Return to the dragon's den [3]

"We have a lot of work to do."

The old man wasn't satisfied with my performance. As I gulped one of the potions he had prepared, he started to dissect the problems with my skill.

"The first two versions are mostly unusable unless you are going against someone much weaker than you. The rest are fine to use if you just consider the power. The problem is the time you need to charge them up, even the fastest out of these is too slow."

I sat down on the floor again, crossing my legs as I have been taught to do, "So I have to decrease the time it takes to charge?"

"That is the case. No worries, as long as you can get the fastest one to deploy with less than three seconds of charging, you have a good tool to use. It will still require planning, but it can be worked around. Although there is still the issue with using it with Khanda and Nandaka anyway, so it might take some time before you can use it efficiently."

The old man stood up, and started making his way to my back, "We will continue to open up more channels in your body, and then we move on with mana manipulation just like last time. Oh, and from now on I want you to call me Master again, as a proper disciple should."

****

[James's Pov]

I was sitting on my couch, trying to sort out my thoughts about what had gone down today.

'Miren is the disciple of the principal...'

It was all a mess now. The principal already had a reputation of never having had a disciple ever, so this made it so much more impactful.

Rumors had already started to spread around campus, often including the fact that I had challenged him to a duel. That meant that this was no longer only a duel for the sake of showing my classmates that I could protect them, it was an official challenge to the only inheritor of the strongest person in District 5.

This wasn't something restricted to the academy anymore, the whole district would try their best to spectate the match. There was a big risk that my identity would get exposed, showing the world that there was still a Luminary alive. The stakes had gotten a lot higher than before, but I still felt like it had to be done.

Although Lindsey had for some reason started to hang out with Miren, the rest of the freshmen either shunned him or feared him. I could see that almost none of my classmates could focus on the theoretical lessons just because he was in the room.

I also knew that Troy from the B-class was planning something, and no matter what he was thinking of doing, it would end badly.

Even if they ganged up on Miren he would at least get one or two of them before getting defeated, and in Miren's eyes getting someone would mean killing them.

The duel was still the cleanest way of solving this issue, showing everyone that he wasn't the strongest one, meaning they didn't have to fear him as I could defeat him.

*Knock, knock, knock!*

A knock on the door broke me free from my thoughts, and I already knew who it was.

Opening the door I was met by my lovely lady, still wearing her uniform. After a short, and incredibly soft, hug I let her into my apartment.

She looked around a bit before turning to me with a frown, "You still haven't decorated at all in here!"

Although the room was quite splendid just in itself with the furniture that was provided, it was true that I didn't have a single painting on the walls nor any flowers on the shelves.

Scratching my head, I tried to retort, "You know I don't have a need for such things. I'm barely here anyway."

Most of my time spent in my apartment was either in the training room or when I was sleeping. I couldn't enjoy watching TV as it felt like a waste of time, and I didn't like to just lie around doing nothing. I did occasionally study here, though.

She just sighed and sat down on the couch, "Yes, yes. Of course, the training addict wouldn't have a need for such things, but what about your lovely girlfriend who sometimes come over?"

A grin came over her face as she complimented herself.

"Haha, I guess at least one part of that is true."

I sat down beside her, and took her hand in mine, "I do have a very lovely girlfriend."

Her face turned scarlet, still embarrassed about all the couples' stuff. We hadn't done all too much during our relationship, stopping at holding hands so far, but I was content.

"Idiot..."

Not minding the insult, I initiated a conversation, "So, what do you want to do tonight? It's Friday, after all."

She had pretty much forced me to take Friday and Saturday nights off from training, so we would have time to see each other and do what couples do.

"I don't think I want to do anything, let's just stay in tonight!"

That was a plan I didn't dislike, as my mind was a bit too preoccupied for me to feel excited about going out.

There was after all still one big question unanswered.

'Who are you, Miren?'

****

[Miren's Pov]

Having finished my training for the day, I was lying on my couch thinking about how it went.

The opening of my mana channels had gone smoother than ever, managing to open several of them in one sitting, something that made me instantly feel a difference in the speed I could move my mana.

The more surprising part of the training was when we started with mana manipulation. It was a lot harder than the last time I did it back at Basilisk. Trying to produce my lightning bunny felt like trying to fit a rope through a needle, I just couldn't move my mana delicately enough anymore.

The principal had been quite right about his observation. Because of my increased mana grade, and my lacking mana control, it had become difficult to manipulate my mana.

In the end, I managed to recover some of my proficiency, although I was back at creating an orb of lightning and moving it up and down for the time being.

Once again it made my curiosity about the enigma that was my mana seed. It seldom felt like I could progress through meditation in increments anymore, it was always one big leap in progress after I had the chance to meet the purple figure inside of me.

The natural conclusion was, as the old dragon stated, to fully focus on my mana control and manipulation. If I somehow accidentally strengthened my M.G., even more, the was a big risk of making myself a cripple.

Funny enough, it didn't seem to affect my [Lightning Step] at all almost as if the energy used was always the same and the output didn't matter.

Or maybe it did matter...

I had a nagging feeling that I wasn't fulfilling the potential of the steps, but I had no idea what more could be done.

'Wait, didn't the Miren in my dream do something completely different?'

The Miren I saw in my dream hadn't moved like me at all. Whereas I took a step, focusing energy into a single leg to accelerate, he looked almost as if he was phasing through time and space, his whole body becoming a purple blur.

If my dreams had any sort of semblance of truth, then I wasn't doing everything I could with the tools I had.

'I can try it tomorrow in the time capsule... Oh, I still haven't asked Mike why my allotted time increased!'

[17.38]

Looking at my DAD, it seems like I was running out of time, I had to get a move on.

Today was the day Lindsey had decided we should go out to a club.

'We drank so much yesterday and she still wants to do out tonight? What kind of superhuman is she?'

After yesterday, drinking was the last thing I wanted to do, knowing I had embarrassed myself in front of her, but I had already promised her.

Just as I was thinking about this, I got a text on my DAD.

'That's probably Lindsey then...'

But it wasn't, *The duel between you and James will take place next Saturday, 18.00. Are you sure you want to do this Miren? There is still time to cancel it.*

It was a text from a Borr, but not the gorgeous queen, but from the large primate.

My heart beat started to speed up while my mind got cold. This was it, the time to somewhat decide my fate at the academy. Once again my mind was imprinted with a single intent, the intent which had followed my every battle since the time I slew my first goblin.

'Kill or be killed!'