Progress [bonus]

Once again, he was grateful for the thousands of battles he fought in the illusion. The boy promised himself to return there every year. It was simply the perfect training ground.

When he had this thought, a doubt arose: why didn't nobles train their children this way? It was simply perfect for developing battle techniques and experience.

His only conclusion was the cost. Maintaining an illusion of this size should be something that only a kingdom could afford. Otherwise, there would be geniuses by the thousands when it comes to weapons training.

Again, a special car took the boy home. This time, he was notified about the reward in a week and about the next phase of the championship, which would take place in about two months.

Author's note: I don't remember if I said it a month or two before, but I put two because it will be the best at this moment.

The week passed like a breeze. During that time, Kayden had almost one life-and-death fight a day. He felt that he was getting closer and closer to unraveling the technique he used subconsciously.

Only fights that pushed him to his limits were able to shed some light on his doubts. This was also good for him in the monetary department. Kayden had almost three hundred gold coins accumulated now.

After he reached the seventh rank, he was able to fight stronger opponents who had more resources than the previous ones. Even though there weren't many resources, they were still something meaningful to him.

Another discovery he made was about the seventh rank. He was simply a mana accumulation rank, he had absolutely nothing to improve. Kayden only discovered this after asking Han.

According to the old man, after reaching the seventh rank, you were an advanced apprentice and your foundation had already been established. The biggest difficulty during this period was accumulating mana and advancing to the mage.

But compared to the other ranks, the advanced level floor was the easiest to climb, but also the hardest to break. Most people spent years trapped in peak ninth ranks.

Even though their cultivation method was different, Kayden noticed that it was similar in reality. The more mana he accumulated, the closer he seemed to be to advancing.

This time, Kayden didn't need to be picked up by anyone and hired a taxi to take him to the reward area. It was the same organization, with several tents and a kind of giant garden in the center.

As soon as he arrived, he was greeted by the government support team who were on site and taken to his school's tent. Considering it was still 9 am and the prize wouldn't be given until noon, Kayden was early and didn't find anyone there.

The boy just took the opportunity to have breakfast again with the delicacies arranged on a table in the center of the tent. Not only that, but he continued cultivating. That was the only thing he could improve on at the moment. His technique had reached an impasse and he wouldn't be able to improve it just by reflecting. So, his best option was to cultivate.

Over the next few hours, all of his team members arrived. Astolfo had arrived just half an hour before the start of the event and looked like he had spent the night partying. His hair was all messed up and his clothes had drink stains.

A few minutes before noon, the mayor appeared floating in the air.

"Hello everyone. First, I would like to congratulate everyone who made it to the state championship and also those who became eligible to receive today's prize. You have six hours to cultivate freely. Good luck everyone," the man's voice resounded throughout the place.

Kayden and Astolfo headed to the penalty area and looked for a good place to settle down. It wasn't long before they found two chairs with a giant umbrella projecting a cool shade.

"Six hours left," a genderless voice resounded, and at the same time, mana exploded everywhere. Kayden's mind went into hyperfocus and an absurd degree of clarity thanks to the spell.

Without wasting any time, Kayden began to pull all the mana in the surroundings towards him. The boy looked like a big black hole sucking in everything around him. Once again, he caught the mayor's attention.

The man remembered that Kayden had already done something similar six months ago, but that wasn't the only thing that caught his attention, it was the fact that the boy was in the seventh rank, which meant that he had undergone a quality breakthrough in just a few seconds. months.

This was impressive. It was more than that, it was abnormal. Considering the boy was nine years old, he was only slightly below the level of high nobility. The mayor made a mental note to recruit the boy as soon as he had time.

Meanwhile, Kayden was experiencing one of the strangest sensations of his life. After ingesting mana for nearly an hour, his body seemed to be completely swollen and full.

Similar to when we eat too much, but the problem was that this was about mana. Kayden had never experienced anything like this before. It was completely bizarre. It took the boy about half an hour to return to his normal state.

After testing his mana flow a bit, the boy went back to cultivating in the crazy way he had before. This time, it took a little less time for him to absorb enough mana to feel full.

About 10 minutes less and the digestion process also took a little less time. The boy entered a sort of cultivation and digestion cycle for the next few hours, and at the end of the six hours, Kayden felt like he had made tremendous progress.

"If I use the remaining mana from the stone in the forest..." Kayden was shocked by the thought that began to emerge in his mind. Perhaps he would be able to advance again in less than a month.

That would be unbelievable.

Author's Note: I know it may seem like I'm rushing the story too much, but don't think about it. Everything that is happening was already predicted by me, and he needs to have a power boom. I promise it will be worth the wait.

Without wasting any time, the boy returned home after saying goodbye to Astolfo. Barely able to sleep with the intrusive thoughts in his mind, Kayden continued cultivating until late in the morning.

Overcome by tiredness, he went to sleep with a discovery. Every time he reached the state of bursting from excess mana and then went through the digestion process, his heart and veins would become a little stronger.