Two Months

"Come on!"

"Ah, another miss!"

"Haa, haa..."

"Alright, I should take a rest," I said to myself as I sat on the floor in my apartment and leaned my back against the wall.

Two weeks have passed since I came to this world.

For the past few days, not much has happened. And I've been mainly training.

Whenever I had mana, I would use it to practice my skills.

And whenever I was out of it, I would work out and wait for it to regenerate.

At the moment, I was trying to improve my lightning bolt's accuracy and speed.

I placed a can 5 meters from me and shot at it. Out of 100 shots, I only hit 24.

'Maybe I should ask Sarah for a tip.' I thought as I drank water from a bottle.

"Let's see. It's 21:37." I said to myself as I checked the time.

With the money I made from upgrading mana stones, I bought a NEARWatch [G].

At the moment, I was able to make 60N per day from mana stones. But buying so many materials and transporting them to my apartment became troublesome.

It also took too much time, so I decided not to expand my stone farm.

I checked my status to see the results of today's training.

――――――――「 Status 」――――――――

Name : Michael Bertz

「 Stats 」

Rating : [1.10]

Vitality : [0.14] -0.01

Mana : [2.36] +0.10 (+0.01 today)

Strength : [0.72] +0.10 (+0.01 today)

Agility : [0.63] +0.01

Intelligence : [1.65]

Luck : [2.80]

Special Point 0.23

「 Skills 」

――――――――――――――――――――――

My stats didn't improve that much, and my progress slowed down a little.

The reason was that the stronger you got, the harder it was to increase your stats.

'I guess normal physical training without special equipment isn't too effective.'

There was nothing I could do about it. The training equipment was way too expensive, so I could only wait for the academy to start.

"Huh?"

'My [Vitality] got lower?' I thought as I noticed the decrease in one of my stats.

I could only think of three reasons for it.

The first was that I had an injury that my body couldn't heal.

The second was that I was poisoned.

And the third was that I had something inside me that my organism couldn't deal with.

'So that confirms it...' I thought as I left my apartment and went to Sarah's.

"I'm back."

"Welcome back," she replied while browsing through her NEARWatch.

"Hey, do you know any good healers?" I asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"My Vitality decreased."

"I see- HUH?" Realizing what I said, Sarah looked at me with wide eyes. Then she continued.

"By how much?"

"0.01," I replied.

Before I noticed, she was already behind me and placed her hands on my back.

'Fast. She is really fast for a mage.' I thought.

I felt Sarah's mana invade my body and spread through it. While she was doing so, I heard her say.

"You don't seem to be injured or poisoned..." After a short pause, she continued.

"Which means only one thing, you were curs-"

"I have a terminal illne-"

"Huh?" We both exclaimed, surprised.

'Right, being cursed could also be the reason.'

"Ah, right, there is also that option," Sarah said.

"It's been a while since I last heard this term." she continued.

"Why?" I asked.

"You don't know? Since system and mana appeared, healing them is no longer impossible."

"Then how do I heal it?"

"With your mana or by increasing your Vitality stat."

'I don't think my special points will be enough.'

"How do I heal it with mana?" I asked.

"Hmm. Sit down and close your eyes. I'll show you."

Sarah sat behind me and placed her hands on my back. While doing so, she said.

"Now that I think about it. It's actually going to be a good exercise for you."

"Do you feel my mana invading your body?" Sarah asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"Alright, now, with your mana, try to push it back or remove it from your body. If you don't remove it fast enough, you might get injured."

'Easier said than done.' I thought to myself.

Sarah spread her mana to all the parts inside my body. If finding it wasn't hard enough, I also had to get rid of it.

"How do I remove it?" I decided to ask.

"Try surrounding it with your mana and gather it in one place, then release it. It's the same as if you were casting the lightning bolt but using my mana." Sarah explained.

I did as she told me and slowly, one by one, gathered all her mana particles in my finger. It took me 10 minutes.

I tried using my skill.

A small purple lightning bolt appeared. This time, however, it had a weird white glow to it.

'Hmm? Is it because I'm using Sarah's mana to cast it?' I wondered.

"Now, release it," she said while creating a small barrier in front of her.

I shot it at her. When it came into contact with the barrier, I heard a loud sound, and a small explosion occurred.

Maybe that was an understatement. It wasn't small at all.

