The Sinclair estate courtyard was a jungle of overgrown thorn bushes and mutated weeds that had thrived on the ambient mana leaking from the city grid.

"This is manual labor" Caleb complained sitting on the edge of a cracked stone fountain. "I am an A Rank Gravity Mage. I manipulate the fundamental forces of the universe. I do not pull weeds."

"Stop whining Sterling" Isla called out from the porch where she was sweeping away years of accumulated dust. "If you want a free room in my mansion you have to earn it."

Caleb sighed dramatically. He raised his wooden staff and tapped it against the ground. "Gravity Reversal."

A localized field of anti gravity washed over the courtyard. The massive thorny weeds and overgrown bushes were suddenly ripped from the soil floating lazily into the air like weightless balloons. Caleb twirled his staff gathering the floating debris into a massive floating ball of dirt and thorns. He flicked his wrist and the entire ball flew over the estate wall crashing into a designated disposal bin in the alleyway.

"There" Caleb smiled leaning back on his hands. "Courtyard cleared. I am going to take a nap."

Glen chuckled walking into the center of the newly cleared stone courtyard. The space was massive easily the size of a professional sparring ring. It was surrounded by high stone walls offering complete privacy from the prying eyes of the city.

He drew his heavy black longsword from his back. The weapon felt incredibly dense a solid block of A Rank metal.

"Hey Sinclair" Glen called out. "Take a break from sweeping. I need to test something."

Isla leaned her broom against the wall and walked down the stone steps. She drew her dual mana pistols spinning the cylinders. "You want to spar? You just got out of the hospital Mcdonald. Your ribs are barely healed."

"I am not going to swing at you" Glen said planting his boots firmly on the stone. "I need to test my defense. I need to know exactly how much kinetic force this sword can absorb before the recoil breaks my wrists. Shoot me."

Isla raised an eyebrow. "You want me to shoot you."

"Just a standard ice bullet" Glen nodded. "Do not use your full... you know. Just a normal A Rank output."

Isla smirked understanding the unspoken reference to her hidden S Rank mana pool. "Fine. But if you hurt yourself do not blame me."

She raised her left pistol the runes glowing a bright icy blue. She did not hesitate. She pulled the trigger.

The bullet of absolute zero energy shot across the courtyard moving at supersonic speed.

Glen did not activate Lightning Movement. He tracked the projectile with his enhanced Level 15 senses. He gripped the hilt of the black longsword with both hands and swung it in a short precise arc intercepting the bullet mid air.

The impact rang out like a bell.

The ice bullet shattered against the flat side of the black blade exploding into a cloud of harmless frost. Glen felt a slight vibration travel down his arms but the heavy A Rank metal absorbed ninety nine percent of the kinetic force. The sword did not even have a scratch on it.

"Not bad" Glen smiled lowering the blade. "The density is perfect."

"My turn" Caleb said suddenly appearing from behind the fountain. He looked entirely too awake for someone who had just claimed to be napping.

Before Glen could protest Caleb tapped his staff against the ground.

"Gravity x10."

The air around Glen instantly warped. A crushing invisible weight slammed down on his shoulders. The heavy black longsword which already weighed over a hundred pounds suddenly felt like it weighed a ton. Glen’s knees buckled and the tip of the sword crashed into the stone floor cracking the marble.

"Sterling" Glen grunted his muscles straining as he fought to stay upright.

"Just testing your physical limits" Caleb laughed leaning on his staff. "You rely a lot on speed Glen. But speed does not matter if you cannot lift your own feet. You need to learn how to fight under pressure."

Glen gritted his teeth. He activated Obsidian Skin. The dark translucent armor washed over his body reinforcing his bones and muscles. The crushing weight of the gravity field became manageable. He slowly lifted the black sword off the ground his dark eyes locking onto the Gravity Mage.

"You want to test my limits?" Glen asked a dark smirk spreading across his face.

He deactivated Obsidian Skin and focused on the dark fragment resting deep inside his core. He channeled a microscopic spark of the demonic anti mana into his left hand.

He activated Void Touch.

Glen did not swing his sword. He simply reached out and tapped the invisible gravity field pressing down on him.

The air hissed.

A ripple of dead gray energy spread outward from his fingertips. The demonic anti mana did not just rot physical objects. It consumed the natural laws of the world. The magical gravity field shattered instantly dissolving into nothingness.

Caleb stumbled backward his eyes wide with shock as his spell was completely erased. "What was that?"

Isla lowered her pistols her green eyes narrowing. She walked over looking at the faint gray residue fading from the air.

"That is not a Mimic skill" Isla said her voice serious. "And that is not a stolen monster skill. That is the same black energy you used in the arena against that mutated kid. What did you do Mcdonald?"

Glen looked at his hand. The power was intoxicating but he could feel the faint whisper of the demon in the back of his mind hungry for more.

"I accidentally devoured a piece of it" Glen confessed looking at his two partners. "When the kid fired that beam of erasure I grabbed his core and my class devoured the infection. It gave me a new passive trait. I can rot armor weapons and apparently magic fields with a single touch."

Caleb stared at him completely speechless.

Isla crossed her arms processing the information. "You telling me you absorbed that dark energy without knowing what it is, and you survived?"

"Pretty much" Glen nodded.

Isla let out a long slow breath. A faint smile touched her lips. "Good. Because if we are going to take down the major guilds and figure out what the Eden organization is doing we are going to need every unfair advantage we can get."

Glen smiled sheathing his heavy black sword. The Sinclair estate was quiet the afternoon sun casting long shadows across the cleared courtyard. They had a base. They had their licenses. And he had a terrifying new power.

The only thing left was to slowly work his way up, to the top ranks.