Chapter 107 - 3 weak before the tournament
I immediately aimed a slash at her incoming attack and intercepted it.
Our swords collided.
Sparks flew through the air.
But neither of us stopped.
I activated my Gravity Control and reduced the force pulling against my body, making myself faster and lighter.
Luna immediately adjusted to my increased speed.
We continued exchanging blows, neither of us willing to give the other an easy opening.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Our swords continued to clash as we moved around the training ground.
We sparred like that for more than an hour.
By the time we finally stopped, both of us had improved considerably.
I had learned more about controlling my movements while using Gravity Control, while Luna had become better at reacting to my increased speed.
Eventually, we walked toward a quiet corner of the training ground and sat down.
After catching her breath, Luna looked at me.
"How about we stop training for now and take a walk around the castle?"
I nodded.
"That sounds like a great idea."
Then another thought crossed my mind.
"How about we try creating a new spell or a new application?"
Her eyes immediately lit up.
"Yeah!"
"That sounds like a great idea."
"What are we going to make?"
I thought for a moment.
"How about you try creating a movement technique using your Light Affinity?"
"I have Void Step."
"It’s honestly a game changer."
Luna thought about it for a moment before nodding.
"Alright."
She suddenly stood up and clenched her fists with determination.
"I’ll do it!"
But a second later...
She slumped back down.
I almost stumbled.
"Hey."
"What happened?"
She looked at me helplessly.
"I just got determined to do it..."
"But then I remembered that I don’t actually know how to do it."
"So I lost all my motivation."
I stared at her for a moment.
Then I reached over and lightly tapped her forehead.
"Ow!"
She rubbed her forehead.
"Why did you hit me?"
"You can’t just give up before you even start."
She immediately stood up and tried to hit me.
"Take that!"
I quickly dodged.
"Hey!"
She chased after me.
I laughed and continued explaining.
"Experiment with your Light Affinity."
"Try using different parts of your body as the starting point."
"For example, when you create a Light Arrow..."
"Instead of simply firing it, try using that same principle to push yourself forward."
"Then control that momentum."
"That can become the foundation of your movement technique."
I paused.
"And the most important part..."
"Control."
"It doesn’t matter how fast you are if you can’t control where you’re going."
Luna listened carefully while still trying to catch me.
Then she suddenly released a burst of light beneath her feet.
Whoosh!
She shot forward like a rocket.
I immediately moved to the side.
But Luna quickly realized she was moving too fast.
She pushed against the ground with another burst of Light Mana.
Her body slowed down.
Then she redirected herself and came straight toward me again.
I tried to dodge.
But if I moved out of the way...
She would crash directly into the wall.
"Seriously?"
I quickly surrounded myself with Darkness Mana.
Just before she hit me, I shaped the darkness into a soft barrier.
Thud!
The darkness absorbed most of her momentum.
But I still ended up getting hit.
"Oof!"
Luna stumbled to a stop.
I rubbed my shoulder.
"If I hadn’t stopped you, you would’ve ended up crashing into that wall."
She gave me a smug expression.
"Well..."
"That was your duty."
"To make sure I didn’t crash."
Then she immediately turned around and ran away.
I stared after her.
"..."
I sighed.
She was getting more mischievous.
I also noticed that her cheeks were slightly red.
I decided not to mention it.
Instead, I returned my attention to my own training.
I took out Eclipse.
Then I condensed Ice Mana around the blade.
After that, I added Space Mana.
The moment the two affinities mixed...
The ice suddenly changed color.
A faint purple hue appeared across the frozen blade.
I blinked.
"...What?"
I had never tried combining Space and Ice before.
Curious, I formed an Ice Spear infused with Space Mana.
The result was similar.
Purple energy surrounded the spear.
I threw it.
Whoosh!
The spear moved far faster than my normal Ice Spears.
My eyes widened.
"That was much faster..."
I immediately created another one.
This time, I aimed at a training dummy.
Whoosh!
Boom!
The purple spear pierced straight through the dummy’s head.
I stared at the result.
"...This is amazing."
I immediately began experimenting.
I tested different amounts of Space Mana.
Then different amounts of Ice Mana.
I adjusted the shape.
The density.
The speed.
The amount of mana required.
Meanwhile, Luna continued practicing her movement technique.
With my Perception constantly monitoring her movements, I could easily observe her progress and point out where she needed to adjust.
Little by little...
She became better at controlling her speed.
Eventually, training time came to an end.
Luna and I left the training hall together.
Amy had mentioned that she needed to take care of something with Elena, so she wasn’t with us.
As we walked side by side, I looked toward Luna.
"So, how’s your training going?"
She nodded proudly.
"Yeah."
"I managed to figure out how to control my speed a little."
