Chapter 368
Chapter 368
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 368
Chapter Title: Special Training (3)
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The real training began.
Practical sessions focused on the Shotgun Movement, and during breaks, he studied the fundamentals of laser guidance techniques.
Thanks to an hour of tutoring from Isabelle each day, he was also starting to get a rough grasp of Radio Waves.
Plu, returning after finishing her duties, would evaluate his progress for the day.
But from her strict lips, there was no sign of a passing grade.
“Too slow. Again.”
Shirone gritted his teeth and cast the Shotgun Movement. Each time, Plu would already be in front of him, grabbing his shoulders with both hands.
He hoped for a lucky break, but it seemed professional mages didn't make mistakes.
‘How in the world does she find me? No, is it even possible for a human to react this fast?’
To say it was simply because Shirone was inexperienced, her synesthesia was far too sensitive.
In any case, he couldn't complain about being taught by a brilliant mage, and so the days passed, one by one.
“Ugh!”
With a dull thud, Shirone rolled across the floor. His back arched like a bow, his face contorted in pain.
He had been so focused on the photon output that he'd missed his teleportation landing point.
Plu looked down at Shirone, collapsed at her feet, and said.
“Again.”
A brilliant flash, like a firework, erupted in the center of the training ground.
The photon output scattered in seven directions, and Shirone arrived safely at his destination. He couldn't even see Plu's face, which he had grown sick of seeing.
‘I did it! It worked perfectly this time!’
She had clearly failed to track the Shotgun Movement. As expected, Plu hadn't moved from her original spot.
With her eyes closed, she drew her index finger across the air.
“A~gain.”
Shirone, panting, asked back.
“Why? The force was perfect, and you couldn't catch me.”
“Look where you're standing.”
Shirone glanced around at his feet. The direction was right, and he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
“What's wrong with here?”
“Even at a glance, you only moved about 8 meters. Don't you use your teleportation compulsion set to 10 meters?”
“Ah...”
How could this happen? To make a mistake on the most basic of basics.
“Listen carefully. Your teleportation compulsion must not waver under any circumstances. In a real battle, hundreds of turns pass in an instant, and you have to navigate through complex terrain. If your compulsion wavers, you die in that moment. That's why even high-level mages rarely change their compulsion during combat.”
“Yes, I'm sorry.”
At his dejected reply, Plu put her hands on her hips and snorted.
“When your fundamentals start to weaken, it's a sign that you're becoming more technically skilled. But this is precisely when you can't let your guard down. All applications ultimately stem from solid fundamentals.”
Shirone clenched his fists and took her words to heart.
Fundamentals. The fundamentals are everything.
The next day.
Shirone finally succeeded with the Shotgun Movement.
Plu couldn't move, and his direction was precise. Furthermore, his teleportation distance was a perfect 10 meters.
“Ah... I finally did it.”
He was so tense he couldn't even properly feel the joy of success.
But Plu still wasn't smiling. Instead, she approached with a colder gaze than before, as if to say this was just the beginning.
“Alright. Let's get serious. Your very own Shotgun Movement.”
Understanding Plu's meaning, Shirone immediately corrected his expression.
The Shotgun Movement was a good spell on its own, but the reason he had chosen it from among countless magic books was its potential to be converted into an attack spell.
‘Don't be nervous. It's just a matter of changing the photon output into a Photon Cannon.’
He had spent three weeks on the Shotgun Movement so far. If he didn't pass now, it would be delayed by several more days, and he would be desperately short on time to learn the advanced laser guidance magic.
“Go ahead. I'll take it head-on.”
Plu's gaze was completely different from when she had been evaluating his Shotgun Movement.
Unlike photon output, the Photon Cannon was a pure attack spell. Also, as this was the final evaluation, he felt a duty to give it his all.
Shirone took a deep breath and measured his timing. Anticipating one second ahead, he broke his opponent's tempo by teleporting at the 0.5-second mark.
His body glowed as Photon Cannons shot out in all directions, and at the same moment, Plu moved.
Shirone arrived on the west side. Therefore, what flew toward Plu, who had arrived on the south side, was a Photon Cannon.
The moment she sensed the Photon Cannon through her Spirit Zone, Plu's head snapped back involuntarily.
The Photon Cannon that grazed past her eyes slammed into the wall, and the training ground rumbled with a *thud*.
“S-So, how was it? Do you think this would work in a real fight?”
“...”
Plu reviewed the situation from a moment ago.
The pressure of facing the Photon Cannon was much stronger than she had anticipated. The source of its power was its incredible speed, which set it apart from other spells.
Near-light speed was a standard created to define the speed of light as manifested by magic.
It wasn't used in physics, but it was a speed indistinguishable from light to the naked eye.
If you shot an arrow with a luminous object attached at night, it would look like a flash of light.
But the Photon Cannon she had just experienced was much faster than expected. It was closer to the speed of a bullet from a gun. This meant he had properly balanced the ratio of mass to output.
A mass larger than a magic bullet came rushing at bullet speed. For the one on the receiving end, it caused them to freeze up.
The original Shotgun Movement, even if it failed to locate the opponent, was at worst a *dud*. This, however, was a *bang*.
“You pass. This will be more than effective in a real battle.”
Life finally returned to Shirone's face.
“Phew, what a relief. The hard work of the past three weeks paid off. Thank you so much!”
As there was nothing more joyous for a mage than learning a new spell, Plu, understanding Shirone's feelings, wiped the stern look from her face and smiled.
“I should maintain this feeling. Is it okay if I keep practicing?”
“Of course. It's important to remember the feeling of success. Just don't overdo it.”
From then on, Shirone practiced the Shotgun Movement until he was exhausted.
