Chương 80: What Took Ronan a Year

After unlocking Muscle Reinforcement, Sieghart spent most of the night examining the spell instead of sleeping. His body demanded rest, but the new progression path was too valuable to ignore. Until now, most of his physical parameters had remained painfully low. Magic, Mentality, and Resistance increased whenever he trained the appropriate spells, but Strength depended almost entirely upon natural growth and exercise. Muscle Reinforcement proved that the limitation was not absolute.

At Level One, the spell had raised his base Strength from eight to nine. While it remained active, his effective Strength reached ten. The initial difference was modest, but the long-term potential was ridiculous. Reaching Level Ten would provide ten permanent points and another ten while the spell remained active. Sieghart could already imagine the possibilities. If a spell existed for Strength, similar spells might improve Endurance, Dexterity, or even his vitality.

He wondered what kind of magic would increase his Health directly. First Aid repaired injuries, but healing damage after it occurred was different from possessing a body capable of surviving more damage. Perhaps reinforcing his organs would improve his vitality. Strengthening his heart and lungs might increase Endurance, while enhancing his blood and natural recovery could raise Health. The idea sounded useful and extremely dangerous. Flooding his muscles incorrectly might cause strains or dislocated joints.

Making a mistake while experimenting upon his heart would probably end with a much shorter second life. Sieghart reluctantly placed those possibilities aside. Before searching for another reinforcement spell, he needed to level Muscle Reinforcement several times and understand its limitations. He activated the spell while lying on his bed. Mana entered every muscle simultaneously, matching their relaxed state rather than forcing them to contract.

The reinforcement remained stable, but it provided no immediate benefit while he remained motionless. Sieghart raised one arm. The mana followed the movement, reinforcing the muscles around his shoulder, upper arm, forearm, and hand. However, most of the energy spread through muscles that contributed little to the action. His first version of the spell reinforced everything equally.

That approach made it easier to maintain balance, but it also wasted control on parts of his body that were not performing meaningful work. Sieghart adjusted the distribution. He reduced the mana flowing through his legs and concentrated more around the muscles raising his arm. The spell became less stable immediately. Too much reinforcement entered his shoulder, making the movement jerky. His hand moved faster than intended and struck the wall beside his bed.

Protection prevented any real injury, although the impact produced enough noise to make someone upstairs stomp against the floor. Sieghart lowered his arm.

"That needs improvement." He spent another hour repeating simple movements. Each attempt taught him which muscles needed reinforcement and when the mana should move between them. The spell required more than increasing output. Efficient timing mattered just as much as raw power, especially when multiple joints participated in the same action. By the time Sieghart finally slept, he could raise and lower both arms without reinforcing his legs unnecessarily.

The improvement remained small, but it established the direction for his training. Ronan returned the next morning with another list of manual jobs. The enchanted bands had grown heavier again, forcing Sieghart to activate Muscle Reinforcement before leaving the guild. The spell immediately reduced the burden. Mana moved through his legs as he walked, strengthening every step while Protection stabilized his joints.

Sieghart still felt the weight, but his body no longer approached exhaustion after crossing a single street. He completed the first delivery before Ronan expected him to reach the destination. Their next assignment involved moving sacks of flour between two storage buildings. Sieghart lifted the first sack and noticed that the uniform reinforcement wasted too much mana through his lower legs. The amount did not matter because his Mana was infinite.

However, the unnecessary flow occupied part of his concentration and reduced the precision available elsewhere. Sieghart narrowed the spell's effect to the muscles supporting the load. Mana pulsed through his arms, shoulders, back, abdomen, and thighs at the exact moment he lifted. The sack rose more smoothly. He carried it across the warehouse without losing balance, placed it beside the others, and immediately returned for another. The repeated movement allowed Sieghart to refine the timing with every trip.

He stopped maintaining maximum reinforcement continuously and began increasing the output only during the most demanding parts. When he lifted, the mana surged. While he walked, the spell stabilized at a lower level. When he placed the sack down, the reinforcement shifted to control the descending weight. By the tenth trip, the entire sequence felt natural. A notification appeared. Muscle Reinforcement has reached Level 2. Strength increased by 1 point. Sieghart's base Strength rose from nine to ten.

