Chapter 38

“Now that we wasted more time than necessary, how about we just move on and start our lecture?” Instructor Edder said. “The concept of Enhancement Magic is quite simple, It is about our body absorbing our mana, which will enhance our body naturally because of Mana support, which is one of the innate abilities of our mana, and the more our body absorbs our mana the stronger it becomes

To make our body absorb our mana, all we have to do is imagine our body and mana becoming one or commanding our mana to enter our body. For beginners, the easiest way to make our body absorb our mana is to gather our mana in one area of our body and imagine our body absorbing that gathered mana.

Gathering mana should be quite easy since all of you have been practicing it for the past month, but this time I want you all to gather all your mana into your hand.”

Instructor Edder raised his hand, and in his hand was a rock. “Like last time, imagine your mana spinning inside your hand, and as you spin your mana, imagine your arm absorbing it, and once you feel your mana getting absorbed into your body, let it rip.”

*Crack*

Instructor Edder clenched his fist when he finished his word, destroying the rock in his hand and startling the spectators.

“Quite easy, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Now, I don’t expect you all to crush rock in your first time doing enhancement magic. That is why I am only giving you all a mud ball. Although it’s not as hard as a rock, it is hard enough that even if you have an F+ strength, you would still struggle to break it,” Instructor Edder said as he looked around, seemingly looking for someone. “Since the servants are taking longer than I expected to get the mud balls, let me clarify what you guys will do in your future enhancement magic training.”

“Firstly, All of you will be focusing on re-enacting what I just did to that rock with the mud balls, and once you can easily break the mud balls, that means you are now capable of enhancement magic, and once that happens, you move on to the next part of the enhancement magic which is to integrate your enhancement magic with your Imperial Battle arts. Are there any questions?”

Julia boldly raised her arms and immediately asked her question, without waiting for the Instructor, “What’s next after we finish integrating our mana with our imperial battle arts.”

“Heh. If you can master combining the Imperial Battle Art with your mana in just one year, you will be the ultimate genius. Tell me, How many Mastery levels are in Imperial Battle arts?” Instructor Edder amusedly asked

“There are four levels of Mastery for Imperial Battle Arts: Basic, Intermediate, advanced, and Finally, Master level.” Julia confidently answered

“Looks like someone is properly reading the books I gave. That’s good to see. Normally, it would take four to five years to complete each level of mastery, but for the Master level, it would usually take a decade, if not a couple of decades, to fully complete it.

Mostly because, firstly, we need to make sure our mana flows with our existing movements and patterns and does not hinder us, and secondly, with mana being introduced, there would be new techniques. Techniques that are only possible because we have mana, and with it, our Battle arts will become stronger than before.

I don’t expect you all to complete the master level of the imperial battle arts, but I at least want you all to have a good grasp on master-level fighting forms.

So, from here on out to 5 months from now, I want you all to focus on enhancement magic and Master level Imperial Battle arts because, once the five months end, you will need it, especially since I won’t be able to help you all anymore.” Instructor Edder explained.

‘Ah, right, Instructor Edder will only teach us for the first six months, and after that is another six months of self-study,’ Deon thought. ‘Is five months enough for us to learn everything?’

“Instructor, How come you are only teaching us for six months? Couldn’t you teach us for the whole year?” Julia asked.

“The thing about magic and all the knowledge related to magic is that it cannot be learned in just one year. I might be able to squeeze in all the basic knowledge about magic in 6 months, but as high knights, we need more than just basic knowledge of magic.

And since we have a duty to our kingdom, we cannot just stay inactive for more than one year and focus on just studying, as that would leave our kingdom undefended.

So, our Order decided that instead of squeezing everything that we need to learn about magic in just one year, it is better to teach you all to how to self-study so that you can study magic even if we are on duty and not rely too much on Instructor and find answers on our own. That is why there would be a test of knowledge five months from now and another test at the end of the year to make sure you are all competent enough to actually be a high knight, and as I said, if you fail the tests, then you will stay here again for another year.” Instructor Edder explained

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As Instructor Edder was explaining, the servants from before arrived with wheelbarrows in hand, filled with mudstones.

“Perfect timing, the mud balls just arrived. Everyone grabbed a mud ball and started practicing your enhancement magic, and if you have any questions, just ask them as you all practice,” Instructor Edder said

“Yes, Sir,” All the high knights answered as they approached the wheelbarrows.

Deon grabbed one and squeezed it, realizing how hard the mud balls were. “Is this really a mud ball? Isn’t it just a rock?”

“Heh. Yeah, the only thing that makes this a mud ball is its color. I wouldn't have doubted if you had told me this is a rock.” William amusingly replied

Deon and William went to a corner of the training ground and started practicing their enhancement magic. Deon closed his eyes to fully immerse himself in enhancing his body.

‘I’ll gather my mana in the palm of my hand so it is closer to mud ball,’ Deon thought as he began spinning his mana. ‘Imagine my mana merging with my body’ as he felt his mana enter his flesh. ‘There we go. I just need to enhance every part of my hand.’

