Final test[1]

"Don't be discouraged, boy. It usually takes years to achieve mastery with a spell." The man encouraged the boy. His speech was correct. There were cases of wizards spending decades on the same spell to improve it by even 1%.

The paths of magic were extremely complex, mainly because there were no teachers. Practically everything varied from person to person, from how they manipulated mana to how they cast a spell.

Even people who use the same base, as was the case with the kingdom's national basic education, still had small variations made subconsciously.

Kayden went on to his third fight. It was the same hallway and the same room with the television. Nothing different. Kayden felt like this part was a waste of time. Seeing or not seeing the video wouldn't change what he had to do.

"Guide, can we skip this part? It won't make any difference." The boy received the same piercing look as before, and after a few moments of silence, the man surprisingly agreed.

"OK." With his sentence, the two headed toward Kayden's third fight.

The time has passed.

Kayden had no idea how long he had been fighting. When he asked the guide, his only answer was:

"I can't talk about timing. Typically, customers experience a small decrease in performance. I don't know exactly why yet, but that was the result of my hands-on testing." His tone was excited when he said this.

Every time he spoke to the ghost, Kayden got the impression that the man just saw him as little lab rats. His excitement in trying out different things to increase progress made the boy feel even more excited.

Several times he saw the man change his emotions at specific moments and then write something down in his notebook, or exchange the questions from the psychology session for small talk, every detail was tested and written down.

Even the color of Kayden's room or the shape of his bed has been changed. He slept on the stone floor, on a bed of straw, on wood, with a fire instead of a torch.

It was... scary.

His routine at the moment was based on fighting, being knocked unconscious, reflecting on his spells and his fight. The 4 hours were changed to 2 sessions, totaling 8 hours. That was the only sense of time he had.

And even more bizarre was that the guide kept him unconscious from one session to the next. Every time it seemed like he had gotten a good night's sleep and was ready to give it his all again.

Every fight he went through became easier. His opponents remained at the same level of cultivation, but they no longer had the same level of experience. So far, the boy has fought in 14 fights.

You could say he was a serial killer, theoretically. In practice, nothing has changed. His mentality remained the same, none of his deaths caused him regret. It seemed strange how quickly and easily he absorbed this experience.

His spells showed small improvements, all of this was only possible because of the support given by the ghost. His every observation was spot on and pointed out a flaw that Kayden had never noticed before.

With this, his fighting style was even more refined. It was the same as when this all started, but now a little more lethal. He discarded many useless actions and techniques.

Ironically, his swordsmanship grew from simple to become more complex. Your acceleration has seen a small improvement of... 1%. It seems little, but if we take into account that it is 1% of your total strength, it is a good result.

Probably, over time, this percentage would decrease. The spell wouldn't be able to keep up with his rank. Haste was pretty much the lowest electric swordsman-type spell in existence.

Its concentrated beam has had an improvement in firing speed. While before it was possible to see the small attack slowly forming, now it came out unexpectedly. The problem is that the new version was weaker.

So, he needed more mana to have the same result. In a way, they were two different spells. One was for surprise attacks and the other for decisive moments. His Pop Flash didn't have any major changes in its strength.

However, a small change made it dozens of times more deadly. Kayden has learned to hide his activation. The opponent only saw the spell moments before it erupted. Even when he was prepared, he would still have to pay constant attention.

Therefore, his focus was divided between fighting and focusing on any part of the boy's body to see if anything was forming.

Success. Kayden took a deep breath. A body full of cuts could be seen next to him. He was at least 2 meters tall and packed with muscle. Every inch of his skin and clothing was stained with blood.

Kayden had one arm hanging to the side, almost half of the bone sticking out. This fight was pure carnage from start to finish. Kayden failed to land any decisive blows.

His attacks were to wear down the opponent. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of cuts were made with his sword. This was the longest fight he had ever had and the most stressful. Any mistake on his part represented a fatal blow.

Fortunately, he only made one mistake. But on the other hand, this mistake resulted in his arm being twisted at an angle that didn't exist. His muscle was completely obliterated and his bone broke in two.

It took just a few seconds with this situation. If not, the boy doubted he would have won. Knowing what would happen now, he turned to the guide expecting to be knocked out. The man laughed and raised his hands.

The boy just closed his eyes and waited. Unconsciousness didn't come...

"You make it sound like I put you to sleep often, Kayden," the man said. At the same time he heard this sentence, the boy felt excruciating pain in his arm. He could feel his bones and muscles being forcefully mended.

The guide's healing art was truly unlike any Kayden had ever experienced. Typically, this type of magic worked by speeding up the body's natural process and, in some cases, making small changes so that recovery wouldn't go wrong.

But the ghost thing didn't work like that. His magic simply forced the body to recover. The speed was much greater. He pretty much just gave the body a warning like, hey, you're patched up, hit the right nerves there.

A few seconds later, the healing was complete. Kayden felt brand new.

"You've finished your training. Let's go to the final test. It won't require too much effort," said the guide as he walked away. "You don't have to go through this if you don't want to, but there is a little bonus reward."

Kayden said nothing and followed the man. Since he had come this far, there was no harm in going all the way. When you're in hell, you should embrace the devil, right?

The two stopped facing a wall.

"Your last chance, Kayden. If you enter this room, you will have to complete the task given to you. Make your choice", said the guide, giving the boy one last chance. His tone didn't make Kayden feel good.

It seemed like he was offering the boy a way out and not a choice per se.

"I'll go all the way," Kayden replied curtly and waited. Seeing his decision, the guide opened a stone door in the wall and entered.

Kayden came across a room similar to all the others he had been to in this place. The only different detail was a baby bed in the center... Bed... Baby? Kayden was surprised.

These two words didn't fit the place he was in. It seemed almost unreal that something so pure could breathe the air of this guild.

The two got close and Kayden began to have a strong feeling that he should have turned down this mission.

"Isn't life beautiful?" said the man, starting to play with the baby. His tone didn't match his attitude lately. It seemed... Too human.

"Really cute," Kayden said, looking at the baby's rosy cheeks.

"I'm not talking about that piece of meat," the man replied. "It's about the ease with which we can mold it. While you see a living being, I see a blank sheet of paper. If I want to mold it into a dog, I can."

There it was. This conversation suited the man's personality type. Scary, without regard for any ethics or morals.