'One month,' Nami emphasized. 'One month is your deadline.'
Max blinked a few times. 'I'm sorry, what?'
He was currently laying in his bed, arms and legs sprawled out, with the ones on the right hanging lazily off the edge of the bed.
After an hour of 'light' workout, Max had dragged himself into his room and started practicing a muscle hypertrophy acceleration technique, spreading his mana all around his body before condensing it while keeping it from flowing out.
He was truly spent after that.
And just as he felt his soreness fading, his eyes noticed a movement from under the door. He frowned before witnessing the strangest sight he had seen yet. Nami was literally squeezing her body through the super thin gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. Her body was seen contracting and folding in an off-putting manner, causing Max to involuntarily show a disgusted expression.
It turned out that fairy could change their body shapes and sizes, since they were partly made of mana.
Max didn't even want to know how she did that, as he asked what the fairy had talked about with Leo.
Nami's reply was 'one month', whatever that meant.
'Deadline for what?' Max asked.
'For your cultivation progress, obviously,' answered Nami. 'You have to not only finish your first ring by then, but also stabilize your Regulator enough to start forming your first layer. In addition to that, you must polish your skills and battle sense by having regular spars. Leo had informed Brody to send you a strong first layer mage to be your training partner.'
'Wait, hold up.' Max grimaced while pulling his body up into a sitting position. 'I think I asked you the wrong question. What's after the deadline?'
'Your next assignment.'
It didn't take long for Max to understand what was being implied, as an ominous foreboding suddenly assaulted his mind. 'It's another heist, isn't it?'
'Duh.'
Dangit! He should've known that whenever Leo had 'something important' to talk about with him or Nami, it must be because the woman was in need of his expertise.
'This time, though,' Nami continued, 'it's not going to be as subtle as last time. You're gonna have to fight a few people. And that is why you need to make significant improvements till then.'
What, they called the last heist subtle? Seriously? He may not have robbed a bank prior to that day, but he was pretty sure it was not what he would describe as being subtle.
Max sighed. This assignment sounded like a lot of work. If possible, he just wanted to cultivate in peace. 'Then why am I not getting my weekly supply of mana stones? I may not really need it, but Leo doesn't know that.'
'She said you'd receive it tomorrow after your scheduled spar. No, to be more precise, she has instructed Brody to only let you rest and give you the stones after he deems that you've given it your best. She doesn't want you getting things for free.' Nami landed on his left shoulder before sitting down, her feet dangling and swaying back and forth. 'I like her mindset.'
'The spar's tomorrow?'
'Yup. Just after the training session. Which means you'll be attending the joint class.'
Ugh, social interactions. He disliked being in the middle of that many people, who would most likely be trying to gauge his level while he sparred.
Although, he had to admit there was a part of him that was curious as to how strong those 1st Layers were. Supposedly, they had a bigger mana pool than him, and a more skilled way of performing a number of techniques.
But he had his anomalous ability to control sound and light energy, as well as a variety of skills a newly Awakened wasn't supposed to have learned. But that was about it. Those were his only advantages. He had no fighting experience, nor was he fit enough to run around without running out of breath.
Well, maybe going to the gym today turned out to be an okay idea.
He also had to pay attention to his Regulator, in case it went into disarray. Honestly, he was quite sure it wouldn't be a fair fight. But perhaps Leo had already surmised he tended to be a little lazy, so she had decided to start pushing him this early.
Considering all that, he figured another training session tonight would be a good idea. Despite not feeling optimistic about the spar result, he wanted to at least perform decently.
He decided to spend the next few hours cultivating using ambient mana. At this point, he could see that he was almost halfway through forming the first ring. Two weeks were how long he estimated for it to be completed, and an extra few days to stabilize it before he started on the initial step toward the 1st Layer Formation stage.
'By the way, what exactly did you two talk about? And what is the heist gonna be about?' Max asked while sitting down on his bed in lotus position, ready to gather mana in the atmosphere.
'It's a secret!' Nami answered, a teasing grin forming on her face. 'Just know that your contribution will have a huge impact in improving the state of this organization.'
'You're starting to sound like her.' He was referring to Leo.
Nami's face grew a tinge of red, causing Max to raise an eyebrow.
Were his eyes fooling him? Whatever, he couldn't care less.
Later that night, he went back into the training room in the southeastern section to practice Levitation as well as his Invisibility Barrier. As much as having his lightwave vision on felt uncomfortable, he knew this was a skill he needed to use to prevent the fight from becoming too one-sided.
