Is this really a Game?!

Upon inspecting Paul closer, Reign and the others were able to see that they were wrong, there was something around Paul. A formless barrier of energy had appeared around him, shielding his body, but still allowing them all to see him.

He was naked, his equipment placed in the spatial ring he wore. The influx of mana was so great that keeping his equipment on was impossible, and upon sensing so, it was the system that had removed it and placed it in the spatial ring in order to preserve it.

Even though the system would rarely intervene and help out players, this much was considered nothing to the system. 

The mana surrounding Paul was starting to form a tornado, blowing the bricks and some smaller ruins around him. Reign and the others widened their eyes and immediately sprung to action, each one of them going to a different side and using their mana to block the powerful mana waves so as to not destroy anything else.

The invisible barrier around Paul was starting to get stronger, slowly but surely making Paul's figure harder to see, as if one was looking at him through dirty lenses that were blurring their eyesight.

"Hmm, it seems he was lucky enough to gain a powerful helper, that dagger is anything but normal." Drayce, the one person amongst the Transcendents present that had contact with a wide variety of magical items and treasures said.

He had inspected and gained so many treasures in the past that identifying just how valuable something became normal to him. From what he was able to notice, if the dagger was something belonging to a Transcendent, it could be counted amongst the more powerful treasures that Transcendents had, and there was a chance that it was a Saint-level item, a treasure of incredible value that could easily turn a trash character into someone who was incredibly talented.

The soul that all of them felt from the dagger was also relatively strong, at the very minimum, one belonging to a Transcendent.

Reign and the others steeled themselves and used everything they had to keep the area safe. Even though Paul had chosen a deserted place on the very outskirts of the territory to evolve, the damage his evolution could make was not to be taken lightly.

Even though there were multiple Tier IV beings present, it was hard to block the wave of mana as the total amount was much higher than what any of them could utilize. An evolution was a complete change of the body, first starting from inside and then making its way out. Each evolution was a big step, and the kid in front of them was doing four at once.

Even the evolution from Tier III to Tier IV would be hard to be controlled by Reign and the others, not to mention so many of them at once. The total amount of mana that would be gathered in this place would be astonishing, and they knew that without controlling it, multiple buildings would fall, and perhaps some curious spectators would end up injured or killed.

"Dammit, why did he have to choose to evolve here of all places?!" Reign cursed loudly as he stared at the boy who was obviously in pain. Blood was leaking through all of his orifices while his face clearly showed that he was in pain. His mouth was open, but he couldn't even scream from the incredible pain.

The mana was not stopping, however, and was getting more powerful. The evolution was changing Paul from the inside, and the dagger next to it was also benefiting while doing its best to keep Paul alive. Such an evolution was incredibly dangerous, unfortunately, there was no other way for people to evolve if they had skipped the previous evolutions.

It was a sort of trial, but also a sort of punishment from mana itself. Skipping an evolution was something that had been impossible in ancient times, back when the system didn't have such a function.

It was mana itself that gauged when a being was ready to evolve, and simply saying no to that wasn't possible. If one wanted to right their wrong, they had to evolve twice, or multiple times in the future, which meant that they had to be ready, taking many precautions before attempting the evolution.

It was clear that Paul had no idea about that, but the same could be said for Reign and the others, as well as everybody else present, except the Transcendents. The reason they never said anything, was simply because it was far too rare for one that had skipped even one evolution to clear the next challenge and evolve twice, which wasn't all that dangerous, but skipping three and taking four evolutions at once was something else completely.

Not only was Paul evolving, but he was going straight from the Introductory Realm to the Warrior Realm as the Tier IV evolution was much more powerful than the previous three.

His skin started cracking more, even peeling off at some places, before being replaced by a new skin that would also start to crack and peel, at some places it didn't even peel as the powerful mana turned it to dust.

His muscles started changing, if one was to see them right now, it was as if every single muscle in Paul's body was going through a spasm every second. The muscles were getting compressed, their size smaller at first, before growing once again, increasing the overall strength, but not changing their looks.

His bones were getting broken and then regenerated immediately, each time becoming stronger, but the pain also increased. His veins and mana channels were widening while his organs were becoming stronger by continuously being bathed with mana, parts of it being destroyed before regenerating again.

His mind was going through a similar thing, his consciousness was blurry as he felt as if someone was continuously hitting him with a hammer. It was being tempered, making his mind stronger and able to focus more easily.

Each of these things happened to Reign and the others as well, but they had gone through each evolution separately, so it was only a more minor part, not to mention that their abilities and marks helped them out, making the process completely painless for them.

Half an hour had passed and Reign and the others were sweating bullets. A large tornado made out of mana was in front of them, and Paul was right in the middle. The barrier around him was completely visible now, with only an outline of his figure being seen from the outside.

The dagger was shining as bright as a small star, the green and blue mana from the dagger flowing into Paul and helping him out, keeping him alive and sane. Without the dagger helping him out, Paul would have died by now, that was what everyone knew.

It was not only aiding Paul by healing his body and keeping it in one piece, but it was also nourishing his soul, keeping his sanity, and not allowing him to go insane. A couple of times during the evolution, Paul wanted nothing else but for it to stop, for him to just die and finally be at peace, but it was the dagger, or to be more exact, the soul inside of it, that kept him from giving up, making him remember what they talked about, and what Paul's goal was.

Thirty more minutes passed, and the tornado was finally starting to slow down and dissipate. Paul had managed to pass the most dangerous step of the evolution, and from now, he would simply breeze through it.

Ten more minutes were needed before the tornado completely disappeared, and so did the barrier around Paul while the dagger was still floating in front of him, defending him.

Reign and the others went near the naked Paul and were clearly able to feel hostility and even some slight killing intent coming out from the dagger. The weapons they had on them immediately showed themselves while their marks activated, each of them appearing above them and pointing at the dagger.

The soul inside the dagger gulped, fully aware of who Reign and the others were, but was still not willing to stand down, he wasn't going to let anyone harm Paul.

"Don't worry, nobody will do anything bad to him, you have my word." Reign said as he came near the dagger and looked at the soul that was inside of it.

Upon noticing Reign's gaze, and then even Reign's figure that had appeared inside his consciousness, the soul took a step back, looking at Reign, as well as Aethion, that had both arrived.

"He is a member of my territory, no matter what kind of fruitful encounter he had, everything he has belongs to him, nobody will take it from him, nor harm him, I swear it on my soul." Reign said, making his ethereal body shine, letting the soul of the dagger know that if he was to break his promise, his soul would be injured.