The method Kaito had decided to open his meridians wasn't simple or painless .
He decided to forcibly pass mana through the meridians and open them by force . There is too much risk . Forcibly opening a meridian can sometimes lead to damage in meridians and the person will become cripple for their rest of the life but if you become successful , you can gain a huge amount of strength and talent improvement in a short period of time .
This is the reason why many attempt this method but the rate of success is less than 30% . The most important factor in cultivation is to lay a strong foundation . If your foundation is strong , then you can ascend more easily and gain more power even among the people in the same level than you .
Kaito started to pass his mana through his meridians . His first 10 meridians were already opened and so he didn't have any difficulty in passing mana . The main trouble came during the time of 11th meridian . He supplied a huge amount of mana through the meridian .
After 2 hours , his 11th Meridian burst opened and mana passed through it . The opening of 11th Meridian increased his mana conductivity while it also increased his senses by atleast 2 times .
*****
15 days later , Kaito's Skill Library .
There was a small oval shaped structure of a black , slimy substance which lied on the center of the library . It was almost the shape of a complete human . Suddenly , the substance started having cracks which eventually shattered and spread out like they were blasted off by an explosion .
The human figure sitting within the place where the black substance was present slowly opened his eyes . The brightness and vitality in his eyes had increased much more than last time . His skin was much more smoother and brighter . His figure didn't have even an inch of fat on it as his V-shaped body could melt the heart of any woman . His hair was much more shinier than snow as the silvery white color had a shine on them . His face was much more handsome than last time .
Kaito's outer body isn't the only thing which changed . His inner body had also undergone a change which was shown to him by his system .
[You have successfully opened all 20 Meridians in the human body]
[Your mana conductivity has increased]
[Your mana circuit had strengthened]
[Your body has gone through 'Blood Refining']
[Your impurities has been filtered]
[Your blood is purer than any human]
[Warning : Your blood is the ultimate delicacy of Vampire races]
Kaito read all the messages . He had trained continuously for half a month and opened all his meridians . Opening the meridian isn't the only work . Handling the mana and increasing the potential of each meridian is also important . Kaito didn't forget it . He opened his 12 primary meridians and spend more two days in handling the circuits and meridians before attempting to open the remaining 8 secondary meridians .
"Status !"
[Name : Kaito Sakura]
[Race : Human (Evolved)]
[Title : Master Of Mana]
[Physique : Formless Sword Body (Stage : 3)]
[Level : 272]
[HP : 480,000/480,000]
[MP : 999,000/999,000]
[STR : 499]
[AGI : 499]
[DEF : 499]
[INT : 499]
[Current Rank : SS-Rank (Peak)]
[Magic Level : 7-Stars]
[Sword Level : Sword Master (Beginner)]
[Aether Core : 5-Stars]
His status window hasn't changed much . He imagined this is due to his cultivation limit . He could gain some benefits when he ascends . He then started to absorb mana . Today , Kaito would definitely break through to SSS-Rank .
It took Kaito another 2 hours to successfully raise his mana to 999,999 points . He needed just one point for breakthrough and this was the most difficult part . If he lost concentration right now , then he would suffer an intense backlash . Kaito started to absorb more and more mana to increase his mana pool . The Mana Circles on his heart also got filled with mana as well as his Aura Core and Aether Core .
Finally , Kaito heard a dull sound before he realized he broke through the wall . A huge wave of mana first exited his body before contracting and entering his body . He soon felt his body to regain vitality . His body was much more stronger and durable . His bones have become more sturdier after breakthrough . He could feel some changes in his Aura Core and Aether Core as well .
He concentrated and noticed that his Aether Core formed another ring around the five rings already present . His Aura Core was urging to expand but was unable to . Kaito carefully started guiding the mana towards his second dantain . As soon as , the aura came in contact with the dantain , it got immediately absorbed . The second dantain continuously absorbed mana from the first dantain and the first was being constantly replenished by the circles in his heart .
"Status !"
[Name : Kaito Sakura]
[Race : Human (Evolved)]
[Title : Master Of Mana]
[Physique : Formless Sword Body (Stage : 4)]
[Level : 272]
[HP : 480,000/480,000]
[MP : 1,000,000/1,000,000]
[STR : 521 (+20)]
[AGI : 525 (+20)]
[DEF : 518 (+20)]
[INT : 528 (+20)]
[Current Rank : SSS-Rank]
[Magic Level : 7-Stars]
[Sword Level : Sword Master (Intermediate)]
[Aether Core : 6-Stars]
[You have successfully ascended from SS-Rank to SSS-Rank]
[Your mana has reached 1,000,000 points]
[You have gained stored stats which was collected through leveling up]
[You have gained additional boost in stats as you have already opened your 20 meridians]
[You have successfully fulfilled the conditions to awaken a 'Domain']
[Inheriting the Creator's domain]
[You have successfully gained 'Domain : Singularity of Oblivion (Mythic-Rank)']
'I gained a domain ?'
'I knew SSS-Ranks can get domain but it said I inherited the domain'
'Does that mean that this isn't the domain I was supposed to receive ?'
