It was clear to Yaku that the gap between him and the higher magic classes was astronomical, but he still needed to push. He sat on the floor of his small room, which only contained a bed and a desk. Closing his eyes, he began using the new techniques he had learned. Slowly but surely, he depleted his mana, but only down to 5%—a threshold he had already been practicing for the past seven years to slowly increase his mana reserve.
But now… it was time to go into overdrive: mana burning.
His mana started to drop lower than 5%!
4.8… 4.6… 4.2… 3.1… 2.1%…
His body began to grow cold, almost as if he were now burning his own life energy. His breathing slowed, and his heart rate began to drop. When he finally reached 1%, he immediately opened his eyes and started gathering mana. Once he rose above 5% again, he let out a long sigh of relief, as though he hadn't taken a breath in ages.
He lay on his back, breathing heavily, knowing he had come dangerously close to shutting down his organs—but he wasn't done. Two hours later, after his mana reached 100% again, he repeated the process. The result was the same: he ended up on the ground, exhausted and struggling to breathe.
However, this time, something was different—he noticed it had taken him a couple of seconds longer to hit 1%, meaning the method worked. His mana reserve had already increased, filling him with excitement. He jumped for joy.
After twelve hours of repeating this again and again, his body couldn't bear it anymore, and he collapsed on the floor, drenched in sweat. He slept for ten hours—the best sleep he'd ever had.
The next day, he woke up and went to meet Teacher Sunder.
Sunder sat at his desk, his black silky hair slicked back, messy eyebrows casting shadows over his light brown eyes. He scratched his moderately big nose and asked, "Did you find anything useful in the library yesterday?"
Yaku told him about the letter he found and about the First Pillar. Sunder smiled, saying that battle was well-known and not new information.
"Anyway, what did you want from me, Mr. Sunder?" Yaku asked.
"Well, I just wanted to tell you that you're not allowed to stay here forever since you're not a student. You only have two weeks. Also, once those two weeks are over, you and I will spar so I can test your true magical potential," Sunder replied.
Yaku was surprised by the request but accepted—it would be a good way to test how much he could improve in two weeks with everything he would learn.
"Good luck, kid," Sunder said in an ominous tone.
After grabbing some food from the cafeteria, Yaku went to the training grounds, watching different students spar and display their magic. He immediately spotted Geo sparring someone and winning within seconds.
The next match was between a red-haired student and another with black hair. The redhead immediately launched a fire phoenix, knocking the opponent unconscious.
Another mage that's a higher class than me… I need to improve immediately, Yaku thought, bolting back to his room. Geo turned his head, sensing something, but seeing nothing.
"Must've been the wind," Geo muttered to himself.
From 10 a.m. until 11 p.m., Yaku pushed himself until he passed out again. His progress was going well, and he could feel himself improving rapidly. The next day, after breakfast, he went to the library again and spent the day studying ways to charge his mana faster and boost his reinforcement magic.
He found a spell that could boost mana regeneration in a set area by up to 30%. The only downside was that if the caster moved even slightly, the spell would break. For his current training, it was perfect—he never moved while meditating, only depleting and recharging his mana.
After lunch, he began training with the new spell. Immediately, he noticed a huge difference in how quickly his mana regenerated. His training speed had doubled.
One week passed. Yaku continued increasing his mana reserve while observing the spars at the training grounds. He still hadn't seen anyone stronger than Geo or the redhead—until one day, he got caught while trying to sneak around, watching from the bushes.
"Well, well, well… who do we have here? You're the reinforcement magic guy, aren't you?" the redhead said to Yaku