11 11. Cheat

The following morning Noah opened his eyes at dawn, the first lights of the day woke him up.

He got out of bed and was ready to wash his face when he stopped in place.

'I had never been disturbed by the break of dawn before!'

He entered his sea of consciousness, focusing on the center of his brain.

When his half-transparent figure opened his eyes, he could see that the level of the sea had replenished to half the sphere.

'So one night of sleep is enough to refill half of the sea! Later in the afternoon, I will further test my endurance against the training.'

What he didn't know was that since he was a transmigrator, his mind was far stronger than the one of an average kid his age.

Overall, his mental age was about thirty-five years old, and the events of both his lives contributed to strengthening his mind even more, so it could endure looking at the rune for far more time than any young man.

If a ten-year-old child were to look at the Kesier rune for four hours straight, his mind would shatter.

When he neared a bowl of water and washed his face, he shivered a little.

The water seemed colder than usual.

"Why is the water so cold?"

He asked a passing servant, pointing at the bowl.

The servant put her hand on the bowl and looked at Noah with a confused expression.

"The water feels of the same temperature as always, young master. Is it possible that you caught a cold? Do you want me to call the madam?"

Noah was a bit surprised by her answer, but then he thought of something.

'Is it possible that my senses got sharper with only one session of training? That shouldn't happen so fast, right?'

"No, it's fine, keep going with your work."

He dismissed the maidservant and went to eat breakfast.

'I will ask Master when I see him. Now I should focus on the twin saber style.'

He went back to his room, opened the martial art book, and picked the two sabers.

He did the same thing he used to do whenever a guard would "give" him a martial form or a technique: closing himself in his room and practicing until those movements became a habit.

That time though, he found it quite complicated to manage two sabers at the same time.

'I guess it's really harder to get used to it, as Master said. I can only practice more until I can use these moves in an actual fight.'

Like this, his day passed by.

Noah went out of his room only to get his lunch and spent the dinner reading the Forging of Seven Hells closed in his lodging.

When he felt that he had digested, it was already night.

He closed his book and took out the Kesier rune from his clothing.

As his most valuable asset, he would always keep it with him.

He stared at the rune sitting on his bed and kept going until the level of the water inside his sea of consciousness dropped below one-fifth of the sphere, then he folded the sheet.

Some retches ran through him, but he suppressed them with his eyes closed until they were gone.

Only then, he looked outside the window to understand how much time he had spent training.

'About four hours again, even by reaching my absolute limit. It seems that practicing all day takes its toll on the mind. Otherwise, I'm confident I could have held for about five hours.'

Even though he had reached the limit his body could withstand, he stayed in the sea of consciousness for the same time as the previous night.

He added another question to the list of those he had to ask his Master once he saw him.

'If tomorrow morning I wake up completely fine too, I will keep going like I have done today. Training all day is tiring, and this terrible headache is discouraging, but I can hold on! What is a bit of sweat and pain compared with great power?'

Reaffirming his determination, he laid in bed completely exhausted both in body and mind and slept soundly.

In the morning, Noah woke up at dawn again, as soon as he noticed the light striking his window.

Checking that everything had gone smoothly in his sea of consciousness and that apart from some soreness in his limbs he had completely recovered, he chose to repeat the same actions of the previous day.

He trained from morning till mid-afternoon in the twin saber style, read the Forging of Seven Hells while eating dinner and digesting it, and practiced with the Kesier rune during the night till his body was on the verge of throwing up.

Like this, the day of his meeting with William arrived.

In the same spacious room from the week before, Noah was sitting on his knees, looking at his Master standing in front of him.

He was waiting for William to finish his yawn before asking him to clarify some of his doubts.

"Master, ever since I have begun training my mental energy, I can notice the light of the morning through the window during my sleep. Moreover, everything seems colder or warmer than it used to, and I'm pretty sure I can hear some servants whispering in other rooms if I concentrate enough."

Noah had never slacked off during those days, and the changes in his perception grew every day more evident.

William was a bit surprised when he first heard that but then remembered how stubborn his disciple was when it came to training. He thought that he should impose more limits on his training habits before Noah hurt himself due to exhaustion.

"It seems that you practiced really hard on the Kesier rune. I remember that, when I first started practicing my mental energy at the age of fifteen, I could not keep going on for more than two hours before collapsing. I remember the captain called me a rare genius! Haha, don't worry, as you grow up, your mental barriers will solidify and become sturdier, allowing you to train for more time."

Noah was speechless, staring at his Master with wide eyes. William put a proud expression and thought:

'Yes, that's right, your Master is a genius. Are you comparing yourself with me now, right?'

A slight smirk was on his face as he thought that he had finally obtained some respect from the kid.

'Wait wait wait wait, is he saying that he collapsed ONLY after two hours? A rare genius, him? What is the double of a rare genius? Maybe because my mind has already undergone another life, it can be considered as a fully formed mind, so I can train for the same amount of time as grown-up men while still being ten years old. Isn't it the same as saying that as long as I don't slack off, I can't be reached by other people my age?'

Noah's mouth became a little dry, and then he gulped. Trying to shift the focus of the conversation away from the hours of training, he questioned William about another one of his doubts.

"How long did you take, Master, to memorize the first rune?"

William smile grew and said with a proud smile:

"About six years, but I could have done it in five if it wasn't for the captain always sending me on missions."

'So, if I keep going like this, I might actually become a rank 1 mage in three years! Maybe the process will be slower due to my still unformed dantian, yet it's extremely good!'

Noah already wanted to drop this talk with his master and go back to his room to train, he was eager to understand what it felt like to cast magic spells.

William dropped his prideful pose and looked at him, smiling.

"You have trained in the twin saber style too, right?"

"Yes, Master."

Noah answered, remembering the main reason he had come for that day.

"Do you want to show it to me?"

"Yes, please! Master, don't go easy on me."

Noah stood up and picked two training sabers from the wall behind him.

"Don't worry, I won't."

William said, putting his left hand behind his back and raising his right one to his chest, the side of the hand pointing at Noah.

Immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed.

****

Edited by: Alessandro Sica