'And also this is a mythic-rank domain which didn't appear in all of history'
Kaito's objectives and goals this time were successful . He originally planned to ascend to SSS-Rank and open the meridians but his gain is much more than he imagined . He achieved his every goal in just 15 days and he has more than 15 days left before the attack . Kaito planned that in his remaining time , he will train his skills and increase his proficiency . Although , his skill allows him to master any skill in an instant but Kaito still felt that practicing the techniques could help him greatly in battle . After all , experience can't be gained simply through mastering the skill directly .
*****
A month later , Stellar City
Akari and many other students of the Academy were assigned duties to protect the base cities . The higher ups have all received the intelligence that the base city would be attacked . The security today was extremely tight . The changing of barrier can't be delayed as the Advanced Mana Stone which is the source of power for the barrier in these cities needed to be changed within every 6 months because they have limited power supply .
Prolonged use of a single mana stone can't keep up the energy required for a city sized barrier . Other base cities requires only a single mana stone or at most double mana stones to put up the barrier but the five major base cities which stand as the last line of defense for humanity needed to be powered by 5 Advanced Mana Stones . The barrier in these cities could even withstand an attack from Super Class Monsters , who are more high level than the high-grade Hell-level Monsters .
The Heads of the 5 Major Sword Families are also involved during the security . Even the Academy assigns tasks to the students . The students of 4th years are always the one to be assigned . Today's security , however , was more advanced than any other time . The students of 2nd to 4th years were assigned with the strength of 3rd years being S-Rank and 4th years being SS-Rank . The head of the families are the only X-Rank Awakeners and the headmaster of the Academy who is SSS-Rank .
Akari and Yuuki were positioned near the entrance of the base cities . The weaker students are assigned the tasks of evacuating the citizens and the strong were positioned in the place where battle is inevitable . Yuuki was communicating with Akari .
"Kaito still hasn't come out of seclusion ?" asked Yuuki
"I'm afraid so" replied Akari
"I am thinking about what he was doing inside his room for more than a month"
"As far as I know , he is trying to breakthrough"
"Breakthrough ? To the SSS-Rank ?!"
"Yes . He is currently trying to breakthrough to the SSS-Rank"
"My god . It seems what Kaori said me was real after all"
"I think he will come when the time is right"
"I hope so"
Many students who knew Kaito had the same thought . Kaito had slain one of the Demon Kings back when he was an SS-Rank Awakener . Many months had passed after than incident and Kaito's strength should have increased . He was one of the people who had taken an initiative against the corrupted humans and the demon attacks on the base cities in these last month .
A meeting room inside Silver Moon Branch Office
The four family heads were gathered along with the branch manager of Stellar City branch office 'Crimson' . These 5 members had formed a council meeting discussing today's plan .
"The last information that Silver Moon received was that a huge horde of monsters were rushing towards the two main base cities" said Crimson
"Are you sure ? I mean , how many monsters are there ?" asked Koji
"More than 5000" replied Crimson with a grim and cold voice
"That many ?" surprised Ayaka
"Yes . These many demons among whom there are only nightmare level demons and hell level demons . Our team even spotted
some Super Class Monsters as well"
"This is troublesome" said Kiyoshi
"Indeed" said Crimson
"Most likely a high level Corrupted Human or a Demon King is involved"
"It's more likely to be the Corrupted Humans" replied Crimson
"I think so too . The Demon Kings aren't beings who will lure demon hordes inside the base cities . They are prideful creatures" said Yuta
"It's decided then . We will attack the moment we sense danger"
Everyone agreed . They had initially planned to guard the city from above and calculate the total number of beasts before making a move but they all agreed that calculating such a large number of demons will probably take a lot of time . Instead , they chose to rely on the students and guards positioned outside the city walls and only attack when absolutely necessary . For example , the appearance of Super Class Monsters .
They also relied heavily on Kaito . He was the person who had first discovered the main objective of the Corrupted Humans which wasn't to attack the base cities directly but rather lure the demons to attack when the city barrier is at its weakest .
****
Kaito's team except Kaito himself were also among the students who were positioned outside the city walls for the task of defending the base city . These period of more than a month when Kaito was inside his seclusion , they all made rapid progress in their training .
Apart from Seina , the rest team members who were S-Rank had successfully ascended to SS-Rank . Their mana was about 500,000 points each . It wasn't an unplanned break through . Kaito had provided them many potions , elixirs to improve their cultivation and many skill books according to their proficiency to help them get stronger .
Although , they are weaker than Kaito and Seina but they too were full-fledged SS-Rank Awakeners. They were undoubtedly the strongest 2nd years in the Academy's history . Reaching S-Rank during 2nd year is considered genius level talent but reaching SS-Rank can claim the title of true genius level talent . As for , Kaito who was currently breaking through to SSS-Rank was probably a person with Monster level talent . These people are in a league of their own and they can't be understood using common sense . That logic simply don't apply to them .
Seina was having a discussion with the rest of the members .
"Seina , do you have any news about Kaito ?" asked Kendo
"I don't . I don't even know if he is safe "
"Don't worry , Seina . He is Kaito after all" said Kaori
Seina had calmed herself for the last month with the exact same statement . She believed that Kaito can do things which others can't but she still couldn't help but worry .
Suddenly , all the chats and whispers stopped when a loud voice was heard which could be heard by each and every Awakeners .
"All teams prepare for combat . A monster horde of more than 3000 demons is rushing towards the base city"