Chapter 73: B-Rank!

That evening, Reinhard finally told Emily what he had learned about the final treatment. They were sitting together in the living room, with Maki, Yuna, and Lily nearby, and the house was quieter than usual.

For once, nobody was talking about training, missions, or what they would do after Emily’s recovery.

Reinhard looked toward Emily. "There’s one thing you should know before we get the Lightkeeper Dew."

Emily nodded.

"The final treatment will be painful."

Her expression turned serious. "How painful?"

"I don’t know exactly," Reinhard admitted. "But the treatment will awaken one of your dormant Gnosis abilities, and your Gnosis will have to withstand the awakening while your body adapts to it."

Yuna understood immediately. "The pain comes from the Gnosis itself?"

"Partly," Reinhard said. "Your body has been rebuilt, but awakening an ability that’s been dormant for years will put a lot of strain on it."

Emily was quiet for a moment. "And if I can’t handle it?"

Reinhard looked at her. "Then it could fail."

Emily lowered her eyes, and Maki’s expression tightened while Lily moved a little closer to her.

Yuna crossed her arms and thought it through out loud. "Then the preparation we’ve done wasn’t just to restore her Gnosis. It was also to make sure her body can survive the awakening."

"Exactly," Reinhard said.

Emily looked around the room, and for a moment she said nothing. Then she quietly asked, "Do you think I’m ready?"

Reinhard smiled. "I think we’re getting close."

Emily looked at him.

"But if you’re asking whether I can guarantee everything will go perfectly, I can’t."

She was silent for a moment. "Then maybe we should wait."

Reinhard raised an eyebrow. "Wait for what?"

"Until we’re more certain." Her voice was quiet. "If the treatment is that painful, and there’s still a chance something could go wrong, maybe we should keep preparing until the risk is lower."

Reinhard looked at her for several seconds before he smiled. "We’ve already waited long enough."

Emily’s expression softened. "I know."

"I don’t know exactly what will happen," Reinhard continued, "but we’ll prepare until the odds are good enough."

Maki nodded slowly. "We already did that once."

Emily looked toward her, and Maki gave her a small smile. "When your legs were being treated, we didn’t know what would happen either. We just decided we’d face it together."

Yuna nodded. "The same thing applies now."

Lily raised her hand from the floor. "Me too."

Emily looked at her, and Lily smiled. "I’m helping again."

Emily couldn’t help but laugh softly. "You were barely able to stand last time."

"I still helped."

"You did."

Lily puffed out her chest proudly. "Exactly."

Reinhard smiled while Maki shook her head, and Emily looked around at all of them. "You really haven’t changed."

"Nope," Lily said proudly.

Yuna smiled. "We made a promise."

Emily’s expression softened.

During the last treatment, they had all chosen to share her pain instead of letting her endure it alone, and they had already decided that none of them would carry everything by themselves.

There was no reason for that promise to disappear simply because the next step was more dangerous.

Emily looked toward Reinhard. "You’ll be there too?"

Reinhard smiled. "Obviously."

She nodded. "Then I’ll do it."

Reinhard reached over and gently squeezed her hand. "We’ll prepare first."

Emily smiled. "Together."

"Together."

...

The next morning, Reinhard woke up earlier than everyone else. He had spent most of the night thinking about Emily’s treatment, but once morning arrived, his attention shifted to something else entirely.

He had become a B-Rank Awakener, and he still hadn’t properly tested what that meant, so he headed outside and found Yuna already awake, standing in the yard.

"Yuna."

She turned around. "What?"

Reinhard smiled. "I became a B-Rank Awakener yesterday."

Yuna froze. "You what?"

His smile widened. "B-Rank."

She walked over immediately and began examining him like a mechanic who had just been told a car could now fly. "Is there something special about your body?"

"Good morning to you too."

Yuna ignored him and touched his arm, then his shoulder, before moving around him to check his back. "Have we been missing something? Why is your physical speed so high? Your body doesn’t feel like a normal B-Rank Awakener."

"I could just be built different."

"You are not built different, you’re built wrong, and I need to know why."

Emily had stepped outside by then and watched the examination with a faintly amused expression, though her brows furrowed slightly when Yuna kept poking at him. "Did Cassian or Lucien mention anything about how quickly you’ve been getting stronger?" Emily asked.

Reinhard rubbed his chin. "Archon did mention that I seemed to have a special body."

Yuna and Emily both stopped at once. "What else did she say?" they asked, almost together.

Reinhard thought for a moment. "She said it seemed like I could consume Mana Breakers and other mana-infused items without breaking down, becoming addicted, or getting sick."

Both of them stared at him. Emily’s eyes widened before a smile appeared. "That’s amazing. No wonder you’ve been growing so quickly."

Yuna nodded slowly. "If he had become an Awakener around the same time you did, he probably would have been able to keep up with you."

Reinhard smiled. "But then it wouldn’t have been as fun."

Emily looked at him suspiciously, and he wrapped an arm around both women. "I gave everyone in our generation a decade-long head start before catching up and leaving them in the dust. It’s called being a generous winner."

Emily’s lips twitched. "That’s not what generous means."

Yuna smiled. "You’re ridiculous."

"I prefer talented."

"You’re definitely ridiculous."

Reinhard laughed before turning to Yuna. "Alright, enough about my incredible body. What can B-Rank Awakeners actually do?"

