A circle begins to spin faster and faster around a heart. It seemed as if embers were trying to escape from it, until, suddenly, everything stops.
"Huff... huff..."
[That was dangerous. If you made a mistake, you could have damaged your heart, and you already have Fire Cancer.]
Enrico was holding the area where his heart was located while in his room, completely sweaty. What had happened was that he had been meditating and trying to create something new from some ideas that had appeared in his own head.
"I have to create something to improve my mana. If I can do it, my magic will get even greater improvements."
[And then you're going to teach the director and ask for what else?]
Director Hao had come to talk to him about using the idea of Ego Weapons together with magic to create magical weapons. Enrico then accused the director of spying on him, but Hao apologized, saying that his friend had seen him talking to Enrico.
'He could have simply taken the idea, but he asked for permission, and I only asked for money in exchange for contributing.'
Besides, he had kind of only advanced an idea that the protagonist had at the end of his life. Because of that, Enrico gave half of the money to Kai, who was surprised and tried to refuse, but Enrico forced him to accept.
'He deserved it... besides, he's one of my favorite characters.'
[At least you did something honorable.]
'Nice, your compliment, but I won't always be honorable. There are some mages in the future who don't deserve honor.'
Now he was having other ideas of his own, such as trying to create the Sun Heart technique, but turning it into a Fire Heart, which would be much weaker. If he managed to do that, his level would be higher, but from what he had realized, he would need more circles. Maybe the sixth or seventh.
'There's not much time left until the next arcs.'
Since the confrontation arc against Elowyn had not ended yet, he had not received any reward. Even so, the next two arcs would be peaceful. The first would be the tests, and that day he had taken the first one, which consisted of a confrontation against Nartheis. The next arc would be something similar to a festival, not very important. The students would be released into the city for one day to enjoy themselves, and then the arc in which they were supposed to face Class A would come. However, since they were already in that class, it would turn into a confrontation against Class S and, as a bonus, there would also be the confrontation against the princess.
'Just three more days and the tests will be over.'
So far, he was the one getting the best grades and intended to continue that way. After standing up, he returns to meditating, but not to continue trying to create the Fire Heart. This time, he wanted to try absorbing natural mana to increase his own mana.
Two hours pass, but he fails. That body simply did not have the potential to do that, but Enrico still wanted to try reproducing the training that mage from Vesparello was carrying out on the Moon.
A knock on the door makes Enrico look at it. Soon afterward, it opens, and the one who enters is Seraphina, who had come because of the training he was offering her.
"How are you, Seraphina? Feeling better?"
"Yes. I am very grateful for the help you are giving me these days."
Ever since he had returned, Enrico had been training Seraphina quite a lot, because he had some suspicions about her power. He was still testing his hypotheses and, if he was right, it would be a mixture of good luck and bad luck at the same time.
With that, he begins the training, and Seraphina tries to keep up with him. Thirty minutes later, she falls to the ground, completely exhausted.
"I... huff... can't anymore... huff."
Yumeha, Rina, and Aoi, who were about to enter, hear the noise and freeze at the door. Yumeha begins to tremble, thinking that this would be impossible.
"Do you want me to slow down?"
"No. You can go at your own pace. I just need to keep up."
The door immediately opens, and Yumeha enters furiously, believing that her master had lied to her.
"Master, you told me this would only happen in the future."
Yumeha stops when she sees Enrico doing push-ups using only two fingers while Seraphina rested lying down. She immediately realizes that she had misunderstood the situation.
"I'm sorry, master. I deserve a punishment for misunderstanding."
Yumeha kneels seriously, while Rina sighs in relief behind her and Aoi seems to hold back a laugh, clutching her stomach.
'I understand. That was one of those moments... very funny.'
[Pff... really, seeing Aoi almost laughing was funny.]
'Shut up.'
[Finally, I managed it.]
While the system celebrates its first victory in a long time, Enrico decides to talk to the three of them about some training they could do together. Shortly afterward, they begin training right there, unaware that Angela would pass by that place an hour later. Upon seeing them, she would leave completely flushed, calling Virelle to talk.
After a few days, the academy tests finally come to an end. Enrico was walking through a corridor full of students when he receives a message from the system.
[You received a reward for the arc ending, but we would like to offer you something new.]
'Another pact? Shouldn't it be done every two arcs?'
[This isn't a pact, but rather an improvement. You won't receive the reward now, but you will receive a better reward by combining two rewards.]
'That sounds like a pact.'
[If it were one, we would have taken something much worse from you.]
Thinking about it, that could be good. The current arc would happen three weeks from then, so it would not be bad to stop receiving a reward now if the next one was something better. He wanted to see what that reward would be and how it could help him with what he was planning to do, but he would move forward anyway, even without it.
'All right, I accept.'
[The constellation that offered this says you won't regret it.]
'Tell her I believe in her.'
He was lying. He did not believe in those beings, but until that moment, the rewards had not been that bad. The only exception was the Elemental Clone, which was being much more useful than he had imagined.
Looking ahead, he sees Valença walking down the corridor and runs toward her, calling her.
"Valença."
Valença turns her head, confused. After all, currently they were more rivals than friends. Even though they had been talking quite a lot lately and, honestly, she was enjoying his company quite a lot, to the point that she already felt quite comfortable beside him, they still had not reached the point of treating each other that way when they were surrounded by other students.
"What is it, Enrico?"
"We're leaving in two and a half weeks."
Valença tilts her head to the side and puts a finger in her ear, as if she had heard wrong. Then, she becomes incredulous.
"What?"
"I want you to come with me in two and a half weeks if you want to."
Her cheeks become flushed and, with some nervousness, she simply nods naturally.
"All right..."