[The Meditation skill has reached level 80]
[All requirements for evolution have been met. Do you wish to continue?]
Shinka opened his eyes at the system's words.
His expression reflected pleasant surprise.
He knew that Meditation probably had a more important background than just being the skill with which he recharges mana, but he didn't expect it to evolve in that way.
Yes.
[Enlightenment Lv.1]
[The Enlightenment skill allows increasing the user's Magical Power stat, as well as recharging and expanding mana at double the common speed.]
"Double, huh." Shinka whispered while trying to get up.
"Then if I had obtained this skill before, meditating together with Shinka No. 2 would have increased my mana by 4."
'I'm becoming strong at an alarming rate...' He thought with a smile, but a strange feeling gave him a chill.
'No! Shut up, every time I think or say that out loud, someone humiliates me.'
Shinka rubbed his eyes.
"My body didn't sleep all this time," he said, opening the system panel.
[Status.]
[Name: Shinka Kusaka.]
[Race: Human.]
[Titles: None.]
[Health: 50/50]
[Mana: 86578/86578]
[Magical Power: Medium. (Supernatural)]
[Attack: High. (Human)]
[Defense: High. (Human)]
[Speed: High. (Human)]
[Mental Skills: Mathematics Lv.30, Rationality Lv.39, Speed Reading Lv.30, Accelerated Thinking Lv.15, Polyglot Lv.MAX, Mental World Lv.MAX, Hyper Concentration Lv.20, Hypermnesia Lv.25]
[Physical Skills: Strength Lv.30, Running Lv.18, Physical Training Lv.15, In-Boxing Lv.10, Out-Boxing Lv.10, Muay Thai Lv.10, Jiu-Jitsu Lv.10, Shokotan Karate Lv.10, Kyokushin Karate Lv.10, Natural Fencing Lv.20, German Fencing Lv.10, Spanish Fencing Lv.10, French Fencing Lv.10, Kendo Lv.10]
[Magical Skills: Enlightenment Lv.1, Focus Magic Lv.8, Mana Concealment Magic Lv.MAX, Invisibility Magic Lv.MAX, Magical Reinforcement Lv.8, Inspection Magic Lv.12, Sensory Enhancement Magic Lv.15, Magic Sphere Lv.15, Cuff Magic Lv.1]
"My mana increased enormously. Now I should be able to remove the handcuffs."
Shinka, inside the temple, began to disintegrate slowly and regain control of his physical body.
...
'I'm... I'm drooling...' Shinka thought, feeling his whole body slumped on the concrete table.
He tried to fix his posture, but a sharp pain ran through his entire body.
'A-ARGH! W-What the hell?!'
'I hadn't thought about it, but yesterday was the time I overexerted my body the most. I learned fencing techniques without resting properly, used mana reinforcement unscrupulously, and since I didn't sleep all night, neither my body nor my mind are at full capacity!'
Trembling, he finally managed to fix his posture and wiped the drool from his cheek with his shoulder.
He stared fixedly at the handcuffs and began to expel mana from his body unrestrainedly.
WHOOSH!
The cell began to tremble from the amount of energy Shinka began to emanate.
Shinka frowned.
'It's impossible that after increasing my mana pool so much, I haven't reached the amount Raymond used to create them!'
Shinka's mind began to swarm with the idea that he still needed more mana, but the idea began to fade after he heard a crack.
CRACK!
Mini cracks began to appear in the magical matrix on the handcuffs.
CRACK!
The cracks continued expanding across the handcuffs until finally...
WHOOSH!
The handcuffs broke into fragments and flew into the air before disappearing.
'My arm... It's healed?!'
"Hah..." Shinka panted a bit but quickly recomposed himself after hearing applause coming from outside the cell.
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
"Congratulations, Kusaka-san!" There was Raymond with his superior expression, smiling as he saw his new student pass his first test.
"Don't use honorifics if you're just going to mock me. Are you finally going to release me?"
"Come on, don't be angry. Of course, I'm going to release you, and I have something to show you." Raymond said while opening the cell.
"You look haggard," he said subtly as he approached Shinka.
"I wonder why that is..." Shinka just forced a friendly smile, but the veins on his forehead gave him away.
"Who knows. Anyway, I need you in good condition for what I want to show you, so take this." Raymond took a scroll from his pocket.
Shinka took it with pain in his muscles and opened it as quickly as he could.
It was a magic matrix.
Shinka analyzed it quickly and understood that it was composed entirely of biology and great mana control in the body.
[Mana Nutrition Lv.0]
[Mana Nutrition allows using the mana from your body to generate carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.]
'This... is basically an ability to stay functioning for a prolonged period of time?'
'Although I don't have enough knowledge of biology, with a bit of study I could easily do it.'
Shinka rolled up the scroll and handed it back to Raymond.
"What's wrong? Didn't you understand it?" The man asked innocently.
"Of course, I did. I'm giving it back to you because I no longer need the scroll." Shinka said, looking at Raymond as if he were a fool and recovering some arrogance in the process.
'Excellent! It's just as I imagined. The Boosted Gear must be maximizing his memory capacity.'
"Alright, brainiac. I advise you to only use that magic with caution; prolonged use brings quite severe consequences." Raymond said while leaving the cell with Shinka.
'It all depends on the level of the magic matrix. If it's high level, perhaps with the system I can overcome the limitations... But it would be strange to only feed on my own mana. I doubt it tastes better than pizza.'
Shinka thought avidly, but it wasn't the only thing on his mind.