Yuna nodded. "B-Rank is where mana becomes fundamentally different." She raised one hand, and several spheres of mana appeared around her. "At C-Rank, you can manifest mana into weapons, barriers, spheres, and other constructs. At B-Rank, your control becomes much greater, and your mana begins exerting dominance over weaker mana."

Emily suddenly created six mana spheres and sent them toward Yuna, whose eyes flashed as mana burst from her body. The moment the pressure collided with the spheres, all six shattered.

Reinhard’s eyes widened. "So that’s B-Rank Mana Pressure."

"That’s only one part of it," Yuna explained. "Against someone vastly weaker, Mana Pressure can suppress their Gnosis and prevent them from properly using their abilities."

Reinhard’s eyes brightened. "So my beautiful wife abused this power back in her prime?"

Emily’s cheeks turned slightly red. "I may have gotten annoyed with dealing with groups."

Reinhard raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Did my wife have a naughty streak in the past?"

Yuna giggled. "During tournaments, everyone would attack Emily together because she was the strongest participant. After the fifth time, she got tired of it and started training even harder so she could leave everyone behind."

Yuna smiled. "Then she started using Mana Pressure to suppress the weaker participants before dealing with the stronger ones."

"So the plan was, crush the small fish first, save the real fight for dessert?" Reinhard asked. "I respect the strategy. I’m a little scared of it, but I respect it."

Emily immediately covered Yuna’s mouth. "Stop talking about the past!"

Reinhard laughed while Emily glared at him. "In my defense, I asked a very normal question and got a very unhinged answer."

Yuna eventually pulled herself free and continued. "B-Rank also allows you to control the scale of your mana."

She raised her hand and formed a mana sword, and the weapon quickly expanded until it became the size of a building, the blade stretching high above them.

Reinhard stared upward. "That’s a lot of sword for one argument."

Yuna reduced the sword until it returned to normal size before letting it disappear. "I’m guessing that’s not very practical."

"It can be," Emily said, "but it causes too much destruction. It’s difficult to use around allies."

"So it’s mostly for very dramatic exits," Reinhard said.

"Mostly."

Reinhard nodded, and that explained why the B-Rank Awakeners he had fought hadn’t simply turned every attack into something enormous.

There was more to fighting at that level than making everything bigger, apparently, and he filed that away with some disappointment.

Yuna then condensed the mana around her hand. "This is Mana Compression." The visible mana became smaller, but its density increased dramatically. "B-Rank mana is fundamentally denser than C-Rank mana. A C-Rank Awakener might create a two-meter mana sword, while a B-Rank Awakener can create a smaller weapon containing several times the mana density."

Reinhard watched carefully. "So I don’t need a giant weapon to produce a powerful attack."

"Exactly."

She explained the passive changes next. "Your mana recovery becomes much faster. Your body becomes more resistant to mana and supernatural effects, and you can survive injuries that would kill an ordinary human. Your body also gains instinctive mana reinforcement, so you don’t need to consciously reinforce yourself every moment."

Reinhard listened closely.

"Your resistance to abilities increases as well. You can survive extreme environments for short periods, your mana naturally protects your vital organs, and your regeneration becomes stronger."

Reinhard looked down at his hands. "So B-Rank isn’t just more mana."

"No," Yuna said. "It’s a fundamental improvement to the body."

"So I’ve basically been upgraded like a phone."

"A phone that punches."

"My favorite kind."

Reinhard decided to test it.

Mana formed around his hand, one weapon appeared, then another, then another, and several mana weapons floated around him as he simultaneously created a large barrier.

He reinforced his body while maintaining the constructs, and the mana stayed stable. Then he compressed one of the weapons, and it became smaller while the mana inside grew considerably denser.

Reinhard smiled. So this is B-Rank. He could already feel the difference, and it wasn’t simply that he had more power. He had far more control over how that power could be used.

Emily watched him from the side. "You really became stronger overnight."

Reinhard looked toward her. "Technically, I became stronger yesterday."

"That’s not what I meant."

"I know. I just enjoy being technically correct. It’s the best kind of correct."

Before he could continue testing, Lily’s voice suddenly came from inside the house. "Emily! Yuna! Come help me!"

Emily looked toward the door. "What happened?"

"I need help!"

Yuna sighed. "We should probably go."

Emily nodded and looked toward Reinhard. "We’ll be back."

"Go ahead," Reinhard said. "I’ll keep testing. Try not to let her set anything on fire."

"No promises," Lily called from inside.

Emily and Yuna headed in, and Reinhard waited until they were gone before his smile slowly widened.

Now let’s see what happens when I combine everything.

He activated Veil first, and his presence disappeared. Then Spatial Pull, and the target several meters away was dragged toward a point in space. Reinhard activated Demon Roar immediately after, and the roar exploded through the area, stunning the target.

Then he raised his hand, and Inferno erupted, flames filling the space, far larger and hotter than Ember had ever been.

He dismissed the flames quickly, muttering, "Note to self, do this farther from the flower bed," before trying another combination.

Veil concealed his presence again, and Spatial Pull dragged the target into position.

Reinhard raised his hand, and an Ice Shard Bullet formed, the projectile shooting forward with terrifying speed.

Reinhard watched the result and smiled. B-Rank is going to be fun.