CHAPTER 51: 51: LESSONS IN GRAVITY V

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"Good start!" Fizz shouted from above. "Now aim! Try not to feed it to your face!"

John tried to track the beast as it bounded between the ferns, its scales blending with the forest floor. Every time he lined up a shot, the beast juked sideways, vanishing into a streak of green and brown. Sweat rolled down his temple.

He pushed the black hole forward. It drifted, sluggish and wobbling in panic, before the beast darted left and the sphere missed by a wide margin.

The Verdant Snapper snarled and lunged again.

John jumped back, his boots skidding in damp soil. He could feel his mana draining just to maintain the black hole orb in front of him. The sphere wanted to pull, to devour but it was slow. Too slow.

"Stop thinking like a rock!" Fizz yelled, zipping overhead. "Think like my master! Anticipate! Lead your target! Right now, you’re aiming where it is, not where it’s going!"

"I’m trying!" John snapped, rolling again as the beast swiped with its claws. His lungs burned, and he could feel his concentration fraying. He forced mana through the tether to his black hole, trying to make it faster, sharper.

The orb drifted forward and clipped a hanging vine. The vine vanished into nothingness with a faint hiss, but the beast danced away untouched.

Fizz cackled. "Congratulations! You killed a plant! Nature trembles before you! Good job master."

"Not helpful!" John snarled, sweat stinging his eyes.

The Verdant Snapper lunged again. This time John sidestepped at the last second, the motion more instinct than thought. He thrust his palm out, pushing mana in a sudden burst. The black hole wobbled and zipped forward faster than before, grazing the beast’s tail.

There was a faint distortion in the air, and the tip of its tail vanished into the void. The creature shrieked, a high pitched hiss that rattled through the clearing.

Fizz cheered midair. "Yes! Partial success! Tail trimming counts! You can be a barber of balls now."

The beast whirled, furious now, and charged. John had seconds to react. He dropped into a crouch, channeled mana into his palm, and summoned a fresh orb, letting the previous one vanish. The black hole pulsed alive in his hand, heavier this time, like it could feel his desperation.

He inhaled sharply and let the system guide his focus.

[Ding! Suggestion: Predictive targeting. Adjust trajectory by two meters left.]

John shifted his stance, letting instinct and the system align. He thrust his arm forward just as the beast lunged.

The black hole sailed in an arc. The beast twisted midair to dodge but it wasn’t enough.

The sphere clipped its shoulder, and the distortion of space pulled. Flesh and scale vanished in a clean bite, leaving a bloody hole where the joint had been. The creature screeched in agony and stumbled to the ground, thrashing in the leaves.

John’s chest heaved. His mana veins pulsed with strain. He could feel the orb pulling at his reserves, and he let it dissipate before it drained him dry.

Fizz zoomed down, his fur bristling with excitement. "Ha! Did you see that? You gave it a ball hug! A deadly, bitey hug! It was beautiful!"

He thinks, "Why are you so obsessed with balls?" John staggered back and leaned against a tree, catching his breath. His arms trembled, his heart hammered, and sweat soaked his shirt.

The Verdant Snapper wasn’t dead. It limped to its feet, snarling, eyes glowing with a feral light. It crouched, ready to spring again, blood dripping from its wound.

Fizz floated to John’s shoulder and whispered, "Round two. Let’s see if the student can dance with death without tripping."

John exhaled, mana already swirling for another strike. He had barely scratched the surface of black hole combat, and this was only an F-rank beast. But somewhere beneath the exhaustion and adrenaline, a spark of determination lit in his chest.

He would get better. He had to.

The clearing became a storm of sound and motion. The Verdant Snapper leapt again, claws slashing through the air, its wounded shoulder spraying droplets of blood that caught the morning light like dark rubies. John pivoted on instinct, his boots digging into the soft earth, and his fingers tingled as he summoned another black hole.

The mana gathered faster now than it had yesterday. The system’s silent guidance ran like a whisper through his veins, threading power from his heart core to his palm in a clean current. The familiar coin sized sphere bloomed into existence, light bending toward it as if it were the center of its own tiny universe.

"Here we go!" Fizz squealed, looping through the air above his shoulder. "Round two! And if you miss this time, I’m calling you Master Wobbly for the rest of your life!"

"Again not helping," John muttered, teeth gritted as he focused. His eyes tracked the beast’s movements, the twitch of its cut off tail, the coil of its muscles before each lunge. He could feel his own heart racing in rhythm with the beast’s breaths.

The Snapper lunged in rage mode, mouth wide, fangs glinting.

John sidestepped and thrust his hand forward. The black hole sailed a short distance, wobbling slightly, and the creature twisted in the air with terrifying agility. The sphere passed inches from its flank, pulling at its scales just enough to make it yelp but not enough to kill.

"Close! So close!" Fizz cackled. "If failure had a smell, it would smell like this! Keep going, Master Almost!"

John spun and focused again, ignoring the burn in his arms and the sweat dripping down his back. He summoned a second black hole, this one faster than the first, his mana veins growing more efficient with every attempt. His lungs burned as he exhaled sharply, aiming ahead of the beast this time instead of chasing it.

The black hole left his hand and hovered midair, and the beast leapt straight into its path.

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