Making their way home, his friends situated themselves comfortably on their beds before questioning Lev about his day. “Why did you come back so early though? Aren’t apprentices supposed to be worked to the bone?” Jack asked as soon as they sat down.
“It's different for mages, apparently,” Lev leaned back. “if they use too much mana without the attributes to back it up, they get a severe headache. It’s also pretty dangerous to ignore that early warning since overuse of mana can cause mind damage. I read a short book about beginner barrier theory first before Sir Alec took me to the equipment used to obtain Mana Manipulation. You won’t believe how amazing those things were…”
Lev described the Awakening Ducts to his friends, who all listened with rapt attention. An excited Lev was a rare occasion, and so was any knowledge about mana usage. He then told them how he got the skill in just one hour, the actual time slightly reduced to brag, before explaining how he was allowed to go home because he was already showing signs of overuse.
“Can we try doing it as well? If we can get the skill earlier, we can train it up even more before starting our apprenticeship,” Amelia asked excitedly, Kayla nodding at her words.
“I don't know if you can even get it without the ducts, but you’re free to try. Just make sure to stop as soon as a headache starts forming,” Lev warned them with a stern look.
“What about me?” Jack piped up, a thoughtful look on his face.
“I don't see the downside of having the skill. At most, you will be offered body enhancement classes along with the pure durability classes you’re aiming for. Who knows, maybe durability enhancement classes are even better,” Lev said.
“I’ll learn more about this during my apprenticeship, but you’re right. There shouldn't be an issue with having the general skill. I won't be focusing too hard on it, but I’ll work on obtaining the skill before going to sleep.”
“By the way, Kayla. I asked Big Sis if you could start your apprenticeship early. She said that she will likely accept if you continue to keep up with the training like you usually do.”
“Really? Does that mean I’ll be able to start at the same time as Jack and Amelia?” Her eyes brightened up, leaning forward in eagerness.
“Probably, but you’re gonna have to prove yourself first. Knowing you though, don't push yourself too much. She's already happy about your performance. Better not give her a reason to give a lesson in moderation and keep you here.” Lev quipped with a smirk.
****
The next day, Lev stopped in front of Sir Alec’s room and knocked twice. The door opened after a few seconds, revealing a casually dressed artificer who gestured for him to come in. Taking their seat on the couches, Lev looked at his mentor.
“What are we going to be working on today?“
“Not we, just you. Today's activity will be the same as yesterday's, training your intelligence and wisdom attributes. Considering how you are doing so far, I decided on a more hands-off approach and let you figure it out for yourself. The improvements will be better like this, letting us move on to other things faster. Any questions you had in mind before starting?”
Lev had none, so Sir Alec followed him to the ducts before going about his day. He started with the same exercise as the last, aiming to make the bubble bigger and move it further away from his hand. Slowly, the mana started to convene just above his palm before he tried moving it slightly to the right.
****
[
Intelligence increased by 1
]
The notification brought him out of his training, making him look out the window. Lev had started three hours ago. By now, a strong headache was assaulting his head. Rubbing his forehead with a grimace, he stood up and headed home. Barely noticing the absence of his friends, Lev curled up in his bed and buried his head under the pillow.
Shouldn’t have pushed so hard. The slow progress is making me impatient.
He had started his training two weeks ago, and so far, it had only netted him 6 points in intelligence and 8 points in wisdom. It would’ve been an insanely fast pace of progress for anyone else. For someone who only had six weeks left in his apprenticeship, it wasn’t even close to enough. Studying under Sir Alec was no doubt an excellent opportunity, only marred by the fact that it was also extremely short. Senior Artificer Alec was not only one of the best Protection Artifact creators but also well-known for his adventuring accessories, such as his portable lodgings and storage artifacts.
Thinking about his plans for the future and the times when he lived without this abominable headache, Lev drifted off to sleep.
****
Lev slowly awoke to someone softly calling his name. Rubbing his eyes, he noticed Oriana sitting on his bed, looking at him with a sweet smile.
