I had always been a fast reader so I finished the first book about properties of light in about half an hour. It was only about 70 pages long. It was also easy to digest as it was just an introductory book to let people find out a bit more about the property of light.
I read through all the other books at the same pace, thirsty to increase my knowledge for elemental affinity as fast as possible because I could sense that this would be the fastest way for me to become more powerful. I spent the entire morning reading all 7 books on the introduction to the different elemental affinities. After that, I had a chat with Pegasus within my elemental room to give me a deeper understanding of the light element on top of what I have already found out.
I then went for lunch with Chippy and Draco again. Draco was from Magnus hall and it was also his day off from school today. Somehow, all the people I met so far have Wednesdays as their free day which was good because we could all eat together. We just talked a bit about school life before I rushed back into my room to work on my training programme for the afternoon portion of the day. I had to quickly increase the quantity and quality of my mana and Ki.
Just as I was back in my room, preparing to do the first exercise within a basic book for strengthening my mana, someone interrupted me.
“STOP!” A deep, coarse voice rasped from my elemental room. It was definitely what I felt was the most majestic creature within my elemental room and also the biggest one. The blue dragon.
“Yes Blue Dragon?” I answered.
“Master, call me Seiryu. I am here to tell you that there is a special way to increase both your Ki and mana at the same time. It is something that we mythological beasts are very used to doing. That explains our proficiency in both magic and physical attacks.” Seiryu initiated.
“Oh?? Of course I’ll take your advice Seiryu. And please, call me Jinx. No need for such formalities I feel quite uncomfortable with those sort of things.” I said.
“Very well. Listen carefully Jinx. Ki is the force and power hidden within each and every cell of your body. Mana is produced and channelled from your mana pool which you already know where it is. There is a very good way to train both aspects at the same time, including your concentration. However, I have to warn you that it is not an easy task.”
“I don’t care just tell me the method because this is a training method that I deeply desire.” I said. I have read through many books but they always talk about training for mana and ki separately. Even though classes like archers and assasins need to rely on both, there has not been a way described in the books I borrowed that shows how to train both mana and ki at the same time. If this was legit, I would be able to reduce my training time by half!
“This training method involves channelling your Ki to your right hand, and channelling your mana to your left hand. In your right hand, you need to practice shaping your Ki into an aura that fits your nature, which in your case is the sword. It just has to be a small sword. In the left hand, once you gather the mana into your left hand, you will need to spatially manipulate the mana to the exact same shape as your Ki on your right. Just doing this alone will almost be impossible for people doing it the first time. After completing this step, you must put both your left hand and right hand together in the meditation position and have both Ki and Mana clash with each other. If one is stronger than the other, you need to immediately channel more strength to back up the one lacking. This improves your balance between Ki and Mana. If one is significantly stronger than the other, this exercise will concentrate on the one you are weaker on. When they clash, it will result in a drainage of both mana and ki as their powers collide. Your duty is to make sure this collision process lasts as long as possible. This will simulate real life combat also so if you cannot hold your mana and ki for at least 30 minutes, you can dream on about fighting even the weakest of monsters. From my current analysis, I feel that your mana and ki are on similar power levels so they should be able to cancel each other out quite effectively. A good balance between Ki and Mana is extremely desirable so this training will help you to enhance your quality and quantity of both mana and ki without compromising on balance.” Seiryu explained.
“When both Ki and Mana are clashing, you should also meditate and if when you reach the concentration level required, you can then elementally recompose the mana into two different elements and clash them together, looking at how they interact with one another to deepen your understanding of the elements even further, this time by yourself and not with help of basic textbooks which are only able to tell you so much.”” He concluded.
“Thank you very much Seiryu. Please give me your guidance as I train.” I said.
“Are you kidding me? I already gave you a legendary training technique that now only you know but at the same time only you are able to do it so just try to learn and do it all by yourself already. I’m not your mother I’m not going to spoon feed you.” He said and went back to sleep on the circular shaped couch.
Why do all my celestial beasts like to sleep so much??
I shook my head and just proceeded to follow Seiryu’s instructions.
I sat down cross legged on my bed and tried to channel my Ki towards my right hand first. Alright that was easy. Then I tried to shape the Ki aura into the shape of a sword. I tried to sense the aura coming out from my right hand and I could see a translucent aura which was roughly in the shape of a weird stick.
Nonononono what the fuck? I need it to be in the shape of a sword.
