Another day began, and as the children who had passed the assessment trained diligently, Ric found himself lost in thought. "From yesterday's training, even though I was distracted by Yota, I can conclude two things," he mused to himself. "First, for now, I can only create cube-shaped barriers. And second, I can't make a barrier larger than the size of my hand—it fits perfectly in my palm. Hmm..."

Suddenly, an idea struck Ric, prompting him to call Yota, who was engrossed in his fire magic training. Yota responded irritably, "Hey! Why did you call me? I was training!"

"I called you here to help you with your training," Ric replied mischievously.

Confused, Yota asked, "How can you help me? Our classes are not the same."

"Don't you want a target to practice your magic on?" Ric smirked.

"Well... you're right! The boulders here are very weak," Yota scratched his head, contemplating Ric's suggestion.

Ric called Yota closer to a boulder and said, "Here, this is your target."

"Ric, have you become stupid? Didn't I say that the boulders here are weak?" Yota retorted with a poker face.

"It's you who is stupid, Yota. Look at my hand, not the boulder!" Ric pointed at his hand, revealing a cube-shaped barrier.

"Oh~ Is that your magic? Is that cube my target?" Yota inquired.

"Yup! Now try your magic on it!" Ric encouraged him confidently.

Yota picked up a rock, applied fire magic to it, and threw it. The rock's velocity increased before smashing into the barrier Ric had created, cracking it. The rock crumbled to dust, but the barrier remained, albeit with a crack.

Yota, witnessing the barrier's resilience, exclaimed, "Wow~ It survived! Even though many boulders were destroyed!" Yota was genuinely surprised.

While Yota marveled at the barrier, Ric couldn't help but think, "The amount of control Yota has over his mana is incomprehensible! From what I've read, not many mages can control mana like he did, applying magic only when the last thing touching the rock before throwing it is his finger! That's some insane precision! Even though he doesn't have a massive mana pool like me, he can achieve great things if he keeps improving." Ric nodded to himself, feeling proud of his friend. However, Yota interrupted Ric's thoughts by calling out to him.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Hey, Ric! Even though it's sturdy, I don't think it can withstand another shot of my Rock'ish fire!" Yota boasted.

"Rock'ish what?" Ric questioned, his face displaying confusion.

"Rock'ish fire! It's the name of my attack! Don't you think it's cool?" Yota said with a smug expression.

"What kind of naming sense is that, like something a two-year-old would come up with?" Ric responded, raising an eyebrow.

"W-What?! If you don't like it, then suggest a better name!" Yota replied irritably.

Ric sighed and said, "Why do I care? Just name it 'Meteoric Blast' or something."

"Ooh~ That's nice, 'Meteoric Blast'! That's good! It seems being with me has made you smarter!" Yota said proudly.

"Shut up and let's continue our experiment—*cough* I mean, your training!" Ric said with a somewhat puzzled expression.

Yota, although suspicious, launched another attack while loudly proclaiming, "MET

EORIC BLAAST!" The attack shattered the barrier into pieces. Observing this, Ric couldn't help but remark with a weird face, "Woah~ That's cringe."

"S-Shut up! The book says that giving the attack a name helps to remember the sequence of the mana traveling through the body and executing the attack. It claims that this aids in faster execution of the action," Yota explained abruptly.

"Wait a second... Aren't mages supposed to chant a long prayer or something before using magic? How are you doing it without chanting?" Ric questioned Yota.

Yota replied, "I don't know. I was just able to do it."

"Hmm... What is the title of the book?" Ric inquired.

"It's called 'Mana Affinity Introduction'," Yota answered.

"It seems you can do it because your mana affinity is high. Chiron recognized this and gave you the best book suited for you," Ric explained.

"Oh~ Sir Mage is amazing for recognizing me!" Yota said, his tone filled with pride.

Ric let out a sigh and approached the boulder to create another barrier on it. However, this time, the barrier was smaller than before, about the size of his palm. Ric asked Yota to attack, and Yota questioned, "Why is it smaller than before?"

"We need to train your accuracy too," Ric explained.

Yota then attacked the barrier, causing only a slight crack this time. He continued his assault until the barrier shattered. Surprised, Yota exclaimed, "What did you do? It took me three tries to shatter it."

Ric ignored Yota and created another barrier of the same size and put it on the boulder. He then approached Yota and handed him a barrier much smaller, almost the size of Ric's pinky finger. Ric instructed, "Throw that rock away and hit it with this." He passed the small barrier to Yota. Once again, Yota questioned, "What's this for?"

"It's to train your mana precision. You won't always encounter rough surfaces like rocks in the city. Since my cube barrier is smooth, we can train your precision in mana," Ric explained.

Yota attacked the barrier on the boulder with the small barrier Ric had given him, screaming, "METEORIC BLAAST!" Shockingly, the attack was so powerful that it obliterated not only the barrier but also many trees that stood behind it.