Originally, Shinka hadn't had much time, but he knew he had to study hard all the sciences he could to increase his power.
He simply had to postpone his learning desire to prioritize his physical strength.
But now he knew he had to hurry to improve his mind again, just like at the beginning of obtaining the system.
Besides, now he had a huge advantage because he could delegate his physical work to Shinka No. 2 while he took care of studying inside the mental world.
Undoubtedly, Shinka thanked in his heart having gone through this complicated situation.
'No. Actually, those magic matrices were easy to understand on purpose. I'm sure of it, so that's Raymond's way of apologizing.'
The boy's thoughts were interrupted when he observed in front of him a large door with an incomplete magic matrix on it.
"Just add magic to the right places to open it. Basically, it's a magic lock." Raymond extended his hand.
Raymond's mana resonated with the door, and the magic matrix was completed.
BRRRR!
The ground rumbled a bit, and the door opened wide.
There, the young man was amazed by his vision. In front of him stretched an elliptical room with nothing inside except a chandelier on the ceiling and a giant magic matrix on the floor.
Being so gigantic, literally occupying the entire floor, Shinka couldn't see well what it was all about, as it was a matrix too complex.
"This is the training room." Raymond said while entering, accompanied by Shinka.
"This is the place where my daughters and I have been training since we settled in Takido." The man said with passion while standing in the middle of the room.
"All churches are built by the Vatican, and all have similar hidden things. Among them, the training room with gravity-increasing magic."
Shinka's eye tensed at Raymond's explanation; the man finished by stomping the floor with the sole of his shoe.
BOOM!
The magic matrix on the floor lit up incandescently.
"What?!" Shinka's body was forced to kneel.
'I-It's extremely difficult to move.' Shinka had his head bowed and, as he could, moved his neck to look at Raymond.
"H-Hey, I thought you'd notice for yourself, but my whole body hurts! I can't train under these conditions! I could do permanent damage..."
He was standing, as if nothing, with an amused expression while looking at Shinka.
"Oh. Of course, I noticed, Shinka. You have ten minutes to adapt to the increased gravity." Raymond said with his happy expression.
'Is he crazy?' Shinka was frightened by the shortened time limit he had to improve and began to warm up his body with exercises.
After a couple of stretches, he began to do small jumps.
"Five minutes," Raymond said aloud.
Shinka ignored him and continued jumping, gradually increasing his ability.
"I don't think jumping for so long helps you much, Shinka. Three minutes."
Shinka didn't listen to the man and continued with his own thing.
After another bit of practice, Shinka finally jumped 2 meters, and there he could observe it well.
'It's beautiful.' He thought upon seeing the giant matrix on the floor.
'It modifies the gravity of the room by creating an artificial curvature in the space and time of the place.' Shinka understood after seeing it several times.
[Fixed Gravitational Alteration Magic Lv.0]
POCK!
The young man's feet touched the ground.
"Time's up." Raymond said as he approached the boy.
Raymond approached Shinka with a wooden sword quite similar to the Muramasa sword Shinka had used to fight earlier.
"Take it, it's time to start." Raymond extended the sword to Shinka, but he gave him a complicated look.
"I don't like swords," he said, scratching the back of his neck.
"What? Really? I thought most young people with delusions of grandeur dreamed of using a magic sword with a flashy name." Raymond mocked, and Shinka simply frowned.
"I don't have delusions of grandeur!"
"Alright, alright, you're unique and different. I understand." Raymond continued mocking and threw the sword to a corner of the room. "I thought you liked them; the skills you showed were worthy of being a high-ranking member within the exorcist ranks."
Shinka could easily notice he was lying.
'The level I showed is far from decent.'
Raymond took a few moments.
"How about a spear? I think that suits you more."
Shinka shook his head.
"No? Then what do you want? A magic gun maybe?"
"I don't want any weapons."
"I see, so you want to be a pure mage, huh? Well, I respect that, although let me tell you that the supernatural path without a magic weapon is quite turbulent."
Raymond stopped with the words and took a stance.
"Use everything you have, Kusaka!"
Shinka sighed upon seeing Raymond's determination.
"I can imagine what your purpose is behind wanting to train me. Still, I'm grateful for that."
He closed his eyes for a few moments.
"I know this time I won't win either, but I'll make it clear to you that it won't be like yesterday's fight."
A mysterious blue light began to surround Shinka's body.
[Magical Reinforcement Lv.16] [Enlightenment Lv.1]
[Magical Power: Medium. (Supernatural)] > [High. (Supernatural)]
[Attack: High. (Human)] > [Low. (Supernatural)]
[Defense: High. (Human)] > [Low. (Supernatural)]
[Speed: High. (Human)] > [Low. (Supernatural)]
. . .
Inside Shinka's mental world, he was standing next to Shinka No. 2.
With a simple movement of his neck, Shinka set his gaze on his other self.
"Feel free," he whispered, and Shinka No. 2 opened his eyes avidly before beginning to disappear.
With another subtle turn of his head, Shinka looked at a book that was on one of the mental shelves.
A book flew to where he was.
"I'll take care of modifying the gravity magic. If I can adjust it to be local and versatile, instead of fixed like in this room, then I'll really have something very useful in my arsenal."
...
In the physical world, Shinka surrounded by an explosive aura from the accumulation of the Enlightenment state and the Reinforcement magic, opened his eyes.
Both of them golden, warning Raymond that this would not be an easy fight.
"Hello, Shinka No. 2." Raymond whispered.