A circle started spinning faster around a heart, seeming like embers were trying to escape from it—and then it stopped.
"Huff... huff..."
[That was dangerous. If you mess up, you could damage your heart—and you already have fire cancer.]
Enrico clutched the area over his heart, in his room and sweating. What had happened was that he was meditating and trying to create something new based on some ideas from his own head.
"I need to create something to improve my mana. If I succeed, my spells will get even stronger."
[And then you'll teach it to the headmaster and ask for what?]
Headmaster Hao had come to talk to him about using the idea of Ego weapons with magic to create magical weapons. Enrico then accused him of being spied on, but he apologized, saying it was actually his friend who had seen their conversation.
'He could've just stolen the idea, but he asked for permission, and I only asked for some money in exchange for contributing.'
Besides, he had only brought forward an idea the protagonist originally had at the end of his life, so he gave half the money to Kai, who was surprised and tried to refuse—but Enrico forced him to accept.
'He deserved it... besides, he's one of my favorite characters.'
[At least you did something honorable.]
'Nice of you to say, but I won't always be honorable—there are some mages in the future who don't deserve any honor.'
He was now having other ideas of his own, like trying to recreate the "Sun Heart" technique but transforming it into a "Heart of Fire," which would be much weaker. If he could do it, his level would increase, but from what he noticed, he'd probably need more circles—maybe the fourth or fifth.
'Just a little more to go until the next arcs.'
Since the arc involving the fight against Elowyn hadn't ended, he hadn't received any reward yet. Still, the next two arcs would be more relaxed: exams. And today he had just done the first one, which was a fight against Nartheis. The next arc was a not-so-important festival—students would be allowed a day in the city to have fun. After that, it would be the arc where they were supposed to fight Class A. But since they were already in Class A, it would turn into a fight against Class S—and as a bonus, a confrontation with the princess as well.
'Just three more days and the exams will be over.'
So far, he was getting the best grades and would keep it that way. After getting up, he returned to meditating—not to continue with the Heart of Fire, but to try to absorb natural mana to increase his own mana. Two hours passed, and he still couldn't manage it. That body didn't have the potential to do it, but he wanted to try the training that the mage from Vesparello was doing on the moon.
A knock on the door, and it opened. Seraphina entered, having come for the training he was offering.
"How are you, Seraphina? Feeling better?"
"Yes, I'm very grateful for all the help you've given me these past few days."
Since he came back, he had been training her a lot, as he had some suspicions about her power and was testing it. If it was what he thought, then it was both good luck and bad luck. So they began training, and she tried to keep up. Thirty minutes later, she collapsed from exhaustion.
"I... huff... can't go on... huff..."
Yumeha, Rina, and Aoi, who were just about to enter, heard the sounds and froze at the door. Yumeha trembled, thinking the worst.
"You want me to take it easier?"
"No, go at your pace—I just need to keep up."
The door burst open and Yumeha stormed in, furious that her master had lied to her.
"Master, you told me this would only happen in the future!"
Yumeha stopped when she saw Enrico doing two-finger push-ups and Seraphina resting on the floor. She immediately realized she had misunderstood the situation.
"My apologies, Master. I deserve punishment for misinterpreting you."
Yumeha knelt seriously, while Rina sighed in relief behind her, and Aoi seemed to be holding back a laugh, clutching her stomach.
'Got it. That was that kind of moment... very funny.'
[Pfft... yeah, seeing Aoi nearly laugh made it even better.]
'Shut up.'
[Finally, a win for me.]
While the system celebrated its first victory in a while, Enrico decided to talk to them about doing some training together, and they all began to train right there—unaware that Angela would walk by an hour later, blush, and rush off to talk to Virelle.
Days passed, and when the academy exams ended, Enrico was walking down a hallway full of students when he got a message from the system.
[You've received a reward because the arc has ended—but we'd like to offer you something new.]
'But aren't pacts only made every two arcs?'
[This isn't a pact—it's an upgrade. You don't get the reward now, but you'll get a better one by combining two rewards.]
"Sounds like a pact."
[If it were a pact, we would've taken something worse from you.]
Thinking about it, this didn't seem bad. The next arc wouldn't be good anyway, so not getting a reward now wasn't the end of the world. If the next one was better, it might be worth it. He thought about what he was planning to do anyway, with or without the reward.
'Alright, I accept.'
[The constellation that offered this says you won't regret it.]
'Tell her I believe in her.'
He was lying. He didn't believe in these beings, but all the rewards so far hadn't been too bad—except the clone, which was proving far more useful than he'd expected. Looking ahead, he saw Valença walking in front of him and ran to catch up with her.
"Valença."
Valença turned her head, confused, since lately they were more rivals than friends. Even though they'd been talking more often, it still felt odd to call out to each other in front of other students.
"What is it, Enrico?"
"We're leaving in two and a half weeks."
Valença tilted her head and put a finger in her ear as if she'd misheard, then looked at him in disbelief.
"What?"