**Chapter 21: Forging The Spark **
the next seven days, the private training ground became my entire world. Sunup to sundown, the massive arena echoed with the crackle of electricity and the dull
thud
of elemental impacts against reinforced training targets.
Sara remained a constant presence in the corner. At first, she merely watched with dutiful reserve, occasionally stepping forward with fresh water, towels, or light meals. But as the days bled together and she witnessed the sheer, punishing intensity of my regimen, her quiet surprise shifted into silent respect. I wasn't just going through the motions of noble magic practice; I was driving myself to total physical and mental exhaustion every single day.
My focus was simple: total mastery over
Fire Bolt
and
Static Jolt
.
Days 1 to 3: Pushing the Output
Most E-Rank mages treated Tier-1 spells as temporary crutches—weak, low-cost abilities to be abandoned as soon as they ranked up. They cast a Fire Bolt with just enough mana to light a torch or singe a target.
I took the opposite approach.
Using my refined Mana Breathing Technique, I pulled deep streams of mana into my core, forcing maximum capacity into a single spell frame.
"Fire Bolt!"
Instead of the usual soft ember most mages produced, a densely packed orb of roaring orange flame materialized above my palm. When I launched it at the enchanted stone target, it didn't just singe the surface—it hit with the heavy impact of a cannonball, shattering the outer layer of stone before scorching it black.
The recoil jarred my shoulder, but I didn't stop. I cast it again. And again.
When my mana dipped low, I sat cross-legged right where I stood, cycling my breath to force my mana channels to expand under pressure. By the third day, the casting time for Fire Bolt had halved, and I could control its kinetic velocity to either pierce or push back targets at will.
Days 4 to 6: Neural Precision
Next came the real challenge:
Static Jolt
.
Fire was brute force, but lightning required ruthless precision. Standard Static Jolt was meant to deliver a mild sting, but my goal was to target the human nervous system directly.
I set up wooden dummies wrapped in copper wire to simulate muscle groups and nerve paths. Standing ten paces back, I summoned the lightning. Tiny, violent arks of blue light danced across my fingertips, stinging my skin as I struggled to contain the erratic energy.
"Static Jolt—Focus!"
BZZZT!
The burst was too wide; it scorched the whole dummy without penetrating the wire.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead, ignoring the faint tremor in my fingers.
Smaller. Sharper. Like a needle, not a net.
I closed my eyes and activated
Special Sense
. The world around me shifted into faint gray outlines, highlighting the delicate flow of energy within my own body and the dummy before me. With Special Sense active, I could trace the exact path the electric arc needed to take.
For three days, I refined the spell until the sprawling shock compressed into a razor-thin needle of localized voltage. By Day 6, I could shoot a microscopic arc of electricity directly into a dummy's joint, triggering the copper wire mechanism instantly. If applied to a real person, a single needle of Static Jolt would shut down their sciatic nerve or freeze their forearm mid-swing, leaving them completely wide open.
Day 7: Tapping into the Void
On the final day of the week, I pushed myself to the brink.
Though Ada had explicitly warned me that my Space affinity was only half-awakened and locked behind Level 10, I wanted to test its boundary. I needed to know what it felt like so I wouldn't be caught off guard when the time came to wield it.
Sitting in the center of the scorched arena, soaked in sweat and running on near-empty mana, I pushed
Special Sense
to its absolute limit.
I stopped looking at the physical ground, the stone walls, or the overcast sky. Instead, I focused on the space
between
them—the unseen fabric holding the arena together.
‘Ada... just a fraction,’
I gritted my teeth mentally.
Suddenly, a sharp, cold sensation pierced my mind. For a microsecond, the air two inches in front of my palm distorted, warping light like heat waves over hot asphalt. The ambient mana in the air vibrated violently, threatening to implode outward.
[WARNING: Host's physical vessel cannot support Spatial Distortion. Aborting channel!]
GASP!
The distortion snapped back like a stretched rubber band. A shockwave blew outward, kicking up a cloud of dust and sending me sliding backward across the stone floor. I collapsed onto my hands and knees, chest heaving, blood dripping slightly from my left nostril.
"Young Master!"
Sara dropped her tray and rushed over, her face pale as she knelt beside me, handing me a clean handkerchief. "That's enough for today! You're going to break your mana core at this rate!"
I wiped the blood from my nose and looked at my hand. It was trembling from mana exhaustion, but beneath the fatigue, a wide smile broke across my face.
I felt it.
It was faint, but the door to the Space element was right there. I was still too weak to push it open, but with my Fire Bolt delivering heavy kinetic burn, Static Jolt dialed in for nerve-paralysis, and my mana reserves expanded from a week of non-stop exertion, I was no longer the weakling everyone thought I was.
"I'm fine, Sara," I panted, accepting her help to stand up. "In fact... I've never felt better. Clean up the gear. It's time I pay Mother a visit about accessing the household treasury."