"It would seem that nothing was wrong with her." Virelindra as she emerged from Vivienne's room. It was complete darkness in there but that wasn't a bother for her.
She was tier five expert in the first array, her senses were unmatched and her detection skills were on par with one of the best in her field.
She may have been a healer but that didn't mean that she was weak either as she could her own as well. Even Thalion had to show respect to such a figure.
Almost every district had such figured emplaced showing how abundant the leaves were in terms of resources.
"But strangely enough, she demands that she continues to participate in the Sphin trials regardless." Virelindra further added which took the mother son duo by surprise.
"What?!" They both exclaimed. "I'll have to run more diagnostics. It just doesn't make sense for a tier three to lose their mana pools like that." Virelindra finished off.
Breakthroughs to the next tiers were met with difficulties and one of them was crippling. One could have their mana pools crippled by expanding them too rapidly during ascension to the next tiers and rupture their mana pools.
Thus during such breakthroughs, tier experts would have materials which aided in helping to reduce the chances of crippling.
When one was crippled, if the expert can salvage the situation, they can prevent from fully shattering their mana pools but this would mean that they would be permanently stuck on the tier they were currently on.
But if one wasn't lucky enough, then their mana pools would crack and they would become humans with faint remnants of their tier.
But that didn't mean that they could use their tiers as it was accompanied by immeasurable pain and when a person's mana pool would fully fracture, them they would be overwhelmed by the sudden surge of mana breaking from their mana pools and their heads would burst from the inside out.
But to have one's mana pools completely gone was a strange phenomenon that had never happened in history when one was crippled.
A mana pool was like a disc, housing wild mana and converting it into regulated mana for the user to use.
If this disc was to be removed, it was tantamonius to one removing their own heart.
The one stronger got, the more changes would occur to this disc, a tier one would have a clear disc, a tier two having a red disc and a tier three having a green disc.
A tier four having a silver disc while a tier five having a golden disc, tier six having multicolored disc while tier seven had crystallized discs.
Tier sevens had an advantage as the crystallized discs were more durable to damage unlike the previous tiers and can house wilder mana easily.
The discs would be close to the heart, vertically placed. A larger disc would be more advantageous as one would absorb wilder mana and hone it better but a risk was since the disc was bigger, it was easier to hit.
But these people have an advantage compared to those with smaller discs as they could breakthrough easier to higher tiers thus having a better chance of defense.
The discs were graded according to their diameters.
There were D grade mana pool discs which were ten centimeter diameter or lower, C grade having twenty to thirty centimeter diameter, B grade having forty to fifty centimeter diameter and A grade having fifty to seventy centimeter diameter.
"Anyway, she doesn't seem to be in any danger, but she does seem rather passive of the world around her. Strangely enough, her eyes have become extremely sensitive to light and can't be exposed to it for long."
"I'm sorry but I have other errands to run." Virelindra added
"Thanks for coming Virelindra. I'll escort you out." Thalion said as he showed her out.
"Can we really allow her to participate in the Sphin trials?" Naliranda asked as he saw Thalion. They were free to interact with her as her case didn't seem sensitive as they had thought.
They all went in the room to realize the darkness was still present and dark as ever however thanks to their mana senses, navigation wasn't a problem. They would send out mana and it would be reflected back to them.
It was similar to bats with echolocation however everyone had a different mana thus they couldn't overlap each other's mana wave frequencies.
"Are you sure you want to participate in the trials? Honey, you're lacking your mana pool which isn't ideal for you." Nalarinda urges as she was the closest one to her.
They could tell that her eyes were closed even though it was dark in here. "Mana pools won't be a hindrance for me." Vivienne said though her tone seemed detached compared to before.
Earlier, it seemed to have a lively and energetic vigor that added an extra charm to her demeanor but now, it was gone and replaced with coldness.
"Do you mind for a spar, little brother?" Vivienne asked out if the blue. "Uh, I don't think that you shou-"
"Do you think because I don't have a mana pool means that I am weak?" She asked with a bit of annoyance laced within her words.
"What?! No it isn't that it's just that..." Vivienne anticipated patiently. "Just what?!" She added. "You can't leave your room as your eyes are extremely sensitive."
"That shouldn't be a problem." The curtains that were closed opened once more filling the room with light once more.
This time a hazy dark aura seemed to coat her eyes, volatile and unstable as if it was about to collapse and yet it didn't. It manifested itself as a band wrapping her eyes perfectly.
She got off the bed with ease as she stretched her hands out as if to say, "What is this then?"
Julian gave off a defeated sigh along with Nalarinda. "If you wish."
...
The two are facing each other in a battle ground available in the mansion. Thalion and Nalarinda seemed on edge with the result of this fight however who seemed tense was Julian.
