Hours swiftly passed, and the Balreth Academy session had already ended for Asher.

After the Mana room, everything went surprisingly smoothly for Asher. And besides the increase in attention, there was one thing Asher was expecting that didn't happen at all.

For sure, throughout the rest of his day, he could sense sharp, cold gazes directed on his back. But nothing escalated further than that. There wasn't anyone from the Kane Gang that tried to further terrorize him.

In fact, Asher didn't see Jael at all ever since he appeared with Zara in his classroom.

He at least expected to not see Zara considering the injuries he brought upon here. But there wasn't any trace of her seemingly partner in crime. Moreover, Asher didn't even recall seeing Jael during the duel.

While admittedly, this could be an excellent sign to others in that he may have thoroughly beaten off the Kane Gang terror.

Asher wasn't so naive to think so.

Admittedly he gained a bit of an ominous omen in his mind from their lack of response. If there's one thing that everyone knows about the Kane Gang, it's that they absolutely can't stand someone challenging their pride.

And it wasn't like Zara was some low-level goons like Devon or Mack. She was an infamous fear individual throughout the whole Academy. Him so brutally dominating her should've caused a violent reaction.

But with the Kane Gang being seemingly silent, it only pushed Asher's drive to quickly grow stronger.

Their silence to him only means they will eventually explode harder later on the line.

However, Asher didn't let this concern worry him the whole day. He managed to distract himself by enjoying his time with Reese and Kylee for several hours. Whenever he has outings with them, it always gets Asher's mind to relax.

Currently, it was late evening, and Asher was at his small apartment, sitting cross-legged on his living room couch room. His eyes were closed shut as he continued to cultivate Spirit Mana.

Now, after numerous hours of practice, Asher notices he's getting the slight hang of the whole cultivation process. With each thought he perceives about Spirit Man, it's like ten different avenues open in his mind.

Because of his remarkable progress, Asher was now attempting something a bit more than just cultivating Spirit Mana.

The Spirit Mana that flowed into his veins and slinked into his System Soul was now getting slowly refined by Asher.

Previously, just absorbing Spirit Mana into his System's soul would give him a simple power boost and nothing more. But at Asher's continuous understanding of Spirit Mana, he had a more measurable grasp over it.

From his increased measurable control, Asher could now gradually refine Spirit Mana into his Ghost Lightning energy.

Yuki was immensely impressed by his progress and had explained to him that it is the next step in cultivating Spirit Mana.

For an hour, Asher stayed wholly focused on refining tiny specks of Spirit Mana in his System's soul. Anything in a larger quality would only cause Asher a headache and make the Spirit Mana disappear.

Asher wasn't receiving a tremendous amount of progress for a while now.

That is until he hit the one-hour mark. Several soothing tingles began going off in Asher's mental scape space.  The tingles were precisely the same when he uses Ghost Lightning energy to the best of his abilities.

Asher couldn't sense any power from this specific quality of Ghost Lightning energy, but there was something incredibly peculiar about it.

Inside Asher's mental scape space, he could see Ghost Lightning's energy slowly sparking up. Flashes of Ghost Lightning energy flickered around the blurry Spirit Mana the more Asher refined Spirit Mana in his System's soul.

At this state, Asher grew a bit bolder and tried to press his luck.

He wanted to see if he could perceive his Ghost Lightning energy the same way he does with Spirit Mana!

This method is how he is supposed to make his Ghost Lightning energy stronger.

The more he can refine Spirit Mana into his System's soul, the more insight in his Ghost Lightning energy he can possibly reach.

But, only a second in trying to perceive Ghost Lightning's energy, it had immediately vanished from his mental scape space.

Afterward, a sense of exhaustion filled Asher's body. Refining Spirit Mana and trying to comprehend Ghost Lightning energy would be as difficult as he thought it would be.

His first time attempting to comprehend Ghost Lightning energy was exactly the same as the first time he tried to comprehend Spirit Mana.

Everything was too muddled and complex to gain a proper grasp over anything. Even more strenuous about Ghost Lightning energy than Spirit Mana was how fast it leaves him drains.

He was able to slowly cultivate Spirit Mana for hours, even upon his first try. But Ghost Lightning energy lasted for a couple of minutes.

Still, this didn't deterrent Asher at all. He knows if he can start to power up his Ghost Lightning energy, he'll grow significantly in a short amount of time.

Though he felt some exhaustion, Asher was eager to try again.

But right as he was about to go back and try comprehending Ghost Lightning's energy, a sudden jolting sensation struck through his mind and body.

'Ding!'

