After writing everything down in the book, I closed it and savor a moment of peace while sitting on the sofa. Though the occasional laughs and gasps coming from Reina helped me not to succumb to the dream world.
As I sat there, basking in the tranquil atmosphere, my mind began to wander.
The images of the burning city came back again after a long time. As the images became more vivid, I shook my head and displaced the thought away from my mind.
"That again…!" I said through gritted teeth, placing my hand on the temple.
Reina shifted her position as she heard my grunt, her eyes staring at me with a mix of wonder and worry.
"Master?"
Her head was tilted to one side as if asking me if I was okay.
I forced a smile even though a pang of pain still stabbed my head like a needle.
"I'm fine. Just reminded of something horrible," I said with a dismissive tone.
I thought that was going to make her back off, but I was wrong.
Reina's concern deepened, and she leaned closer, her voice filled with genuine care I'd never heard this type of voice of her.
"Master, you can't hide anything from me. Our soul and fate are intertwined with each other, I could feel what you feel, master, and you also could feel what I feel. And I know that this feeling I felt from you is telling me you're not fine at all."
It was true, our connection went beyond the physical realm. It was something that I'd already known in the first place. When an artifact willingly bound with its owner, the pact was made automatically.
The owner and the artifact would share sentiments after the bond. They could feel each other feelings and understood what each other wanted even without exchanging words.
Since Retro's Ego, Reina, was manifested. She had become a part of me.
That was the reason why I felt like I was always happy and optimistic, it was probably because of Reina's influence on me.
I sighed, realizing that I couldn't hide my true emotions from her. But I still didn't make an attempt to tell her what was on my mind.
"Master!" she scolded me.
It felt weird, to be scolded by something that resembled a little girl.
She pouted, and her hands on her hips, posing like a domineering figure.
"This won't do! I think we should just go to the amusement park again, master! Come on!"
I smiled, ruffling her hair again and again. A disbelief expression and hanging mouth were visible on Reina's face as I did that. "M-master! How many times are you going to ruin my hair?!"
I chuckled.
"Sorry, I can't help it. Your hair is so soft like a cloud," I said, standing up from the sofa. "Anyway, let's go."
Reina perked up with sharp, narrowed eyes while fixing her hair.
"To the amusement park?" She sounded like she was grumbling.
"Nope. To the training center."
…
Arriving at the training center, already in my P.E Uniform, I immediately started my training of the day.
After all these times. Since the first day of the academy calendar, I had always trained and improved my fundamentals— the basics of handling daggers and swords. Other than physical talents, I also trained my magical talent [Mana Control].
The talent [Swordmanship] had reached level 3, and [Mana Control] had reached level 2.
In my hand was Retro, the sword artifact with the ability that could reverse the outcome of my or my enemy's attack.
Today was a special training.
I had realized I couldn't rely on the one-shot ability of Causality Reversal of Retro now that the mana the sword had saved was now depleted, thanks to who? Yes, thanks to me, of course!
At least a <B> rank in magic stats before I could use it again. So, today's training was not only to improve my footwork and technique (I hadn't learned any though).
But, it was to find an alternative way how to use Retro's ability.
I already had some thoughts in my head to make use of Retro's ability.
Since the one-shot technique was no more available, I had to use or search for another technique. Hell, this might also be my chance to create my own technique honestly.
After a long time of thinking about how to create an alternative technique for Causality Reversal, I finally stumbled upon an idea.
That was to reduce the mana usage to activate it. I knew that by reducing the mana, the effect would also be reduced, but that was exactly what I intended to do.
The simple explanation would be like this: A large amount of mana could result in a deadly one-hit kill move. Meanwhile, a small amount of mana could create a technique that resembled a feint.
At least that was what Reina told me, she wanted me to learn to use a minimum of mana to make use of her abilities.
At first, I didn't have a grasp of what did Reina want me to do, but as hours went by, I finally took the first step of creating my own technique.
Before I could do any attempt to swing my sword for offense, I needed to learn how to control my mana first. Thankfully, with [Control Mana Lv.2], the process was going on the smooth side.
The first and second day was just me standing around the training center, channeling my mana to the sword in a controlled manner. Then as I got a grasp of it, I continued to the next step.
Basic sword techniques which I had learned from Shannon, focusing on precise strikes and fluid movements. That was how she teach me her way of swordsmanship.
Getting accustomed to the basic swing and stab, I began to channel mana to each swing and stab. The first attempt was a huge fail, it didn't do anything except for making the mana exploded when I swung it on the dummy.
Thankfully, no harm was done. Though I must pay for the damage I had caused.
The training was a series of fail and try for a week. And it was on the first day of the second week that my first swing finally worked as intended.
I swung my sword toward the dummy's left side, near the head part. But when the blade actually hit the dummy, the sword mark was in a different place— on the dummy's left body, under the wooden stick hand.
It worked. But, the only drawback of this technique was that the damage was nullified, as if Retro's blade was dull, becoming a wooden stick.
It was fine though, I knew exactly what I could do with this.
Then finally, the day of the exam was coming…