With the Level Two spell active, he temporarily gained two additional points, bringing his effective Strength to twelve. The sack in his arms became noticeably easier to carry. Ronan watched from across the warehouse as Sieghart completed the remaining work without slowing down. The tracker approached one of the enchanted bands and checked the glowing runes. He seemed to suspect that Sieghart had somehow reduced their weight. The bands were functioning properly.

Ronan looked at the child, then at the pile of flour sacks he had moved.

"You refined the spell already?"

"Yes."

"You learned it yesterday."

"I had time to practice."

"You were supposed to sleep."

"I did that too." Ronan stared at him with an expression suggesting that he wanted exact proof. Sieghart ignored him and picked up another sack. The training continued throughout the morning. Ronan increased the weight of the bands twice, but Sieghart adapted by refining how Muscle Reinforcement moved throughout his body. His greatest difficulty appeared whenever several actions overlapped. Walking while carrying something required the spell to reinforce his upper and lower body through different rhythms.

Sieghart initially maintained one pulse across everything. That created moments when his arms received less support because his legs needed greater force. He separated the flow. Mana followed two coordinated patterns, one controlling his steps and the other supporting the object in his arms. The division increased his mental strain but dramatically improved the spell's efficiency. Sieghart completed another delivery route while maintaining those separate rhythms.

Whenever he climbed stairs, the flow through his legs intensified without disrupting the reinforcement around his shoulders. The spell leveled again before noon. Muscle Reinforcement has reached Level 3. Strength increased by 1 point. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Sieghart dismissed the notification and checked the result. His base Strength had reached eleven.

Muscle Reinforcement temporarily added another three points while active, raising his effective Strength to fourteen. In less than one day, his available Strength had increased from ten to fourteen. The progression would eventually slow, but the immediate gains confirmed that he had found the correct way to level the spell. He needed to improve coordination, output, and efficiency while using it under increasing physical strain. Sieghart looked at the bands around his wrists with renewed appreciation.

They remained annoying, heavy, and probably designed by someone who disliked children. They were also perfect training tools. Ronan watched Sieghart complete the remaining deliveries while carrying twice the weight he had managed comfortably the previous day. There was no visible glow surrounding his body. No mana flashed around his limbs, and no energy gathered beneath his feet before he moved.

Only someone observing carefully would notice that each step had become firmer, every turn more balanced, and every lifted object suspiciously light inside his hands. Ronan recognized those changes because he had spent nearly a year learning the same foundation. Sieghart had done it in three weeks. As if that were not unreasonable enough, the child had apparently refined the spell several times within one day. His reinforcement had already become more efficient than some adult beginners managed after months.

Ronan walked beside him during the next delivery and studied the synchronization of his movements.

"What the hell are you?" Sieghart glanced up at him.

"Underpaid."

"That wasn't what I meant."

"Then be more specific the next time." Ronan almost laughed, but his concern prevented it. Sieghart's answer sounded exactly like something an overworked adult would say, which only made the situation stranger. The child had absorbed the foundation of self-combat magic after a few weeks, developed his own variation of Muscle Reinforcement, and refined it without further instruction. Ronan had expected Sieghart to learn faster because of his enormous mana reserve and high Mentality.

He had not expected the difference to become this extreme. The boy did not merely possess apparent infinite power. He seemed capable of learning almost any form of magic once someone showed him the correct foundation. That possibility changed everything. Ronan finished supervising the morning assignments before leaving Sieghart with another warehouse job. He returned to Lunar Arc and climbed directly toward Mira's office. For once, he knocked.

"Come in." Mira sat behind her desk with three open reports arranged before her. A half-empty cup of tea rested beside one hand, forgotten long enough to become cold. She looked toward Ronan.

"You knocked twice in one month. Should I prepare for the end of the world?"

"I have news about the kid." Mira's humor disappeared.

"What happened?"

"He learned the reinforcement spell."

"That was the goal."

"It took him three weeks." Mira leaned back slightly.

"How long did it take you?"

"Almost a year." Silence settled across the office. Ronan entered fully and closed the door behind him. The conversation involved information that most guild members were not allowed to hear.

"He didn't just learned it," Ronan continued.

"He refined it several times by noon today. The spell is already providing a much greater increase than yesterday." Mira crossed her arms.

"Did you guide the refinements?"

"No. I only increased the training weight. He figured out how to separate the reinforcement rhythms between different muscle groups on his own."

"That is fast."

"That is absurd." Ronan walked toward the desk and placed both hands against its edge.

"I knew he learned elemental magic quickly. I assumed that happened because his Mana allowed him to experiment without worrying about exhaustion."