I kept trying to use my senses to tweak the shape of the aura bit by bit. It was quite hard I realised to even manipulate the shape of my Ki to become a sword. Finally, after tweaking it for a good 10-15 minutes, I managed to shape it into the shape of a sword. However, it was still abit wavy and curvy in small areas but I decided to just let it be. While holding that position, I had to channel my mana to my left hand. It was usually so easy to just channel mana or ki to the correct place but I realised it was only because it was always to the same place. When I did sword training, I just had to direct all the Ki and mana towards the same direction. However, now I had to make sure my Ki went into my right hand but my mana should go to my left.
It was extremely confusing. Like writing a poem with my right hand and drawing a picture with my left. It was extremely taxing on my concentration. I failed a great number of times. Before I knew it, an additional hour had passed before I managed to successfully channel my mana to the left and ki to the right. Whenever I failed, the sword shaped aura on my right hand would also instantly dissipate. So by now, I was able to conjour an aura in the shape of a sword quite easily. It was also quite straight now. However, there was still one final step before I can even begin the exercise proper. I also had to shape my mana into the shape of a sword similar to that of the right. However, I realised that I did not take as long for this step than the previous ones because it seemed like spatial recomposition for both mana and ki were quite similar. I just had to rely on my intuition and senses to just reproduce what I did with my right hand to the left hand. Soon, I managed to produce the starting stance of the training exercise. I have to admit it was quite a cool looking one.
In my right hand was a translucent aura that radiated a faint sense of power while in my left hand was a blue aura that was shimmering slightly. Both of them were unmistakably miniature swords that were about 7cm in length and 3cm in width. Both of them were pointed upwards from my palm.
“Ohhhh? Only 2 hours have passed and you have already reached a level where you can start the exercise? Impressive. However, from your starting position alone I can see all the flaws you have. One, the sword you produced from Ki is not radiating sword intent. It goes to show that you do not understand the sword at all. Your swords just look like swords but they are not. I cannot feel any sense of sharpness within them. Second, the quality of your mana and ki is lacking. High quality mana is supposed to possess a uniform glow to it. It isn’t supposed to shimmer intermittently like what is happening to yours. High quality ki is completely transparent and can only be sensed using aura. Yours is still quite translucent. You will need to compress your mana more, to make sure the sword is condensed. The more packed your sword is regardless of Ki or mana, the higher the quality of it. Since your understanding of the sword cannot be improved using this exercise, I cannot help you with that now. However, to enhance the efficacy of the training, you must consciously try to condense your mana and ki to a greater extent. Try it now. I won’t allow you to proceed with the exercise until I am satisfied with the quality of mana and ki you are producing.” Seiryu commented. Looks like even though he said he wouldn't spoon feed me, he was still paying attention to my progress.
I sighed and had no choice but to work on increasing the quality and quantity of mana I had by compressing more mana and ki into the swords I’ve produced. This strained by concentration even more as I had to channel even more mana and ki than I was used to. If I was trying to write a poem and draw a picture just now, the level now has increased to the point where I had to use calligraphy to write the poem, and not just draw but also to colour the painting all at the same time. It took another 2 hours before I reached a level that Seiryu was satisfied with.
“As long as you continue doing this exercise, eventually, the quality and quantity of your mana and ki will keep improving to a great extent. However, you must consciously put strain on yourself to keep condensing your mana and trying to last longer every time you do this exercise okay? I shall now tell you the name of this training method. It is called ‘Heaven and Earth’. This exercise defines heaven and earth because everything about this exercise is about opposites. Left and Right. Mana and Ki. Even elemental recomposition when you eventually reach the level you are able to do it. You can do it with fire and water, light and darkness and every other elemental composition you want to experiment with. Now, go ahead. Start on your very first Heaven and Earth experience. I will help you time your first attempt.” Seiryu said.
I immediately went into the starting pose. I then slowly began to close my palms together. Then, it happened. The tip of my Ki sword came into contact with the tip of my Mana sword. I instantly felt it. My mana within the sword was being depleted. Same for the ki within the other sword. It felt like both of them wear instantaneously devouring the other party. I had to channel more mana from my mana pool to supply my left hand with mana. I had to also channel more ki from my body to supply my right hand with more ki. I could feel myself straining to maintain the shapes of both swords. The moment either of the swords could not keep their shape, this exercise would’ve ended. I could feel my brows furrow as strength was continually being depleted from both my mana pool and ki. However, both swords were still touching, and their shapes were still stable. However, after a certain amount of time, I could feel myself running almost close to empty and that was it. Both swords instantly disappeared as I was covered in sweat. I dreaded the after-effects of this exercise as I felt completely drained of both mana and ki. However, even though I was extremely fatigued in terms of concentration, I could suddenly sense my empty mana pool being refilled instantly with mana and my ki levels increasing rapidly as well.
