4 Years Later…

Lucian took a deep breath and then furrowed his brows as he asked, “Are we really going to do this?” Sagar, with a slight smile, replied, “If you want to develop your understanding of mana, you’d better not take off that blindfold.” Lucian sighed anxiously, “But I could seriously get hurt, you know that.” Sagar shrugged casually, “Nothing will happen. Just try to feel the mana flow around you, that should be enough.” “Should? That’s exactly what I hate about you!” Lucian’s voice carried a hint of frustration.

The training field was a wide, open space, covered with ancient stone tiles. The edges were lined with walls covered in various plants, adorned with crystals placed to monitor mana flow. The air was heavy with tension and focus. Lucian and Sagar stood at the center of the scene, facing each other. Lucian’s eyes were covered by a thick, rough cloth. His hands trembled slightly, but his stance reflected his determination. This wasn’t just a regular training session; it was a test that would push Lucian to his limits.

Sagar took a deep breath, narrowing his eyes in concentration. “I’m coming!” he shouted. With a graceful but quick motion of his hand, he drew a magic circle in the air. From the circle, a shimmering blue light spread across his body, creating a brief wave of energy around him. This wave enhanced his speed. Sagar began moving almost invisibly fast, tracing a circular path around Lucian. Lucian could only sense the wind’s whistle and the vibrations caused by Sagar’s movements.

Focusing, Lucian thought to himself, “Okay, focus, Lucian. This is just another one of Sensei’s crazy training sessions. All you have to do is survive and remember what Sensei taught you.”

Lucian took a guard position, adjusting his center of gravity and keeping his fists close to his body in a tight defensive stance.

The mage Sagar quickly chanted the incantations for a fireball and, while circling Lucian at high speed, began launching fireballs at him.

“Focus on the flow of magic, feel the mana. The place where mana is concentrated… Right side!”

Lucian turned to the right and simultaneously dodged, evading the fireball.

For a moment, Lucian held his breath, then shouted with a strong voice, “You’d better not underestimate boxing!” His excitement and fear mixed together. At that moment, he felt the heat of an approaching fireball on his face. At the last second, he instinctively threw his body backward, shifting his weight to his back foot and arching his back like a graceful bow. The fireball missed his head by a few centimeters, hitting the ground behind him and disappearing with a small explosion. As Lucian’s heart raced, a smile of victory appeared on his face.

“We’re just getting started!” Sagar began casting a variety of spells as he continued to circle around Lucian; fireballs, ice spikes, poisonous sludge, wind slashes—all fast-moving spells.

“Feel it, focus! The sharp mana coming from my right side is probably poison or a curse of some sort; contact could cause major problems. But at the same time, I sense cold mana quickly approaching from the left—this is likely an ice spell. If I dodge the poison spell, I’ll have to deal with the ice attack. So…”

Lucian dodged the poison sludge coming from his right by leaning to the left, but it was too late to avoid the sharp ice spike coming from the right. So, he decided to take the ice spike head-on with his face.

Sagar shouted in panic, “Stop, what are you doing?!”

Lucian absorbed the impact of the ice spike with his right cheek, quickly turning his head to the left to minimize the damage. Boxers use this technique when avoiding punches that are difficult to dodge, and it’s called “Slipping.” Thanks to this technique, Lucian managed to escape with only a small cut on his cheek.

“W-Wow, maybe that boxing thing is actually useful, huh?” Sagar said and continued his attacks.

“Dodge the two attacks coming from the right with right and left evasions, a wind slash is coming toward my legs—it’s probably meant to disrupt my balance, but it won’t be that easy.”

As the wind slash reached his legs, Lucian jumped lightly off the ground and quickly switched to a reverse guard stance. In a reverse guard, instead of the dominant hand and foot leading, the opposite side leads. For example, someone with their right hand forward in a regular stance would place their left hand forward in a reverse guard.

“You dodged even the attack meant to throw off your balance. But can you dodge this?”

Sagar stood in front of Lucian, raising both hands into the air, and began rapidly launching fireballs.

“Can you defend yourself against such rapid attacks with that boxing thing? What will you do now? How will you get close to me?”

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Lucian smiled, biting his fists as he took a tight guard. The fireballs were coming straight at him in quick succession.

“I thought you could do better, Sensei! Maybe I’ve been overestimating you.”

“The fireballs are coming... 3... 2... 1... NOW!”

Lucian began rhythmically dodging to the right and left, evading the fireballs and slowly closing the distance to Sagar with small steps, performing a move called the “Dempsey Roll.” The Dempsey Roll is a continuous, rhythmic side-to-side movement. This swaying motion makes the boxer’s head and body difficult to target and makes it hard for opponents to land accurate punches.

“N-No way! How is this possible?!” Sagar exclaimed in shock. “How can someone move like that without using Aura?” He began firing fireballs even faster.

