"This Kid must have a dormant Elemental Physique that is absorbing most of my pure darkness mana to awaken itself, causing the refining process to slow down," Erebus said, looking toward the dome of darkness in front of him.

"I am not surprised that he has an Elemental Physique, but by the pace of mana absorption, I could tell that the physique at best should only have the potential to reach the First Transcend Rank," Erebus murmured in a disappointed tone.

"I was hoping for better talent, but even with his talent, he should be able to become the ruler of Malefis Domain and make things a lot better for the kingdom of Abrus."

'Let's double the mana, as it would help accelerate the process of vessel refining and help his physique awaken much faster even though he would experience a lot of pain, but it is better than feeling slow pain for an extended time.' Erebus thought.

Erebus snapped his finger, and the dome of darkness with a radius of ten feet increased slightly in size, but the speed at which Alex's body was receiving mana doubled instantly, which increased the pain to an unbearable height.

---------------------

[ Level Lost ] x 48

[Demotion to Mortal Rank.]

'After being demoted from First Rank, the pain has intensified.' Alex thought, trying his best to distract his mind from the tormenting pain.

'Now I know why everyone who goes through the refining procedure describes it as being burned by flames.' Alex thought while counting the system notifications.

[ Level Lost ] x 49

.......

.....

...

...

[ Level Lost ] x 67

The refining procedure continued smoothly, and after twenty seconds of feeling agonizing pain, Alex was demoted to level one, losing all his progress.

'Finally, the refining process is completed.' Alex thought as he sighed in relief.

'Why is Erebus not stopping the refining procedure?' Alex thought with an alarmed look, still feeling pain wrecking his body.'What is that bastard doing? Is he trying to kill me?.' Alex thought, feeling the pain not stopping even after five more seconds.

Alex was panicking, not because of the pain, but because if the darkness mana kept entering his body without being used for anything, it would eventually start destroying his body on a cellular level, killing his avatar permanently.

'I don't know why Erebus is trying to kill me permanently, but I can't waste any time if I want to live.' Alex thought as he decided to use one of his protection wishes.

"Zero, I want to use my protection wish," Alex said out loud, and he instantly got a response from Zero but not the one he was expecting.

[Protection wish rejected]

[Player Hidden One Avatar is not in danger of getting erased]

'What the hell is he talking about? if the darkness mana doesn't stop entering my body, it will certainly kill my avatar permanently.' Alex thought, not understanding what was happening.

'I need to calm down and think logically.' Alex took a moment to think, and he came to the conclusion which was not in favor of his current situation.

'If AI Zero believes my life is in no danger, then it should be true because I have never heard of any player making any accusation against him, but only time could tell what is going on, so there is no point in panicking.' Alex thought as he started thinking about random things to distract himself from feeling the agonizing pain.

'The pain I felt when Cronos sent me back was much worse than this.' Alex thought.

'I don't know if I am imagining it, but I feel like the pain just increased.' Alex thought after two more minutes had passed.

'This minor pain is nothing to gain a [SSS] Rank legacy.' Alex thought with clenched teeth and fists while thinking about every bad experience from his previous life.

Alex endured the agonizing pain for five minutes before even he started to reach his limits as all the strength in his body was gone, and he didn't even have enough energy to clench his teeth tightly.

'I know I can't log out as I am in a special place, but AI zero should at least numb a player's brain if he is experiencing this much agonizing pain.' Alex thought.

After three more minutes, Alex started to lose feeling in his arm, and short few moments, his body went completely limp, but the darkness around him didn't even let him fall, keeping his motionless body in a straight standing position.

'At least I am feeling less pain.' Alex thought with a cloudy mind as darkness started to drown his consciousness.

While Alex was unconsciously standing with the help of darkness, Erebus was looking toward the dome of darkness that had reached a radius of one hundred feet.

--------------------

'I hope the kid can handle the pain.' Erebus thought with a worried look.

'This kid is a monster to have a physique that requires such an enormous amount of pure darkness mana just to awaken.' Erebus thought, not taking his eyes off the giant dome.

The Darkness dome around Alex was getting smaller with every passing second, but before it could even shrink a few feets, the darkness around it quickly merged with it maintaining its form.

'I am impressed that he could handle the pain so well, but the more interesting thing is which Rank of physique he holds that requires such a tremendous amount of mana at the awakening stage.' Erebus thought with an intrigued look.

Erebus kept looking toward the dome of darkness with clear anticipation, and after waiting for a few minutes, the thing he was waiting for happened.

'The mana absorption is slowing down, which should mean his physique is in the last stage of awakening.' Erebus thought as he looked toward the dome with a bright smile.

After waiting a few more seconds, Erebus saw Alex's body collapsing, and without moving a finger, he saved Alex from falling by manipulating the darkness.

'I need to check his natural talent and see what category of physique he would awaken, but before that, I need to have a small talk with that weasel.' Erebus thought with a bright smile.

"I know you are hiding in the space folds, so come out quickly before I drag you out," Erebus said out loud, and immediately the space in front of him distorted, and a space crack appeared.

"Sir Erebus, I was just waiting for an opportunity to request a meeting with you." A man wearing a black tuxedo exited the crack with a bright smile.

"I want you to hide any information about him in his World and the Ancient World," Erebus said to the man who every player would recognize immediately as AI Zero.

"Sir Erebus, I will complete your request without any error.' Zero replied with a smile.

"You should quickly tell me what you want to say and leave this place before he gains consciousness," Erebus said while not even looking toward Zero.

"Sir Erebus, I need to put some restrictions on him because after becoming the Ruler of Malefis Domain, he could easily cause a lot of destruction on the seven common continents with just the help from his loyal adviser." Zero said very respectfully, not showing any displeasure to being treated coldly.

"The Malefis Domain guardian is on the brink of death, so he won't be able to destroy more than a few cities before needing to rest to stabilize his condition," Erebus replied, like the destruction of a few cities was not a big deal.

"Sir Erebus, The Malefis Domain guardian, is a legit Peak Element Ruler Rank Warrior with unrivaled strength and talent nurtured with the best of resources, and even in his current condition, he could easily ragdoll any peak Eighth Rank Warrior." Zero said with a wary smile.

"Sir Erebus, You need to understand humans are greedy beyond measure, and to these players, this world is no more than a game with no consequences."

"After gaining a loyal servant that could make him invincible, he will cause mayhem and destruction, and I just want to put some light restrictions on him to stop that from happening." Zero said and patiently waited for Erebus's reply.

If Alex heard the conversation between them, he wouldn't be that surprised, but he could still gain some answers but to bad for him he was unconscious while his body was going through massive changes.

"You can place some restrictions on him, but make sure they don't hinder his progress in any way, and you also need to give him some compensation." Erebus, after staying silent for a few moments.

"Sir Erebus, I will be taking my leave." Zero said as he vanished back into the portal.

'Let's see if this lad could surprise me for a second time.' Erebus thought as he erased the dome of darkness and manipulated the darkness to carry Alex's unconscious body toward him.

Erebus covered his hand in pitch darkness that made it look like an endless void and then placed his hand on the head of unconscious Alex and closed his eyes.

After a few short seconds Erebus opened his eyes, and even though they looked as emotionless as before, but now there was a bright smile on his face.

'This lad is a natural monster in human skin.' Erebus thought with a wide smile.