Chapter 70: Beyond Reinforcement 1

Adam left the Merchants’ Guild and immediately headed for the Mage Tower.

This time, no further steps awaited him before the end of his lessons.

Vespera would be his last instructor of the day.

And, strangely, this thought did not reassure him at all.

His body already bore the consequences of everything he had done since morning.

Two hours changing weapons under Selene’s attacks.

Several hours in front of Elaria’s forges.

A long discussion with Shiora.

The Progressive Charge Bracelets were still on his wrists.

And above all...

His mana was still compressed.

For several hours, he had maintained almost the same density continuously.

At first, this task had required significant concentration.

Now, the compression had become much more natural. Even during his conversation with Shiora, Adam had managed to maintain focus while considering publicity, business strategies, and various ways to launch the Valoria Games.

Part of his mind simply continued to monitor the process.

His breathing automatically corrected minor variations.

Mana Body stabilized the flow.

Adaptation did the rest.

Adam glanced slightly upward toward the Mage Tower, which was looming in the distance.

"Perhaps Vespera won’t immediately notice the progress..."

He remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he sighed.

"No. Even I don’t believe it."

When he arrived at the tower, the atmosphere was exactly what he had learned to consider normal.

In other words...

Completely chaotic.

A group of apprentices were carrying a cage containing a small creature made almost entirely of electricity.

A mage crossed the hall, her hair covered in ice.

Two others were arguing loudly in front of a half-dismantled magic circle.

Above them, several scrolls chased a young man who was desperately trying to catch them.

A small explosion rang out in a corridor.

No one seemed particularly worried.

Adam entered.

"Yes... Everything’s normal."

He walked to the counter.

The receptionist immediately looked up.

"Good morning, Mr. Adam."

"Good morning."

She observed his condition.

His clothes still bore traces of metallic dust.

His hands were slightly reddened from the forge.

And several marks from his training with Selene were still visible.

"A difficult day?"

Adam thought for a moment.

"I’m torn between difficult and deliberately designed to prevent me from resting." "

The receptionist gave a slight smile.

"Mistress Vespera is in her office."

"Thank you."

Adam greeted the young woman and took the space elevator.

A few moments later, he appeared on the top floor.

His stomach protested, as always.

"I really will get this thing right eventually..."

He walked down the corridor.

Then he knocked on Vespera’s office door.

"Come in."

Adam opened the door.

Unlike the previous day, Vespera wasn’t working directly on the new runes for the Memory Crystal.

Several game boards were laid out before her.

Magical circuits floated above each one.

Reversi.

Go.

And several incomplete sections of the future chessboard.

Vespera methodically moved runes between the different enchantments.

An identification rune.

A position detection rune.

A rudimentary memory structure.

A system likely used to check the board’s status.

Adam approached.

"Are you already working on the enchanted versions?"

Vespera looked up.

"I’m just laying the groundwork."

She moved a rune.

"The commercial version won’t need it right away. But these games provide a practical environment for testing certain functions of the Runic Calculator."

Adam observed the Go board.

"Because each piece has a fixed position."

"Yes."

Vespera made several points of light appear.

"If we can accurately record the presence or absence of a piece at each intersection, we’ll already have a rudimentary form of state memory."

Adam smiled.

"Elaria had the same idea."

Vespera nodded slightly.

"She mentioned it to me when she came to the Tower earlier today. She also gave me a copy of her initial notes on the memory cells."

Adam observed the various circuits floating above the board.

"You guys are really fast." "I mentioned the Runic Calculator this morning, and you’ve already started dividing up the research."

"There was no reason to wait."

Adam sighed.

"That’s exactly the kind of answer Elaria would have given."

A faint smile appeared on Vespera’s lips.

"That’s probably why we work so well together."

Adam looked back at the tray.

"At this rate, you’ll end up organizing my projects and training without me even being there."

"It’s convenient."

"For you."

A faint smile appeared on the dragon’s lips.

She made the circuits disappear.

Then she put away the trays.

"We can begin."

Adam nodded.

They left the office together and headed toward the magical training room.

As they entered, several barriers automatically activated around them.

Vespera positioned herself facing Adam.

"Compression."

Adam looked at her.

"It’s already active."

"I know."

He remained silent.

Vespera raised a hand.

A filament of red mana appeared around him.

It slowly passed through his body before disappearing.

"Your density is higher than yesterday. Your stability, too."

Adam felt his heart clench.

He already knew what was coming next.

Vespera continued:

"Increase the compression."

Adam closed his eyes.

"Obviously."

He took a deep breath.

Then he began to compress his mana even further.

The density increased.

The internal pressure, too.

The flows that had seemed relatively natural to him just seconds before became difficult to control again.

Adam continued.

Vespera watched intently.

"Again."

The compression increased.

His muscles tensed.

A slight pain appeared along his mana pathways.

"Again."

Adam gritted his teeth.

He pushed one last time.

Then the control became unstable.

