415 Striking a deal with the ice witch

“That’s a lot to take in early in the morning, but thanks for telling me. Now I can confirm, Kilo bumping into me wasn’t an accident. He is targeting me for the natural death of Demel Blackheart.” Vincent said. He looked ahead and frowned after an unsavory thought crossed his mind.

-What do you think, Kazumi? Should I take the others with us to Paradise Island? Not for now, right?-

[After assessing the pros and cons, I believe it is better to let the situation settle with that bastard before taking anyone else with you.]

-Going with Lilith might be a little problematic because she has started to believe in herself recently.-

-I don’t wish to see Lilith lose the courage she has gained in the past couple of days because of Kilo Blackheart.-

[I agree with you. We should be the ones to act first next time.]

Vincent felt better after a good talk with Kazumi while running in the morning. Later, Vincent and Nick left for their morning lesson.

The lesson wasn’t too different than the last one.

Vincent trained both his CQC moves and Energy Flow control. The two-day rest helped Vincent recuperate and his body wasn’t hindered by muscles recovering like the previous week.

.....

Vincent was so energetic that Biro added a back step to the almost four-hour-long CQC lesson.

Vincent dropped to the ground, exhausted when the lesson ended. He sweated bullets, yet the smile on his face remained persistent. Not even after breathing heavily did it wane.

Vincent was happy with how his body became more responsive, and similarly, Biro was satisfied with Vincent’s quick improvement.

Biro looked at Vincent. He hoped to teach him about the ways to begin comprehending Energy Flow Art: Force Shock by the end of the month.

It also made Biro think, ‘I know I am not young anymore, but Vincent recuperates much quicker than the average person... oh, I forgot his wife might be using her recovery spell on him every day.’

However, to Biro’s guess, Lilith was already Lupa’s exclusive recovery girl. Vincent’s quicker recovery was a remnant of the strange aging he experienced. Fortunately, up until now, Vincent hasn’t aged more than usual, nor did his hair grow exponentially.

Nick approached after Biro went near Ton and Ollie. “Vincent.” *Huff* “You had it rough too?” He asked while also breathing heavily.

Their lesson consisted of trying to intimidate the vicious carnivorous horned rabbits and later run a couple of laps while controlling Energy Flow to put pressure on their bodies.

“Yeah. We both had a pleasant lesson. Hahaha.” Vincent sarcastically replied.

Later, the two of them went to wait for Lilith and Clair as usual. They went to Maria’s lesson together, where they spent a whole lesson meditating.

Because more classmates for the morning class join them on this day, Maria slightly frowned at the need to take care of more noble brats. She didn’t look too happy to teach or help because of this.

Time gradually passed in the lesson demanding a relaxed body and attaining peace of mind for the best result. The students mainly left grumbling because of the unhelpful teacher when the lesson ended.

Later, Vincent, Lilith, and Maria teleported to team ten island, where Maria was greeted with a surprise.

Her eyes opened wide after the areas where Lupa fixed from going all out in her spar had weeds already growing. Weeds wouldn’t grow this quickly unless it was helped with growing ingredients or a particular person like Iris.

Maria began to wonder what else Iris could do with her druid powers other than growing weed and Seed Guardians. “So this is the power of a druid, the goddess of nature.” She mumbled while following Vincent and Lilith.

Ester and Iris smiled when Vincent, Lilith, and Maria arrived at the side of the mansion. On the ground beside them were light gemstones and cushions. They were prepared for the lesson beforehand.

“Teacher Maria, could you let Ester and I comprehend your ice spells?” Vincent asked out of nowhere.

“Learn about my ice spells? And how can someone who isn’t a mage learn about ice spells? You can’t cast spells, and Ester is of the Sigil Mage line. She can’t cast cold spells other than Frost Sigil and Frost Glyph.” Maria replied with a frown. She felt Vincent wasn’t joking, but what he said was unproductive.

“Yes. Shoot an ice spell at me for eight minutes straight whenever you come here. Ester will study the ice spell you shoot at me while I hold it.” Vincent smiled and continued, “Well, yeah. That’s about it.”

Maria frowned. She looked at Ester, Iris, and Lilith, but their expression wasn’t one of disbelief.

‘How can they look at Vincent as if he didn’t say an absurd thing?’ Maira thought. After pondering a bit longer, she decided to ask, “Vincent, how much mana do you have?”

