Breathing deeply in his room in the morning, Enrico felt the beat of his heart. He had felt strange a few seconds after coming back from that faint during the fight against Tilios, but everything seemed normal—his heart was beating fine and there were no signs of any changes.
'Everything seems fine… so, system, did you find out anything about someone trying to take my body?'
[I'm trying to find information, but I haven't seen any trace, as if someone erased them.]
He didn't remember moving to that corner during the fight; he only remembered closing his eyes and then being in another place, so he was sure there had at least been an attempt by someone to take over his body.
'To make it worse, I feel like I forgot something while I was being defeated.'
Enrico couldn't remember hearing that voice, as if they didn't want him to, and the shadowy Enrico had something in mind.
'Could someone be tampering with my memories? If that's the case, I won't let this person do what they want.'
The only problem was that Enrico was deeply suspicious of things and wanted to find out, but it would be almost impossible, since the problem came from himself.
'Well, anyway, time to go meet Platina for the first part of my training.'
Yesterday they had decided how his training would go, and it would start with Platina. Yesterday Angela had also received a message from Virelle and passed it on to him.
'Miss Virelle said that the king had to leave together with Director Hao, leaving his wife in charge for now. They will return one day before the holidays end, so she told the young master to focus on family training and she will speak with you personally after returning.'
"Alright then, for now I just need to get stronger? Very well, I'll do that gladly."
Walking to the Solcren Ferreira backyard, Enrico looked at the reward given by a Constellation. It was something quite good.
'Circular Breathing Technique'
It was a new technique for him, but with a lot of potential. It was capable of making his mana circulate strongly through his circles, accelerating percentage development. Of course, at the start this increase was very small—0.1 percent improvement—but it was something that improved the more he used it.
'If I use it every day, in three months I'll be able to increase my percentage by one percent per week, which will help a lot, and in a year, if I stayed in the same circle, it would be a four percent increase…'
The only problem with this technique was something normal: when he leveled up, the percentage would drop to that circle's base percentage. The reason was simple—every time someone reached a new circle, it was always much harder than the previous one.
'That would be the problem, but aside from that, this technique can be used as many times as I want, and that's the best part.'
He didn't know who the Constellation that helped him was, but he was very grateful, and when he met her, she would be the only one he'd treat well—but that didn't mean he would become her friend, since she must be enjoying the spectacle as much as her companions.
"Welcome, little brother."
"Hello, Miss Platina."
"Big sis."
"No."
As he approached, he saw that Platina must have warmed up, since she was sweating a little while holding a metal sword.
"Let's begin, but know that just because I'm the first to train you doesn't mean it will be easy."
"That's exactly what I want."
"Good, little brother."
Satisfied, she took her stance, the sword pointing at him. It looked like her skills were being put into practice.
"As far as I know, you're not a sword fighter."
"Let's just say I've recently gotten interested in it."
Pouring magic into the sword, she stabbed it into the ground and chains spun around Enrico. What she was doing was just a test, so she would only use her metal magic, which was still weak.
"Flame Impact!"
The chains were broken and he immediately rushed forward to Platina, pointing his hand at her face.
"Large Fireball!"
Exploding the spell at her face, he quickly retreated, just in time to dodge the blade that passed near his shoulder. It was clear she was still at the beginning of her sword handling, as it was still basic.
[Pointing at your own sister's face? How cruel.]
'Actually, this family is going to like that I'm like this in training.'
"Speed above average, magic at a good level—you must be at thirty percent. But even so, your body is above several circle twos I've seen."
Coming out of the smoke without a scratch, Enrico got into a guard stance, but Platina made her sword disappear and asked him to come closer. As he approached, she made him sit on the ground, placing both hands on his shoulders.
"I'll focus this training on improving your percentage. First, no matter what happens, don't dodge, just try to endure."
Sitting five meters away from him, she pointed her hand at Enrico and released a fire tornado that surprised him. Quickly, he crossed his arms and spread magic through his whole body, enduring the attack. His body was injured, and he looked at Platina, annoyed.
"What we'll do now is a back-and-forth, where we'll keep launching only spells at each other, with your spells getting stronger as you try to withstand a spell that will affect your own body. What I'll also do is increase your resistance to attacks above your level, so you'll be able to endure longer."
He understood, and from the looks of it, Platina used some enhancement magic combined with the fire tornado, which would disappear after some time. But with several in a row, he could have a percentage increase. Of course, this only worked because he was circle two, and at most his body could endure about twenty attacks of that same level in a day.
"Now it's your turn to hit me. That way, I can see how you're growing. So, give me everything you've got, little brother—your big sis here can handle it."
"If you say so…"
Well, this was problematic, since now he'd be spending mana uselessly and wouldn't have it to defend himself. Luckily, thanks to that improvement, his mana was at the same level as the average student's.
"This is going to be harder than I thought… that's too good, Miss Platina."
[You lunatic.]
"Very well, little brother, let out your mana."
A barrier of flames rose, covering the two, and sounds of magic being launched at each other echoed inside.