The sweating Ethan was currently positioned beneath an enormous solidified sphere of black ink.

His arms were raised, with palms pressed against the base of the sphere, holding it steady above him.

He was trying to replicate the same effect as Bella’s black hole training, though this version lacked the gravitational pull that made hers so brutal. This sphere weighed about twenty tons, a weight that would crush most people flat, but without the added pull of gravity dragging him down, it was manageable.

Still, twenty tons was twenty tons. Roughly ten cars stacked together, all pressing down on his arms.

Arael stood by the corner, holding her hand steady towards the sphere she watched him with that calm, expressionless gaze she always wore.

After a little while later, Ethan mentally commanded her to undo this, to which she quickly did. The massive sphere compressed and reshaped into floating liquid which traveled back to her skin as tattoos.

Ethan gave out a sigh of relief as slowly the worn-down muscle fibers regenerated.

A notification screen materialized before him.

[Self-Imposed Objective Complete: Guardian Foundation Training]

[Reward: +4,000 XP]

[Total Experience Points: 186,250]

He lifted his arm and looked at the clenched fist for a moment. He hadn’t noticed so much of any change per se, but this was practically just day two.

However, an idea just came to him as well, and he told the system, "Insert progress levels for the other classes that do not level with XP. I want to be able to see my progress with them, then send me progress status for Guardian class."

[Progress Request Affirmed]

[Guardian Class Progress from Third to Fourth Foundation Stage: 77% Complete]

He had been at the third foundation for over a month now, and in addition to the current training regimen, this seemed pretty normal.

He glanced at Arael and nodded, to which she acknowledged just the same. But right then, a thought came to him.

His Fusion skill.

And he glanced at Arael again, who stared back quietly, although she knew what he was thinking.

Aside from the failed attempt with Rue and the more progressive fusion between him and his half-dragon summon Nina, he hadn’t really used that skill with any other.

With another nod from Ethan, signaling he was going to try it, the angel walked closer. And after Ethan stretched his hand forward towards her, a purplish-white glow encapsulated both their bodies.

The light intensified, wrapping around them like threads of energy before pulling them together into a single form.

[Fusion Skill Active]

Ethan retained most of his muscular frame and physique, but now he had her wings extending from his back, different colored and radiant.

Her tattoos ran through his skin, the colorful floral patterns covering his arms and legs in intricate detail. They both had black hair, so there was no change to that, unlike with Nina’s fusion which made his go red. However, he retained her blue eyes.

There was also this one problem, and the reflection of this was the low groan from Ethan caused by the physical strain on him.

[Fusion Can Only Be Maintained for 00:00:10]

It was their first time fusing, so the amount of time they could both remain so was considerably less.

Additionally, another problem with fusing manifested

[Difficulty Encountered with Memory Sync from Arael’s Past Life]

[The Summon Is Unstable]

There was usually a smoother procedure which let the summoner learn about his summon a bit more, but in his case with the angel, he was getting only flashes, and very disturbing and hurting ones.

There was a brief flash where a child-like version of her was bruised and in tears as she watched large silver gates close forcefully in front of her by angel-raced guards who had large single colored wings of white and black, respectively.

Behind those gates was a figure, and he had six larger wings of white behind him. He walked further into the city without batting an eye back.

There was another brief flash where Arael, looking like she was about seven, had smudges of paint on her face and a cheerful grin around an aged man who held a paintbrush.

Then another where the same man lifted her on his shoulders and they walked a lonely road together.

And a final one, where she, in tears, badly bruised and heavily wounded, slowly crawled through the floor, leaving a trail of blood as she moved to shake the body of the much older man who had definitely passed at this time.

She tugged and tugged at him, making inaudible wailing sounds before the unseen figure behind her with six wings raised his sword and stabbed her from behind one final time, forcing her into an unconscious state and then a final death.

[Fusion Skill Has Ended]

There was another brief flash of purple light which separated them both.

The Fusion skill caused untold fatigue after being used, so Ethan had to immediately support his standing by hunching over and holding his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

Then he noticed something fall from his eye and touch the ground.

"Huh?" he muttered, straightening up quickly. He brought a finger to his eye, then pulled it away to look. "What the... are these... tears?"

It was then that he turned towards Arael, who gritted her teeth in frustration with tears streaming from both her eyes, clenching her fists so tightly that the anger radiating through her body made the tattoos on her skin move visibly.

At this point, Ethan truly understood why this Fusion skill needed both the Borrow skill at Level 4 and the Bond skill at Level 3.

The Bond skill especially, because it made both summoner and summon feel the same emotions.

So when a tear dropped from his own eyes, it was a reflection of Arael’s emotions.

With Nina, it wasn’t like this per se, although to be fair, the half-dragon summon had lived a much longer life which he hadn’t seen all of, most especially her end.

But the early parts he had witnessed were memorable, glorious, and without regrets, so perhaps it was why he didn’t feel sad emotions too.