After that, a week passed. During this week, Lucian spent all his time training. After seven days of constant practice and patience, he finally felt like he'd made real progress. He could actually feel mana flowing through his veins, even sensing it moving in his body while he was sleeping.
As before, Lucian arrived at the training ground behind the smithy. He walked in front of the training dummy and stood with his eyes closed, looking as if he were frozen in time not even breathing. Then, slowly, he opened his eyes, and as he did, a wave of mana began to expand from his body. Lucian cocked his arm, ready to throw a punch.
Running toward the dummy, Lucian threw the punch with everything he had. Suddenly, the wave of mana transferred into his punch and then into the dummy. With a massive explosion, the dummy shattered into hundreds of pieces. The blast wasn't especially loud, but a burst of light was seen by passersby in front of the smithy, and for those who saw it "confused" would be an understatement.
After the explosion, Lucian just stood there, staring at his fist. After a few seconds, he suddenly shouted, "YEAH, FUCK YEAH!" He seemed both ecstatic and impressed by his own power.
"I can't believe this is my first time doing this and no pain in my heart this time. Actually, I feel lighter, almost like some invisible force is lifting me." Lucian wondered what else he could do with such power and then suddenly had an idea.
'After doing this, I understand one thing for sure channeling doesn't just enhance magic power, it can do so much more. It not only helps with mana flow but also enhances the user physically. The effect is on par with my body-strengthening technique, which means I can stack it on top of channeling. It'll drain more mana, but with channeling, it'll be much less than before. Maybe I should try that.' Lucian thought curiously.
Activating his body-strengthening technique, another massive wave of mana began expanding from his body, even larger than before. Lucian picked a nearby tree as his target. In the blink of an eye, he appeared before the tree, and with a single kick, brought it down.
Lucian was shocked by his own power and speed but could feel his mana draining much faster than before, so he quickly deactivated his body-strengthening technique.
'If I can improve my body-strengthening technique even more, I can make it use less mana for greater effect. Now that I have channeling as the foundation of my magic, I think I can lower mana consumption for all my techniques and spells,' Lucian thought with a motivated expression, clearly excited to progress even further with channeling.
"Should I spend the rest of the day training, or should I do something else?" Lucian pondered for a moment. "Yeah, the library," he suddenly remembered.
Lucian had completely forgotten about the main reason he wanted to visit the city in the first place. "I guess I've just been that busy. I did get all those books from Big Sister Amara, and they've helped me a lot. I don't know if the city library will have anything on the same level as what I got from her, but I should at least take a look around. I should ask Dad first, but he won't be back until noon. I guess I can just train my channeling until then."
After training for a while, Lucian felt hungry and went back to the smithy. No one seemed to have heard the explosion or the tree falling because of the constant noise from machines and hammers. As he went to get his food, which his mom had packed, someone called him from behind.
Lucian looked back and saw a young guy approaching him with a big smile. He realized it was the same guy who had given him Gideon's letter. The young man stopped in front of Lucian and asked, "Hey, do you remember me?"
"Yeah, you're the one who gave me that letter," Lucian replied blankly.
"I guess that's all you remember me for, which is fair. But I've seen you around here a lot recently, though you always head straight to the training ground, so I never got to introduce myself."
"Well, my name's Lucian. I'm eight, and I mostly come here to train. And you?" Lucian stretched his hand forward for a handshake, introducing himself straightforwardly.
The guy was a little taken aback but then shook Lucian's hand and introduced himself. "I'm Tetsu Froid, fourteen years old. I work here as a blacksmith apprentice."
"So, you want to be a blacksmith in the future, or is this just a hobby of some kind?" Lucian asked with friendly curiosity.
"It's not a hobby, it's my dream to become the greatest blacksmith in the world." Tetsu's expression turned much more serious, showing his dedication.
"The greatest blacksmith in the world, huh? Sounds like a tough goal."
"That's why I chose it. If it were something as simple as making a good sword or a great shield, I could probably do that within the next few years. But with such a high goal, I'm constantly pushing myself beyond my limits," Tetsu explained with confidence, as though he were laying out his entire life before Lucian.
"It's good to have a goal, but pushing yourself too hard can have serious consequences. Take your time," Lucian advised calmly, offering encouragement.
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Oh! I actually came here to give you something." Tetsu's face lit up as he reached into his bag and pulled out a small dagger.
"Is that a dagger? Why are you giving me this?" Lucian asked, puzzled.
"It's because Gideon told me to."
"Gideon did? Did he make this?" Lucian asked, eyeing the beautifully engraved snake design on the dagger.
"No, actually... I made it," Tetsu admitted nervously, clearly uncomfortable sharing this.
"Really?" Lucian grabbed the hilt of the dagger and examined it closely. "It's beautiful. Why are you so nervous?"
"Well, I'm just not sure if it's good enough," Tetsu replied, fidgeting.
"Good enough? This dagger is both beautiful and well-made. The weight distribution and hilt design are great. It's not perfect, but for an apprentice to make this is a huge achievement. You don't need to be nervous at all," Lucian said confidently, aiming to motivate the anxious Tetsu.
"Really? My seniors said the same, but I was still a little nervous. Thanks for your honest opinion," Tetsu responded gratefully.