443 It all starts with a small success

On the other hand, Kazumi had an amusing day because of one person that had gotten so used to spying on Vincent secretly that she forgot Kazumi was on the lookout for her.

From time to time, Kazumi noticed a gaze on them. She would leave Vincent’s body and find Blemish, Jun Ye Rim’s soul servant hiding near them. However, no matter what Kazumi asked, the tsundere elf never responded, and Blemish ran like the wind.

Vincent later entered the kitchen area and took the food orders of everyone. However, Jun Ye Rim was the most troublesome customer. She kept repeating, “Place what you want. It’s not like I care what I eat.”

Shortly, four plates had the desired food in them.

Vincent pointed at each dish and asked, “Since you don’t want to decide on what to eat, why don’t you choose from the four dishes on the table?”

“Lamb with truffle sauce is delicious. You should choose mine.” Clair said. She was already glancing at which part to start first and experience the food made by a professional.

“That looks delicious, but I chose mine to have a lot of greens as a side plate. The body needs a lot of nutrients to work efficiently.” Nick chose a plate full of meat and two bowls of vegetables as side dishes.

“I don’t think you will choose mine since I didn’t pick a lot of food.” Lilith bluntly said. She didn’t want to eat too much because she wanted to lose weight and pick up the habit of something at least once every day.

The transition between barely eating for ten years and now eating as she desires was a challenging battle. She sometimes felt sick after eating food once a day in the beginning.

.....

Vincent didn’t need to say anything about his choice of food. Jun Ye Rim felt that his dish was the most balanced, both in size and food types.

“It’s not like I am hungry, but I will have a dish like his since Vincent is providing the food. That’s all.” Jun Ye Rim chose to have a copy of Vincent’s food with a faint blush on her cheeks.

After a good meal, Vincent went outside to feed the little vampire-like plant some of his mutated blood while training in Overheat form at the same time.

Vincent placed Zero on his shoulder. He scratched his arm, let the Zero insert one of its tiny roots inside the scratch, and happily sucked the mutated blood boiling inside his body.

Vincent went in front of the same tree he punched multiple times. Based on what both Koss and Brio taught him, Vincent took the CQC stance, which was the best way to channel Energy Flow uninterrupted.

Vincent closed his eye and focused. Soon, the feeling of receiving an injection in his arm from Zero sucking his blood faded.

Vincent felt a peace. He felt as if his body melded within his surroundings. Minute after minute passed, yet his focus never waned. Not even once.

The feeling of nausea suddenly broke his focus. Vincent was experiencing mana fatigue again. However, the time consumed was not in vain. One of his ten fingers was charged and ready to be fired.

Vincent extended his fingers, making his hand look like a sharp blade. He controlled the collected refined mana to surround his hand. Because it was only one charge, a faint line of glowing green mana appeared from the thumb to the pinky finger. It was a miniature green arch.

‘A blade!’ That was Vincent’s first thought. This was the first time he managed to control and manipulate the refined mana to his desire completely. Not to mention how this was all done without absorbing the mana of others.

[Vincent! You did it!]

[But... the mana is chaotic, and it needs more control. I can see the traces of mana scattering, and most of the gathered mana is being lost. It’s like a sinking ship. The more mana lost, the more the control wavers.]

Vincent raised his arm and swung it diagonally. The miniature green arch extended from his hand. I was approximately half a meter long if measured from the tip of his tallest finger.

The sound of wood being cut by hot energy could be heard. *Tss* After the swinging arm stopped, the sound made by the surface of the burnt wood was heard next.

*Sniff* On the first whiff caught by his nose was the smell of burnt wood. The smell gradually dissipated quickly, unlike the lasting smell of wood burnt by an ordinary flame.

In a few seconds, the tree was almost completely cut. Furthermore, as the smell disappeared, it became hard to tell when the tree was damaged.

“Yeah!” Vincent shouted. He was so elated that he punched the tree.

*Crack* After the little support left was broken from the strike, the tree fell and made a loud noise.

“Oops...” Vincent said.