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“The real beauty of the Heaven and Earth training method is that it also refills both your ki and mana back to the maximum after you are finished. It is extremely taxing and tiring for your mind but your body will still be fine after the training. This is because by the nature of this exercise, whatever ki your mana has absorbed and whatever mana your ki has absorbed will be returned to you when the swords finally lose their shape. This happens only when it is your own ki and mana interacting with each other. Normally, when ki or mana depletes each other, the energy cancels out. However, because of something called our ‘Will’, when ki and mana of a similar nature interact with each other, they will not be cancelled out but merely absorbed. Therefore when something is absorbed, it can be returned. It is a very convenient aspect of ‘Will’ that Heaven and Earth leverages on to make it such an efficient training technique. For now, I recommend that you try it once a day, until you are used to the mental strain before you start increasing the number of times you do it per day. This mental strain also improves your coordination and concentration abilities. Such a good technique right?” Seiryu said.
“Yes it is. I feel very tired, but it seems to be by concentrating too much. My body does indeed feel fine.” I wondered in amazement who thought of such an efficient training technique.
“Well, that is the good news. The bad news is that you lasted for 3 minutes and 20 seconds for your first attempt.” Seiryu laughed and said.
“WHAT?! THAT’S 200 SECONDS! IT FELT LIKE AT LEAST HALF AN HOUR!” I shouted.
“Haven’t you heard of the theory of relativity? When you spend half an hour with a pretty girl on a date, it feels like 3 minutes of doing strenuous exercise no? Don’t worry. It wasn’t a bad timing for a first attempt. It just shows the vast potential for improvement that you have. Just do Heaven and Earth daily and soon, you will be able to do it for 30 minutes. I can vouch for the efficiency of this training technique. Oh and don’t you have that date at 6pm? You should check the clock now.” Seiryu ended his telepathy to me as he now went to play pool with Byakko.
I looked at the clock. 5.50pm.
FUCK!
I ran to the shower like a passenger who was being called for final boarding at the airport and ravaged myself with water. I did whatever I could to make myself as presentable as possible and rushed down to the lobby at 5.58pm.
-6pm-
“Hi Jinx! I hope you weren’t waiting long!” Jenny said as she came into the lobby, donning a flowy white dress.
Angel indeed.
“Oh no problem at all. I didn’t wait long.” I said. This was true. I merely waited 10 seconds. I hope she won’t notice something funny about my appearance.
“Follow me!!” Jenny said as she brought me into Freya hall.
I looked around the halls of Freya. It was indeed different. Loki hall had hallways which were moderately lit, with simple designs which were minimalistic. However, Freya hall had elaborate decorations. The walls had a complicated pattern to them but was soothed with pristine, white walls that were as white as snow. The floors were also carpeted with a red carpet that made you feel important.
Jenny led me into the main function hall of Freya and once she opened the two, gigantic oak doors, all I could see were a sea of people partying, having fun with wine and a vast assortment of food.
“Let’s feast!!” Jenny shouted, clearly excited and happy as she led me to the table for us to grab our food and celebrate.
I took a healthy portion of food because I did not want to seem rude but once my teeth sank into the tender meat prepared by Freya hall, all notions of courtesy were replaced with intense desire for the scrumptious food. Jenny and I ate like pigs and talked more about ourselves, enjoying the extravagant and enjoyable atmosphere that we were in.
Suddenly, someone came up to us. Someone who was rather good looking and had long brown hair.
“Jenny! I asked you if you wanted to come to the party with me and you humbly declined. So who is this date you have brought with you instead? I did not see him around Freya before! Which hall are you from brother?” He asked and directed a half-smiling, half-threatening look at me.
“Oh. Hello. I’m Jinx from Loki hall.” I casually replied.
“HAHAHAHAH! Jenny, you rejected me to bring a loser from Loki hall over to our party?? Oh well I guess Loki doesn’t even have much money or reputation to host parties anyway. I don’t blame you for being nice Jenny but please. Him over me? HAHAHAHA! You have bad taste.” He laughed boisterously and began to walk away.
