Relentless Training (2)
"Hurry up and do something already. You were going to, weren't you?" Haley said in a bright, excited voice as she plopped down across from me without a care in the world.
I had no idea how she'd even found me. The upper-class building was a good distance from the lower-class one. The classroom door had been shut tight, so it wasn't like she'd spotted me in passing. She had to have come looking for me on purpose.
"Why are you here?"
"I got curious about what you were up to. Looks like you're doing something fun, though."
"How did you know I was here?"
"That big friend of yours—the one you hang out with all the time—told me."
It must have been Dane. After class earlier, when we'd walked out together, he'd asked where I was headed since the school day was over. I'd mentioned I was going to study in an empty classroom. He wouldn't have known which one, though. Haley must have gone around checking every empty room until she found me.
I'd been concentrating on practice just moments ago, and now this annoying interloper had shown up.
"Stop being loud and leave."
"I'll be quiet, so just show me already."
"If you're not going, I will."
I deliberately stood up, crystal orb in hand, pretending I was really about to leave. Of course I wasn't actually going to switch spots—this was all an act to drive her away.
"Ugh… don't you have way too many secrets?"
Haley pouted and got up from her seat. I waited until her footsteps faded into the distance, then sent mana flowing into the crystal orb again.
I was trying to focus on moving the mana when I heard sneaky little footsteps creeping up right beside me.
"I told you to leave."
"I'll be super quiet, I promise. I came here to study too, you know."
Haley sat at the desk next to mine and held up a book she'd been carrying under her arm. I'd thought she'd given up too easily, but apparently she'd never planned on leaving me alone in the first place.
In the original story, Haley was the type to obsessively dig into anything that caught her interest. It looked like I'd become her newest target.
This is so annoying… Wait, no. Since it's already come to this…
I couldn't figure out why, but right now Haley was being targeted by the Cult. I had no idea what they were plotting, but it was undeniable that an ice golem controlled by one of them had appeared in front of her. It didn't seem like they were simply trying to kill her—there was probably some other purpose, though I couldn't begin to guess what it was.
Still, if the Cult made another move, it was a pretty solid bet that Haley would be involved somehow. In the original story, the Cult hadn't taken direct action against the academy yet, but they had moved in a way connected to her.
That meant I needed to keep an eye on Haley for the time being. And since she was strangely fixated on me, I didn't even have to make an effort. I could just let her keep showing up like this on her own.
"Fine. Then don't interfere and stay quiet."
"Got it! I'll be quiet. Shh…!"
Haley grinned, then pressed a finger to her lips in an exaggerated gesture.
Well, having her next to me wasn't going to stop me. It was an empty classroom—anyone could use it. And if Haley was around, even if I accidentally shattered the crystal orb, she wouldn't get hurt. Moving somewhere else now would be a hassle, and she'd probably just follow me anyway. Given the current situation, there was no real reason to push her away, so I let her do as she pleased.
I focused on the crystal orb again, staring at it hard enough to bore a hole through it as I tried to imprint my will onto the flow of mana. I needed to give it the concept of piercing through something.
Swish.
Failed again. The mana gathered in one direction for a brief moment before quickly losing strength and scattering. Knowing the method and actually pulling it off were two completely different things.
It was only a single step different from Magic Missile, yet it wasn't easy at all. Then again, that was exactly why I had never managed to learn any other spells until now.
All I could do was keep trying until it worked. The Cult had started making moves, so if I didn't prepare myself properly, I wouldn't survive. Practicing with the crystal orb didn't require nearly as much mana as casting the actual spell. It was just a simulation, sending a tiny amount of mana into the orb.
Besides, my mana reserves were much fuller than before, so I could keep going as many times as I needed. I stubbornly tried again and again.
"What are you trying to do? Projection… penetration?"
Before I knew it, Haley had crept close again and was talking to me.
"Weren't you going to stay quiet?"
"You're not just pretending to fail because I'm here, right?"
She completely ignored what I said and only spoke about what she wanted. From her perspective, it probably did look like I was faking it. With her exceptional talent for magic, she could do something like this as naturally as breathing without needing anyone to teach her.
On top of that, she'd witnessed my stacked Magic Missiles. It was only natural for her to find it strange that I could use such advanced magic but struggled with something this basic.
"I'm practicing because I can't do it. You said you came to study, didn't you? Go do your own work."
I jerked my chin toward the seat where she'd been sitting earlier. I didn't have time to bicker with Haley—I needed to practice even one more time if I could.
"Okay, fine…"
Haley backed off with a puzzled look on her face. I picked up the crystal orb again, determined to keep going until I succeeded at least once.
"You're eating, right? Where should we eat? What do you want?"
The moment I stood up with the crystal orb, Haley stuck right to my side and fired off a rapid string of questions. The way she acted, she might as well have been a three-year-old who'd just learned how to talk. She also seemed to assume as a matter of course that I'd be eating with her.
"I'm going to the training grounds."
I gave a short answer and quickened my pace. I'd kept telling myself "just one more time" until I'd completely missed dinner. Still, I'd managed to shape the mana into something close to the right form at least once. That made me want to test it even more.
Practicing with the crystal orb was only a simulation. To gain true insight into the magic, I needed to go to the training grounds and cast it for real. I'd never had enough mana to practice freely before, but now I didn't have to worry about that as much.
The constant near-success that stayed just out of reach had lit a fire under me. Even if I had to use mana potions, I was going to learn Energy Pulse no matter what.
"You're not even eating dinner?"
"I'll have some bread."
I'd decided to make do with bread for dinner today while I headed to the training grounds.
I'd figured Haley would go eat by herself, but she stubbornly followed me the whole way. She trailed behind me when I bought bread at the cafeteria, picked out the exact same kind I did, and naturally followed me all the way to the training grounds.
I understood that I'd somehow become the target of her curiosity, but I still couldn't figure out why she was going this far. She didn't seem to have any particular business with me. If she had something to say, she would've said it already.
Back in the empty classroom she'd stayed quiet when I told her to, and even during the walk to the training grounds she'd simply followed along in silence. What a strange girl.
Not many people came to the training grounds at night, so tonight it was just me and Haley. Warren had been spending most evenings at the library lately, saying he was struggling to keep up with the theory classes. Ophelia sometimes showed up too, but she wasn't here today, so the grounds were quiet.
I stood facing the training dummy ahead of me. Meanwhile, Haley had settled into a chair behind me, still munching on the bread she hadn't finished.
Whether I had an audience or not didn't matter. I had work to do.
I drew up my mana the same way I did when casting Magic Missile. I focused on giving it the intent to shoot forward like an arrow and pierce straight through the target.
The result was disappointing—a failure. The mana that was supposed to launch forward like an arrow scattered and vanished the instant it left my hand.
Even so, this was still a huge improvement. In my earlier attempts, it hadn't even taken proper shape at the start. The practice I'd done all afternoon hadn't been in vain.
Again. And again.
I set aside precise control and focused solely on casting the spell, repeatedly drawing up my mana. If I couldn't even manage this, I'd never be able to handle any other magic. And if that happened, surviving in this place would become nearly impossible.
More than that, I wanted to end everything before the Cult could properly set their plans in motion. To do that, I needed to become stronger.
It was a task that demanded intense concentration. I kept trying without rest until sweat poured down my body like rain. Still, I took comfort in the fact that my mana pool was now large enough to let me repeat this process over and over. Just one more time. One more time.
I was deep in repetition when—
"Hey."
Haley had walked up beside me with that same puzzled expression on her face.
"Want me to help you?"