The Black Sphere Cracks

Alice laughed, taking it for a joke. Then she caught the seriousness on Chris's face, and her own went rigid.

"What's the matter with you? Are you sick?"

"You remember, when the prince was murdered, how the mages meant to kill every last suspect?"

"Of course I remember. I won't forget it till the day I die."

"A man ought to avoid standing beside the guilty and catching the lightning meant for them."

"You—!"

Alice seized his wrist.

"You're planning to cause trouble?"

"Hard to say."

"What are you about to do?"

Strength gathered in her voice.

"Tell me!"

"I'm just irritated. When a person gets irritated, they can end up doing something no one expects. I don't think it's anything much, but in the eyes of those cranky mages it might look like a killing offense. I have to be careful."

The feeling that something was badly wrong kept Alice pressing.

"What is it? What happened?"

"I don't want to end at Gyesin. I'm going to thrash and fight, at least."

"Thrash and fight?"

"The people above us might not look kindly on it."

"Chris!"

"My whole life is riding on this. Don't ask any more... keep your distance from me. Word's already out that I'm seeing you, so say you were the one who dumped me. I'm going."

Chris shook off the hand clutching his sleeve and left. Ten paces on he glanced back, waved, and was gone.

Alice and Catherine sat with grim faces.

"Catherine, he's going to cause trouble, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

"We have to stop him."

"Leave him be."

"Why?"

"He says he's staking his life on it. How are you supposed to stop someone who walks into a gamble with their life on the line? And I have no wish to suffer for getting tangled up with Chris. Once was enough of that."

"You were safe during the prince's affair, weren't you?"

Catherine had had an alibi.

"It was a hair's breadth. I could have been dragged in too."

"I can't just watch."

"Alice, if you stay close to Chris and get caught in whatever he does, the sparks will land on me too, because I'm close to you. Do you want me dead as well?"

"You're leaping to the most extreme conclusion."

"Chris told us to keep our distance. Why do you think he said that? Because he decided it was dangerous. I trust Chris's judgment. So did you. You said he's a smarter boy than he looks."

"Ah."

Alice let out a groan and buried her face in her hands.

Three days later the rumor reached even Chris's ears. Lai, the prodigy of Dormitory 1, sat down across from him, set a piece of pork rib on his plate, and grinned.

"Eat up."

Kindness out of nowhere made him suspicious.

"You sick or something?"

The boy grinned again.

"You're the one who's sick."

"Me? Nothing hurts."

"Your heart does."

"It does not."

Lai waved a hand, the picture of someone who knew everything.

"It hurts because you got your heart broken."

Then he clutched his stomach and laughed.

"Heard the ugliest girl in the Training Wing dumped you?"

Before Chris could deny it, Lai climbed onto his chair and blew a trumpet through his cupped hands.

"Bwoo, bwoo."

Delighted with himself, he even broke into song.

Everyone but Hailey laughed. Chris shot to his feet and stalked out of the dining hall, making a thorough show of being offended, but inside he was relieved.

Alice took my advice. Thank goodness.

He returned to his room and pulled off his shoes. Drawing on the secret method of Iron Body, he took in mana and set it circling. It pooled at the pit of his stomach, then sank toward his right ankle. Dozens of Black Spheres studded the channel; they scattered the flow and snuffed it out, so little of it ever reached the ankle. With his preparations finished, Chris set a lowest-grade mana stone beneath the sole of his right foot.

Go.

The sole drank deep of the wood-attribute mana sealed in the stone. He did not merely absorb it. He pressed the mana as it came in through his skin, raising its density. It was all wood-attribute, so there was no need to sort it. He only had to shape the leading edge to a point, like a spearhead, and give it a direction.

Boom!

The mana struck a Black Sphere.

Agh.

His ankle hurt as if someone had kicked it hard. He clenched down on the pain and kept striking.

Boom.

It hurts.

Boom.

It hurts too much.

Boom.

Even so, he endured the impacts and drove in again. Gently gnawing at the surface would take so long he would die of old age before he ever finished the Black Spheres. Pain or no pain, hardship or no hardship, he had to smash them.

Boom.

Five strikes, and the stone's mana ran dry. His ankle hurt so badly that Chris clutched it and whimpered like a dog.

After about twenty minutes the violent pain eased into a throb, and later still into a dull soreness.

Once it had subsided, Chris sent mana to probe the Black Sphere. A hairline crack had formed.

It works. It actually works!

He was so glad he bounced on the bed, until pain shot up from his right ankle and dropped him flat.

There were forty-one Black Spheres in his body.

How much pain will I have to swallow to break every one of these?

The prospect was bleak.

Damn Black Spheres. Damn Iron Body. Damn Tom.

Even so, he had to keep going. If he meant to become a mage, he had to endure this road and walk it.

Chris sat up.

I need mana stones.

Three years remained until the Staircase Festival. If he was to finish preparing at least his legs, he needed mana stones, and he needed a great many of them.

So that's why Donna gave me a lowest-grade stone as a gift.

Once a man had tasted it, he had no choice but to buy more. He disliked the sense of having walked into her design, but there was nothing to be done.

The next morning Chris stopped by Donna's shop.

"Remarkable salesmanship, making a man walk into the snare with his eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠open."

"What are you on about?"

Chris bowed his head.

"I lose. Wood-attribute mana stones, please."

Donna's face brightened. She opened the display case, took out five mid-grade stones, packed them into a paper box, and held it out.

"Five mid-grade."

"Why five?"

"If you haven't spent any, you've got fifty gold coins left. Five is right."

"Aren't mid-grade five gold each?"