After two hours, no matter which of the eight directions he moved to, there was no longer any error in the power of his Photon Cannon.
“Oof, my back.”
Plu, who had been watching Shirone's training, patted her stiff back from dodging the Photon Cannons.
If she had dodged with physical strength, it might have been fine, but moving with control-type magic was bound to take a toll.
‘Once he gets the hang of it, he masters an intermediate technique in just two hours. Talent is talent, after all.’
She had read in an academic journal that Shirone's specialty was insight. A mage with an extremely strong tendency to delve into the core of things rather than miscellaneous techniques.
That was probably what Gaold was counting on as well.
“Phew.”
Having finished his training, Shirone looked up at the ceiling, his face drenched in sweat.
The state of total immersion born from a sense of accomplishment was a miraculous period where one's skills could rapidly improve.
Mages called this a fever.
“All done?”
Shirone had a satisfied look on his face.
“Yes. I think I've gotten the hang of it.”
“Starting tomorrow, we'll move on to laser guidance techniques. But there's something we need to address before that.”
The joy of success vanished from Shirone's eyes.
He had to listen, no matter what it was.
Having spent time with the professional mages of the association, their way of thinking had naturally become a part of him.
“Watching you for the past three weeks, I've noticed your balance is severely off.”
“Huh? My balance?”
Plu swirled her finger to roughly depict Shirone's Spirit Zone.
“The biggest problem is that your Spirit Zone is too large. Just by sensing it, it feels like it's over 80 meters in diameter.”
“Is that a problem?”
“In a real fight, victory and defeat are decided by the smallest details. It's crucial to strike a golden balance of density, volume, specific gravity, and durability. You have a tendency to, how should I put it, overdo things. If you're up against an opponent with 100 durability, an attack with 100 power is sufficient. But you unconsciously pour in 120, or 130.”
The Spirit Zone was the materialization of the mind, so it couldn't lie. Looking back on all his battles so far, he realized she was right.
“It's the same right now. When our Spirit Zones overlap, your tension pokes at me. I was always curious about that. Unless you've only been fighting monsters all this time.”
Shirone couldn't deny it.
Looking back on the year since he started learning magic, he hadn't fought many opponents on equal footing. At least by his standards, every enemy had been a monster.
As Shirone fell silent, Plu understood. If he had indeed grown through such battles, it made sense that his Spirit Zone would be in a state of display, like a wounded beast.
“In any case, that state isn't good. I'll help you, so let's find your golden balance.”
Plu went to the wall and flipped the switch for the Image Zone.
As Shirone's Spirit Zone was visualized in a bluish light, she turned off the training ground's lights to increase the clarity.
Shirone simply stood there, quietly watching his beautifully glowing Spirit Zone.
At that moment, Plu hugged him from behind, pressing her body completely against his.
“Uh, hey...”
“Stay still.”
Plu cut Shirone off with a calm, subdued voice.
Then, as she extended her own Spirit Zone, Shirone's was clearly transmitted to her through synesthesia.
‘He really is tense. Almost on the level of a mage on a battlefield.’
Plu closed her eyes, focused her mind, and then gave Shirone instructions.
“Now, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Shrink your Spirit Zone until you reach your most comfortable state.”
Shirone let all the strength go from his body and relaxed his tension.
His Spirit Zone, which had been tautly inflated like a balloon, gradually shrank, and his mind began to feel lighter.
“Good... keep going...”
As he shrank his Spirit Zone further, a tension he hadn't been aware of began to surface.
“Yes... just a little more...”
Plu used every ounce of her senses to feel Shirone.
“More. More... that's it. Yes, good.”
At that point, Plu's voice faded away.
Shirone, his head now bowed, found himself basking in a feeling of infinite comfort. It was warm and peaceful, as if he were in his mother's embrace.
Plu's eyelids rose slowly, as if waking from sleep.
“...Done?”
“Yes, this feels good.”
Taking her hands from Shirone's waist, Plu slowly backed away and moved silently to the Image Zone device.
She looked at the display panel. The diameter was 62.8 meters.
When the lights came on, Shirone opened his eyes as well. His mind felt refreshed, as if he had just woken from a long sleep.
“Remember this feeling. The size, shape, sensation, density, all of it. Everything contained within this 62.8-meter-diameter sphere is your current golden balance.”
He could understand what Plu was saying. The density had increased, making his surroundings feel clearer, and he felt his durability had become far stronger as well.
Above all, his thoughts flowed like water, without obstruction.
“It feels really comfortable. But 62.8 meters isn't much of an increase from a year ago. Will that be okay?”
“Yes, that's more than enough. Unless you're a sniper, you don't need a massive Spirit Zone. How often will you fight an enemy from a distance where you can't even see them? Just learning the Directional Formula will more than double your range.”
“That's true, but...”
“Trust me. A scout-type Zoner would need a Spirit Zone with a diameter of at least one kilometer. A communication mage has to use a detached Spirit Zone to transmit information tens of kilometers away. But among combat mages, there are some whose Spirit Zone is only 10 meters in diameter. Instead, they pour everything into density and durability.”
It meant that the mental state capable of drawing out 100 percent of a spell's efficiency was what was important.
“Don't be deceived by numbers. They just make your thinking rigid. Of course, gauging an opponent's capabilities with numbers is essential for a combat mage. But imagining the outcome beforehand is dangerous. No trait has an absolute advantage or an absolute disadvantage. The standards of what's favorable or unfavorable change depending on the opponent, and victory or defeat is decided by how well your style can adapt to various situations.”
Shirone nodded his head as if making a pledge.
“Yes, I'll keep that in mind.”