Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy this next chapter.

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I woke up early the next day. I sat up and saw that my body returned to normal from last night’s injection of mana. I felt lighter and stronger but I was still very sore.

I slowly injected a small amount of mana into my body and it felt like my body could stay in this strengthened condition longer. The exercise from last night forcefully made my body get used to having mana injected and stored within them.

My muscles aren’t able to generate mana but with this exercise, they can store mana for later use as well as strengthen them. I then had a thought, What if I injected holy magic instead?

I asked Malakir this and he just said, “Your body is not old enough yet, if you do that your growth will be stunted as the magic is permanent. Using mana first will allow your body to develop in the best way because the changes will only be temporary. That being said, I think we overdid it last night. Does your body feel any pain at all?”

“No, I just feel a little bit sore.”

“Its probably the bracer that’s helping you. Since injecting mana into yourself can count as magic.”

“But isn’t that a stretch?”

“Not really, again magic is the manipulation of mana. Just by manipulating pure mana you are consequently using magic.”

I nodded and started getting out of bed to get ready for the day. I made sure not to wake Alex as the sun wasn’t even up yet, changed clothes and asked Malakir about a little experiment that I had just thought of.

“Malakir, would it be alright if I tried to convert all of my mana into the different types and see how fast I can convert into all of them?”

“Why would you want that?”

“I think if I got used to shifting my mana, I would be able to confuse my opponents and surprise them with something they weren’t expecting.”

“Go ahead but start with a small orb. If you can change your mana to all of them within five seconds, do it with two orbs. If you can do that within another five seconds, increase the number of orbs by one. Then just keep repeating that every morning until you can get to 500 orbs.”

I stared at him and he said, “You had the idea, I’m just going to tell you how to do it. Now get started.”

I sat down and produced a small mana orb in front of me. I then transformed it slowly into a fire orb, then water, then wind, then earth. Just for the primordial mana it took me one minute to go through all of it. I then transformed it into light, dark, arcane and nature. Two minutes it took to go through the spectrum mana. I did the same with the supreme and it took me four minutes. Eight minutes it took me for the ancient.

I takes twice as much time every time I try have it become more pure, but if I have it be less pure it seems to be very short.

My mana is inherently Ethereal, being the second purest form of mana. Having it go back to it took sixteen minutes from the ancient mana.

In total it took me close to a half hour to go through all of the affinities’ mana types. I didn’t bother with Time and Space as I first needed to be able to use my magic that I can use proficiently in combat.

I went through all of the affinities again, this time going as fast as I could without letting things get out of hand. This time it took me twenty minutes. A full eleven minutes was shaved off but it was still too far from the five seconds that Malakir told me to get it down to.

This is going to be tough, I thought.

Alex woke up in the middle of my exercise but he didn’t notice anything as he was too tired and went to his room probably to go change. He came back and knocked on my door and said that breakfast was going to start soon.

I came out and he said that he was sorry for sleeping in my bed and I told him that it was fine since we were friends. We went to the cafeteria and ate quickly at our floor and headed to our first class of the day.

I didn’t bother listening to the lectures that morning as I was too busy focusing my attention to the small orb that I had hidden underneath the desk. I was continuing what I was doing that morning in class and before lunch started I was able to shave off five more minutes.

We met Sasha at our lunch table and she started talking about her class. We listened as she complained about a boy our age that was apparently berating me for being so weak. Since he saw me being fooled by Sieg.

I got mad at the mention of his name and told Sasha all about what happened yesterday. At first she was shocked that I would do such a thing but then she said, “Ha that guy’s going to be so surprised when I tell him!”

Lunch ended and Alex and I said our goodbyes to Sasha and we went to our summoning class.

Alex and I were the last ones to come and when Nathaniel saw us he shouted, “What did you guys do to Sieg?!”

“He got what he deserved,” I answered.

He ran up to me and was about to hit me when I punched him first. I was faster than him and stronger seeing as he got through yesterday through cheating.

He fell back and was about to come up and hit me again when a voice shouted, “Stop! Settle your differences later but right now stop!”

It was Ralph. Instead of jumping from his dragon he walked up to us from the entrance.

“We’re starting the lesson,” he said carrying a small sack.

He dropped it and it opened up revealing grey stone rings.

“Pick one of these up and put them on.”

We did as he asked and instantly I felt my body get much heavier.

“With the help of some of my friends we made these for you. You are to wear it every time you are at class. Outside of it you may take it off but keep it in your person always.”

I tried to stand up but it was difficult as my body felt like it was carrying a large stone on my back. I injected mana into my body and I was able to stand up, albeit I was rocking a little bit.

I was one of the few who were able to stand up. Alex could barely stand beside me and a few others too. Nathaniel saw me and with a shout he stood up glaring at me.

“Those that can stand, run up the mountain. Go now.”

We started walking step by step as our bodies slowly got used to the weight. The ring itself weigh five pounds but the enchantment made our bodies feel twice as heavy.

