NOVEL NEXT Chap 196: Stronger than ever.
"Already? This week went by so fast…" A long sigh trapped in my chest escapes without resistance. The week has ended much sooner than I expected. Between being a substitute teacher, attending classes in the morning, training all afternoon, and avoiding students' stares as much as possible, the weekend has finally arrived.
My other two classes have been focused on theory so far, and practice will only begin on the last day of next week. Nothing exciting has happened in either of them, just a small introduction on how to form balanced teams between four and ten people, and in the other, how dungeons are formed and the ways to identify them before entering.
The classes were fine—not as entertaining as Professor Jhonny's, but not boring enough to fall asleep either. Just normal theory lessons. Some whispered conversations between classmates gave me hope; everyone was excited for the upcoming practice sessions where things would get truly interesting.
My own classes have been improving little by little. I haven't had any more incidents with students; each one follows my advice and exercises without hesitation. I can already see a slight improvement in everyone's coordination—they can feel it too. Today, during my last class of the week, three new students joined, making a total of twenty. They were first-years, friends of my current students who were looking for a good extracurricular class.
A sense of accomplishment and happiness bloomed in my chest when my students recommended me to their classmates. To thank them for their effort, I imposed a stricter warm-up regimen and added some advanced exercises from my repertoire—their suffering faces were delightful. It's all for their own good!
"Wait… I sound like an old man, but I'm younger than them." There's nothing I can do about that fact.
"You have the soul of an old man trapped in that body of yours. It must be because you grew up surrounded only by elders in your childhood. You must've gone half-insane from all that training and no friends." Glia's comment makes me roll my eyes—she doesn't understand the pride a teacher feels seeing his students improve. Though, she might be a little right.
Now she can stay awake longer during the day, all for one simple reason—the pillars of my cube are almost completely healed! The cracks are nearly sealed and restored in their entirety. I lie in the center of the training dome, giving everything I have to heal the last parts of my cube.
"I have friends now, and good companions too. Everything comes at the right time." The few times I've met my new group of friends during breaks, we've talked quite a bit. They're waiting until I'm fully recovered so we can do more things together—they're really pleasant people.
"That doesn't erase your childhood of training all day doing nothing else. You were a loner." She keeps teasing me. She's heard so much about my past and can see some of my memories as clearly as water—only the ones I've allowed her to. "Don't get distracted, keep pumping mana and weaving each wound until it's done." I focus on the last sections.
In recent days, we discovered something interesting. We don't need to keep pumping constantly to close the wounds as if pouring cement into a trench—we found an equally effective and faster method. We force the cracks together with life mana ice as tightly as possible, and only then do we add the life mana as cement to seal them.
We use less life mana, and the process finishes faster, though the concentration required is intense. I'm the only one who can weave my mana, as I already do it with other spells, while Glia helps by converting my regular mana into life mana and filling the saturated wounds until they're completely closed.
She's been working hard these days, barely sleeping and using all her waking hours to convert her reserves into life mana, pushing herself until her core is completely exhausted. She believes she'll fall into a deep sleep soon—maybe in a week or two—from accumulated mental fatigue.
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I'll let her sleep as long as she needs and fulfill any wish she asks for. She deserves it—she's the one who stays by my side when there's no one else near. She has been, is, and will be my companion through this long path.
After several hours of joint effort, I finally manage to saturate the last crack in my pillars. After weeks of work, I'm just one small step away from being fully healed. Glia knows it too; we can both feel each other's joy. Together, we move the mana through my body to fill the last seam—and we succeed.
My cube no longer has a single fracture. "What the hell is this?" A ridiculous pain invades my cube, my body spasms, and my vision starts to darken. With the last of my strength, I activate Thundersnow at full power to ease the pain and stay conscious.
My cube is glowing softly, and so is my Banner. After several minutes, the pain fades and the light subsides. "What the hell was that pain? I almost passed out." Without my mental skill active, I would have collapsed within seconds.
I already know the cause—it's obvious now. My cube and Banner hadn't fully fused with my body before; they were restricted by the cracks and wounds. When I finished healing them, the last stage of unification began. Normally this happens during the dormant state that comes with rank ascension—but I went through it fully conscious.
My cube is stronger than ever. My mana has surged, and my Banner can now function properly. I can't detect any clear issues in my body or soul, but I'll ask Susan later—she's the only one I know with enough knowledge and experience across all fields.
"At last… I'm finally healed." I can't hold back the excitement. "It's time!" I activate all my mana-related skills at once.
I forge my armor across my body—the woven mana of ice forming the outer shell, filled with compressed ice mana, electric mana, Imra, and enhanced entirely by my Banner.
The excessive mana consumption makes me dizzy; I feel liquid dripping from my nose. Wiping it, I see a bit of blood—probably from overexertion after weeks of inactivity. I heal a few burst veins with Vital Synthesis—and that's the trigger.
The familiar messages echo in my mind.
"Calculating conditions…"
"Mana capacity and control: Approved."
"Imra capacity and control: Approved."
"Compatible Pseudo Law or Law: Approved."
"Rank-up conditions met. Do you wish to ascend?"
"Vital Synthesis (III) has evolved into Advanced Vital Synthesis (IV)."
A warm sensation of evolution envelops my whole body, feeding me the information needed to use the new version and its basic functions. Is that all? I can't help but wonder. I expected something simple since I haven't used my life mana for anything new lately—it's been monotonous—but still, it feels a little disappointing not to see an epic name.
"At least the skill improved; it advanced to the next major level." Before, I had to manually move my mana for ultra-fast regeneration—now it's almost instinctive. The mana moves automatically to the most damaged parts, prioritizing what's most dangerous for my body and cube.
That's not all; the potency has also increased greatly. Right now, I can heal about 30% faster. It might not sound like much in theory, but in practice, it's huge—I can recover limbs or close serious wounds much sooner. If I pour in enough mana, that percentage could go up to 50%.
Lastly, it can now handle more complex or delicate wounds with greater ease. The upgrade simply amplifies the basics—simple, efficient, and effective. I can't complain after evolving another skill to rank IV, especially one tied to a supreme affinity—the last one taught to me by Sus.
"Congratulations on your new rank IV skill, brother." Glia's voice sounds drowsy and weak. "You only have three more to bring all your main skills to rank IV—and one empty slot for a new one." She fights to stay awake a few seconds longer.
"Yeah… that'll be future Maki's problem." I thank her for all her help through these long weeks. "Go on, rest. I'll be waiting for you to wake up, little sister." She smiles softly and closes her eyes, falling into a deep sleep. "Good night, Glia. Rest all you want."
I'm finally ready to return to full training. I'm at the strongest point of both my lives—and this is only the beginning. The first two ranks were more like a tutorial in this new life, levels anyone can reach with minimal effort. Now things will finally get far more interesting. The first step—bring all my skills up to rank IV. Starting with my movement skill!