I smiled.
"That’s good."
Then she looked toward me.
"What about you?"
I thought about the purple spear.
"I realized that I’d never combined Space with Ice before."
"So I tried it."
"And the result was amazing."
Luna nodded thoughtfully.
"Hm..."
"I wish I had Space Affinity too."
She pouted slightly.
The moment she did...
I suddenly understood why Mom and Amy were always tempted to pinch my cheeks whenever I made that expression.
Every fiber of my body was telling me to pinch hers.
I barely managed to resist.
Luna noticed me staring.
"What are you thinking about?"
I answered honestly.
"Don’t pout like that."
"I barely managed to stop myself from pinching your cheeks."
Her face immediately turned red.
"W-What?!"
She lightly hit me.
"Try pinching them and see what happens!"
"Hmph!"
She turned away and walked a little faster.
I quickly followed her.
We continued walking around the estate, and Luna showed me several places I hadn’t seen during my previous visit.
I genuinely enjoyed spending time with her.
We talked about everything.
Magic.
Training.
Food.
Our families.
Random everyday things.
And sometimes...
Absolutely nothing.
We even started arguing about which fruit was the best.
Then we moved on to arguing about which food was the best.
Eventually, I took out two boxes of apple juice from my Space Storage.
I handed one to Luna.
She looked at it before smiling.
"You really carry everything with you, don’t you?"
I grinned.
"You never know when you’ll need something."
She laughed.
And the two of us continued walking together, drinking our apple juice while arguing about completely meaningless things.
For some reason...
Those moments felt just as enjoyable as training.
Maybe even more.
I looked toward Luna.
"How about we head back to our rooms, take a shower, and get ready for lunch?"
"If we don’t..."
"You know what will happen."
Luna immediately understood what I meant.
She nodded quickly.
"Yeah."
"I can already hear an earful from my mom."
I laughed.
"Then we’d better hurry."
We said goodbye to each other and returned to our respective rooms.
After taking a shower and freshening ourselves up, we met again for lunch.
The meal was peaceful.
After everything that had happened recently, I found myself enjoying these quiet moments more than I expected.
There was something comforting about simply sitting down with everyone, eating together, and talking about ordinary things.
The rest of the day passed in much the same way.
Luna and I spent time together.
We also met with Sister Isabella and the others.
We talked.
We joked around.
We trained.
And, occasionally...
We caused a little trouble.
Before we realized it, the day had already come to an end.
After dinner, everyone returned to their rooms.
I said good night to everyone before heading to bed.
And the next day...
It happened again.
Then the day after that.
Our days gradually settled into a comfortable routine.
Training.
Eating together.
Creating new spells.
Experimenting with different applications of our abilities.
And, of course...
Playing pranks on each other whenever we got the chance.
It almost felt like spending time with Amy.
Except now Luna was there too.
Eventually, Amy returned from her busy schedule.
Luna and I immediately asked her to take us into town.
Unfortunately, she only gave us an apologetic smile.
"Sorry."
"I’ve been extremely busy these days."
"I don’t think I’ll have much free time for a while."
We were disappointed, but neither of us wanted to bother her.
So we simply nodded.
"It’s fine."
"We can go another time."
And just like that...
The days continued passing.
One day became three.
Three became seven.
Then two weeks.
Then three.
During that time, Luna and I continued training together.
We experimented with new magic.
We improved our swordsmanship.
We challenged each other.
We joked around.
And slowly...
Without either of us really noticing...
We became much closer.
Our conversations became more natural.
Our teamwork improved.
And fighting alongside each other started to feel almost effortless.
Then—
The announcement finally came.
The tournament was about to begin.
I looked toward Luna.
She looked back at me.
For a moment, neither of us said anything.
Then we exchanged confident smiles.
We had spent the past three weeks preparing.
We had trained together.
We had improved together.
And now...
It was time to see how far that preparation had taken us.
I clenched my fist.
"I’m getting one of those twenty positions."
Luna smiled confidently.
"Me too."
Neither of us doubted ourselves.
We were going to compete against talented young people from across the Empire.
And we intended to earn our place among the strongest.
No matter who stood in our way.
When the day of the tournament finally arrived, we prepared everything we would need.
Weapons.
Supplies.
Emergency items.
Everything was ready.
I checked my Space Storage one final time before leaving my room.
Then I headed toward the carriage.
Luna was already waiting.
Amy and Elena were there as well.
I smiled.
"Ready?"
Luna nodded.
"Ready."
Amy crossed her arms with a confident smile.
"Then let’s go."
The carriage door opened.
One by one, we climbed inside.
The moment I sat down, excitement began building inside me.
The tournament was finally here.
And soon...
I would find out exactly how strong the younger generation of the Empire really was.