Chapter 47 : Space Element Training III (Part 1)
After hearing Astrid’s question, my smile widened.
Before I could answer, Amy finally finished her training and walked over.
The moment she saw the grin on my face, her expression immediately turned suspicious.
"What is it this time?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"Did my lazy little brother create another spell?"
I immediately puffed out my cheeks.
"Hey! I’m not lazy!"
I pointed at her accusingly.
"You’re the lazy one!"
Then I muttered under my breath,
"Lazy glutton..."
Unfortunately for me...
Amy heard every single word.
The smile on her face vanished.
A dangerous aura slowly rose around her.
Then—
Very...
Very slowly...
She reached out and grabbed my ear.
"Gray..."
Her voice was unusually gentle.
Which somehow made it even scarier.
"Who, exactly, is this ’lazy glutton’ you’re talking about?"
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
I immediately tried to pull away.
"My ear! My ear!"
"I was talking about a cat!"
"A cat I saw yesterday!"
"I never mentioned you!"
Then, despite my suffering, I couldn’t resist smirking.
"Why are you getting so defensive?"
"Do you think you’re a lazy glutton?"
Amy’s eye twitched.
The pressure on my ear increased.
"AAAAAH!"
"It hurts!"
Without another option, I immediately turned toward Astrid.
"Astrid!"
"Help me!"
"This glutton is trying to murder me!"
"It really hurts!"
Astrid looked away.
One hand covered her mouth.
Her shoulders trembled ever so slightly.
She was obviously trying not to laugh.
"Hey!"
I pointed at her dramatically.
"Mom told you to protect me!"
"If something happens to me, you’re responsible!"
Astrid completely ignored my complaint.
Instead, she turned her head even farther away.
Which somehow made it even more obvious that she was laughing.
Realizing no one was coming to rescue me, I immediately surrendered.
"Amy!"
"I’m sorry!"
"It hurts!"
Finally satisfied, Amy let go of my ear.
I quickly rubbed it while glaring at her.
Amy crossed her arms proudly.
"Hmph."
"Now you’ve learned your lesson."
"Never speak badly about your wonderful big sister."
I looked toward the sky with a dramatic sigh.
"What happened to this world?"
"I tell the truth..."
"And I get punished for it."
Placing a hand over my forehead, I sighed as though I had suffered an unbearable injustice.
"What a cruel society..."
Amy and Astrid both looked thoroughly amused.
Amy even raised a fist threateningly.
"It seems my foolish little brother still hasn’t learned his lesson."
I immediately panicked.
"No!"
"I’m wrong!"
"I was completely wrong!"
I clasped my hands together dramatically.
"Please be magnanimous, dear sister!"
"I was only joking!"
Then...
I activated my ultimate weapon.
Puppy eyes.
The moment Amy saw my expression, all the intimidation drained from her face.
"Agh..."
She placed a hand over her chest dramatically.
"That’s cheating."
Without warning, she reached over and pinched both of my cheeks.
At almost the same time, Astrid walked over and pinched them as well.
"Aaa..."
"So cute."
Amy nodded vigorously.
"Exactly!"
"Gray, that’s completely unfair!"
"You keep weaponizing that face against us!"
Amy burst into laughter again.
At that point, even I couldn’t stay annoyed.
A moment later, Astrid finally composed herself, though the smile lingering on her face hadn’t completely disappeared.
After several more minutes of playful bickering, the atmosphere gradually settled down.
I crossed my arms.
"Alright."
"Now can I finally show you my new spell?"
Amy nodded.
"Go ahead."
Astrid’s expression also became serious.
"I’m curious."
I walked toward the center of the training ground.
"It’s not really a complete skill yet."
"It’s more like... a combat application."
I slowly raised my hand.
Cold mana gathered around me.
One after another, sharp ice spears materialized in the air, hovering quietly around my body.
The surrounding temperature dropped instantly.
Thin frost spread across the ground beneath my feet.
Amy and Astrid watched silently.
Neither of them interrupted.
I took a slow breath.
Then focused on the nearest spear.
Instead of launching it—
I reached toward the surrounding space.
The sensation was familiar now.
Unlike yesterday, I no longer struggled just to grasp Space itself.
The affinity responded much more naturally.
I wrapped Space Mana around the spear.
Then imagined its destination.
Not the path.
Only the destination.
Space distorted.
For a brief instant—
The spear disappeared.
Then—
It reappeared beside the training dummy.
BOOM!
The ice spear pierced straight through the dummy before exploding into countless frozen shards.
Without stopping, I repeated the process.
A second spear vanished.
BOOM!
A third.
BOOM!
A fourth.
BOOM!
Each spear appeared from a completely different angle.
One struck from above.
Another appeared behind the dummy.
The next emerged from its left side.
None of them traveled through the air.
They simply... appeared.
Within seconds, the wooden dummy had become riddled with holes.
Splinters scattered across the training ground.
The remaining ice slowly melted into tiny streams of water.
Silence.
I turned around with a proud grin.
"So?"
"How is it?"
"Pretty awesome, right?"
For several long seconds...
Neither Amy nor Astrid spoke.
Both of them stared at the destroyed training dummy.
Then at me.
Then back at the dummy again.
Astrid was the first to recover.
"...Gray."
Her expression was unusually complicated.
Part disbelief.
Part admiration.
Part concern.
"How do you keep coming up with ideas like this?"
She pointed toward the ruined dummy.
"Most people rely on the predictable trajectory of an Ice Spear."
"They watch the caster."
"They predict the angle."
"They dodge."
She paused.
"But your attack..."
"There is no trajectory."
Her crimson eyes narrowed.
"The spear simply appears beside the target."
"That removes one of the greatest weaknesses of projectile magic."
She slowly folded her arms.
"If someone doesn’t possess an extraordinary Perception Skill..."
"They’ll have almost no time to react."
Amy finally found her voice.
"...That’s terrifying."
She looked genuinely disturbed.
"Imagine fighting someone who can make attacks appear from any direction."
She shook her head.
"I wouldn’t even know where to defend."
Then she looked directly at me.
"No..."
"I’d probably never even get the chance."
I puffed out my chest proudly.
"Hmph."
"Your little brother is amazing, isn’t he?"
Amy rolled her eyes.
"Don’t get cocky."
"But..."
A smile slowly appeared on her face.
"...Yeah."
"That was really impressive."
Even hearing that from Amy made me happy.
She rarely praised me so directly.
Astrid walked toward the shattered training dummy and examined the damage more closely.
After a moment, she looked back at me.
"This isn’t teleportation."
She spoke thoughtfully.
"Not exactly."
"It’s more like relocating an attack."
I nodded.
"Exactly."
"I don’t think I’m capable of teleporting myself yet."
"My control isn’t good enough."
"So instead..."
"I teleport the attack itself."
I scratched my cheek.
"It should be much safer."