The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

Within the Pixie Paradise

Edge of The Realm

Juliette stood within a cubicle, that had nothing inside. It was just made up of gray metal on all sides, and also had no windows.

It felt stuffy, yet comfortable. The scent was also calming. A bit herbalistic, yet full of sweetness and niceness. Like a peaceful garden. A small paradise. A haven.

She thought to herself. 'It would be nicer with some decorations, and a hint of life you know.' And further continued with her thoughts.

Then besides her appeared the pixie prince's apparition, that began explaining to her what the use of this place was. "Welcome within our Elemental Training grounds."

The apparition said in a childish tone, then added in a whisper as if gossiping, "We made this place specially for you. We are the best, aren't we? Aren't we?"

"..."

Juliette nodded in defeat. She did not even know why she felt defeated, but she felt so nonetheless. The apparition nodded in joy and further explained.

"You can will the soroundings to transform into an Elemental ground that would train you in attaining your Elemental affinity." It said, and Juliette pecked her head in understanding.

"All you have to do, is choose the element, then the difficulty, and finally, how long you would like to stay. And depending on your talent, you can either grasp Elemental Affinities in a few days, or months."

The apparition smiled as it spoke. Juliette did not comment and also smiled back at it. The pixie apparition stopped smiling and pouted in disappointment.

"Good bye. And enjoy." It left such words as the apparition grew in size, until it filled up the whole room. It was not just growing, but it felt like it was inflating.

Even it's expressions were spot on. It thus grew and grew, until it exploded into a chorus of illusory party tricks that spread out. And then slowly disappeared before touching the ground.

"..."

Juliette watched everything take place, and only sighed. She was sad. She was also bored. These little guys were fun to be around, but they were also a bit too...

"Childish. Geez. I can't bare with it for much longer." She thought, once again in defeat.

It has been five days since Damien left her, so she has not been that much demanding of his presence. But she knew that it has almost been two months for him outside.

She was wondering if he missed her occasionally. But then again, there was nothing to miss from her. She barely gave him anything worth missing to come back to.

Aside from love. A bit of nagging. A bit of quarreling. And yeah, pretty much all of that.

"..."

Now that she thought about it, she frowned. 'Am I... actually so boring?' She thought, and her heart skipped a beat.

That thought bothered her, and the young maiden sat down cross legged. She decided that she would not overthink this matter for the time being, and just cultivate.

At least, if she became stronger, she would not become a burden. 'But still... I can't believe that there's nothing I can do for him. While he's doing everything for me.'

She shook her head, and then sat her mood straight 'Get it together girl. You need to focus.' She had to train. And not let these mental demons corrupt her.

[ Training In Progress... ]

And such a notification appeared before her eyes when she sat her mood straight. She watched, and waited for things to take place.

Moments later, a follow up notification appeared after the first one. Followed by a long list of words below it.

[ Please Choose an Element to train ]

Juliette paused, and read through the list of words one by one. She then immediately chose "Fire", to start off this training. It was also the first spirit she killed.

Plus, her intuition told her that this element would come in handy soon enough. And would benefit her greatly.

[ The Affinity of Fire has been chosen ]

[ Please appoint the time period required for the Elemental Training of the Fire Affinity ]

Juliette thought about it for a moment, and sent in forty hours. It was the remaining hours for it to strike a week of her staying here. And also the time Damien promised to return.

She chose the time due to desiring to not overthink much. She knew herself. And knew that the sudden thought she had, would haunt her until Damien returns.

Thus until then, she would train in her Affinities, and if possible, Progress her Wish Trials to the third Trial. And maybe, she could gift the rewards of this Trial to Damien.

[ Forty hours maximum ]

[ What difficulty would you like the training to be optimized at? ]

[ Low ]

[ Medium ]

[ High ]

"...High." Juliette thought, and prepared herself to undergo gruesome training for almost two days straight.