“Come on, you don't want to miss this,” She helped him get up and beckoned for him to follow her when he was done washing his face.
Lev was still slowly coming to his senses when they exited the orphanage, only to notice it was raining. Well, it looked like it was raining, except it was too white. The normal smells of the city had taken a backseat. The air was fresher than usual, cool and crisp. There were no telltale sounds of droplets falling from the sky.
Eventually, it dawned on him.
It's snowing!
All the remaining grogginess instantly evaporated and gave way to childish excitement. A blanket of snow covered each surface. Making their way towards The Park, Lev found himself standing in a field of white. Everywhere he looked, only snow greeted his eyes. Noticing his friends and fellow teenagers near the jogging track, Lev made a snowball before hurling it towards Jack’s wide back with all his might.
The snowball connected with enough force to make him stumble forward, prompting an angry look seeking his unknown assailant, only for the anger to dissipate upon spotting Lev’s wide smile.
“YOU’RE ON!” Jack roared back his challenge, starting a snowball fight of epic proportions.
For a few minutes, the park was alive with the sound of laughter and the thuds of snowballs hitting their targets. Out of the corner of his eye, Lev noticed Oriana wiping away tears with a smile on her face. Walking up to her, he gently brushed the still-flowing tears from her cheeks and embraced her in a warm hug. They stood there for a minute, enjoying the embrace before breaking off. For some reason, Jack decided that inviting someone far stronger than them to a snowball fight was going to be a good idea. Lev and his friends teamed up against Oriana and collectively got their backs handed to them.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
****
Two weeks later, Lev had achieved his goal of 10 points in both Intelligence and Wisdom. Proceeding to Sir Alec’s room, he brought up his status.
[
Name: Lev
Class: None
Titles: None
Attributes:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 12
Perception: 9
General Skills:
Mana Manipulation - Level 6
]
Lev had pushed himself to the limit, returning home every day with a headache just to have more time to focus on learning about barriers before his apprenticeship ended. According to Oriana, he had made more progress than she had ever seen someone do, which was only natural as probably no one else she had seen was as pressured for time.
Knocking twice, he found himself face to face with Sir Alec. Taking their seats on the two couches, Lev told him how he had achieved his goal and waited for his mentor to take the lead. Sir Alec took his time, contemplating the next course of action for a few minutes. Lev missed the few times his mentor briefly glanced toward him.
“What type of barriers are you aiming for?” he asked abruptly, breaking Lev’s own train of thought.
“Arcane Barriers,” Lev replied with finality. All of his plans depended on the barriers being resilient and sharp.
“With the effort you’re putting in, I wouldn't have expected anything less. Let's go over the theory again before I demonstrate one for you.”
They reviewed what Lev knew about Arcane Barriers, Sir Alec adding little tidbits here and there. Before long, they had outlined everything he needed to know, prompting Sir Alec to continue.
“The last thing you have to remember is that barriers get weaker the more ambient mana you add to them, which is especially true for Arcane Barriers. They suffer the harshest penalty. Now watch. I will slowly form one.”
Lev watched in a trance as a transparent and colorless square shape materialized in front of him. Gradually, the edges started solidifying towards the center of the square. In less than ten seconds, a fully formed barrier almost the size of his head rested in front of his face.
“Normally, being colorless and glassy is not guaranteed to be pure mana, but it's instinctually recognizable for the caster. If any elemental mana had been used in its formation, the mana’s color would have been apparent. The main thing you should note is that there was no gesture or chant involved in this. All of it formed under the guidance of my intent. That is important. Everything about the barrier depends on how your intent forms it. If the shape, density, and width are not concrete, the barrier may not take form or even explode in particularly bad cases. They will also explode if overloaded with mana without sufficient stability, which can come in handy whenever you need improvised fireballs.” He finished with a wink.
“So, how do I go about this?” Lev asked, excited to finally get started. He had trained so hard for this moment.
“The same way you trained for the past weeks. Start small and near yourself as you think about solidifying it into a certain shape. The more you practice, the more instinctual it should become.”
