GUARDIAN OF THE END

"Ugh… That's the seventh child I have killed today." Jason sighed while sitting on the floor and looking at the table.

He was back in Risa's laboratory after ten days of trying to control the corrosive property of the dark element.

All his tests had been run on non-living things and after nine days of trying, he had finally managed to cut a leaf into half by destroying it from the center.

But the difference between using it on a non-living thing and a living being was much greater than Jason could have thought.

[ Host, its not something that you learn in just one day. Even prodigies take time to learn things and you are already doing pretty well. ] The system tried to cheer Jason up, being half-successful in his its attempt.

'I know, I know. Its just that I know the theory but can't apply it. I need to relate this to something easier in terms of learning and learn it as well, similar to the three physical representations of mana.' Jason sighed.

He picked up the mutated fish from the table and dropped it in the dustbin.

Jason stared at the jar of Eelfishes for a few seconds before deciding to leave the place again.

Instead of calling Risa, he took out a small steel dagger from his clothes. He put the dagger against his right thumb and used it to create a small cut.

Jason then deposited the dagger back inside his clothes after sheathing it. His eyes moved onto the black blood dripping out of the cut on his thumb.

He shook his head once to clear his thoughts before bending down on his knees and drawing a 'X' symbol on the floor.

"Teleport." Jason muttered as the 'X' suddenly started glowing. It pulsed three times before exploding with a bright flash of light.

Jason felt his body lifting of the floor before setting down again. His eyesight returned a few seconds later as he found himself standing on top of a similar 'X' symbol in his bedroom.

After constant back forth from the house to the laboratory, Risa had gotten frustrated and had created a two-way teleportation for Jason.

It had only used his blood as a medium and had opened up a teleportation method between his bedroom and the laboratory.

'What is it that I am doing wrong? What is the thing that is stopping me from succeeding?' Jason asked himself a few times before sitting on the bed and closing his eyes.

He rested his head on the palms of his hands while trying to think of the place where he was lacking.

Jason took a deep breath as he analyzed everything he had done till that moment yet he had no idea where he had went wrong.

'Hmm, could it be the way I am looking at the dark element? I have been thinking of corrosiveness as a destroying property but if I think of it as a healing element, would it change anything?' He wondered.

Jason suddenly stood and slapped his cheeks. The sound resounded through the entire room as Jason went to the bathroom and washed his face.

He then stood on the 'X' symbol in his bedroom and said 'teleport' again. The same thing happened again as Jason appeared in the laboratory.

'Its a difference of how I see things.' He thought while remembering how humans on Earth always said that if you changed your mindset according to the situation, you could do anything.

Jason had always thought of it to be foolish and he still believed that it was foolish, but his view was now restricted to those on Earth.

[ Host, you could be wrong you know. There might be a chance that your theory is wrong and that you are going to be disappointed. ] The system warned as a smile appeared on Jason's face.

'I have been failing till now so even the slightest hope can uplift me but if I fail, its not like I can fall any lower.' He reminded before taking another Eelfish out of the jar, leaving only three of them behind.

? He inhaled sharply while seeing the fish jerking right and left.

Jason eyes stayed glued to its movements before he placed the index finger of his right hand on the fish's body and closed his eyes.

'If the dark element can destroy things, it can also heal them.' He thought over and over again before summoning the dark element on the tip of his finger and pushing it inside the Eelfish.

Jason's control over the element had gotten much better as compared to the past few days and he was swiftly able to guide the dark element towards the destruction causing cells which had increased over the days.

'You can heal it!' Jason thought as he forcefully pushed the mana inside one of the cells and activated the corrosiveness.

Since he still couldn't control the amount of corrosiveness which led to the cells being destroyed in rapid succession. Jason felt a searing pain shot up his right arm as he pulled his hand back with a jerk.

The Eelfish suddenly went mad as it jumped in the air twice before writhing on the floor.

However, Jason's attention was soon shifted away from the fish as he looked down at his own arm. Multiple cuts had appeared all around his arm and blood was dripping from all of them.

Jason knew that all of them had just appeared as he clenched his teeth and managed to hold the pain.

'Its not even that much blood loss and I am already feeling dizzy…' Jason thought as he felt slightly dizzy and stumbled a bit.

Jason somehow managed to lay down on the 'X' and activate it. He appeared directly in his room. He slowly dragged himself out of the room and down the stairs, leaving behind a trail of black blood.

But the moment he stepped on the last stair, Jason felt his head roam once before he was able to get himself together.

'I don't feel dizzy anymore.' He observed while looking down at his arm. The cuts were shockingly starting to close up as Jason silently sat down on the last stair.

'System, run a complete check of my arm.'

< Running complete check of arm… >

< Check completed. >

[ Host, it seems that when you were trying to eliminate the destruction causing cells in the fish, you let your dark element run a bit to wild. It also spread throughout your arm and even managed to reach your head… ]

Jason was silent at the system's explanation as his eyes looked down at the healing wounds. They were soon about to close up and the blood that had poured out had dried on the skin.

The question was obvious.

'How is it possible that something that can cause major destruction to a body only managed to put small cuts on my arm and those too are healing on their own?'

[ Host, I don't know how that is happening. I will need to watch what happened a few more times before I can say anything with confidence. ]

'How much time will it take?'

[ Around a week or so. Till then, please don't practice healing those fishes lest you destroy your entire arm. ]

'Then what am I supposed to till then?'

[ I don't know. ]