That struck a nerve. It doesn’t matter if he directed insults at me. But he insulted my hall. And most importantly, he insulted Jenny.
“Come back.” I said, with determination, disgust and fury in my steady voice.
“Ohhh?” He said as he turned back around and faced me.
“A loser from Loki dares to command me? This is my hall. You dare to make a scene here?” He threatened.
“Jinx just ignore him. Please. It’s my fault that I got you into this. Let’s just go and have fun somewhere else.” Jenny whispered to me and tried to pull me away.
“No Jenny. He insulted my hall and he insulted you. Yes. This “loser” from Loki dares to command you because you claim you have reputation and money but you can’t even give proper respect to one of your guests. Is Freya solely yours? Are you free to do whatever you want to other people’s guests?” I said straightforwardly into his face, not too loudly, not too softly, but with a strong tone in my voice.
Everyone around us immediately turned to look at this commotion.
“Very well. Let us settle this the Freya way then. Since you are our guest. I will treat you like one of us. Do you possess any mana?” He snickered at me.
“I do.” I replied.
“Freya settles disputes by strength. You see the silver discs lined up high along the walls of this hall? They are magic power readers. When someone casts a spell at them, they will display a numerical number representative of the power level of your spell. We’ll cast a spell at the discs together and the one with a higher number wins. The winner can then demand one thing from the loser. Are these terms okay with you?” He challenged me.
“Yes.” I replied.
“Don’t worry, since Jenny invited you I assume you are a year 1. I am a year 1 just like you. We only learnt mana arrow so far right since this is only the first week of school. I can already cast fireball but for your sake I will just compete with you using a mana arrow.”
He conjoured his mana arrow. He was clearly someone talented. The mana he emitted was quite high quality since it glowed strongly but it was still rather intermittent so I wasn’t too worried about that. The shape of the arrow however was something. His arrow was about 30cm long and he flung it at one of the silver discs.
‘150!’
All the freshman gasped. The entire party now was watching this spectacle. It was a very high number for a freshman indeed. Even Scarlet Witch said that time the highest she saw was a 150 throughout her years of teaching.
“Jinx, don’t do this. Malcolm is better than me at magic you can still pull out now and we’ll just leave!” Jenny whispered into my ear, sounding even more anxious now.
I looked straight into her eyes and said just two words.
“Don’t worry.”
I turned around and faced the wall of the hall and looked at the silver disc beside Malcolm’s 150. I immediately decided that I needed to destroy this little son of a bitch as badly as I could.
“Pegasus. I’m pissed. Lend me your strength.”
“No problem master. I’m pissed too. Let’s piss on him.” She replied.
I began to channel my mana into my hand and put into practice what I learnt from today.
Compress it, compress it, compress it
The mana arrow in my hand was about 15cm long. Malcolm laughed when he saw this. It also did not shine as brightly as his but it had a homogenous glow to it. This was the type of mana that Qinglong approved of when I did heaven and earth. It need not glow radiantly but the first step to ensuring high quality mana was uniform compression. There should not be any intermittent flashes to good mana. Lastly, I began to channel Pegasus but not just like what I did previously. I learnt that light element mana prides itself on being fast, all encompassing, radiant and soothing. I pictured Pegasus as light coming out of my elemental room, in a flash, all at once, my mana channels suddenly filled with light and I tried to do this in a calm, relaxed and soothing disposition.
Instantly, the blue mana arrow in my hand changed. It became completely golden, with strong, solid lines of an unmistakable arrow that looked like a real arrow made up entirely of light.
“Level 2 elemental recomposition!!” Someone behind me gasped. To know this, she must’ve been a senior. The look on Malcolm’s face immediately changed. He clearly did not know what happened. I flung that arrow straight into the disc beside Malcolm’s disc.
‘300!”
“THREE HUNDRED?!” Malcolm shouted. His face was ashen, astonished and he fell to his knees.
Everyone in the room immediately looked at me. The room was gravely silent. No one even muttered or whispered. Everyone’s eyes at that time was on me. Jenny who was beside me also looked at me, disbelief in her eyes. I was just a freshman. Who attended 3 days of school. And managed to break the record of the strongest mana arrow by two times.
“Just another loser from Loki huh? Who’s the loser now? What should I do with you….” I wondered out loud, making sure that Malcolm could hear my every word.