After that final advice, Alec left Lev to his own devices. He trusted Lev enough to not hurt himself.
Let's see, I should start with something simple and easy to fill, so just a flat circle instead of a bubble.
Tuning out the rest of the world, Lev narrowed his focus toward the top of his palm. As he watched, a small and barely perceptible transparent mana circle, with a diameter of 15 centimeters, slowly materialized in the air. Upon completion, he concentrated on slowly solidifying the outline of the floating shape. Finding it harder than anticipated, he closed his eyes and diverted his full attention toward the solidification process. Gradually, the circle started filling out until it was completely rigid. Opening his eyes, he gazed upon his finished creation.
Lev should've been elated by his first creation, but his excitement was muted. The barrier felt, for lack of a better term, soft. His suspicion was proven correct when he poked the barrier with his finger, only for it to shatter when he applied a little more force. But Lev was nothing if not hardworking, so he put the end result out of his mind and started working on the next barrier—hopefully something tougher than the last one.
****
One and a half weeks later, Lev and Sir Alec were standing in the second equipment room of the building. In front of them was a device that fired projectiles made of mana with an adjustable intensity. Currently, it was set to 10% of its maximum limit, which was just barely enough to shatter all of Lev’s barriers. Focusing, Lev conjured another circular barrier in the predetermined path of the upcoming projectile, making sure that the barrier consisted of only his own mana and that its surface was both uniform and resilient.
The Projectile Dispenser was firing at an intensity that would be lethal for a person with 0 attribute points in constitution, depending on if a vital area was hit. As the next arrow flew towards the barrier, Lev ensured the floating foot-wide circular disc would be hit dead center. With bated breath, he watched as the Projectile flew true… and was stopped in its tracks by the now-cracked barrier.
“Hell yeah!” Lev exclaimed, pumping his right fist into the air. The abrupt movement made him wince, reminding him of the consistent headache that had plagued him throughout the testing.
“Well done,” Sir Alec slowly clapped from his chair. He had been observing Lev’s progress. “Even when I first started, I only made it to 8% before moving on to obtain the class.”
If, out of everyone, Sir Alec is praising me, then it probably means that I grossly overdid it. But who the hell cares, my goal is finally in sight.
The next day, Lev focused on deflecting projectiles away from their course, which was infinitely easier now that the barrier could withstand the initial impact. The training exercise proved to be rather trivial, no doubt because of his ever-increasing perception attribute. Even while Intelligence had stagnated and the physical attributes hadn't risen in a long time, Perception and Wisdom kept on climbing. When Lev started to reliably deflect each projectile, making his barriers even stronger in the meantime, Sir Alec wanted him to work toward qualifying for a class. However, he was stopped at Lev’s request.
For the next two weeks, Lev focused on refining barrier movement and improving his control. When he felt his preparations were adequate, Lev put his right foot on the circular barrier only to be slammed by an immense mental weight. Doggedly persisting, he tried to fully step onto the barrier but was forced to back off by a pounding headache.
Realizing what Lev was aiming for, Sir Alec tried to warn him that he may be biting off more than he could chew. But Lev wouldn't back off. Couldn't. Even if his build would work fine without this, it would be much more effective if he accomplished his goal.
So, for the remaining four days, Lev focused entirely on supporting increasing weights with his barriers. Taking different weights from the equipment room, he started to pile them up on a circular barrier. At first, he started with small weights, observing how it affected his mind and how to best deal with it. Then, he gradually increased the weight before it inevitably became too much to handle, and the barrier fell and shattered. For the first three days, he focused on nothing but supporting the weights and doing so with increasing efficiency.
Testing different ways to hold up the barrier, he found that even the smallest changes made a big difference. It took a while to find a good mix between letting the barrier support the weight of objects and pushing it upwards. Lev also had to make sure that the technique was feasible for making the barriers spin. When the barriers were resilient enough to not shatter upon coming in contact with a hard surface at high speed, he worked on making their edges faster and sheared through many practice logs.
On the fourth day, Lev was ready to be done with this training once and for all.