The Smiling Death

Chapter 455: Learning New Things (2)

This time he focused more carefully.

First ring.

He decided to focus on stabilization.

Second ring. It was compression. His movements slowed greatly compared to before. Sweat slowly rolled down his forehead as he concentrated fully.

The mana circle slowly started taking shape.

But then.

Crack.

"...Ah crap."

BOOM!

Another explosion. Smoke covered his face again.

Seraphina quietly stared at him. "...You rushed again." Her golden eyes studied him with calm gaze.

Amon looked offended.

"I didn’t!"

"You did."

"...Maybe slightly."

For the next two hours. The same thing repeated continuously.

Failure, explosion and then ailure again.

At one point, Amon’s hair was slightly burned from one unstable mana burst.

Meanwhile Seraphina remained beside him the entire time. She was Correcting his mistakes.

Explaining mana flow.

Showing him proper rotation speeds.

Helping him stabilize the structure repeatedly.

Eventually it was late afternoon.

Amon finally succeeded in forming the complete outer structure without exploding it. Three floating dark rings slowly rotated above his hand.

Void-like symbols spun calmly around the center.

Though the actual sphere itself had not formed yet.

Still Amon looked incredibly excited.

"I DID IT!"

His voice echoed through the training ground.

Seraphina looked at the floating structure before nodding slightly.

"Good."

A small smile appeared on her lips.

"You finally stabilized it."

Amon stared proudly at the rotating magic circle above his hand.

Honestly even maintaining this much already felt difficult.

His mana consumption was enormous. Most likely because he tried so many times. But with practice it would consume less mana as he would be learn more about how to use mana better.

He understood that master rank spells truly were on a completely different level compared to basic level spells.

Then

Crack.

"...Eh?"

BOOM!

The structure exploded again. Amon stood frozen while black smoke covered his face entirely.

Seraphina stared silently for several seconds.

Then a faint laugh escaped her lips. "Haha~"

Amon blinked in shock.

"...Sera."

She quickly covered her mouth slightly.

"...Sorry."

But her shoulders still trembled lightly.

Amon looked completely betrayed.

"You laughed at my suffering."

"I didn’t."

"You absolutely did."

This time Seraphina smiled a little more openly.

The moonlight illuminated her beautiful face gently while her golden hair moved softly in the night breeze.

Amon stared at her briefly before sighing dramatically.

"...Fine."

Then he grinned again.

"I’ll master this spell soon anyway."

Seraphina nodded calmly. "Yes." Her golden eyes looked at him quietly. "You definitely will."

---

After eating lunch together, Amon and Seraphina left the cafeteria.

The Academy grounds were quieter at this hour. Many students yet to come back to Academy.

"I am going to the library," Seraphina said softly. "There are a few things I want to read."

Amon nodded immediately.

"Alright. I am going back to train."

A faint smile appeared on Seraphina’s lips.

"You really never rest."

"Hehe~ I finally reached Master Rank. Of course I am motivated."

Seraphina quietly looked at him for a moment before nodding lightly.

"Don’t overwork yourself."

"I’ll survive."

Soon, the two parted ways.

Seraphina headed toward the massive Academy library while Amon walked toward the isolated training grounds.

The afternoon sunlight illuminated the Academy beautifully.

A cold breeze passed through the open pathways.

Amon stretched both arms while walking lazily.

Honestly he preferred training alone sometimes.

There were no distractions. No people watching him.

Just silence. Soon he arrived at one of the outer training fields.

As expected, it was empty. A satisfied grin appeared on his face.

"Perfect."

The large stone training ground stood completely silent beneath the bright sky. Reinforced walls surrounded the area while weapon racks rested near one corner.

Amon walked toward the center before pulling out his sword slowly.

Shiiing.

The silver blade reflected faint sunlight. Then Amon took out the sword art book he had with him for a long time now.

[Umbral Veil Sword Art]

His eyes landed on the page once more.

[Third Form — Black Reaper’s Dance]

[A continuous spinning combo of slashes performed while channeling darkness into each movement.]

[Creates a dark whirlwind to devastate multiple enemies.]

Amon stared at the description with excitement.

"This sounds ridiculously cool."

Unlike the previous forms. This one focused on continuous movement and momentum.

And honestly... it looked difficult.

Amon rolled his shoulders before gripping the sword tightly.

"Alright."

His expression slowly became serious.

"Let’s try this."

The first step was understanding the movement itself.

Amon carefully reread the instructions several times. The technique required.

Constant rotational movement. Mana flowing through every slash Synchronization between footwork and darkness mana. Maintaining balance during continuous spinning attacks

"...This is troublesome."

Amon scratched his head slightly. Sword arts that involved complex movement were always annoying at first.

Still he positioned himself properly.

One foot forward.

Sword lowered slightly. Mana slowly began flowing through his arm that soon turned into darkness.

Then he moved.

SWISH!

A fast horizontal slash cut through the air. Immediately afterward, Amon twisted his body and spun into another slash.

Then another.

At first everything felt awkward. His footing became unstable halfway through the third rotation.

"...Whoa."

He nearly lost balance completely.

Thud.

Amon stumbled sideways before barely stopping himself.

"...Yeah. This is harder than expected."

He clicked his tongue lightly. The spinning itself wasn’t the problem. The real issue was controlling darkness mana during continuous movement.

Every time he rotated. The mana flow became unstable. Sometimes too much darkness gathered into the blade.

Sometimes too little. The rhythm kept breaking apart. Amon exhaled slowly before trying again.

This time he focused more carefully on his breathing.

One slash.

Then do a spin.

Then second slash.

Turn.

Third slash.

Dark mana slowly flowed through the blade with each movement. At first it worked smoothly.

But then the mana suddenly burst unevenly.

BOOM!

A small explosion of darkness erupted near his sword.

"...Ah!"

The unstable force threw off his balance instantly.

FWUMP.

Amon crashed onto the ground flat on his back. For several seconds silence filled the training field.

Then, "...Owch."

Amon slowly raised one hand toward the sky dramatically. "Why does everything explode when I learn it?"