And just like that, tomorrow arrived. Max, Mutya, and Dean were back in the training room on schedule, learning about a skill that utilized energy they didn't have a Talent in. Although, to be more precise, it was only Mutya and Dean who were learning a new skill. Brody just told Max to focus on improving the skills he already had.
Three hours later, the joint class officially began. And with that, came a flood of teenage mages who immediately bunched into the room in excitement. Max would be an idiot not to guess the cause of it.
They wanted to watch a noob getting beat up.
Well, fucking bring it on.
As the rest of the class formed a half circle around the room, one guy stepped forward. If Max hadn't known any better, he would've guessed that the guy was a bully about to show off his superiority. Well, maybe that was half-right. If Max was a normal mage, this situation would probably result in a one-sided beating, which could be considered bullying.
Although the fact that the leader of the organization herself had arranged this occasion made the line a little blurry. It was technically bullying, but more…official?
The door opened again to reveal the class instructor. Max had already been informed about the woman. Kylie Rush, a wind mage‒there were only less than eight of them in the Central District HQ, apparently, which underlined the rarity of matter mages.
"Alright, settle down, everybody!" the dark-skinned woman shouted to the class, silencing the excited murmurs. Her curly short hair bobbed and swayed as she sternly stepped toward the center of the room. She was donning a pastel green long-sleeve and black pants, with a black bracelet circled around her left wrist. In Max's eyes, her high heels caused ripples of sound strings on the floor. When she stopped, her hazel eyes scanned each head of her students, steadily meeting their eyes. They gave Max's to-be opponent a lingering gaze before finally landing on Max's dull brown eyes.
"I see all of you have taken your positions. That tells me you already know what's about to take place in class today. I imagine Brody's the one responsible for the leak," Kylie said. She noticed Max's questioning look before addressing him, "You probably should ask someone to invite you to the Central District's First Levels group chat. One of your seniors here can help you with that. It's always good to be up to date."
First Levels. That's what they called those still in their first ring and layer stages, apparently.
After seeing a nod from Max, Kylie turned back to the rest of the class. "As you all know, the class today will start with a bit of a spar. I have been informed about the new student, so I have a rough idea on what to expect." Her eyes then shifted toward the boy standing across from Max. "And it appears that is also the case with you First Levels. You seem to have selected the right person to challenge the newbie."
This so-called 'right person' was a boy who looked to be slightly younger than Max, probably about fifteen or sixteen years old. Not a late-bloomer, then. He stood a few inches shorter than Max, having brown hair in a buzzcut, with a body typical of an average teenage boy‒not too fat, not too slim, with muscles that didn't seem to be exercised very often. He was wearing a black shirt underneath an unzipped navy blue hoodie, along with a pair of dark cargo shorts and sneakers. His smile was friendly, but not in any way gentle. The boy was perfectly ready for the upcoming fight.
"Hi there! Name's Garrett, nice to meet ya!" the boy finally greeted Max. "You probably haven't heard of me," he glanced around the room, "or any of us, really. But that's okay, 'cause we will get to know each other eventually. Starting with me, of course. Oh and, they call me the best lightning mage among the First Levels." With the smile turning into a grin, he raised one hand, generating blue electricity that ran up and down his pale fingers.
Max might be seeing things, but it looked like there were also sparks flashing across his eyes, which were the same color as the electricity.
[I'm Max. It's nice to meet you too, Garrett.] Max thought it was only polite to introduce himself, although he assumed everyone already knew his name, thanks to the group chat.
Kylie seemed satisfied with the friendly introduction between the two spar participants, so she nodded and took a step back. After instructing the rest of the students to stand at a safe distance, she announced, "The rules are simple. Use everything you've got, but lethal attacks are punishable according to their severity. You'd get either restriction on mana stones, probation, or complete banishment from the organization. The fight ends when one of you surrenders or is knocked out. Is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" shouted Garrett.
Max glanced at the transcription of Kylie's speech and nodded.
"Good," Kylie said. She then fished a laser pointer out of her pocket, turned it on, and directed the tiny red dot onto the floor right in between where Max and Garrett were standing. "The fight starts when the red dot disappears."
Max realized that Kylie, and perhaps all these students as well, were being considerate towards his disability, since a spar would normally begin with an audio cue. Like a '3,2,1' for example. He thought it was nice of them, as his eyes were fixed onto the red dot on the floor. In his peripheral vision, he could see Garrett taking a stance.
A second later, the red dot vanished, signaling the start of the fight.