Oops, indeed, it was as Lilith, Nick, and Clair exited the cabin while Blemish poked its head to look at what was happening.

They saw Vincent scratching his head while Overheat form was stopping. A plant with its glittery skin illuminated by the moonlight was on his shoulder.

“Is there an attack?” Nick asked first. He moved his head from left to right, but no enemy or animal was in sight. Furthermore, Vincent looked embarrassed about the noise he made.

[I guess you need to shout Timber!, hahaha.]

“Ahem. I was training my punching, but it appears the tree was old, and the bark wasn’t too strong.” Vincent made an excuse.

His leg touched the tree. After a bit of focus, Vincent stored both parts of the broken tree to hide the evidence. The tree was actually healthy and strong.

“How about we call it a day? ” Vincent said in hopes of changing the subject.

Shortly, the four of them went inside.

Vincent blocked the entrance door with trees and went to rest. A faint smile remained on his face even while sleeping. Achieving a fraction of the power he exhibited with Overload form was an achievement in his books.

*Day 114 – 31 September – Wednesday*

On Wednesday morning, both Vincent and Kazumi received a grand surprise. They believed today was the first of October instead of the thirty-first of September.

Lilith never mentioned this information because Vincent never asked. She would’ve never guessed how the world Vincent comes from has a different yearly calendar.

After a thorough explanation, both sides learned how Earth has three hundred and sixty-five days in a year while Rozashi has three hundred and seventy-two days in a year. In the world of Rozashi, all months have thirty-one days equally.

Other than the shocking revelation, nothing much was different than yesterday.

Vincent trained his focus and control of Energy Flow as it was the key to mastering Overflow. On the other hand, Lilith sat near Zero and read a medical book while glancing at Vincent from time to time.

*Team Ten Island*

Three people and a little fox were starting to find it strange to be apart from Vincent in the far distance. However, instead of feeling down, the four of them felt excited to show Vincent and Lilith how much they had improved in a week.

While Vincent made an achievement yesterday, Ester made an achievement today. She managed to awaken her third elemental sigil after practicing to learn the Earth glyph.

Ester wasn’t a glass cannon anymore. Her skin hardened. The more the skin hardened, the more coarse it became. Additionally, the weight of her body increased, and the flexibility of her skin gradually reduced the coarser her skin became.

However, a problem emerged because Ester can use Earth Sigil and two other elemental sigils with no repercussions. Two sigils were needed to cover all of her body, leaving no room for additional sigils.

One sigil covered the upper or lower parts of her body. Covering all her body with one Earth Sigil would only make her skin coarse enough to have the same texture of a hardened muscle. It wouldn’t provide much of a resistance against sharp objects or overpowering blunt force.

Even if this problem was resolved with the use of Sigil Fusion, the amount of mana needed to use Earth Sigil with multiple fusions for defense on the one hand and a different sigil on the other hand for offense was a burden Ester could only overcome in the future.

historical

It was after missing Vincent that an idea flashed in her mind. She focused on her forearms with Earth Sigil. Her skin became coarse, and it started to crack. The faint dust gathered together and hardened with the color of Earth. To an ordinary Sigil Mage, their arms would be lost after the single Earth Sigil spell.

Ester had to stop after her arms were covered by a thick and heavy earth gauntlet that restricted her movements. Unfortunately, going defensive meant the loss of her flexibility.

Lupa saw Ester slouching with a pair of earth gauntlets. She was in the study room, and canceling Earth Sigil would make a mess, so she went outside.

Lupa curiously approached, and after looking at Ester with a pair of puppy eyes, Ester allowed Lupa to attack her earth gauntlets. However, heaviness didn’t mean toughness. Lupa broke the gauntlets into pieces with a handful of swings.

“Teacher Maria should visit soon. I will ask her if the lack of mana has become my biggest problem.” Ester mumbled while looking at the pieces of Earth crumbling into dust before taking a good look at her arms.

*Sigh* ‘My skin is the same as before.’ Ester became happy to see her skin back to normal.