Luckily, the Center Refinement wasn’t as bad as the Physical Refinement for Kyle.
That was because the Tomes were designed to support each other as long as the circles were adjacent.
Conjurers, Beast Tamers, and Priests had it much harder.
They needed several additional materials and protections to keep their body alive while the Center was damaging their body.
For these three classes, it was normal to have someone present with healing abilities.
Knights didn’t need that.
Their strengthened body was strong enough to survive their Center’s rampage.
Half a minute later, Flames broke past Kyle’s chest.
His body was strong enough to withstand the Center for a while, but not forever.
‘The longer I can hold out, the better,’ Kyle thought.
After several minutes, Theodor wanted to stop Kyle again, but this time, he decided against it.
Kyle wouldn’t listen to him anyway.
Two more minutes passed, and Kyle, once again, was starting to lose consciousness.
‘Okay, that’s enough!’ he thought.
Then, he thought of a powerful storm.
The second diagram lit up again, and the flames vanished.
His body healed, but it wouldn’t stay healed for long.
‘Fucking hell!’ Kyle thought as he felt like needles were appearing all over his chest.
His muscles were being cut and stabbed repeatedly, and his organs started to bleed.
Once again, Kyle held out as long as he could.
‘Time for metal.’
Then, Kyle imagined a shining, refined piece of metal.
The second diagram shone again, and the feeling of needles vanished.
And then…
Nothing.
Nothing happened.
Several seconds passed, and Kyle grew more nervous.
“Are you sure about this?” Theodor asked. “This is very dangerous what you’re doing.”
Kyle didn’t answer.
Another minute passed.
“Okay, stop this instant! You are underestimating the power!” Theodor shouted. “This is not like last time! You have to stop! Now!”
Kyle took a deep breath.
Theodor actually sounded urgent this time.
So, he decided to listen.
Kyle stopped imagining the piece of metal.
BOOOOOOM!
Everything below Kyle exploded, and the remaining half of his torso collapsed onto the pile of metal, which used to be on his now-non-existent lap.
Metal was decisive.
It struck once.
It only needed one strike.
For the last minute, the metal had accumulated its power, and it broke forth in one burst.
Kyle had never been in so much pain before.
He lost consciousness, but only for a moment.
“Regain control!” Theodor thundered in his head.
Kyle quickly shook his head and grabbed the Ether in the surroundings, which had turned chaotic.
It took a lot of effort, but Kyle managed to calm the Ether.
Then, his body started to recover, but his consciousness still tried its best to vanish.
The next ten seconds felt like days.
However, Kyle managed to recover.
When the second circle realized that Kyle was no longer changing his Ether, it also vanished into dust.
Just like with the Physical Refinement, Kyle’s Center rapidly started to repair and advance with the help of the dust.
Kyle got a minute of rest before the third circle started to shine.
The next moment, he started to see weird visions in his thoughts.
He found himself back with his ex-wife during one of their arguments.
‘Keep steady. This is not you,’ Kyle thought.
The Mind Refinement was very dangerous.
It wasn’t dangerous physically, but mentally.
People could become insane due to the visions they were assaulted with.
The visions were incredibly believable.
However, the presence of the Ether in Kyle’s Center gave him a stable hold.
Even when everything pointed to him being back on Earth, the Ether in his chest reminded him of reality.
Kyle was reminded of his drug-addicted mother and his criminal father.
He was beaten.
He was told he was worthless.
He was told he was a burden.
He didn’t get food because his mother needed her “medicine”.
It was dark and oppressive.
“Come out!” Theodor shouted.
Kyle’s head shook, and he commanded the Ether in his chest to break the illusion.
He didn’t mess with this part of the advancement.
“Are you still yourself?” Theodor asked.
“I dunno. You tell me,” Kyle said.
Theodor didn’t comment more.
As long as Kyle was coherent and didn’t speak gibberish, he most likely got past everything without issues.
The third circle turned into dust, and absolute clarity appeared in Kyle’s mind.
It was like his mind was unaffected by anything in the surroundings.
It was perfectly clear.
A minute later, the last circle started to shine.
Kyle’s entire body started to feel strange.
‘This feels like my legs fell asleep, but it’s my entire body,’ Kyle thought.
His nerves were firing constantly, and Kyle’s mind was overloaded with signals.
Luckily, thanks to his advanced mind, the feeling was still bearable.
But it was weird.
This was not pain, but it felt more uncomfortable than pain.
The next moment, something even stranger happened.
The metal pile started to hurt.
Naturally, the metal pile was not attached to Kyle’s mind, but he felt like it was.
It was like the metal pile was part of him, and it had also fallen asleep.
The sensation expanded even more, and now, even the floor around Kyle started to hurt.
Somehow, this “hurt” even more than when the Metal Ether destroyed his body.
That was because this feeling was unfamiliar.
Kyle was familiar with pain, but he wasn’t very familiar with this feeling.
The next moment, Kyle’s body started to seize.
Everything was firing chaotically, and there was no way to control it.
By now, he could feel the entire room, and it felt so bad.
There was so much!
It was like someone was giving him electroconvulsive therapy!
He tried to hold out as long as he could, but eventually, he had to give up.
When the last circle realized that Kyle was no longer trying to hold on, it also turned into dust.
Now, all the diagrams were gone.
When the dust entered Kyle, he could still sense the surroundings like before, but it didn’t feel as bad anymore.
It was controllable.
“You succeeded,” Theodor said.
The hardest part was over.
BOOOM!
Ether stormed into the room and rushed into Kyle’s body.
His individual Aspects had advanced already.
Now, they were just being combined.
The remaining part of the advancement was all natural and didn’t involve any major alterations.
From now on, it was smooth sailing.
The Ether kept gathering in Kyle for another 30 minutes before slowly subsiding.
Then, Kyle took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
‘I’ve done it!’ Kyle thought as he saw the world around him in a new light thanks to his strengthened mind and Soul.
‘I’m an Initial Fighter.’
‘Actually, I’m not a Fighter. I just act like I am.’
‘In truth, I am an Initial Warrior!’
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