Lucian continued performing the Dempsey Roll, drawing closer and closer to Sagar until he was almost in punching range. If you thought the Dempsey Roll was only for dodging, you’d be wrong—this movement is used to apply constant pressure on the opponent. Continuous movement and combination punches break down the opponent’s defense, giving the boxer an advantage. These combinations are usually hooks and uppercuts. Fast, constant punches wear down the opponent’s defense and neutralize their attacks. For a mage like Sagar, who was focused solely on offense, these punches could be quite dangerous and even deadly.

Lucian took one more step, getting right in front of Sagar, and threw a big right hook.

Sagar’s hair and eyes turned a brilliant silver as he unleashed a massive explosion of flames, sending Lucian flying far away.

“Hey! Are you okay? Sorry, I instinctively defended myself. I didn’t mean to do that. Are you alright?”

Lucian, covered in burns and coughing from the smoke, replied, “I-I’m fine. If I hadn’t enveloped my body in aura at the last moment, I might’ve died. Though, I’m not much better than dead right now.”

“Hahaha, still, you forced me to use a high-level spell. I never thought that boxing thing you’re so obsessed with would work this well. But even after four years, you still couldn’t land a single hit on me, so once again, the winner is me, Great Mage Sagar!”

“You might want to hold off on that conclusion.” Lucian coughed as he pointed at Sagar’s right eye.

“Huh? My eye? Now that you mention it, my vision seems a little blurry. Did something get in my eye?” Sagar touched his right eye and noticed some swelling. When he pressed it further, he felt pain and realized that his right eye was bruised. This meant Lucian had successfully landed a solid blow on the Great Mage Sagar, signifying Lucian’s victory.

Despite the pain coursing through his body, Lucian savored the taste of victory. “Fifty-two to one,” he said, his breath uneven, his voice raspy. “I guess even the Great Mage Sagar can lose, huh?” A faint gleam appeared in his eyes, and a smile of satisfaction, though pained, spread across his face. He laughed, despite the ache in his body—this pain couldn’t overshadow the sweetness of his triumph.

Sagar sighed deeply. “As much as I hate to admit it, this is your victory…” he said, laughing.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just heal my wounds, and don’t forget your promise.”

Sagar’s eyes widened in concern as he responded, “Kid, do you know how expensive what you’re asking for is? In this country, only a handful of people possess such an item.”

“I don’t care, and I know exactly what I want. You said during our four-year training that if I ever hit you, you’d give me whatever I wanted, right? Or do you want people to talk about the Great Mage Sagar as a liar and a crybaby?”

Sagar, frustrated and exasperated, replied, “Damn it. Alright, I’ll give you what you want. But finding an item like that might take me a few days, so you’ll have to wait. I should have it before you reunite with your family.” He said as he slowly walked away.

“I was planning on resting for a few days anyway… HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITHOUT HEALING MY WOUNDS?!”

Sagar laughed as he climbed the stairs…

Lucian rested in his bed for a few days. His body was covered in burns and bruises, but the taste of victory dulled the pain somewhat. As he waited for the item Sagar had promised, Lucian frequently replayed that training scene in his mind. The flow of mana he sensed behind the blindfold, Sagar’s rapidly moving figure, the heat of the fireballs… Everything remained vividly in his memory.

Lucian’s room was spacious and bright. In the center of the room stood a large bed, surrounded by pillows and soft blankets. A small night lamp by the bedside provided a warm, dim light, giving the room a cozy atmosphere.

In one corner of the room, there was a wooden desk and chair. Scattered across the desk were books and notebooks; some were about magical practice, others about strategy and history. Next to the desk was a small cabinet containing various magical materials, crystals, and bottles of different sizes.

“Four years… passed so quickly. How strong am I now? In four years, I was only able to hit Sensei once, so I must be pretty good.” He said, gazing at the ceiling and beginning to think. “So this is the end of our training, huh? I thought it would last a few more years, but Sensei has important matters to attend to. He also said that from here on, it’s more important for me to train myself. I have to carve my own path, huh…”

He raised his hand into the air and clenched his fist. “I wonder what my siblings and Marquis Arthur are up to. Uther and Alber are probably as foolish as ever, but despite being idiots, they never skip training, so they’re probably stronger than before. As for Serenna, I can’t say. She’s always been cold, but secretly kind. Also, she’s the strongest of us siblings. Marquis Arthur… I guess he’s doing fine. It makes me laugh that the person I miss the most from my family is Cynthia. I want to go back and show her how much stronger I’ve become.” He thought. He got out of bed, grabbed the glass on his desk, and extended his hand over it. “Create water,” he thought silently, and with a simple spell, he conjured water to fill the glass. “Let’s add some ice too,” he thought, creating a few ice cubes and dropping them into the water. Just then, Sagar knocked on the door and entered.

“I was wondering where this mana flow was coming from. Even though I was right at the door, I didn’t hear any words. Are you casting wordless magic again?”

“I was just thirsty.”

“You know if you get caught casting wordless magic, it’ll create an even bigger impact than you having an aura star at the age of three. So you’d better be careful around people unless you want to draw suspicion.”

“I know. Is my gift ready?”

Sagar frowned and replied, “You never forget anything, do you…”