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“Alright, let's try that again without making another line of destruction in the woods.” Professor Sageira said after waking me up from getting knocked out by her.

We tried to perform the fusion technique again, assuming that with the foreknowledge of what to look out for, I would not be taken over by the euphoria of power and go wild. Unfortunately, the moment the power got to my head, things got fuzzy, and the next thing I knew, I woke up with a phantom pain in my jaw that seemed to be just fine.

“Alright, let's try to do this in a more peaceful stance.” I said as I sat in the lotus position and tried again. I started clearing my mind of all but one thought: ‘I need to retain my sense of self. I am Luke Ironcrest. I am the master of my mind and body. I am the wielder of myself.’

When I felt I was ready, I activated my fusion of aura and injected mana into my own flesh like a magic beast, and once again, the feeling of overwhelming power flowed out of my core to reach every part of my body. When it reached my head, I mentally recited my mantra, ‘I need to retain my sense of self. I am Luke Ironcrest. I am the master of my mind and body. I am the wielder of myself.’

As the euphoria crashed against my mind, I could feel my sense of self being eroded as I kept chanting. Soon, I was having difficulty remembering what I was mentally chanting, so I chanted out loud so I could actually hear myself: “I need to retain my sense of self…. I am Luke Ironcrest…. I… am the master of my mind and body. I am the wielder offff….”

I then saw flashes and snippets of myself going on a rampage against the local flora and woke up with my head planted in the ground and a phantom pain on the back of my head, which was most likely Professor Sageira’s doing.

When I pulled my head out of the ground, I saw Professor Sageira before me, sitting on a log and taking notes. “Did you have to face-plant me into the ground? Now I have dirt in my mouth and hair.” I said while spitting out the dirt I felt in my mouth.

“Have to? No. It was just the fastest way to stop your rampage before it really got out of hand or you hurt yourself.” she reapplied nonchalantly while continuing to take notes.

“So, with all your observations so far, do you have any ideas on how I can avoid being taken over by the feeling of overwhelming power?” I asked as I sat on the ground, which seemed to be a furrow in the dirt, most likely made with my face.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Oh, I have ideas. Whether you like them is a different story,” she replied, continuing to write.

A short while later, I was wearing a collar and asked to try the fusion again, “Err, I can feel mana from this collar. Is it supposed to increase my concentration or something?” I asked.

“Something like that.” she replied ominously, “Not stop wasting time and get started! You wasted enough time being unconscious.” she snapped at me.

“And whose fault is that?!” I snapped back, and she slowly raised her fist. I got the message and quickly took a few steps away from her before sitting down and performing the fusion again.

As usual, I mentally resisted the siren’s song to use my power and test my might, but it was a losing battle. Then, when the first snippet of my body going on autopilot flashed in my mind, I was painfully brought back to reality with a jolt running through my body as I stiffened and fell to the ground like a log.

When I stopped seizing from getting electric shocked, my body went limp as I groaned. Now I knew what the collar was for. She was going to train me like a dog to get a handle on this fusion technique. “Did you really have to choose this method?” I groaned out.

Professor Sageira, who was now squatting next to me, poking me and taking notes, just shrugged and said, “No, but in my experience, most living things learn a lot faster when there is the threat of punishment upon failure, and that theory has yet to fail me. So let's get as much data on this as possible before the school term starts.”

By the time we were done for the night, I was face down in the dirt and smelled like ozone from the numerous times I had been zapped. “I think we can call that a night. The sun is going to rise in two hours or so, and you need some rest for tomorrow night. There have been some improvements, but you are far from reliably using this skill. We also need to come up with a name for this skill. “Fusion” just sounds lazy.”

“Just kill me…” I moaned, but she ignored my pleas for a merciful and quick death as she transformed back into a dragon and plucked me into the air with one clawed hand.

When we reached my estate, Professor Sageira flew in for a bombing run and pulled up just as she released me, sending me flying through my open balcony and straight into my bed. And even though I was lying in an awkward position, I was too tired to adjust myself and just went to sleep right there and then.

But my personal maid, Alice, rudely interrupted my sleep. “Young Master, wake up. It is lunchtime. The Master and Madam would like to see you at the table.”

What? Already? It felt like I had just fallen asleep. I wanted to tell Alice to leave me alone and hide under the blankets to shield myself from the daylight, but my stomach protested with its growls, “Fine… let me freshen up first.” I said as I trudged out of bed.

When I looked in the mirror, I was impressed with the cleaning Professor Sageira had done on me while I was in flight. Not only did my clothes feel clean, but my body also did. After I had freshened up, I went down to have lunch with my parents and scarfed down enough food for two grown men.

I had to get my body ready for another round of torture from Professor Sageira tonight.