Parallel Memory

Chapter 516: A stroll in the city

Hiro's POV

With the help of the Luminary Spring, I have finally broken through to Rank A+. I could feel a drastic increase in my stats. With this newfound power and the rate of growth, I'm confident that I'll be able to avenge my parents for what the devils have done.

Ever since we entered Etheron City, I've felt like I've been in Zero's shadow in many ways—beginning from our union and the incident with Professor William.

The circumstances kept placing him in the spotlight—like when he confronted Princess Elenia. That incident led the elven geniuses to hate and target him, and as if that wasn't enough, it continued even during the Luminary Spring trials.

It made me feel like I was being called the genius of the century, but I think that he is the one who deserves to be called humanity's greatest genius, as he broke Professor Mia's record of ascension to Rank S at the age of just eighteen.

I was reminded that I am still behind after all this training and dungeon clearing.

Even when we started classes at Ace Academy, we were taught to use what the professor called a mana base. It was difficult for me, since I was not accustomed to using mana other than through my skills.

Zion and I were the last to master the mana base, probably because we were combat-type fighters who focused more on raw power than control.

After a full week of practice, the professor finally moved us to the second lesson. The morning schedule remained the same as in the academy, attended by everyone—including Mia and Amelia—but in the afternoons, we shifted to practical training.

The training wasn't hard compared to that of Ace Academy, as there was no physical training.

It was starting to get better as I was learning more each day. Finally, it was time for the second lesson to commence. I couldn't wait.

As usual, in the afternoon, Professor Thalior entered the hall and began his lecture.

"Now that you all can form the mana base," he said, "once you perfect it, you'll be able to precisely control the amount of mana used when activating your arts and skills. This will help you conserve mana during battle."

He formed a mana base and continued:

"You can also increase or decrease your mana output depending on the amount of damage you wish to inflict."

Then, with a casual motion, he cast a fireball at me—but it did no damage. It looked more like a magic trick than a real spell.

"In life-or-death battles, this will be the most efficient approach. The mana base doesn't consume your internal mana directly but instead pools it around your body. This gives you better spatial awareness and control over it. With practice, you'll also be able to make the mana base invisible to others."

"You'll get more comfortable using it in real combat, and that will help you refine it naturally. Now, your second task is this: use your mana base to blend with your surroundings—just like the elves do."

(When we first met the elves, we could barely detect their presence. To me, they felt no different from trees or rocks. So this is how they were camouflaging—with the mana base.)

Then, the professor demonstrated. He created a mana base, closed his eyes for a moment—and when he opened them again, it was as if his presence had vanished. Despite being S+ rank, he emitted no mana at all.

"Close your eyes and try to locate me using only your senses," he instructed.

We obeyed—but it felt like he had disappeared into thin air. Even though he continued lecturing, none of us could sense him.

"And that," he said, "is one use of the mana base. You may open your eyes."

We opened our eyes and were shocked to find he hadn't moved even a single step.

The method we were taught was simple in theory: focus on your surroundings and align the nature of your mana with it. But I was reminded that it is always "easier said than done."

After training the whole afternoon, we all struggled. While we could slightly hide our presence, Professor Thalior could still locate us with his eyes closed.

After a few days of effort, we managed to reach an intermediate level. It wasn't perfect, but good enough. Then we were left to train by ourselves, improving the mana base and camouflage while trying to figure out new ways to make use of the mana base.

Zero's POV

I was too bored with the training, as they taught nothing new. His skill, Mana Manipulation, gave him easy access to the training provided by the professor. So I decided to take a stroll around the city instead of going for training.

While walking through the streets, I made a few stops to taste the elven street foods. I could feel that the elves were not very welcoming toward me, as they either walked away or glared. Although I was a royal guest, they were not bothered to treat me like one.

Unlike humans, elves and the other races had better relationships, and occasionally, I would encounter dwarves in the city who would look at me like they were seeing a ghost, as humans had left a bad impression on them.

After a few minutes, I entered an alley, as it seemed rarely used, so that I could avoid them and return to the academy.

Swoosh...

A magic arrow with a bright glow flew toward me. With a slight shift, I was barely able to dodge, and boom!—with a loud bang, a hole was drilled into the nearby wall with debris flying everywhere.

"Zero Elea, I thought you died there," a voice said. As I turned around, I saw a group of elves. "I couldn't have paid you back for embarrassing me if you had died with one shot."

There were five of them, and all of them were Rank S- or above. Elrond was the one leading them. He had ascended a subrank from S- to S.

(If I had not ranked up with the help of the Luminary Spring, I might have been in trouble facing them, as I might have had to depend on my trump card. But now the situation was different. I could see that other than their rank, they were not really a threat to me.)

"Arlong, I think you are still in tournament mode, but it's been over a long time ago—and you lost," I replied with a smug grin, taunting him.

"It is Elrond!" he raised his voice. "And I shall have my revenge by beating you here."

"The tournament is over, and it's a waste of time to be fighting without any reward."

"A dead man needs no reward," he shouted and started shooting multiple mana-embedded arrows while his friends moved in different directions, since they were long-range fighters.

I swiftly drew my sword, Raijin's Edge, from the spatial ring and parried them immediately and effortlessly. Not waiting for them to get into formation, I charged at the closest, first hitting him in the gut with the flat part of my sword with full force.

Boooooom...

Even with their shield up, some of them were sent flying a few meters—but still conscious. I could easily kill them if I wanted to, but I refrained, as it could start a war with the elves' kingdom.

(They posed no challenge, but they made a pretty good exercise.)

Elrond was frozen like a statue after realizing the difference in our strength had multiplied instead of reducing.

"You are next," I said, pointing to Elrond with a serious face.

Immediately, he realized he had little chance, so instead of running away, he called out to his friends, "It's time to use our secret technique," and they gathered and started chanting and charging their mana.

Finally, something interesting. A few seconds later, they were in perfect sync with each other—as if they were a single person.

"You will regret not finishing us off when you had the chance," they said in unison, like a group of robots on Earth. With a sinister laugh, they all charged one gigantic arrow, which decreased in size as they charged more.

I could see that it was becoming more powerful as the size decreased. I immediately used Dark Ice Embodiment and deployed multiple layers of Shadow Ice Wall. I knew the spell was at least SS-rank. Even with full defense, I would still be knocked out.

But I wasn't going down easily. I still had my trump card—the dark energy—as a last resort. So I was prepared to take it on still; I was just worried I might get caught by the elves' kingdom.

Swoosh...

Unison Attack: Death Arrow!  They shouted as they released the fully charged attack.

Boooom... Crack, crack... As the arrow came into contact with my ice wall, it pierced through like a hot knife through butter as it made its way toward me