Gabriella stood beside Tarquin and whispered. Tarquin’s eyes were glued to Mike or rather to the crystal in Mike’s hand. Gabriella elbowed him to get his attention and repeated.
"I don’t know," Tarquin whimpered. He risked losing the crystal and the refiner with enough potential to bring his father to the Temple.
"He is holding on." It was the middle-aged lady sitting beside the Duke who said without sparing Tarquin a glance.
They weren’t the only ones paying close attention to the process on the platform. Every person, be it a spectator or refiner, attended the Temple to witness the rise of a Master.
"Teacher, will he be able to do it?" Delia asked anxiously. The man beside her, clad in wide robes and a grand hood, pursed his lips without replying. It increased her anxiety more. She didn’t wish to see the refiner Mike gain more fame than Lucas. But she could only watch, biting her nails.
Laila stood on the other side, flanked by the Union refiners. The men around her didn’t dare to utter a word. They knew the manager was fuming. If Mike suffered permanent damage, her investment in him would be for naught. She hoped to capitalize on his fame.
Hex was too busy shouting inwardly at himself to care about the opinions and worries of the people in the stands. He struggled to keep his sanity while maintaining his soberness. But he held on.
It wasn’t the quantity of the energy that overwhelmed him. It was the potency of it that did. His heart was on overdrive, slamming against his ribcage all the time.
Hex gritted his teeth, withstanding the near-unbearable pain. He observed his inner space. The heart was situated in the center of it. Usually, it appeared normal, made of blood and flesh. But when activated, it seemed like a crystal with translucent blood veins. At the moment, in overdrive, hair-sized cracks appeared on it.
The cracks appeared with each contraction of the heart but they healed instantly. Although it didn’t seem like his heart would shatter, the cracks hurt like hell. Hex groaned, biting his lips.
Luckily, he had an excellent regenerative ability, helping him conceal the real damage his body was going through.
The continuous cycle of recovery and damage his body was going through, drove him nearly to madness. Hex felt his body reaching the point of fatigue. He could foresee his body giving away and falling to the floor, losing consciousness. Once that happened, he was certain the refinement would fail and the chaotic energy would wreak havoc on the inside.
’I need to numb the pain. But how?’
The mind-numbing pain slowed his thought process. Pushing the limits of his resistance to the pain, Hex forced his mind to work. Suddenly, his eyes landed on the snow-white patches inside the inner space.
Hex had a lot of earth, fire, and ice elements inside him. He also remembered the usage of ice to numb and clean wounds. Inspired by the memory, he tried to move the ice element to his heart.
It was hard. The protective field around it increased the resistance against things moving toward it. Hex wasn’t disheartened by it. He tried moving things toward it in the past. Those experiences taught him to break things into smaller bits and shoot them at his heart.
After a few tries he got the elements to a size small enough to bypass the force field and hit the heart.
A muffled sound appeared but Hex was elated. The element was tiny but gave a fresh feeling. The feeling disappeared quickly but supported Hex’s hypothesis.
Hex didn’t have the luxury of time to be awed by the various uses of the elements. He trembled but continued shooting small elements at the heart. Doing so, his control over the molding and control over the ice element.
The excruciating pain in his chest subsided. The cold air escaping the miny explosions also cooled his overheating blood, helping him regain control over his consciousness. As his thinking faculty returned slowly, the frequency with which the ice elements shot at the heart, increased.
The ice element helped calm his heart, slowing the contraction of it. The energy was being refined quickly, turning rapidly into innate energy.
With his increased control over the process, Hex started to control the amount and quality of the energy being pumped into the crystal. If the crystal was sucked dry, without any innate energy rebate, it would turn into dust.
The crowd in the Temple started to lose hope when they saw Hex keel over in pain. Even though they had no way of knowing what Hex really was going through, they believed Hex would succumb to the damage and fatigue.
Those against Hex and or Tarquin smiled in glee. Those in favor of those, including Tarquin, felt their heart nearly stop, seeing Hex’s state. The majority in the Temple felt disappointed though. The general citizens hoped to witness a miracle.
Just as people were certain the result was determined, the crystal in Hex’s hand started to glow.
Coincidentally, it was Master Lucas who noticed it at first. His shock caused him to exclaim, drawing everyone’s attention back to Hex.
The spectating refiners cried out. It was a phenomenon only seen in Disaster crystals. Although there was a probability that the refinement would still fail, the appearance of the glow signified that Hex was on the right path.
People held their hearts. They eyed the glow fearfully. It could disappear at any moment. But it didn’t. On the contrary, it glowed brighter and brighter, until it shone like a small sun.
By the end, the glow flowed around the crystal and unified, giving it a lustrous appearance. The sun-like appearance settled and transformed into a gentle moon-like crystal. It was warm but gentle.
Hex opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the multiple gaping faces, looking at him stunned and reverent.
Hex lifted his hand and grinned at the crowd. The stunned crowd didn’t please him. He was pleased with the amount of energy in his body. It was above a thousand drops!