[ Noted ]

[ Training may ensure. Please prepare yourself, candidate ]

She took a deep breathe of air to calm herself. Then moments later, the room suddenly took on a red shade. Followed by booming sounds of alarms.

...!!!

Juliette was caught off guard, and obviously frightened. Like a startled rabbit. Her heart skipped a beat, and she found herself almost losing balance.

And before she could say anything nor understand her circumstances, she found herself suspended within a different environment. Like a cave.

No. More like a pit.

'Huh? Where am I? What happened?' She thought, as she suddenly felt hot and breathless.

Her body was already sweating buckets. So much so that, her clothes were already wet. As if she was splashed with water.

Including her hair. 'So hot so hot so hot!! What... What is the meaning of this?'

She cried internally, as she finally spread our her senses and realized that she was in the middle of a pool of lava.

And above her, was a mini sun that felt like it was a bit too close to be considered human friendly. Thus why she was experiencing intense heat from up and below.

[ Training taking place ]

[ Welcome to edge of the Fiery Plains ]

'Fiery what?' Juliette thought in shock, as her skin slowly turned a shade pink. She felt like she was going to melt. And her breathe was now becoming raggered.

'Focus girl. Focus. All you have to do, is just bare with the pain. Yes, that's all. Bare with the intense heat. Just bare with the fucking... Bare with it!!' She continuously hypnotized herself, and then closed her eyes.

But seconds later, her eyes quivered, and her body trembled. 'It's impossible. I can't do this. It's impossible!!' She cried out within her mind.

"Cancel training. Cancel training!!" She then hastily shouted with all her might. She was burning. She was breathless. She was dying!!

But the reply from the training ground's artificial intelligence made her dread.

[ High Difficultly cannot be removed ]

"What...? WHAT?!" She exclaimed in fright, then hurriedly added, "Decrease difficulty then!! DECREASE DIFFICULTY!!!" She shouted with all her might.

But the response was still the same.

[ Difficulty cannot be switched mid training. Please wait for forty hours ]

...!!!

She paused. She froze. "Forty hours..? Forty hours? FORTY FUCKING HOURS?! WHAT AM I? AN INSULATOR?! FUCK!! I'D BE DEAD BEFORE TWELVE, LET ALONE FORTY!!" And cried out loud this time.

But the temperature seemed to have increased, alongside the pitch of her tone.

"..."

She widened her eyes in shock as her only saving grace had left through the door. And worst of all... the heat was slowly climbing up the ladder and not lessening one bit.

'I... I fucked up. I would rather stress day in day out, than go through this.' She cried out in regret. But at the same time, sat cross legged and focused on her mind.

She then took a deep breathe in, and blew it out. Her body trembling, and her eyes quivering, but she still kept her cool and focused.

Her thoughts at serenity. Or not.

'I live for Damien. I die for Damien. Fire shall not kill me. I live for Damien. I die for Damien. Fire shall not stress me. I live for–' She continuously chanted, and hypnotized her mind.

And the effects worked wonders on her. Her mentality calmed down, and began ignoring the pain felt from the scalding heat. A perfect imagine of Damien was painted within her mind.

And as that happened:

[ TING!!! ]

[ Congratulations for manually obtaining natural resistance to Fire ]

[ Natural fire resistance:- 0,001% ]

Such a notification appeared before her. But Juliette was too focused to see, nor mind it. Hence she did her own thing, and continously hypnotized herself.

And as she did so, the flames kept up climbing up. And her resistance as well. Hence reducing the pain she was feeling the more she sat there and cultivated.

[ Natural fire resistance:- 0,075% ]

[ Natural fire resistance:- 0,248% ]

[ Natural fire resistance:- 1,96% ]

The process went by for an hour, and Juliette never stopped working on her mind. The hypnosis worked wonders to the point where she was not even aware she was self-hypnotizing herself.

[ TING!!! ]

[ Congratulations on manually learning the Extra Skill, "Self-Hypnosis" ]