Chapter 81: Learning To Control In One Day

"As long as he can create a forcefield, I’ll consider him worthy," Edward replied, shaking his head. "At this point, I’ll take anyone."

"But, Lord..."

Before the shadow could finish speaking, Nero stepped outside, causing it to disappear.

"Alright, old man. I’m ready."

"Good. Let’s begin."

Just then, Nero remembered something. "Oh yeah. Old man, what’s your name?"

Edward smiled upon hearing his question. "I’m Edward."

"Oh." Nero nodded with a questioning look. "I’ll call you Old Man Edward, then?"

"Do whatever you want," Edward replied with a smile.

Edward handed him a thin manual and pointed toward two buckets beside the steps.

"Alright, now read this, then fetch water from the well at the bottom of the hill."

"...You want me to fetch water?" Nero was baffled.

’What sort of training is this?’

"Yes. Is there something wrong with your hearing?"

"I thought you were going to teach me how to control Cell Energy."

"That’s what I’m doing. Those buckets require a steady supply of energy to maintain their shape. Bring back two full buckets without spilling anything."

Nero approached one of the buckets and grabbed its handle.

To his surprise, the handle bent, and the sides collapsed.

"What the hell?"

"Feed some Cell Energy into it."

Nero activated Cellular Reservoir, gathering energy around his chest before directing it through his arm.

As blue light entered the bucket, its handle straightened, and the sides joined together.

"Oh? Interesting!"

He tried lifting it, but the bucket suddenly jumped upward.

"Whoa!"

Edward caught it before it struck Nero’s chin.

"Too much energy. Read the manual before you knock your teeth out."

"...Right."

Nero opened the manual and began reading.

The exercise was simple. He needed to maintain a precise amount of Cell Energy without allowing his output to fluctuate.

Until now, Nero had mainly practiced firing blasts. Maintaining a steady flow for an extended period was something he hadn’t properly learned.

’That shouldn’t be too difficult.’

He tried again, reducing his output until the bucket remained stable.

"See? Easy!"

However, the moment he picked up the second bucket, the first began falling apart.

"..."

Edward laughed.

"Try maintaining both at once, genius."

Nero sighed before heading down to the well.

Keeping the buckets stable while standing still wasn’t difficult, but walking with them was another matter.

Whenever his hands moved, his energy output changed. Too much made the buckets jerk, while too little caused their sides to separate.

He managed several steps before stumbling.

SPLASH!

Half the water spilled onto the ground.

"Seriously?!"

Nero hurriedly reduced his output, but the bucket collapsed and spilled the rest.

By the time he returned, both buckets were almost empty.

Edward examined them.

"You know I wanted the water inside those, right?"

"They keep falling apart! What am I supposed to do?!"

Nero didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

’This has to be torture.’

"Control your output properly. Now try again."

His second attempt wasn’t much better.

On the third, he tried supplying more energy to both buckets, but that only made them harder to control.

’So using more doesn’t help either.’

Nero spent the next few hours going back and forth between the well and the training area.

After several failures, he began noticing something strange.

Faint blue strands of energy were becoming visible whenever he concentrated on his hands. He could even see how the flow changed when he tightened his grip.

’Wait, is that why?’

He adjusted his output while watching the strands.

The bucket shook slightly, but this time, he managed to stabilize it before the water spilled.

’Oh!’

Nero tried again and found it much easier to correct his mistakes.

Soon, he could keep both buckets stable while walking, although maintaining the same output in both hands still required concentration.

By the afternoon, he could manage several minutes without spilling anything.

Still, Nero wasn’t satisfied.

’How am I supposed to create a forcefield if I can’t even control two buckets properly?’

During another attempt, he noticed that the energy around his chest fluctuated whenever he adjusted his output.

Whenever he activated Cellular Reservoir, the energy gathered around his chest before flowing through his arm.

But his cells could produce and store energy throughout his body.

’Then why do I always start from my chest?’

Nero raised his index finger and tried activating the cells directly in his fingertip.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, this time paying attention to the faint traces of energy he could see inside his finger.

A tiny blue glow appeared.

"...Huh?"

Nero stopped supplying energy, causing the light to disappear.

Then he tried again.

The same blue glow appeared without any energy gathering around his chest.

’It worked?!’

Nero pointed toward a nearby wooden post.

PEW!

A thin blue beam shot from his fingertip and left a small hole in the wood.

"Holy shit!"

He had activated Cell Energy directly in his finger!

Previously, he had always relied on gathering energy around his chest before directing it elsewhere.

But now, he could activate the cells exactly where he wanted.

’Can I do this with other parts of my body too?’

Nero tested his fingertip several more times before returning to the buckets.

This time, he activated Cell Energy directly in his hands and maintained the required output.

The buckets remained steady.

He filled them and began walking up the steps.

Whenever his energy fluctuated, he could see the change and correct it. Even when he moved his wrists or lifted the buckets higher, the water stayed inside.

’Finally!’

Nero soon reached the training area and placed both buckets beside Edward.

"Done! Two full buckets!"

Edward examined them before looking at Nero in surprise.

"Wait... you already managed to control your energy?"

"Yeah. Is something wrong?"

"...How long have you been practicing?"

"Since this morning?"

Edward fell silent for a moment.

"Oh, and I figured out something else. I can activate Cell Energy directly from my fingertip now, without gathering it in my chest first."

He raised his finger, producing a small blue glow.

Edward’s expression changed as he stared at Nero, who seemed completely innocent and oblivious to what he had just accomplished.

"You learned that too?"

"Yeah..."

"..."

Nero was pleased with his progress, but something suddenly occurred to him.

’Wait. How did I manage to learn all this so quickly?’

Just a few days ago, he had struggled to control his energy. Yet today, he had learned to control his output and activate Cell Energy directly in individual parts of his body.

Normally, something like this would’ve taken him much longer, even with the Training Amplifier.

Then he remembered the faint blue strands he had seen throughout his training.

He had never been able to see Cell Energy like that before.

’Don’t tell me... was it the Eyes of Origin?’