"Ordinary stones, yes. Attribute stones cost double."

"I see that ten percent discount you promised went to buy bread."

Donna answered without a shred of shame.

"Did I say that?"

"You did."

"There's no profit in it."

Chris let his displeasure pour off him.

"Shall I take my business to Stan General Store?"

"Mana stones you buy at a proper shop. You don't buy them from a general store peddling every scrap of junk there is."

"Still seems better than getting skinned."

Donna sighed and tucked two low-grade stones and two lowest-grade ones into the box. Her hands trembled, as if it pained her.

"There. Will that do?"

"But wouldn't I be better off buying a lot of low-grade or lowest-grade instead of mid-grade?"

"No. You wouldn't. If the money's there, you buy the higher grade, no exceptions. Things cost more for a reason."

"Fine."

Chris handed over the pouch of gold and took the box of stones.

"Come back when you've got more coin."

Donna saw him off with a beaming smile.

For ten days, without the help of mana stones, he gnawed at the stone around the crack in the ankle's Black Sphere. Only after that preparation did he stand on a stone and draw in its mana. Having done it once, he was faster than before. Mana compressed and reshaped in a single breath slammed into the Black Sphere.

Boom!

The greater the speed, the greater the impact, and the pain grew in proportion.

"Ngh!"

Chris clenched his molars.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

The moment the collisions ended, he toppled backward. His ankle swelled as if he had sprained it.

"Aigoo, that hurts."

Chris crawled out of the room on all fours. Bracing against the wall, he got up and hopped down the corridor to knock on Hailey's door.

The door opened, and Hailey looked out. Her eyes went wide at the sight of him.

"What brings you here, mister?"

"You wouldn't happen to know how to make ice?"

"I do."

"Fire and ice both. Talented, aren't you."

"People tell me I have a gift for magic."

"Make me some ice for a cold compress, would you?"

"You're hurt?"

Chris pointed at his swollen ankle.

"Sprained it."

"Oh! That's more than a sprain. Wait just a moment."

Hailey made ice from the water in a bottle and wrapped it in a towel.

"Here."

"Thanks. I shall never forget this kindness."

Chris returned to his room and iced the ankle. After the swelling had gone down somewhat, he examined the Black Sphere and found the hairline crack had grown considerably.

"If only I could break it with the one lowest-grade stone I have left."

He tried again three days later, and learned that a lowest-grade stone was not even close. Over the next five days he used two low-grade stones and set about shattering the sphere. He succeeded in splitting it in two, but the broken pieces still blocked the passage. They no longer plugged it tight as before, so the mana moved more easily, slipping in and out through the gaps and gnawing at the fragments.

He was steeling himself to use a mid-grade stone—the ankle was swollen, yes, but it hurt so much that his mind needed preparing as well—when a knock came.

No one who ought to be coming.

"Who is it?"

"It's Hailey."

"Come in."

Hailey opened the door a crack and peered inside. Her nostrils flared as she sniffed, and she came in with a reluctant look, a towel packed with ice in her hand.

"Mister, it smells in here."

Chris gave an awkward laugh, drew the curtain, and pushed the wooden window open. Hailey tossed the ice-filled towel onto the bed.

"That ankle is taking an awfully long time."

"It is."

Chris rolled the towel and pressed it to his ankle.

"Ah, that's nice and cold."

"Go ask a mage to heal it."

"I don't have the money."

"There must be someone you're friendly with among the Jenyeom mages. Ask them."

"...?"

"Your basic knowledge is really lacking, mister. Once you reach the Jenyeom realm, you have to learn healing magic. A serious illness you'd take to a specialist healer, but something like a sprained ankle, they can fix."

Seeing his expression, Hailey clicked her tongue.

"You don't know a single mage?"

"There are mages I'm acquainted with."

Acquaintance, literally, was the problem. He had no mage close enough to ask a favor—only the likes of David, polite and distant, or Harvey, whom he wanted nothing to do with.

"Mister, you are truly terrible at getting along with people."

"So I am."

"Rest."

Hailey dipped her head slightly and turned. Chris spoke to the girl's back.

"Why are you being decent to me?"

Hailey answered without looking back.

"What's my job? I'm the proctor. I'm supposed to look after the dorm residents."

"You've got a strong sense of duty."

"I suppose I do."

After Hailey left, Chris kept the cold compress on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for a long while, until the ice had all melted.

At dawn the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠next day, up early, he took out a mid-grade mana stone. Just holding it in his hand gave off a cool, refreshing feeling.

"Expensive really is different."

It was a terrible waste, but there was no help for it. He laid the mid-grade stone under his sole and stood.

This is going to hurt like hell.

He squeezed his eyes shut and drew in the stone's mana. He compressed it, reshaped it, and lashed it into the Black Sphere.

Boom!

A roar that seemed to blank his mind white rang between his ears. This was no sound in the real world. It rang in his mind. At the same time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his ankle hurt as if it were being torn to shreds.

"Hhhhk..."

The groan forced its way past his lips of its own accord. It was a wonder he did not scream. Tears ran from his eyes.

Swearing inwardly, Chris drove the mana in again.

Boom!

Now his nose was running too.

Boom!

The next impact brought blood instead of snot. The shock from his ankle had spread through his body and burst a vessel in his nose.

Boom!

Snot mixed with the nosebleed and ran.

Wait. If a nosebleed means some weak vessel burst, then there have to be weak vessels elsewhere too. What if those burst?

If a vessel in his brain burst, he could be left paralyzed down one side.

Ah. This really is dangerous. Better to die than end up half-paralyzed...