“Those of you that are on the ground, you have until they are out of sight to get up and follow them. Those that don’t you’ll follow those that had to drop out from yesterday,” we heard him say.

The flat ground was still alright as we didn’t have to lift our feet to much but when we got to the incline it got harder. The further in we got, the more obstacles we had to go through. A few of us were already crawling on the ground because they fell at some point and couldn’t get up anymore.

I tripped and almost fell crashing to the ground when I caught myself with a rock that was beside me. Using it as a crutch, I stood up once more and continued walking.

Nathaniel was closest to the mountain so he was in the lead when we saw him disappear. We started running up in earnest as we knew that we were near the end.

It took us a little over two hours to get to this point and we saw the same green scales scattered about. I remembered this area from yesterday as something I passed by early on. Yesterday it didn’t have any scales and that made the paper that much more reliable.

I grabbed one of the scales and was instantly back at the clearing.

“You did well,” said Ralph, “much better than yesterday.”

Alex appeared beside me and started to take his ring off when Ralph said, “Keep it on until class ends, you may take it off afterwards.”

Alex had to stop and stood next to me.

A half hour later and my body was now used to being able to stand with the weight. Walking is still a chore but manageable. I realized that I was only able to do this with magic injected and so I let some out leaving only enough to be able to slowly get used to the enchantment and be able to move with it without the help of magic.

When class ended there were only twenty of us left. We started with close to a hundred but the trials of yesterday and today reduced our numbers tremendously.

He wasn’t kidding about the harsh part.

“Tomorrow you will not be running up the mountain, instead you will participate in combat with each other. It’ll be single combat and the winners continue on for the next day. The losers will do another round of combat to find out who will be removed and who will continue. Of course you will fight while wearing these rings and magic will not be allowed. Class dismissed.”

He left and we all started heading to separate directions for free time. Alex and I headed to our mansion when a voice shouted, “Just you wait Zed, I’ll avenge my cousin for what you did to him tomorrow!”

Nathaniel was the one shouting and glaring at me with his eyes and then he left.

When Alex and I entered our mansion, Alex removed his ring while I kept mine on and we entered the bath.

After our bath and changing our clothes to another set of our uniform, we headed back to the Magus room.

When we entered eleven sets of eyes stared daggers at us.

“You’ve come,” said Alice.

“I’ve come and I’m only here to say one thing. I’m not joining this group, I can clearly see that you all do not approve of me and honestly, I think it’ll be a hassle to be a part of a group that doesn’t even want me to be a part of it.”

With that Alex and I started to leave but before we did I remembered and said, “Stay out of my way and I’ll even help you. But get in my way and I’ll be sure to do the same as I did to Sieg.”

We left and headed back to our mansion. Alex and I continued our exercises and then afterwards headed to dinner.

The principal came and found us on the way and asked, “Why didn’t you want to be a part of Magus?”

“That group thinks of me as a dog that bit its owners hand, they wouldn’t want me. I could feel it from their eyes.”

“No, no one in the school doesn’t want you in their group.”

“Stop the lip service Artemia, the 3rd prince has spoken and you will not change my mind. Besides, I’d rather it be this way rather than be locked up and having to take care of other people’s problems just because they couldn’t themselves. This way, I’m free to do what I want whenever I want.”

Artemia couldn’t say anything and just left Alex and I to head to eat our dinner.

It was true, I didn’t want to be chained to the group as I wanted to use all of my time to strengthen myself and I didn’t want to have to much distraction from it.

After dinner, we went back to our mansion and continued our exercises. I also told Alex that he will be cooking dinner every time now as his was much more delicious than the ones at the cafeteria and this way we can eat and quickly resume our training.

Alex was still unable to feel magic so he was still meditating. I, on the other hand, was able to reduce the time of switching the mana down to one minute.

It was hard work getting it down to such a number. After getting the time to one minute, Malakir told me to continue what we were doing last night.

I injected mana into myself and it didn’t hurt as much this time. I still felt hurt by it but it seemed like my body was slowly getting used to the pain of injecting all of my mana forcefully.

My body barely felt like it weighed any when my mana depleted. After it recovered I created twenty five inch diameter orbs and dispersed their mana and took in the dispersed mana.

It was midnight when I finally got done with my training and Alex was also already asleep.

“Is it alright that I keep on training for so long?” I asked Malakir.

“No, but since you are training with mana, you can train for as long as you need. Every time you replenish your mana, your need of sleep gets pushed back and you will need less and less of it. When you get powerful enough, sleep will not be needed and meditating will suffice.”

I nodded and changed clothes and slept next to Alex. I feel like we’re going to be sleeping in the same bed for a while since Alex just started his training.

Nathaniel bears a grudge against me, I thought, he’s also very strong. He might actually be stronger than Alex. Alex was barely standing when we got the ring but Nathaniel looked like he was able to stand perfectly. Well, if he wants a fight, then it’s a fight he’ll get.

And with that I slept and the next day started.

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