Chương 27: The Second Pulse

Morning arrived without ceremony. Sunlight slipped through the curtains of Leo's room and settled across the wooden floor. Leo opened his eyes. For several seconds, he remained still. Then he exhaled. His body felt different. Not stronger in the obvious sense. His muscles had not suddenly become heavier, and his movements were not dramatically faster. The difference was deeper. Something inside him was circulating with greater density. Leo sat up and placed two fingers against his wrist. His pulse was steady.

He closed his eyes. The flow inside his body moved through the familiar paths he had spent years refining. Beneath it, however, there was now another presence. Mana. It no longer felt like an outside force being drawn into his body. A small portion of it had begun to move with his internal energy. Not completely. Not naturally. But enough. Leo opened his eyes.

"So it worked." The experiment from yesterday had been dangerous. He had absorbed the mana from the stones slowly, one after another, while controlling the circulation of his internal energy. The first stone had been easy. The second had caused considerable pressure. The first-grade stone had nearly forced him to stop. Mana had surged through his channels like water entering a narrow pipe.

His internal energy had resisted it instinctively, and for several minutes he had been forced to maintain both flows separately. Then he had tried something different. Instead of forcing them together, he had allowed the mana to follow the circulation of his internal energy. The result had been unexpected. They had not merged. They had synchronized. Only for a few seconds. But those few seconds had been enough. Leo stood beside his bed. He raised his hand. A small flame appeared above his palm.

It was ordinary magic. He closed his fingers. The flame disappeared. Leo then circulated his internal energy. The sensation was completely different. Mana expanded outward. Internal energy moved inward. One was naturally external. The other was born from himself. Trying to force them into the same path would be foolish. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Leo understood that now. He needed a bridge. He looked at his palm.

"Not yet." He did not need more power. He needed control. By late morning, Leo had left his room. The academy had granted the students who had participated in the expedition several days of rest. For once, nobody expected them to train. That lasted approximately three hours.

"Leo!" A familiar voice came from behind him. Leo turned. Amon approached with Alice and Masha. Amon had changed into simple training clothes despite the holiday. Leo looked at him.

"You were supposed to rest."

"I am resting."

"You are carrying a sword." Amon looked down at the sword attached to his belt.

"This is part of my rest." Masha laughed. Alice covered her mouth, trying not to smile. Leo shook his head.

"You haven't changed."

"Neither have you." Amon stopped. His expression became slightly more serious.

"Actually…" He studied Leo for a moment.

"You look different." Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Different how?"

"Hard to explain." Masha stepped closer.

"You look less tired." Alice looked at Leo carefully. She noticed something else. His eyes were calmer than they had been before the expedition. Not because the experience had frightened him. Because he had already processed it. Alice smiled.

"Maybe the vacation is helping."

"Maybe." Leo continued walking. Amon followed.

"So, where are we going?"

"Training ground." Amon's face brightened immediately.

"I knew it." Masha sighed.

"You invited us for lunch."

"I changed my mind."

"You can't change the purpose of an invitation halfway through it."

"I just did." Alice laughed. Leo glanced at her. She was still smiling. For a moment, the academy felt strangely ordinary. No monsters. No criminals. No forest. No masked stranger appearing between corpses. Just four students walking beneath the summer sun. Leo found himself appreciating the simplicity of it. The training ground was almost empty. Most students were taking advantage of the holiday. Amon stepped onto the practice field.

"One match." Leo looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because I want to know how much I've improved."

"You can test yourself against a training dummy."

"The dummy doesn't hit back."

"Fair." Masha and Alice moved toward the edge of the field. Amon drew his sword. Flames gathered around the blade.

"Ready?" Leo reached for the wooden sword beside the training rack. He tossed it once in his hand.

"Come." Amon smiled. He moved first. Flame Step A burst of fire erupted beneath his feet. His body accelerated. The sword came toward Leo's shoulder. Leo turned his body. The blade passed beside him. He tapped Amon's wrist with the wooden sword. Amon immediately pulled back.

"Again." He attacked from the opposite side. Ember Fang A crescent of flame followed the sword's movement. Leo ducked. The burning arc passed over his hair. He stepped inside Amon's range. Amon reacted quickly and drove his knee forward. Leo blocked it with his forearm. The impact pushed him back two steps. Leo smiled faintly.

"Better." Amon grinned.

"That's what I wanted to hear." He attacked again. This time, Leo did not retreat. He moved through the attack. One step. A turn of the shoulder. A wooden blade striking the flat of Amon's sword. The fire scattered. Amon's eyes widened. Leo's next strike stopped a few centimeters from his chest. Silence. Masha blinked. Alice smiled. Amon lowered his sword.

"How did you do that?" Leo lowered his weapon.

"Your shoulders move before your sword." Amon stared at him.

"You noticed that?"

"Several months ago."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked." Amon groaned. Masha laughed. Alice shook her head.

"That's exactly like Leo." Leo looked toward the sky. The sunlight was warm. For the first time in several days, his body felt completely at ease. Then he noticed something. His right hand. A faint tremor passed through his fingers. He closed them immediately. Nobody seemed to notice. Nobody except Alice. Her smile faded slightly.

"Leo." He looked at her.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She continued watching him. He knew that expression. She did not believe him. But she did not press.

"Alright." Leo looked away. Inside his body, the two energies had moved. Only slightly. The synchronization he had achieved yesterday had occurred again. For less than a heartbeat. But this time, he had felt something new. The mana had not merely followed his internal energy. It had responded to it. Leo's eyes narrowed. There is a connection. He would have to investigate it. Slowly. Carefully. Without anyone noticing. He looked at Amon.

"One more match?" Amon immediately raised his sword.

"Now you're talking." Masha sighed. Alice smiled again. The afternoon continued. There was no great battle. No enemy appeared. No secret was revealed. Only four young people spent the day training beneath an ordinary summer sky. And for Leo, that was enough. Because strength was not built only in moments of crisis. Sometimes it grew quietly between one breath and the next. That night, Leo returned to his room. He sat cross-legged on the floor. A small mana stone rested before him. He did not touch it.

Instead, he closed his eyes. His internal energy began to circulate. Once. Twice. Three times. Then he introduced a small amount of mana. The two currents moved separately. Leo maintained his breathing. He did not force them together. He remembered yesterday's mistake. Don't merge them. Understand them. The mana moved. His internal energy answered. For one brief moment— the two currents synchronized. Leo opened his eyes. A faint smile appeared. He had found the beginning. Not a new technique. Not yet.

Something more important. A principle. He picked up the mana stone.

"Tomorrow." Then he extinguished the lamp. The room became dark. And somewhere beneath his calm expression, a new path had begun to take shape. End of Chapter 27.