Crossing his legs, Kane sat face to face against Maur in the Rainbow Flowers Field. The lukewarm winds blew toward his face, stronger than they had been yesterday, whistling as they passed.

“Before we begin our magic training, I’ve to ask you a question. In your opinion, what are you lacking in relation to magic as of now?” asked Maur.

Kane raised two fingers. “Mana capacity and spell variety.”

“I don't disagree with what you’ve said.” Maur nodded. “But, there’s a much more fatal weakness than those two.”

“What is it?”

“Your spell efficiency!” he shouted. “Your mana usage to cast a spell is very, very abysmal! Boy, even an eight-year-old child fledgeling mage is more efficient than you.”

“Gee, I wonder why. Perhaps it’s because I never learned magic before?” Kane rolled his eyes. “Then, tell me how to fix it.”

“The solution is simple: cast spells that have the same elemental attribute every day as many as you can.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes. Keep doing that for twenty years minimum to reach the highest efficiency. That’s achievable for people with Level 10 talent. For other people, however, they require much longer time.”

“…Is there a faster way?” Kane lamented. He only had a year left before the tournament began.

“There’s another method, actually, but less common due to its wrenching and dangerous nature. Nevertheless, it’s much faster,” said Maur.

“Explain,” said Kane, intrigued.

“It’s called ‘One With the Element.’ To be proficient with mana, one must be familiar with the environment of the elemental attribute of the spell! That being said, which element do you want to focus on?”

“What are the elements? I’m not familiar with all of them,” said Kane.

“From the most common to the most niche, the elements are Neutral, Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Light, and Darkness. Most elements can be combined into a more unique one, but that’s reserved for later.”

“Huh, I’ve never realized that there are so many of them.” Kane pondered for a moment before choosing the element. “I’ve decided to focus on the fire element.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Because the only element I know is fire, and based on my experience, it has the most destructive potential out of them aside from lightning. I want to eliminate my enemies as quickly as possible,” he explained.

“You’re not wrong. Luckily for you, I know a place where to begin your training. It’s not far from here.” Maur began to hover.

Kane tilted his head. “I don’t remember creating a lasting fire.”

“Just shut up and follow me.”

Kane and Maur traveled to another area like yesterday, but this time, they were going west. After a while, they found a profound ravine. The deeper the depth, the darker it got. At the bottom, a thin thread-like red line was flowing.

“Before I give further instructions, I must ask you a question: which one of you two did this?” asked Maur.

“This one was him. He used his ultimate move on me, and I would’ve died if not for my exquisite armor. I had taken a glance at the crevice, but I never thought it was this deep.”

“Oh, I had been digging this crevice some time ago to find some precious minerals. Turns out, there’s plenty of them!” Maur exclaimed.

“Good for you. What should I do now?” asked Kane.

“Strip.”

Kane blinked twice. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Strip your clothes before going into the lava. Or do you prefer them to be burned?”

“Lava? Why should I go into-” Kane realized that if he finished the sentence, he would have to face Maur’s annoying wrath. He then started to remove every piece of clothing. Kane was now nude under the expansive sky without people around except the ant — if he counted as one.

Kane exhaled a long breath. “Ah, it’s been a long time since I’ve been naked outside. Embarrassing yet liberating.”

“Stop talking to yourself and jump.” Maur poked him with a mana ball.

“Wait-” Kane lost his footing and plunged into the abyss.

“AAHHH!” He screamed while falling. Was he going to die again? He hadn’t accomplished his goal yet!

For some reason, Kane hadn’t touched the lava yet. Upon realizing, his body was suspended in the air, hovering above the lava flow.

Scorching lava emanated blazing heat from below. It burned! Despite being quite far from the lava, every inch of his body writhed in agony.

“You’re alright, boy? I used a spell called [Mage Hand] and cast a barrier on you, so you won’t fall into the lava and are able to survive the heat. Your task is to meditate there,” said Maur, latching on the crag. He moved Kane inside a craggy cove with a river of lava flowing beside it.

Kane shouted, “Why didn’t you tell me beforehand!?”

“I thought you already knew my plan. It was obvious, no?” asked the ant with a mocking tone.

This… goddamn ant! Kane cursed in his heart. An urge to lash out against Maur swelled inside him, but he chose to calm himself down. Based on his experience, most of the time anger would only worsen the situation. Knowing what he must do was the topmost priority.

“Now what?” he asked, holding back the searing pain.

“Try to meditate for an hour. I’ll come back later to pick you up. Besides, staying in a hot area for too long isn’t very healthy.” Maur then flew away.

Kane closed his eyes and focused moving his mana inside his body, doing the same thing back when he was in the cave during the exam. His body started getting used to the extreme temperature, making it easier to enter a trance state.

---

“Wake up, boy!”

Hearing a familiar voice, Kane slowly opened his eyes. He saw the orange sky first, then Maur who was resting on the tip of his nose.

“Has… an hour passed by? Cough!” asked Kane with a hoarse voice. His throat and tongue were parched as if all of his saliva had gone.

