Since the day he returned to the ruins of the church with the small black knife, Bell hadn’t set foot in the Dungeon. He needed ti for preparation, and to develop and study his new powers.
As for the nature of Bell’s Awakening Magic, Hestia and Hephaestus had already reached a conclusion. Given how similar its application was to an Authority, they both agreed it was essentially a disguised Authority—only taking the form of magic to manifest as Bell’s power. However, using this so-called "Magic" Authority consud a great deal of mana and lacked the overwhelming power typical of true Authority.
Their guess turned out to be spot-on. When Bell tested the power of his magic afterward, he clearly sensed that the mont it left his body, its mana consumption increased exponentially. But as long as it remained within his body’s range, the mana cost dropped just as drastically.
In other words, Bell had successfully obtained the acceleration-type magic he’d been hoping for. Transforming his body into lightning didn’t consu much mana, and only required more when he wanted to increase its power. In addition to lightning transformation, he could also imbue his weapons with lightning attributes—sothing that didn’t demand much mana either.
These two magical applications were more than enough for Bell.
Now, what he needed was to fully convert this enhanced state into a part of his own power. But Bell wasn’t worried about that process. After all, the effect of "Personal Training" was no joke. As long as he categorized it under "Preparation for Battle" and continued to accumulate power, it would activate the effects of the Craft Essence.
...
As night fell outside the church ruins, Bell held Kuji Kanesada and maintained a combat stance.
Not a single light surrounded the ruins, yet Bell could clearly see everything. His eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness—just a trace of light was enough for him to perceive the world in the shadows. He was even beginning to see clearly in places where there wasn’t any light at all.
"Hoo..."
The night breeze stirred around him. A leaf from outside Orario’s wall was blown inside by the wind.
By chance, the leaf floated to a spot less than five ters in front of Bell.
"Szzzt!"
A thin arc of blue electricity danced across Bell’s skin. The lightning flashed in the night, leaping across the five-ter gap. His long blade traced an arc through the dark sky, and the instant it passed his body, the leaf was sliced cleanly in two. But because the speed surpassed the limits of ti, the vertically cleaved leaf hadn’t fully split apart. Bell spun quickly, using centrifugal force to slash at the already-cut leaf again.
The arcs of lightning faded from Bell’s skin. At the sa ti, the seemingly frozen leaf split evenly into four pieces as ti resud. The heat from the slash ignited the fragnts instantly, burning them to black ash in midair before they had the chance to scatter.
Finishing the motion of sheathing his sword, Bell let out a small breath.
’I’m finally starting to get the hang of it.’
Lightning transformation wasn’t sothing easily mastered.
Once the body was transford into lightning, all normal sensory perception and sense of speed changed completely—it took ti and training to adapt. Bell knew this thunderified state would beco his default when traveling or fighting, so getting used to it was essential.
Fortunately, his "Personal Training" had helped a lot. When he first activated lightning transformation, he couldn’t control the distance or speed of each step, even crashing straight into a wall. But with repeated training, he slowly adapted—and at the sa ti, he worked hard to accelerate his thought processes to match.
The montary nature of Lightning Transformation ca with a serious drawback—that fleeting "instant" was its greatest weakness. During that transformation, Bell lost all sense of distance and speed, making it easy to be countered if not used properly. That was why accelerating his thoughts alongside his body was essential when using Lightning Transformation.
’Aside from gradually gaining control over my magic, my swordsmanship has also improved a lot. But I have no idea how long it’ll take to pull off that technique.’
"Hidden Blade: Tsuba Gaeshi" was the pinnacle of swordsmanship—and currently the highest-level combat technique Bell possessed that wasn’t tied to magic or a skill. The technique could trigger a multi-dinsional distortion phenonon, bypassing the boundaries of ti and space. It was almost a guaranteed kill. But executing it was absurdly difficult—almost unimaginably so.
Even after inheriting a master swordsman’s entire life’s worth of experience, Bell still couldn’t pull it off. Not because he lacked the technical skill, but because he couldn’t produce that dinsional distortion with a simple, unembellished sword swing.
His blade work had already co infinitely close to the dying level of that swordsman. Yet despite that, he still couldn’t execute the move. Perhaps what he lacked was a certain breakthrough—or maybe there were still aspects in which he fell short compared to that man.
’I still need to keep training the basics of swordplay. Every day, once my daily tasks are done, I have to find ti to keep practicing. The gap between and that swordsman probably lies in our persistence. If he could do it, then with all the experience I’ve inherited, there’s no reason I can’t.’
It wasn’t arrogance that fueled Bell—it was just that his conditions were far better than that swordsman’s had ever been. What’s more, Bell had inherited the experience needed to perform "Hidden Blade: Tsuba Gaeshi." Even if he couldn’t use it yet, that didn’t an he never would. From the very start, he had been building on that swordsman’s legacy, standing on his shoulders. Unlike a swordsman groping through the dark, Bell had a clear path forward.
After storing Kuji Kanesada back in four-dinsional space, Bell steadied his breathing to calm himself.
"Three days in, and my body’s already adapted to its enhanced state. I’ve also grasped the basics of both magic and swordsmanship. Next up—the Dungeon."
Bell hadn’t rushed to the Dungeon imdiately after returning. Charging in without stabilizing his condition would have been reckless. Life only cos once. That’s why caution and careful preparation were essential.
And three days of preparation had been enough. Now it was ti to head to the Dungeon and start accumulating real combat experience. After all the prep work, it was ti for live training. Power forged through training existed for battle. If it couldn’t be used in a real fight, then that training was aningless.
The Dungeon would be the proving ground for everything Bell had worked on these past three days.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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