The density fluctuated.

His mana pulsed violently before he managed to bring it back under control.

Vespera raised a hand.

"There. Maintain this level."

Adam opened his eyes.

His expression must have been particularly grim.

"Who spoke to you?"

Vespera raised a slight eyebrow.

"About what?"

"Someone must have told you that my compression had become easier to maintain."

A silence.

Adam immediately thought of Selene.

Then of Elaria.

And especially of Shiora.

The latter had clearly noticed the improvement a few hours earlier.

Her eyes narrowed.

"It was Shiora, wasn’t it?"

Vespera watched him for a few seconds.

Then she shook her head.

"No one told me anything."

Adam remained motionless.

"Really?"

"Yes."

She crossed her arms.

"As soon as you walked into my office, I noticed the stability of your mana."

Adam sighed.

Of course.

Mana compression was precisely Vespera’s area of ​​expertise.

Even Selene had noticed her progress after two hours of training.

To imagine that Vespera wouldn’t see them was absurd.

The dragoness observed his expression.

"You really thought you could hide it from me?"

"I was mainly hoping to gain a day before you increased the difficulty."

"Why wait a day?"

"Because I sometimes like to feel like I’m making progress before you immediately shift the objective."

Vespera considered this.

"But if the objective remains easy, you progress more slowly."

Adam lowered his head slightly.

"I know. That’s precisely the problem with your logic. It works."

Vespera’s slight smile returned.

"Begin."

Adam positioned himself in the center of the circle.

For the first half hour, he did almost nothing but maintain this new compression.

At first, the difficulty reminded him of his first session.

The density was too high.

Each breath threatened to alter the pressure.

The slightest distraction caused a fluctuation.

His bracelets only made matters worse.

Even remaining still required physical effort.

Adam had to rebuild his automatic reflexes.

Breathing.

Circulation.

Compression.

Stabilization.

Again.

Again.

Again.

After ten minutes, he could maintain the density for a few dozen seconds without significant adjustments.

After twenty minutes, his fluctuations became less violent.

By the end of the half hour, his body was already beginning to regain some of its lost stability.

Vespera observed the flow.

"Enough."

Adam took a deep breath.

"I feel like I’m back to exactly the same level of difficulty as yesterday."

"That’s the goal."

"I knew you were going to say that."

Vespera conjured a target.

"We’re going to test your spells now."

The second half-hour followed almost exactly the same exercises as the previous day.

But with greater intensity.

Adam began with Healing.

Green light appeared in his hand.

He immediately noticed the difference.

The spell was much denser.

Its light was brighter.

But its stability had decreased.

Adam tried to control the amount of mana sent.

The internal compression fluctuated.

The spell swelled abruptly.

He corrected it.

The light stabilized.

"Too powerful," Vespera remarked.

"I know."

"Reduce the output without reducing the density."

Adam frowned.

That was precisely the problem.

He mustn’t decrease the power by releasing the compression.

He had to maintain the same density while only reducing the amount of mana transferred into the spell.

Two different parameters.

He tried.

The first attempt failed.

The second as well.

On the third try, the spell stabilized.

Vespera nodded slightly.

"Again."

They then moved on to the rune of light.

Then to the rune of stabilization.

Adam rebuilt the same circuit he had used the day before.

But the increased compression made every mistake much more significant.

When a fluctuation occurred while drawing a rune, the difference in density between the different parts became immediately visible.

The first structure cracked.

The second exploded.

The third held for a few seconds before collapsing.

Adam started again.

Again.

As the minutes passed, his control returned.

The increased compression gradually ceased to be an unknown variable.

He was learning to instinctively gauge the exact amount of mana needed.

At the end of the half hour, Adam managed to hold a healing spell in his left hand while building a simple rune with his right.

Both structures trembled.

But they remained active.

Vespera observed them.

"Good."

Adam didn’t break his concentration.

"I’m waiting for the part where you tell me it’s mediocre."

"You already know my opinion."

"Very well."

He finally interrupted the two structures.

Vespera made the target disappear.

"Now, we move on to the main topic of the day."

Adam stretched his shoulders slightly.

"More runes?"

"No. Mana-enhanced body."

Adam paused.

Then he looked at Vespera.

"Shouldn’t this be Selene’s domain?"

Vespera replied immediately:

"No."

Adam raised an eyebrow.

She continued:

"Selene obviously masters body-enhancement. We all do."

"But?"

"Enhancement is originally a magical technique."

Adam looked at his arms.

"Yet, most of the people I’ve seen use it are warriors."

"Because warriors have adopted the simpler variations."

Vespera raised a hand.

A translucent human figure appeared between them.

Luminous lines represented the muscles, bones, organs, and main mana pathways.

"The method commonly taught to warriors involves injecting mana into the body to increase overall performance."

The entire figure lit up uniformly.

"It’s effective. Easy to learn. Quick to activate."

Adam observed the model.

"But you don’t like this method."

"It wastes a lot of mana."