(Guys, we didn't reach the 800 mark, so no chapter tomorrow, I guess it was a bit too much, so this week's goal is 600 Powerstones,
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'Fuck, I wouldn't be able to dodge that if it were aimed at me directly,' Akeru thought with a grim face.
He dispelled his mana zone as he had clearly lost.
"Don't be discouraged. There's a big gap between a Grand Magic Knight and a Senior Magic Knight. I am really happy that you have solved one of your biggest weaknesses—mana capacity—as it will help you make things smoother in your growth moving forward," Fuegoleon encouraged him.
He had dispelled his lion construct and was walking towards Akeru.
'I really do not feel like it's a big achievement, but it does feel demotivating when you haven't even broken a sweat,' Akeru thought while wearing a wry smile.
Despite Fuegoleon saying that he didn't have the advantage of mana, he hadn't been even 20 per cent down in his total reserves.
This was just sheer technique.
Also, if Fuegoleon had started the battle with that technique, then Akeru would have clearly lost. Who knows what other techniques he had up his sleeve?
"How would you rank my combat prowess?" Akeru asked, curious.
He didn't have much idea about the gap between the Senior and Intermediate levels, but he had an idea that he would definitely be at the peak of the Intermediate level even without the mana method and mana zone.
"I would say around Third-Class Senior Magic Knight," his answer shocked Akeru.
"To be honest, you have a very high chance of taking down a Vice-Captain or First Class if they are captured in your domain, as mana zone is a skill that not even all captains have," Fuegoleon clarified, seeing the boy's confusion.
Akeru's eyes widened.
"Do you mean that they won't be captured in the first place?" Akeru suddenly guessed the reason.
On careful thought, he realized that Fuegoleon had multiple chances to escape in the beginning before he was inside Akeru's mana zone.
It was due to the former approaching the latter, that he was enveloped in mana zone. Fuegoleon's speed is considerably faster than Akeru.
Fuegoleon is a captain who doesn't specialize in speed, so it's highly likely that a vice captain specializing in speed would be able to escape pretty easily.
"You are correct in your assumption. You wouldn't be able to capture them in your zone as your speed is far inferior to theirs. However, their spells won't be able to harm you completely due to your mana zone. Only a captain-level and maybe some individuals with special spells would be able to harm you," Fuegoleon said while correcting himself later.
"I somehow became a mage specializing in defence, huh?" Akeru chuckled.
They were still inside the barrier.
"I would recommend you not to use the Mana Method in public or find a way to use it discreetly," Akeru nodded at his warning.
He could think of how much things would become troublesome if it were exposed.
"How can I increase my speed further? I feel like I have hit a plateau with my control. I can't infuse mana after a certain point as it becomes very hard."
Akeru had seen this coming last year, after gaining practically huge amounts of mana. He had increased his mana enhancements by some degree before he reached this plateau.
"Yes, it's natural for you to face that. Many people don't even know your level of control in their lifetime, so be proud," Fuegoleon seriously congratulated him on that.
"The next step for you is to create spells specific to increasing your speed, just like the defensive spell you created on your own."
"Is that so? That would take too long, especially with water magic alone," Akeru sighed.
It seemed his progress with power would be slowing down.
"Hahaha, you haven't even gotten a grimoire yet, yet you are worrying like it's the end of the world or something," Fuegoleon said while patting his shoulder.
Akeru's eyes widened.
"Right, that might be the thing that will help me to overcome this barrier," Akeru recalled how one's existing spells get upgraded through their grimoire.
That's the reason people are encouraged to create their own spells as they get upgraded.
"Anyway, we will talk more later, I need to go." With that, Fuegoleon disappeared.
Akeru met with Leopold.
The latter had a burning gaze in his eyes.
"That was awesome. I had heard about mana zone, but to be able to do it—as expected of my rival," Akeru deadpanned at Leopold.
They chatted a bit more while exiting the underground chamber.
"So, what are you going to work on next?" Leopold asked.
"I would start going a bit intermediate level in Runes and Arrays, I guess. Apart from that, I am going to learn Lightning magic."
"Lightning magic? Right, you did mention that you found none of the five basic elements to be yours. It's really surprising that you were able to learn water magic to this degree."
"Yeah, I also wonder what type of innate magic I have?" Akeru was really looking forward to his grimoire ceremony next year.
After chatting with Leopold for a while, Akeru immediately went back to the grind.
He had to increase his speed somehow, and he thought that lightning magic was probably the fastest way in one year before he got a grimoire.
***
Two youths could be seen fighting with each other in hand-to-hand combat.
One youth had an orange glow on their body with occasional embers expelled from his body.
Another youth had a light blue glow on his body while sparks came out of his body.
If one looked closer at their fight, which was happening at a very fast speed, they would notice that the youth who was releasing sparks wasn't getting any hit on him while landing a lot of blows on the other party in each exchange.
Soon, they both stopped.
"Tch, my lightning enhancement is really not what I wanted it to be. I really thought that it would bridge the gap between me and First Class, but it seems that it won't even help me reach Second Class," Akeru really felt disappointed over this.
Over the last year, apart from investing time in learning some intermediate arrays and runes which were basically extensive applications of the basics, he had spent most of his time learning lightning.
However, due to opposing attributes of lightning and water, even though he didn't have an attribute of water, he still felt it difficult to actually learn it.
After gruelling months of work, after learning it and getting some basic spells done, he started working on the thing which was the sole reason he learned Lightning magic.
SPEED.
However, learning lightning enhancement came with a cost.
PAIN.
Lots of pain.
He had on several occasions nearly fried his nerves and caused irreplaceable damage.
He was training with Mimosa during that as he wanted her to get some training done too.
That was the reason he had given to convince her.
The real reason was that after multiple attempts to go to the medics in the estate on the same day, they kicked him out and told him to not come back.
T_T
Mimosa was also fed up with him, but luckily she hadn't abandoned him till his training reaped some benefits.
Which was what we could see today.
'PATHETIC'
Well, he had learned to somewhat enhance his body with lightning, but the boost it provides him is not that large.
'I hope that my grimoire will give me a spell that will increase my speed,' Akeru prayed for that.
His lightning magic was not on par with his water magic, but it was not that far away either.
He had found some more applications of lightning magic and in terms of destructiveness, it really lives up to its fame.
"Are you excited for today?" Leopold asked while walking beside him.
"Who isn't? We are finally getting a grimoire. I am so curious that I can't wait," Akeru said with all the enthusiasm he had shown in his whole life combined.
"Woah, you really are fired up. Well, let's hurry then." With that, both bolted towards the tower.
Akeru showed speed similar to Leopold, the latter using fire bursts to reach his top speed.
Both were seemingly at the peak of Intermediate level.
This was really shocking to the people of Clover Castle as these were the stats before they got the grimoire.
Luckily for them, there were not many political manoeuvres done on them, as, unlike nobles, royals are not that high in numbers.
***
A/n- Did I go too fast? I wanted to skip some of the training arcs and get into some big league stuff and also get close to Cannon, so it might seem like the past few chapters to be like that.
Also, which type of magic do you think Akeru will get?
***
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