“Forty-one, I believe. You can check if...”

historical

Maria quickly took out a small inspection gemstone, interrupting Vincent mid-sentence. She gave it to Vincent and confirmed forty-one mana in his status window. Furthermore, she was surprised to see the strength, agility, and perception stats rise so much in such a short amount of time.

*Sigh* “I will try the strange experiment after showing me eighty mana in your status window.” Maria guessed Vincent might need more than twenty days to increase this mana pool by the specified amount, thanks to his Mana Body trait.

However, Vincent didn’t like the idea. He shook his head and counter-offered, “How about fifty mana by tomorrow?”

Maira paused for a moment. She looked at Ester, Iris, and Lilith again, but on their faces was a smile instead of a surprised expression. The three of them believed Vincent’s offer without a doubt.

*Sigh...* “Fine. Now, start meditating to reach that fifty mana.” Maria accepted after seeing so much trust being put in Vincent. She felt bad about rejecting the offer.

[Nice. We might be able to start comprehending ice spells with Maria’s help.]

Vincent became glad Kazumi was there to help him with her Photographic Memory and Mana Sence. Trying to create their first offensive spell became their next goal.

Hours soon passed, and it was time for Maria to leave.

“See you tomorrow, mister fifty mana man.” Maria sarcastically said. But to her surprise, Vincent, Ester, Iris, and Lilith smiled back as if her words were a funny joke.

“Go Academy. ” Maria uttered the command and left with a puzzled frown. She couldn’t figure out where the confidence came from.

However, a guess soon passed across her mind, and Maria went to ask Darwin. It was after hearing how Vincent had a high possibility to absorb mana when he directly touched a spell that Maria wanted to start throwing ice spells at the tightlipped secret keeper Darwin.

“Vincent, what are you planning to do with the ice spells?” Ester asked curiously.

Ester had a guess on her mind about why Vincent asked for this kind of training. But she couldn’t figure out how she could also benefit from this kind of training.

Vincent rubbed his chin and asked, “Ester, what if understanding a mage’s ice spell could help you with the Frost Glyph spell you are trying to learn?”

“Ester, I think you should try it. Lupa helps me train while you keep casting spells alone.” Lilith said.

“Lupa and Plow help me sometimes too. Sister Ester should take the offer.” Iris encouraged.

Ester became happy to receive so much support. “Thank you, everyone. I will do it.” She smiled and accepted the offer.

After Ester was on board with the plan, Vincent used Overheat and asked his three wives with mana to let him absorb their mana. Lilith and Iris placed their hands on Vincent’s shoulder while Ester used Frost Sigil and held his hands.

Ten minutes later, Vincent and Kazumi smiled after Overheat ended and his status window provided the desired result.

.

[Stats] Strength 22 || Agility 20 || Perception 22 || Mana 51

.

Lupa returned from her spar with Vivid wondering why Ester, Iris, and Lilith looked exhausted, as if their strength was sucked away that evening.

Later, Lupa found out what had happened. It made her slightly unhappy she couldn’t help. But after sleeping with Vincent’s right arm, she forgot of her sadness.

*Day 92 – 09 September – Tuesday*

The next day arrived and the morning was the same as yesterday with the same training in the morning lesson with Biro.

Yesterday evening, Lilith informed Vincent how they had mail, but because Maria required Vincent’s presence, it was rude to let Maria wait while they received their mail.

Lilith told Vincent how she would feel anxious going to the mailroom with Nick or Clair, so she suggested Vincent to go without her in the morning and that she would write something next time.

Vincent arrived in the mailroom and received two letters. One from Maid Xu and the other from Lilith’s parents. Vincent decided against reading it even after Kazumi annoyed him with her curiosity.

As he read the letter meant for both him and Lilith, Maid Xu wrote how a woman calling herself Elias’s mother arrived yesterday morning, and she asked about the cost of living in the mansion.

The next subject was about Phil. He approached the twins and accepted to become sponsored by the Lionheart family and wear the insignia proudly on his chest armor.

Phil asked for more medicine and mentioned how his sister got better. He also informed how his sister wanted to thank Vincent personally if she got better on Sunday.

The rest of the letter’s content was about how there were no problems with the mansion other than Sakura staying most of the time in the workshop.