Chapter 29

Adamantium Fortress: Cafeteria

“That was a long lecture, wasn’t it?” William asked

“Yeah. But very interesting. No wonder Mana users can almost do anything. Their magic system is very expansive,” Deon said

“Yeah, but also very complicated. You reckon we will be able to learn everything in the arcane magic?” William asked as he ate his food

“Maybe. But the instructor said that we would focus on enhancement magic than the other type of magic,” Deon said. “But I also want to learn everything about arcane magic or at least have a basic mastery over them.”

“Yeah. Me too. But there are at least ten lesser branches of magic. I don’t think one year is enough for us to learn every single one,” William replied

“Oh, I don’t mean I want to learn everything now. I meant more in the future. This year, I want to focus on the enhancement magic more than anything else since it is the magic that high knights excel at.” Deon replied

Deon and William continued their conversation as they ate their food, discussing the morning lecture as they admired the overall magic system.

As deon and William talked, Edmund and his goons walked passed them while giving the two provocative glances, making William fall silent as he ate his lunch in nervousness.

Deon noticed William and spoke: “Just ignore them. They are just looking for trouble.”

“What did you just say?” Harris said as he stopped when he heard deon, but deon didn’t even bother looking at Harris and continued eating his food

Harris frowned when he saw Deon blatantly ignoring him and spoke mockingly: “Hmph, that’s what I thought. You better keep your opinion to yourself, or ill beat your ass.”

“Do you think we will learn about curse magic? Cause I found someone that would be perfect for target practice.” Deon asked William as though he didn’t hear Harris beside him, making Harris’s face contort as he tried to hold his anger.

“Let’s go, Don’t bother with trash,” Edmund said as he walked away

“Haha. You’re right,” Harris laughingly replied while looking at deon with a provocative smile. “Rude brats are everywhere these days,” while shaking his head as he follows Edmund

“Bark. Bark. Woof. Woof. Bark. Woof,” Deon said, mimicking the sound of a dog but kept his eyes toward William and asked: “What do you think is a more accurate sound? A Bark or A Woof?”

Harris’s face contorted once more when he heard deon, but in the end, he didn’t say anything as he followed Edmund as though he didn’t hear deon.

“HahaHaha. I guess you are right. Both work for a dog,” Deon said as he burst out laughing out of nowhere as though William told him a joke even though he didn’t speak a word, making Harris clench his fist with deon’s laugh boiling his rage.

‘Just you wait. You piece of shit,’ Harris thought as he walked away. Although he wanted to punch deon immediately, he also didn’t want to get into trouble, especially since imperial knights have strict rules about fighting one another.

Deon mockingly smiled as he saw Harris clench his fist. ‘Hmph, don’t think I’m easy to bully.’ Deon thought

At first, deon wants to have a good relationship with Edmund and his goons since they have the same hometown, but it’s clear now that they only want a junior who would suck up to them and not argue with them.

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to keep provoking our seniors?” William nervously asked

“They are the ones that started it, they could easily choose anywhere to walk, but they choose to walk past us while giving us some provocative glances,” Deon replied. “You should really stop giving respect to people that are clearly not very respectful to you.”

“I just don’t want to fight with our seniors,” William said

“I don’t want to fight anyone, but if they keep asking for it, then why not?” Deon said, “Even if I lose, I will still make sure to put some damage to them.”

“I guess, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea. What if we get into trouble with the imperial knights” William said

“I never said it was a good idea. I just don’t tolerate disrespectful brats, especially like them, who think because they are older than us gives them the right to do whatever they want with us,” Deon replied. “Bah… they are souring our food. Let’s talk about something else. Do you think we will learn any curse magic since it’s part of the enhancement magic branch?”

“Hm… I—”

William and Deon continued talking as they ate their lunch, disregarding the small interaction they had just had with Edmund and his goons.

…

Adamantium Fortress: Training Ground

After Deon and William finished their lunch, they headed to the training ground for their afternoon lesson.

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“All right, for this lesson, I won’t do any more physical exercise, and instead, we will be practicing our mana control which is the most important lesson if you actually want to do any magic. But first, let me explain Mana control.

There are two types of mana control: Inner Mana Control and Outer Mana Control. Inner Mana Control is about controlling the Mana inside our body which is also the easiest way to control our Mana, and the easiest way to train our Inner mana control is to meditate and try to move our Mana inside our body by circulating within our body.

As for the Outer Mana Control, it is much more complicated and harder as it is about controlling our Mana outside of our body. Once our Mana leaves our body, controlling it is 100 times harder than inner mana control.

There are many theories as to why that is, but the most concrete answer is that it leaves the influence of our body, making the bond between our Mana and our life flame weaker, which makes our control weaker.

Of course, that’s not all because if that's the only reason, it wouldn’t be 100 times harder. The other theory is the laws of our world also influence our Mana, making it harder for us to control it, but that theory hasn’t much concrete evidence than the first one, and of course, there are many more reasons, but the majority of them are theories, and we don’t need to learn about them.

For this month, we will only be doing Inner Mana control, mainly because in basic enhancement magic, we do not need to learn about outer mana control as we can easily do enhancement magic with Inner mana control, but of course, we will also learn about the outer Mana control but for now, let us focus with Inner Mana control before anything else, Does everyone understand?” Instructor Edder asked

“Yes, Sir,” The new high knights answered loudly.