After the smoke dispersed, I saw a barrier around me. Then I saw Sarah lying on the floor, a meter away from where she was. There was also another barrier surrounding both of us protecting the apartment.

'Holy shit.' I thought after seeing the results of my attack.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked as I got closer to Sarah.

"Yeah, haa, that was stronger than I expected. Good job." She said as she quickly stood up.

Suddenly a small window popped up in front of my eyes.

――――――――――「 Level UP! 」――――――――――

<Purple Lightning Bolt(Active)[E]> is now level 2.

New ability unlocked!

Lvl. 1 - You can shoot a weak lighting bolt.

Lvl. 2 - Your lightning bolt is 10% more powerful.

Lvl. 10 (MAX) - ?

―――――――――――――――――――――――――――

"Huh?"

"What?" Sarah asked.

"My skill leveled up," I replied with a smile.

"Congratulations! What's your new ability?"

"It says that my lightning bolts are 10% more powerful."

"That's great!"

She then continued.

"Anyway, we're not done yet."

"Sit back down and close your eyes."

I did as she told me.

"Now spread your mana through your body and search for irregularities inside. Don't skip any part, and don't rush it."

"It will be way harder to find them."

"It might take you hours, days, or even weeks to find them. So don't get impatient."

Two hours passed and I couldn't find anything.

"Haa, I couldn't find anything," I said, disappointed.

"It's alright. Just do it every day for 1-2 hours, and you should be able to find it. Do it until your vitality recovers back."

"Ok, thanks." I thanked her and then remembered that I wanted to ask her for a tip.

"Oh right, I also wanted to ask. How do I increase the speed and accuracy of my lightning bolts?"

"Tell me first, how were you casting it up until now?" Sarah asked.

"I gathered mana inside my finger and shot it," I replied.

"I see, I see." She said as she held her chin with her hand and thought about something.

After a few seconds, she said.

"I think I know how we can increase the speed of your lightning bolts, but the accuracy is something you have to figure out yourself. You are probably cutting the connection with your bolt after you send it flying."

She guessed and then explained.

"What you need to do instead is maintain the connection with it and continue to channel the mana into it. This way, it won't slow down. It will even speed up while it flies. But it will also consume more mana."

"I see... Thanks."

"No problem." She replied while smiling and then continued.

"Anyway. It's getting late. We should go to sleep soon."

"Yeah."

As I lay down on the bed, I recalled the past two weeks that I spent here.

"Fuuuu." I sighed, relaxed, and slowly went to sleep.

'It really is nice...'

'I really like it here...' I thought.

...

6:30 - 31st August 2071.

*BRRRING*

The loud sound of the alarm clock awoke me from my sleep.

"Fuaaa," I made a lively sound as I sat up while stretching my hands.

Almost two months have passed since I came to this world.

'Today is the day,' I thought while I excitedly stood up from my bed.

As I left the room, I realized.

It was unusually quiet.

'Hmm?'

"Sarah?" I tried calling for her.

"Sarah?"

There was nothing but silence.

I looked around the apartment and saw a prepared breakfast on the table.

"Huh?"

Next to it was a piece of paper with a message on it.

"I have to go for a few days, but I'll be back soon.

I'm sorry. I won't be able to see your performance on entrance exams.

I know how hard you trained during those last two months.

Do you think I didn't notice someone use mana every day

inside your apartment? Hehe, not on this Big Sis watch.

I'm cheering for you, so you better don't disappoint me.

Me.

PS. I left the keys to the apartment near the entrance. Don't worry. I have spare ones. They are for you. You can come back whenever you want."

'Typical Sarah.' I thought as I read through the letter. A small smile appeared on my face.

"Pfft"

'Don't make it sound like a goodbye.' I thought.

I finished breakfast and washed myself.

Then I changed into the clothes I prepared the day before.

I went to the entrance and put on my shoes.

For the last time, I checked if I had packed everything.

As I opened the door, I thought.

'So it's finally here, huh.'

'The day I trained so hard for...'

'The day when the plot will finally begin.'

While standing in the corridor, I looked back at Sarah's apartment through the open door.

'The next time we meet will be at the academy.' I thought as a gentle smile appeared on my face.

'I promise...'

New chapter.

Hope you enjoyed.

Thank you all for your support!

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