"That is part of it."

"It isn't the only reason. He learned Summoning after one lesson about physical manipulation. Now he learned my reinforcement foundation after a few weeks." Mira remained silent while considering the pattern. Sieghart had learned Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Ice, Lightning, Healing, Illusion, Rune Magic, Enchanting, Transmission, Summoning, and several forms of Support Magic. Some branches remained weak, and many spells possessed obvious limitations.

However, the number of disciplines he had accessed before turning eight was already beyond anything considered normal.

"It is possible that he can learn almost every kind of magic," Ronan said. Mira looked toward the closed door.

"Seraphina could."

"That is what concerns me." The name of Mira's ancestor carried different meanings depending upon who heard it. To the people of Seraphina, she was the founder who had created a city where magic survived. To several societies beyond the human lands, Seraphina had been powerful enough to become a disaster spoken of centuries later. Sieghart possessed similar potential, although his path had begun with abandonment, war, loss, and a desire for revenge. Ronan straightened.

"He can't learn anything else from me right now."

"What about speed reinforcement?"

"He'll develop it from Muscle Reinforcement once his coordination improves. My version depends on habits and instincts that suit my body, not his."

"And your mana threads?"

"He already understands Mana Transfusion and physical manipulation. Teaching him my knife techniques would only give him a worse version of what he can develop himself." Mira tapped one finger against her arm.

"So you have finished teaching him."

"I gave him the foundation. Anything more advanced requires someone who understands broader reinforcement magic, summoning, or whatever branch he decides to chase next." Ronan paused.

"That brings me to the problem. What is the plan?" Mira's gaze moved toward the reports on her desk. Each document represented another investigation that had produced questions instead of answers. The remains of the farmhouse had revealed traces of professionally prepared explosive magic, but the caster had left no identifiable mana signature. The false wanted posters had passed through several merchants and hired messengers. Every trail ended with someone who had been paid anonymously.

No witnesses remembered seeing a suspicious traveler near the farm. Even Ronan, who had watched the area for weeks, had failed to detect the attacker before the explosions. House Emberhart had made no public move to investigate the deaths. Lord Alaric Emberhart had neither acknowledged Sieghart's survival nor attempted to reclaim him openly. Whether the Crimson Sword King knew more than he revealed remained impossible to determine.

"Gathering information about the farm attack isn't working," Mira said.

"I know."

"We have spent more than a year following rumors, payments, magical traces, and movements around the border. Whoever planned it prepared well." Ronan pulled a chair away from the wall and sat across from her.

"How long do you think Sieghart will wait?"

"Not much longer." The boy had tolerated isolation because he believed Lunar Arc was protecting him and investigating the murders. Training had kept him occupied, but every new ability increased his independence. Soon, Sieghart would decide that searching personally was more useful than remaining beneath the guild while others failed to produce answers. Mira could not blame him.

She also could not allow a child with countless forms of magic, unresolved grief, and a false bounty to wander across the human lands alone.

"He won't stay underground forever," Ronan said.

"He shouldn't."

"That sounds different from what you said last year."

"Last year, he looked ready to burn anyone who stood between him and revenge. Now he thinks before he acts."

"He also turned a monster into charcoal with seven Giant Fireballs."

"He led it away from the forest and the captive animals first." Ronan sighed.

"That is a surprisingly fair defense." Mira looked toward the city map hanging on the wall. Lunar Arc could continue hiding Sieghart, but isolation would eventually become another kind of prison. If she allowed him to leave without preparation, his enemies might find him before he found them. If she restricted him, he would eventually stop trusting the guild and escape anyway.

Sieghart needed experience, allies, and reasons to see the world as something greater than the place where his grandparents had been murdered. He also needed teachers capable of guiding the impossible range of magic he continued unlocking. Mira crossed her arms more tightly.

"I'll think of something." Ronan stood and walked toward the door. Before leaving, he glanced back at the reports covering her desk.

"For what it's worth, I don't think he's becoming a monster."

"Neither do I."

"I'm still not standing in front of him when he finds the people responsible."

"That makes two of us." Ronan left the office, closing the door quietly behind him. Mira remained alone, surrounded by reports that had failed to deliver justice and plans that could no longer keep Sieghart still. She needed to give him a path forward before he chose one for himself. Considering how quickly he learned, she suspected that her remaining time was measured in weeks rather than years.