CHAPTER 255: TRAINING WITH VICE PRINCIPAL [6]

"Ack—!"

A sudden impact rattled Cedric’s skull as a fast-moving orb slammed him square in the face, jerking his head back.

His eyes rolled back for a moment, and his legs trembled as if he was one step away from falling, but with sheer will, he forced his body upright.

"Huff... Huff..."

He took heavy gulps, and a metallic taste of blood filled his mouth as he spat to the side on the floor.

He was inside a dark room, with nothing but pitch-black darkness, a suffocating void.

The kind of darkness where every sight was utterly useless, where even stretching a hand in front of his eyes revealed nothing but emptiness.

He had been training in this place for nearly two hours since the Vice Principal left him, or maybe it had been three; he couldn’t tell.

He had long lost track of time.

The only markers were the brutal blows that rained down on him from every direction; they were coming one after another like a sadistic metronome.

With only a few hours, his body was battered and bruised from head to toe, and blood trailed from a gash on his temple, streaking down his cheek.

His shirt clung to his body, soaked in sweat. Even the task of simple breathing sent sharp stabs of pain through his ribs.

And despite his efforts, he still... still hadn’t managed to evade the single orb cleanly.

Not even once.

The thought alone made his chest tighten in frustration.

’Are there... some kind of devices here? Some sort of mechanism that keeps them firing them? And how many of these damn things are there?’

He clenched his jaw and took a deep breath again.

"Hhhufff—"

His lungs screamed as he called the space mana one more time. Space mana throbbed inside him, frying his nerves with every attempt to reach outwards.

He was trying to do what Vice Principal Seris had said...

Feel the vibrations of space itself, find the tremors of movement.

But it was easier said than done; it was like finding a single raindrop in a heavy thunderstorm.

He remembered her calm words again; it echoed inside his head:

"These orbs are our training material, wrapped in space mana. These orbs are made of a special material that makes almost no sound, and normal mana sense won’t work on these either. Rely on your space mana sense. Let the space itself tell you its secrets."

But saying it was one thing, doing it was another.

He had tried everything in the past few hours, searching for any pattern, any direction, or a map of their flight to uncover some hidden logic of the orbs, but nothing held.

There was nothing.

The only thing he was able to find was the timing.

Timing between each volley.

Ten seconds.

That was all he had.

He started counting again.

’Eight... Nine... Ten.’

He felt the faint vibrations in his space mana again, multiple vibrations, but he couldn’t pinpoint their location.

Baam—!

Again, an orb slammed into his back, throwing him a few steps forward. His breath choked. He nearly coughed up blood.

"Cough... Cough..."

His entire back throbbed.

His instincts screamed at him to raise his defenses again, to reinforce his body with mana, which was what he had been doing from the start, layering a shield across his body to dampen the impact.

But...

’It’s not enough.’

’This won’t work.’

He was splitting his mind in half. One part was trying to reinforce his body with mana, and the other part was trying to stretch his mana sense outwards.

And he was failing in both.

Miserably so.

The truth hit him harder than the blows. If he keeps this up, he’d collapse here without achieving a single thing.

No.

His fingers curled into a fist.

If he wanted to grasp the space mana, if he wanted to increase his mastery, he needed to abandon his defenses; he couldn’t keep clinging to safety.

He had to gamble everything on his awareness.

He took a deep breath and deliberately let the mana reinforcing his body fade and prepared himself for the next orb.

’It would hurt a lot.’

A bloody smirk plastered on his face, and he used all his will, funneled into expanding his space sense.

An invisible dome of perception spread out, tracing the tinniest ripples in the dark room.

A sharp pain pierced his brain.

.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

His mental count tickled forward, his muscles tensed, ready to react.

Rinngg—!

Multiple vibrations brushed against his space sense; this time, it was much clearer than before.

But he still couldn’t pinpoint the pathways. His heart lurched, and in desperation, he shoved himself to the side.

Baamm—!

Pain shot from his leg as an orb had crashed against his thigh, and another one brushed past his ears.

He bit down the curse. He had almost sensed them, almost.

Why isn’t it working?

Was it due to hesitation, or perhaps fear.

His mind screamed at him to keep a shred of defense active.

But now there is no going back, no more mana reinforcement.

If he had to bleed, he would bleed.

So he just stood there, without trying to dodge, using all his focus to maintain his space sense.

He got hit.

Again.

And again.

Sometimes multiple orbs hit him, sometimes none.

...

Minutes turned into hours.

The darkness became the world of pain.

Cedric’s skin is now painted with blood, and his head swam from dizziness. Blood trickled down his chin, hitting the floor.

Drip... Drip...

Even with his peak Silver Grade 2 defense, it was too much for his body to handle.

He trembled barely keeping himself from losing consciousness.

’Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten...’

His thoughts are sluggish.

Rinngg—!

Multiple vibrations rang again. He stood perfectly still, trying to find the pathways of the orbs moving in the room.

’Three.’

From the multiple orbs that are travelling, only three were going to hit him.

Images flickered in his mind. First was aimed at the thigh, second at the shoulder, third at the head.

He shifted his weight, drew his leg back, angled his shoulder away, and ducked his head.

His movements were tiny and precise, allowing him to avoid being hit by the other orbs that were traveling around the room.

Nothing hit.

Seconds ticked past.

"I... I did it."

"Hahaha.... I fucking really di—"

Baam—!

Another orb slammed into the back of his head. He staggered; his knees hit the floor.

’What... What just happened? That was only five seco...’

Before he could complete his thought, his face struck the ground as he lost his consciousness.

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