"Let's begin." Vivienne said with her arms lowered and her black hair covering her eyes. It was barely in check as it grew to its liking, due to the lack of care however she preferred it this way as it covered her eyes perfectly.
"Very well, here I come." Julian announced his move as he made his way.
His movement was rapid, within two blinks, he had halfway closed the distance between the two when suddenly, he came to a stop in his tracks.
'What? What is this?' He thought as his body froze in place. He had anticipated such a move thus he fired a casual wind dart, piercing the air like a knife through hot butter, it made its way to Vivienne's figure before disappearing.
"What?!" He was even more perplexed. Vivienne would usually deflect attacks with mana spells or her spatial talent, drifting the item away from her but never making it disappear.
"Is that it, brother?" Vivienne asked as she raised Julian's figure into the sky. She started twirling him around in circles which made him nauseous.
Julian could feel the mockery in her words however he couldn't move as of now.
"I suppose not!" Julian's figure came to a stop before it was let go making him land on the cold tiled floor however he managed to regain himself and land in his feet.
"It would seem that you have an advantage in terms of long range, but let's see in terms of clos-"
Julian's figure instantly appeared right in front of Vivienne. He was stunned by this sight but once again, his body failed to move.
"Is this the only move you came do sister?" Julian asked to which she seemed to let go of him. He coated his arms with fire as he took this fight more seriously.
At first, he hesitated as he thought that she would still have yet to adjust but it would seem that she was more than capable.
*Bam-Bam-Bam*
He threw his fire coated fists towards her figure but they all failed to hit him. They seemed to hit an imaginary barrier which shielded her from any harm whatsoever.
Realizing that this was a futile, he retreated back as he launched several daggers at her but they all fell to the ground.
*Clank-Clank-Clank*
He still had more tricks he could pull that now, he had to reevaluate his choices. He was at a disadvantage as he was expending mana while she, lacking a mana pool remained perfectly fine.
I'm the long run, she would emerge on top as she barely moved not to mention she didn't utilize a nonrenewable resource for fighting.
"Very well. I concede but what if you managed to get hurt?" Julian asked as he examined her figure.
'She doesn't seem exhausted in the slightest. A long term battle against her wouldn't be ideal.'
"I won't get hurt." She said flatly with her arms now behind her back. "So, can I participate in the Sphin trials?" She asked flatly as she looked in the general direction of her parents.
The two were perplexed however Thalion posed a point. "Even though you were able to fight against your brother, having such a skill could prove troublesome later on. Many would want you dead."
"I'll be fine." Vivienne brushed it off with a hint of callousness in her tone. She could understand what he meant by that.
This world had yet to fathom her skills thus she would draw too much attention to herself drawing both opportunities and dangers alike from all over.
For the passing days, Vivienne would retreat to her room which was constantly shrouded in darkness while Julian would constantly immerse himself with training.
He could try to breakthrough to the fourth tier however that wouldn't be ideal as he hadn't fully stabilized himself on the fifth array.
It was a day before the Sphin trials began and naturally, Vivienne was locked in her room. As of late, she became more distance with the rest of her family including her brother.
There was a knock on her door to which she gave the permission to enter. It was Julian who had a somewhat disturbed expression.
"Sister, you certainly have changed but I hope that our goal remains the same." He had felt that she was slowly diverting from their intended goal.
"Julian... I don't know what to say to you." She started off which caught him off guard.
"When I was out for those four days, I saw something...something that I can't put it in words. Andrew, he is simply too strong to beat regardless of how much we try."
"He contacted me and he is aware of that we have the intention of taking him down and instead of trying to kill us, he gave me this..."
She trailed off before stretching out her hand. A golden dark globe appeared in her hand to which Julian could feel something horrifying about it.
Every fiber of his being was telling him to get as far away from it was possible and yet he remained rooted in his place, unable to move as he remained entranced in it.
In a motion of her hand, she closed it once more which took him out of his trance. "Now tell me, if he knows that we have a plan to kill him, then why would he gift me this?"
Julian already knew the answer and yet he didn't answer. It was not just mocking them, he took could feel the potency of that dark golden globe and yet Andrew, their target was helping them to defeat him.
It meant that they were leagues below him. Defeating him seemed to get more and more impossible by the day.
"Dear brother, I understand that you harbor resentment for him but look at what he gave us, he gave us a loving family, a fresh start and yet you want to throw all of this away just for what?"
"To die a meaningless death! It is clear that he knows where we are and yet he hasn't made a move against us and why is that?" Vivienne asked with a tinge of helplessness in her voice.
She had already come to terms with her situation, she couldn't defeat a horror like Andrew, and they could only swallow their anger and be glad that he spared their lives in this new world.