1,2,3,4...

Seconds passed, but there was no sound of the explosion.

' Don't tell me '

Ian's eyes dilated in shock as he raised his head to see the beaker.

The liquid was like a calm sea with no waves.

There wasn't even a sign of movement in the potion, even when getting heated by the bunsen burner.

Ian's expression turned sour when he saw this.

When he wanted to make the potion and tried his hardest, it failed, but when he was half convinced about its failure, it unexpectedly succeeded!?

There must be something wrong here!

Ian began to consider every plausible explanation for why the recent attempt worked.

He knew that luck was definitely not the cause.

" It's balance " Sounded a voice near Ian's right ear, startling him.

" Oh... it's you. Are you done with your meditation? " Asked Ian, smiling outside and cursing inside.

' you a**hole, rather than giving me lectures now, why didn't you help me before? '.

Aeric's attitude annoyed Ian, but he couldn't do anything about it, so he stopped caring.

"There is no balance in your first few attempts, resulting in an explosion. But in your last attempt, the heat from the crystallized water and the cold from the liquid nitrogen mixture balanced each other... you're lucky because it could still explode if something went wrong," said Aeric.

" I see... Thank you for this, but why didn't you help me before? I could have saved a few sets of herbs. " Said, Ian.

While concentrating most of his attention on the red-colored liquid in the beaker.

The potion was crimson red, just like blood... No wonder it got a name like Phantasm's Blood.

" Even if you saved the Herbs they are of no more use to you, right? This way you can remember this mistake every time you tried to make a potion," Said Aeric, casually, while glancing at the potion.

' So he is going to advance now, ' Thought Aeric.

Aeric stretched his body for a second and didn't continue to stay inside the lab any longer. He left the room without saying anything.

Ian started at Aeric, walking away for a while before turning his head towards a set of glass vials on the side shelf.

" Nah, no need for a vial, " muttered Ian.

He took the beaker and directly drank the potion from it.

The potion tasted both hot and cold- like a mix of spices in ice cream. Its taste made Ian almost throw up.

However, Ian endured the feeling and finished the potion as fast as he could. After that, the empty glass beaker suddenly broke into pieces in his hands.

' Maybe it was fated to break in my hands, ' Thought Ian while chuckling.

However, these silly thoughts didn't last much longer as his body started heating up.

He felt something leak from his body, and all the Mind power inside his Mental space became extremely active.

A red cocoon-like hue began to form around his body out of nowhere; It's a result of the Mind power leaked during the Advancement process.

Its color changed from light red to crimson red in a matter of seconds.

The light was dazzling, covering everything in the room; if another person were to be present here, he would go temporarily blind by the sheer brightness.

After a few minutes, the hue surrounding Ian began to shift from crimson red to vibrant orange.

' Is it over... ' Thought Ian.

He had never felt so rejuvenated. Even when he reached Blue- grade with the help of Teardrop of Od, he didn't feel much different from how he was before starting Mind Cultivation.

At that time, he was like a car that had a petrol tank filled with the best fuel possible but no engine to use it, no matter how much fuel he had in the tank, without any way to use it...

It's pointless.

He looked at himself for a moment and couldn't help but laugh.

Although the orange hue covering his entire body has gradually faded, even a person with no Mind Cultivation can see the light emitting from Ian's body.

"So this is what happens after you advance!" muttered Ian, spirited.

Regardless of how much he thought about it. He can't understand how advancing can form a phenomenon like this.

Things like this would undoubtedly involve the core of Mind Cultivation, which He, unfortunately, did not have access to at the time.

He shook his head and continued to inspect his Mental space; the changes may not appear drastic, but they are still noticeable.