“Drink this first.” Maur conjured a flask of water from his pocket dimension and threw it at the half-oni’s stomach.

Kane grabbed it. He guzzled the flask until it was empty in mere seconds, quenching his thirst. It was among the best water he had in his life.

“Heh, you look like a real oni now,” snickered Maur.

Finished drinking, Kane wiped his wet mouth as he gave the flask back. He checked his skin; it was as red as a cherry and dry. If anyone saw him in his current condition, they would see him as a pure-blooded oni.

“Tell me what happened,” said Kane.

“You managed to hold on for two hours before collapsing. You were getting too comfy down there, so I lifted you up with the help of my golem.”

Have I been fainting too often lately? It was three times already this month. He should reduce the number to prevent unwanted repercussions.

Maur spoke once more. “We’ll continue the training until you can withstand the heat for at least… a day. I must say, your current body isn’t too shabby, though weak. This training also serves as raising your resistance against fire and heat.”

“Killing two birds with one stone… That’s convenient.” Kane nodded in understanding.

After wearing his clothes, Kane and Maur teleported back to the academy. The shimmering stars glowed in the night and sounds of crickets filled the silence. Kane had nothing left to do except return to his dorm and sleep.

The next morning, Kane visited Liana’s home at the top of the royal library since today was the weekend; there was no class today. Before he could knock on the door, she was already approaching him. She wore an oversized simple white shirt that covered her knees and nothing else. Her hair was messy and bedridden.

“Good morning, Kane! You came so early.”

“Sorry, I’ve got nothing to do, so I thought I should visit you first. I can come back later—”

“Please don’t. I’ve been waiting for you since yesterday,” said Liana, opening the door.

Both Kane and Liana sat on the sofa. He told her about the spellbook to be read first; [Flaming Hand]. Despite hesitating at first to read aloud, she narrated the text smoothly. Kane closed his eyes, listening to her soothing voice. He tried to process the information, but it was hard due to the unfamiliar word choice and the formal language.

“Sorry to interrupt but, could you summarize it? Let’s save time for both of us,” interrupted Kane.

“Okay. Wait here, I’ll grab some stuff to help you.” Liana went to one of the rooms and returned with a large paper and a quill and ink. Putting them on the table, she said, “Basically, all you need to do is to remember this.”

She then scribbled on the paper and drew an intricate big circle with detailed lines and fire symbols, along with hundreds of runic letters stringed together, forming a full circle. The drawing was rough yet it conveyed the message with clarity. Kane peered at it closely and wondered out loud, “Your memory is incredible! Why is the spell book theory not simply a drawing of a magic circle instead of texts?”

“I don’t really know. I guess it’s too much work? Texts are easier to copy compared to drawings,” answered Liana.

“No wonder. Anyway, let’s go outside to test this spell.” Kane stood up and looked toward the window.

“Eh? You’re already able to cast it?” asked Liana.

“No, but you could, right?”

“I haven’t tried this one, to be honest. But yeah, I could,” she said with a weak smile.

They went outside and stood facing the entrance to the library. The wind was weaker than yesterday and the morning sky was clear.

Liana closed her eyes and extended her arm forward as she chanted, “Unranked fire spell: [Flaming Hand]!”

A red magic circle manifested on her palm. A fiery red flame ignited her whole hand, flickering wildly and radiating immense heat. To his surprise, Kane didn’t expect that from an unranked spell. The flame faded and finally extinguished. At the same time, Liana gasped for air, sweating profusely.

“What’s wrong, Liana?” Kane approached her. A mere unranked spell shouldn’t have drained her mana too much.

Liana glanced at him and pursed her lips, avoiding his eyes. “I… I’m fine. I was just tired suddenly…”

“You’re awful at lying.”

She took a deep breath, and blew it hard. “I… have a very rare disorder that limits my mana usage. It’s been plaguing me since I was born…”

It was all coming together. Now, he knows why those class S students seem to dislike her. “Does that come with your perfect memory?”

“Yes… I consider both of them a bane to me. They’re nothing but nuisances!”

“I don’t think remembering every detail is that bad. It’s very useful,” said Kane.

“Is it? Have you ever experienced bad and sad things? Try to forget those when you have my condition!” she cried with teary eyes.

“…”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you like that. It’s just… I’ve never let out my emotions to anyone.” Liana’s long eyelashes fluttered.

“You don’t have to apologize. Actually, it was my fault for asking you something like this to begin with. I never thought you had this condition before,” comforted Kane. “You’ve been alone all this time?”

“I do have someone to talk to, but they’re just another nobody to me. A stranger. I hope you’re not like them, Kane.”

“I won’t. I’ll visit you as often as I can,” he said.

“You promise?”

He paused. Kane hated making promises because he would feel guilty if he broke them. And yet, he couldn’t resist saying, “I promise.”

When he said that, her eyes fluttered. “Thank you… I’ll remember that.” Her expression shone with charming radiance once again.

Kane rubbed his nose, turning his gaze elsewhere. “Now that’s settled, I want to try the spell now.”