Chapter 17

The following day.

Carrying a magic book, I made my way to a mountain behind the mansion’s lot. I had already mastered [Basic Psychokinesis], and my [Vision] skill level had reached 100%. I could now manipulate seven throwing knives as if they were my limbs, but any more than that would make even the production of magic a problem.

Hence, I had to attempt familiarizing myself with [Beginner Psychokinesis] in the middle of the mountain’s vegetation, which had cleaner air and better mana quality. I tried sitting in a lotus position, but I couldn’t bring myself to sit on the bare ground because of my unbearable mysophobia. Eventually, I found myself dragging along a chair from the mansion.

Amid the grass and trees now sat an antique chair. They didn’t mesh well together, but I leaned back onto its backrest and opened my magic book anyway.

—— [Beginner Psychokinesis] ——

: Now that you’ve learned Basic Psychokinesis, you may now advance to Beginner Psychokinesis. Compared to Basic Psychokinesis, Beginner Psychokinesis uses eighteen more lines and one more circle. The movement of the circuit has now become more complicated…

I activated my [Understanding]. [Beginner Psychokinesis] appeared like a vision before my eyes as it filled my mind.

“…”

Two lines overlapped like computer figures, clearly highlighting the difference between the two magics. I then imbued the data into my body. [Beginner Psychokinesis] lines were more detailed engraved on top of their weaker counterpart, [Basic Psychokinesis]. Heavy lines and circles were added to my previous feather-like technique.

The [Basic Psychokinesis]’s gaps and simplicity were now, for the first time, filled with a medium in the form of a magic circle.

“Haaaa…”

Naturally, I tasted death once more. Whenever a new circuit was formed, I would feel a fever surging up inside me so violently that it felt like daggers were carving through my bones…

Swish—!

The spell invading my muscles nibbled at my nerves. I could still bear the sharp, deep pain coursing through my veins, but the duration I had to wait for it to dissipate was quite long. Throughout that time, the magic taking root all over my body tormented me rigorously.

It didn’t stop until I had exhausted most of my powers. Within that ambiguous feeling was a sense of listlessness and languish, however. I remembered what happened last night.

…Yeriel. I didn’t agonize over it, but I would be lying if I weren’t hoping our secret would remain obscured. I shut down those idle thoughts and opened my eyes. What was left of my power was less than 10%, but that was more than enough for me to train.

I went back to the training ground, which was somewhat strange compared to modern fitness centers. For starters, its pull-up bar was too high, and the barbell and dumbbell plates were heavier than normal weights. I took off my clothes and folded them. My body, which I had been developing nonstop, pleased me.