After a few seconds of merging his mana into his hand, his hand was brimming with power. ‘Is this enough?... Let’s try it out.’

Deon opened his eyes and tightened his grip on the mudball, but alas, the mud ball didn’t budge at all, as though it didn’t feel deon’s grip, making Deon release his tight grip.

*Sigh*

‘Is this really a mud ball? Did I not enhance my hand enough?’ Deon thought as he looked around him and saw everyone with their eyes closed as they immersed themselves in enhancement training.

‘Let’s do it again. Do I really need to spin it? I’ll try not spinning it and just imagine my mana merging with my hand,’ Deon thought as he closed his eyes again, but before long, Deon shook his head. ‘I guess there is a reason why Instructor Edder told us to gather our mana first. Not spinning the mana is a lot slower than spinning it first. I wonder why.’

“If you found yourself out of mana, just meditate and try to recover it, or you can also just practice your imperial battle arts, but make sure to do it away from the other people who are practicing their enhancement magic,” Instructor Edder said as he observes all the high knights immerse in their practice.

‘Let’s just focus on breaking this mud ball first. I wonder if I can break it using all my mana, but is it safe?’ Deon thought as he opened his eyes while raising his hand to ask a question.

“What is it, Deon?” Instructor Edder asked

“Instructor Edder, Is it okay for me to use all my mana?” Deon asked Instructor Edder.

“Hm? No. Using all your mana into one enhancement would only result in you receiving a backlash, which will not be pretty. Once you feel your arm is starting to get stiff or numb, then that means that is the limit of how much your body can be enhanced, and if you try to ignore that warning and pursue enhancing your body, then you will only receive backlash that might cripple your arm.

Normally, a beginner mana-user won’t have enough mana to even experience that, but since it’s you, be cautious and try to listen to your body.” Instructor Edder explained.

“Yes, Sir,” Deon replied before closing his eyes again, trying to see how far he could enhance his body. ‘Maybe with all my mana, I might be able to break this mud ball today, but is that smart? I am already bringing too much attention… Should I lay low for now and just pretend to be weak for now and maybe train secretly?’

Deon doesn’t mind being in the spotlight, but if it inconveniences him, he would rather stay hidden and secretly build his strength. After thinking about it, he shakes his head.

‘No. I only have six months… no, five months until Instructor Edder won’t teach us anymore. If I keep myself hidden, it might even put me in danger, like now, if I didn’t ask that question, I might’ve pushed myself and blown my arm off. Besides, I don’t think anyone would try to harm me, especially after seeing what Instructor Edder did to Harris.

I just need to train like usual and ask Instructor Edder any questions I need, and if my classmates can’t keep up with me, that’s not my problem. Who knows, maybe if I show more talent, I might receive a special lesson. Though I doubt it,’ Deon nodded to himself and refocused his mind on the enhancement training.

After a few minutes of enhancing his hand, he suddenly felt a tingle in his arm, stopping Deon in his track. ‘Is this my limit? It’s higher than I thought. All right, let’s do this.’

Deon opened his eyes and stared at the mud ball in his hands. ‘It’s nice meeting you, but it’s time to die. Haha.’ Deon amused himself as he slowly tightened his grip

Cracks started to appear in the mud as soon as Deon tightened his fist, making Deon menacingly laugh on the inside. ‘Die, you mud ball.’

But to his surprise, no cracks appeared after the first crack, making Deon annoyed as he tightened his grip with everything he had, but to no avail. The mud ball stayed strong.

Deon gritted his teeth and continued gripping the ball, not loosening his tight grip. ‘How are you a mud ball?’

After a few seconds of gritting his teeth and trying to destroy the mud ball, he suddenly felt his arm slowly lose its strength. ‘The enhancement is over already? No, I can’t let a mud ball beat me.’ As Deon gave everything he had for the last bout before finally loosening his tight grip, surrendering to the mud ball and its infinite defense.

‘Did I get a rock by accident?’ Deon thought as he remembered his childhood, where he and all the orphans would play by throwing a mud ball at each other. ‘If I used this mud ball before, then I would’ve killed someone,’

‘Whatever, I still have some mana left. I’ll try again. I’ll use every mana I have, and then ill go to my dreamscape to continue training. I’m almost there. I made a crack. Let’s at least celebrate that small step to victory.’

The class ended after a few more minutes of enhancement training, and unfortunately, Deon was not able to successfully destroy his mud ball even once.

“All right, That’s it for today. Make sure you all meditate today and continue training. If you lose your mud ball, just ask any servants here, and they will give you another one. Does everyone understand?” Instructor Edder asked

“Yes, Sir,” All the high knights answered, their voices fatigued.

“All right, you are all dismissed,” Instructor Edder said as all the high knights began preparing to leave the training ground. “Deon, stay for a moment. I want to talk to you.”

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Thought for Thoughts

* Enhancement training begins.