“Good, Then let’s not waste any more time and start right away,” Instructor Edder said. “Everyone, Sit down in a meditative position.” All the high knights followed Instructor Edder’s instructions and sat down on the ground

“Now, Close your eyes and feel the mana coursing through your body,” Instructor Edder said as all the high knights closed their eyes to feel their Mana. “After you feel some of your mana, imagine them gathering near your stomach.”

Deon, who also closed his eyes, immediately felt his Mana, mostly because he had been trying to move his Mana when traveling to the Adamantium fortress. Although he wasn’t successful in controlling his Mana, he could at least sense them inside him.

Once deon felt his Mana, he commanded it to move, but to no avail, but he didn’t give up and continued to command his Mana.

After a few seconds of trying to command his Mana, it still didn’t move from its original position, making deon quite frustrated: ‘What do I do?’ deon thought, and after thinking about it, he raised his hand to ask Instructor Edder a question.

“What is it, Deon?” Instructor Edder asked

“Sir, How do I move my Mana? It seems to not respond to any of my commands,” Deon asked.

“Well… it might be because you are too forceful with it. Instead of commanding, imagine it flowing to your stomach, like water flowing through your body.” Instructor Edder said, “Or imagine yourself as the mana and make yourself flow through your body, our mana is part of us, and if you treat it as a foreign entity by forcefully commanding it, then it won’t respond to you.”

“I see. Thank you, instructor,” Deon said as he closed his eyes again, wanting to try instructor Edder’s advice immediately.

Deon imagined himself being the Mana inside of him as he imagined himself slithering his ‘Mana Body’ to move his Mana, and to deon’s surprise, his Mana actually moved.

‘It worked. It's easier than I thought,’ Deon thought, but with that thought, his Mana once more became stationary. ‘Oops, it’s not the time to celebrate yet. I can celebrate once I move my Mana toward my stomach. I wonder why in the stomach in the first place. Shouldn't it be in my chest or maybe my hand so that I can feel it in my hands?’ before his thoughts could take over, deon shook his head. ‘This isn’t the time to question everything. Let’s focus.’

Deon focused his mind and imagined himself being the Mana again and ‘slithering’ his way toward his stomach, and although his ‘Slithering’ was slow, it was still progressing, making deon quite happy.

‘If only I knew this method before, I would’ve mastered this long ago,’ deon happily thought. ‘What’s wrong with me? Focus up’

Instructor Edder quietly observed all the high knights before him, trying to figure out who was making progress and who was not by the facial expression of the students.

‘Looks like deon got it,’ Instructor Edder thought as he saw deon’s relaxed expression. ‘Deon has over 80% control over his life flame, so it’s no surprise that he could feel his Mana quite fast. But it should take him quite slow to move his mana’ Instructor Edder nodded and started to observe the other high knights.

‘Is Julia having trouble?’ Instructor Edder thought as he looked at the frown on Julia’s face. ‘Let’s give her a few minutes to solve it on her own. If not, I’ll give her some advice.’

After a few minutes of ‘slithering’ his Mana toward his stomach, it finally arrived, making deon quite happy but also baffled about what to do next, so he raised his hand again.

During the past minutes, other high knights also raised their hands when they needed help, so deon didn’t hesitate to raise his hand to ask for help.

“What is it, deon?” Instructor Edder asked

“What’s the next step after I led my mana toward my stomach?” Deon asked

“Hm?... you’ve already led your mana toward your stomach?” Instructor Edder asked in surprise before returning to his usual indifferent attitude

“Yes, Sir,” Deon replied

“Hm… Once your Mana is in your stomach, imagine the Mana rotating counter-clockwise, and once it has momentum, it will gather all your Mana into your stomach, creating a small whirlpool that can be easily controlled and used for enhancement magic.” Instructor Edder said, making his voice quite loud so that the other high knights could also hear it, even if they were in a meditative state.

But deep inside, he felt quite amazed by deon’s fast progress, he had been an instructor for new high knights for over two decades, and even he had never seen such fast progress. Usually, it would take days or a week before a new high knight could connect to their Mana and be able to move it toward their stomach.

‘Is this because he has 80%+ control over his life flame?’ Instructor Edder thought, ‘It could be, most of the high knights only have 20% or less, and deon has four times of that… interesting, I never knew having more control over one life flame could also increase their basic Mana control training… but then again, usually once a high knight reaches 80% life flame control, that high knight has long learned how to do Inner mana control, and won't need any more internal mana control training.

However, this is only my theory. Who knows, maybe Deon has a large affinity toward his Mana. That’s why he was able to attain 80% life flame control in the first place and why he was able to move his Mana easily.’

Although Instructor Edder is in deep thought, he appears calm on the surface, not leaking any of his astonishment. Instructor Edder believed that praising new high knights would only increase their arrogance and not their efficiency. That’s why he never complimented his students before, no matter how talented they were.

“Thank you, Instructor,” Deon said, not finding any flaw in his instructor’s facial expression, and continued his training.

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Thought for Thoughts

* Mana Control Training: Inner Mana Control and Outer Mana Control

* Inner Mana Control: Manipulating Mana inside one’s body

* Outer Mana Control: Manipulating Mana outside one’s body