NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60: 60. Pain
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Two figures could be seen in a room.
"Argh, it hurts!" A female voice could be heard groaning.
"You were the one who asked me to do this," Akeru said, unfazed.
"But you are being too rough. Haven't you heard of the phrase to be gentle with a lady?" Erza said.
"No, I haven't. Now get back to enhancing your muscles."
Akeru's teammates had asked him to help them increase their mana control quickly, which Akeru complied with, as it wasn't really disadvantageous for him.
He could train them while training himself, as the method he was using was quite effective.
It was so effective that Akeru deduced that if he had used this method to train his own control, he would have taken only 60 percent of the time he originally took to reach his current level.
That method was through pain.
They would try to push considerably more mana than usual into their enhancing and hold it, such that it would lead to muscles being torn.
However, Akeru could always heal those injuries.
The positive aspect was that due to the pain and doing this successively, they would be able to increase the maximum amount of mana they could infuse into their bodies.
So, in the following week, Akeru took turns to "help" everybody, while continuing his own training simultaneously and incorporating the insights he had gained from Ladros.
'After completing this, I would focus on that,' Akeru thought while "encouraging" Erza.
---
Time -- ? Location -- ?
A little boy covered in a hood could be seen walking in the streets of a town.
However, if one observed closely, one would notice that despite the figure being hooded such that one cannot discern their identity, his whole posture screamed elegance.
The boy was undoubtedly a noble.
"Have you heard that those Diamond bastards are starting to get active again?"
"Those wretched bastards. Just one of them getting here could lead to so many casualties. My mother was killed when one of the invaders was in a battle with our Clover Kingdom's knights."
"Due to our town being close to the border, we will be the only ones who will suffer. Our Lord doesn't do anything concrete whenever this happens."
"My brother had already left this town last year. It seems he was right after all."
"I would rather die here than leave my hometown!"
He listened to the conversations throughout the town, which collectively had a grim atmosphere.
Suddenly, somebody stumbled into him and fell down.
"Are you okay?" The boy asked while stretching out his hand towards the fallen person.
He noticed a white-haired girl around his age, dressed in rags, was the one responsible.
"I-I am fine. Sorry!" She said while taking his hand and getting up.
"It's fine. Why are you in such a hurry?" He asked while looking behind her to check if somebody was following her.
"Uhh..." She muttered, unable to say anything more.
The boy noticed that she was on the verge of crying.
"Let's talk somewhere else."
---
Location -- ? Time -- Within 1 week of Akeru arriving at the border.
In a dark room, a few figures could be seen sitting.
Nobody was speaking, and there was silence throughout the room.
Someone finally decided to break the silence.
"So... Ragus has been killed," an old voice said with three parts sorrow and one part disdain.
"Let's declare war on Clover Kingdom!" A furious voice could be heard, from his tone suggesting he was barely restraining himself from rushing out immediately.
"I second that!"
"I think we should first get more information about the situation. Ladros has probably been captured if not killed. His status is unknown. We need to tread carefully as we have lost two of our pillars," a voice intercepted the previous one's rage.
"Are you trying to imply that WE ignore his DEATH?"
"Calm down, old man. Though I would love to get rid of those Clover vermin, we can't rush like brutes."
---
"Hehe, rune arrays are really awesome. You could do anything with them," Akeru said while feeling giddy.
Currently, he was chatting with Ren, who was on a break from the hellish training he was suffering through.
"Indeed, I would say that you might have already noticed this, but it would become more prominent as your skill grows in this field. Rune Arrays is a kind of manual method to make spells, irrespective of whatever attribute you have," Ren said while maintaining his stoic facade despite the fatigue he was under.
"Yeah, I had already noticed this. They are directly dependent on the understanding of mana, so it also leads to our spells getting stronger and increases one's chances of incorporating another attribute or variable in their own spells," Akeru nodded.
He had gained this overview of magic during his initial days of delving into this art.
"Yup, that's the reason why it's said that anything is possible to be made by advanced-level rune array experts. The only thing limiting them is time," Ren nodded in agreement.
Akeru hummed, "Though I would like to continue talking with you and broaden my perspective, break time is up. Let's get back to our training."
Ren's stoic facade may or may not have broken at that time.
---
"What drives you?" Akeru suddenly asked the question to Kaiser.
Out of all three, Kaiser was the only one who had not only not complained once about this training but had also increased the intensity by several folds.
Even Akeru himself didn't have any confidence to take on the amount of pain Kaiser was enduring in continuous attempts.
"I have a goal," he said.
"You had mentioned this before, but I don't think that was the only reason, right?" Akeru asked with his eyebrow raised.
"Well, I also have to protect my sister."
"I see," Akeru didn't ask him any further, as it would be unnecessary prying.
'Getting stronger to protect people... it's quite different from my reason, which is only due to my own survival... I guess it would also create some pressure on the person, as some people become complacent only when they are involved.'
Akeru looked at the ceiling of the training room, while Kaiser's roughed-up breaths could be heard.
'Well, whatever. Let's not ponder too much. I am close to accomplishing all my goals regarding pure mana applications.' With that thought, Akeru got back to his grinding.
---
With that, nearly one week passed, and Akeru was summoned by Rill.
"Hello?" Akeru said to an old man wearing a butler's attire.
He was currently standing outside Rill's office and was intercepted by him.
"I would like to give you my thanks for being the young master's friend," the old man suddenly bowed.
"Wait, wait. No need to do that. People will get the wrong idea," Akeru said while looking left and right to see if anybody was present. 'They will probably think I am into bullying old men or something.'
'Also, since when am I Rill's friend? Though saying that here is obviously foolish.' Though Akeru was a child in his previous life and his soul age would be barely 18 years old, thus being inexperienced, he clearly had this much common sense to know what not to speak.
"Ahem, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Walter, Rill's butler," the butler said after bringing his head up.
"Though you already know this, I am Akeru. Nice to meet you. Rill is really lucky to have you on his side," Akeru was not lying when he said that.
'This guy is clearly a Senior Magic Knight level. His old age really gives a wrong impression.'
"I would like to deny that. I am lucky to serve a person like the young master," the butler denied his claims.
"Hehe, you saying that itself serves to fuel my point," Akeru smirked.
"Well, I have kept you from meeting young master for long enough. I would like to apologize for that," Walter said while stepping away from the door.
"No worries," Akeru said with a smile and entered Rill's chamber.
"Yo Rill, sup."
"Sup. How is your stay so far?"
"Apart from food, everything is good," Akeru unconsciously made a face while remembering the food.
"Haha, what would you expect when you are on a battlefield?" Rill said with a smile.
They exchanged some more words before Rill came to the main topic.
"I have a mission for you. You need to infiltrate the Diamond Kingdom."
***
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