A pinging noise went off in Asher's body.

Asher felt a slight rise of anticipation as he knew what this meant. He eagerly brought up his System's soul stats, noting that everything was still the same after today.

And the only difference now is additional text detailing him of a new mission.

The text read, 'Brave the horrifying night and save a damsel in distress. Reward: Great increase in Positive Energy. Increase and Usage of Ghost Powers.'

Asher's eyes snapped open in mixed sock from the mission.

He was half excited and half worried. His excitement stems from gaming more Positive energy and being able to finally use his Ghost Powers!

When Yuki had explained to him that it wouldn't be possible for him to use it because he's too weak, it left a slight sour state in Asher's mind. For as calm and understanding he could be, it still was frustrating to have a unique inborn power but not being able to use it.

And the prospect of using Ghost Power sounds legitimately powerful. He was already assuming that Ghost Powers would allow him to fly, phase through anything, or even possess people.

Asher's worries came from the nature of his mission. He would have to venture out in the terrifying night that is Pearlcrest City.

When comparing the night to the Decrypted Woods, Asher could say both equally are dangerous.

But there was something inside Asher telling him to not avoid this meeting. It wasn't like how he got gust instincts when interacting with Elsa.

Asher just genuinely felt he should help the damsel, considering he fully knows about her now.

With all various thoughts and concerns swirling in his mind, Asher had suddenly said, 'Seems like we stumbled upon a lucky chance, Yuki. Looks like we don't need weeks of practicing. Our shortcut has already appeared.'

Expecting an immediate response, Asher waited for Yuki's hypnotically sweet voice. But he didn't hear anything for a second, two seconds, and three solid seconds.

That noticeable lingering silence was incredibly odd to Asher.

Out of everything that Asher can tell about Yuki from the past couple of days he knew her for, it was that the prospect of System's mission greatly excited her. She kept on claiming it would be their fastest way to gain strength.

So this seemingly lack of response already gave Asher a slight red flag.

The fact that he has to go out in the eerie, dangerous night was already ominous on its own. But now Yuki added a slight extra layer of a bad omen.

Finally, after five whole increasingly tense seconds, Yuki spoke to Asher. 'You sure you want to go out at night for this mission? I mean….there's no rule saying we have to take on every mission available to us.'

Asher blinks his eyes from Yuki's reply. He could sense there was a genuine tone of concern in her voice. Considering she's always so eager for him to get stronger, Asher honestly wasn't expecting her to actually be this hesitant.

But, barring past Yuki's shocking tone of concern, Asher's mind drifted over to the nightly horrors of Pearlcrest City. He was fully aware of the many terrifying myths, legends, and actual happening that occur at night.

Asher doesn't really have much interest in using the internet that much. But it was an excellent way to keep himself updated on all the dangerous occurrences around Pearlcrest City. 

And Asher didn't lack any common sense. Before, he wouldn't dare to take one step out of his apartment at night.

However, presently, the current Asher simply can't be compared to his previous self. It wasn't that he was gaining this massive overflow of confidence from his achievements in battle and cultivation.

But Asher wanted a greater challenge to push himself to the absolute limits. Zara let him free at full power, but it wasn't enough for an accurate test for him.

With all that in mind, Asher told Yuki, 'Zara simply wasn't enough for me to test my true limits. I know of the immense dangers, but I have to push myself even more. Who knows when the Kane Gang might send someone far more powerful than Zara after me. And well….on a more personal level, I don't want to leave someone to potentially die if I know I can save them. It feels a bit….sour.'

Yuki went silent again for a brief second. This unwavering stubbornness Asher has while Yuki increasingly likes it. She also knows this will lead them down numerous dangerous paths of no return.

But, as his soul-bound partner, Yuki knows she will just need to accommodate for that.

Relenting far quicker than her first response, Yuki said to Asher, 'No matter what I said, I already knew you had your mind made up. But know this could get very ugly. And remember, we must preserve our lives!'

Despite the ominous growing with Yuki's words, Asher still put on a confident smirk. 'I intend for this to get ugly. And don't worry, it takes a lot to put me down on entirely.'

'Hmph. I suppose that's true. You even got up after having your heart ripped into.'

Yuki's voice gained back that chipper tune which sent pleasurable tingles down Asher's spine.

Feeling happy that Yuki was seemingly showing trust in him, Asher began to focus on the System's mission.

And right then, he felt a pulling sensation from his Aura Sense. Focusing on his Aura Sense, Asher could pick up that it was informing where to exactly go for this mission.

Without wasting any more time, Asher quickly got ready and prepared for a potentially grueling night.