Chapter 41: Bronze 2, Finally!

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Bronze 2, Finally!Lian was seated in a lotus position, his body perfectly still as he prepared for the breakthrough that would define his next step as a Mage. Freddy was resting elsewhere, using a breathing technique, his chest rising and falling in a rhythmic dance with the air, while Seline cultivated in another spot. "Geometric Meditation!" Lian whispered, brimming with excitement. He could not wait to discover the changes that reaching Bronze 2 would bring. From what he knew, the power difference between ranks was not substantial, but the improvement was there, a subtle yet undeniable leap in strength that could tip the scales in a fight. Lian was not aiming for that but for the system. He hoped the system would give him something more. A line appeared in Lian’s mind. It was the thirteenth. This line appeared a few degrees from perfect verticality. What did it mean? Lian needed three lines in total to draw a quarter of a circle. "Alright, let’s begin!" he murmured as he used his mind like a brush to draw the line. A moment later, a light shone in Lian’s mind, flooding him with power. The sensation of a breakthrough was at hand; he could feel it, a surge of energy that pulsed through his very soul. Without wasting more time, Lian drew the next line. The same scene unfolded. Lian’s body had never felt more powerful, more brimming with mana, as if every fiber of his being was alight with newfound potential. "The last one!" a small shout nearly escaped his lips. As Lian had expected, the fifteenth line was vertical. The space between the first line drawn and this one was exactly a quarter of a circle. In geometry, this was defined as a circular quadrant. With palpable excitement, Lian began to draw the line, slowly and delicately. He did not want to make a mistake. The moment the line was drawn, a brilliant golden light erupted in Lian’s head, a radiant explosion that seemed to illuminate his entire being. The light was so intense that Lian had to open his eyes to avoid being blinded, paradoxically. But the moment he did, his eyes began to glow with gold. Fortunately, no one noticed this. Lian had his back to Seline and Freddy. The two only noticed that Lian was becoming more powerful very quickly, his aura steadily rising. "What’s happening?!" Freddy blurted out, observing the scene. He did not expect such a spectacle. "Is he finally becoming Bronze 2?" Seline looked toward Lian, only to see his body glowing with gold for a few seconds. Meanwhile, the person in question was experiencing an unprecedented moment of enlightenment. His body felt like never before; the mana flowed from his dantian, entering every cell of his body through all his meridians, a torrent of power that invigorated him from within. His open eyes glowed with gold, while his body emanated a golden aura. A few seconds later, everything returned to normal. Lian stopped glowing, and his eyes returned to normal. But the boy’s mind was filled with information. [Bronze 2 successfully reached!] [Your magical abilities have improved!] [Your physical abilities have improved!] [New cultivation technique unlocked!] [New form unlocked: SQUARE] [Unlocked Forms: Circle, Hypercube, Square] [Square: draw a square to launch a block of stone] [Mission: Reach 70% precision with SQUARE to unlock a new form.] A series of notifications rang in the boy’s mind, still reeling from the improvement he had just received. After a few minutes spent in ecstasy, Lian opened his eyes. "Ah," a sigh of well-being left his face. "I’ve finally reached Bronze 2... I got a ton of new stuff, just as I hoped!" Lian began to analyze his gains while Freddy and Seline stared at the boy with slight shock. "Am I mistaken, or does he seem to have become much stronger?" Freddy asked with a mix of curiosity and unease. "Damn it... at this rate, I’ll never catch up to him... no one will be able to compete with him..." Seline whispered, ignoring Freddy’s concerns, her competitive spirit stung by the realization of Lian’s rapid growth. During their first meeting, she had been the dominant one, or so she thought. After spending some time with the boy and getting to know him better, she realized that Lian was actually much stronger than he seemed. Lian did not hear the comments of the two behind him at all. His thoughts were focused on his system. "I’ve unlocked a new form, Square. This seems much more practical than the hypercube." Lian was analyzing his gains when a notification he had overlooked caught his eye. "Huh?" he murmured before rereading carefully. "New cultivation technique unlocked? What does that mean?!" The moment he thought about it, the system responded efficiently, showing Lian the new technique. [Geometric Cultivation: Assume a battle stance and draw geometric lines in the space around you] The description was simple, much like when he first unlocked Geometric Meditation. "Hm... no point thinking about it now. It seems like something related to the Knight’s path..." A bold thought appeared in the boy’s mind. So I’ll be one of those who advances on multiple paths?! Imagine being a magical swordsman! The perfect example was Freddy. Freddy could be called a magical swordsman because of his sword capable of casting wind magic. But he was limited. Imagine such a being without limitations, with the power of both paths. It would be devastating! The downside was that the time required to advance on two paths simultaneously would be exponentially greater, but the gains would be as well, a gamble that could make him a legend or break him entirely. "Well, we’ll think about that in the future... I still need to figure out if the technique is actually based on the Knight’s path..." Lian shook his head as he focused on the thing that intrigued him the most. A new form. "Geometric Spell, Square!" With his eyes closed and his mind charged with adrenaline, a square appeared in Lian’s mind. Huh? It seems simple... That was the first thought he had upon seeing the new geometric form. Not that the circle was difficult; conceptually, it was an easy shape to draw. However, its difficulty lay in drawing it perfectly, at 100%, a truly challenging task. "It doesn’t seem hard to create... let’s see what happens," he whispered as he prepared to draw the square. He started from the base. From left to right, the first line took shape. Then his mind imagined moving upward, and so he began to create the right side. With extreme simplicity, Lian drew the top of the square and finally the left side. The moment he opened his eyes, without pronouncing any arcane words, a block of stone about a cubic meter in size appeared out of nowhere, a solid manifestation of his newfound power. "Damn it!" Lian was not the only one startled by what he saw. "What the hell—" "How?!" Freddy and Seline exclaimed at the same moment as the boy at the sight of the massive stone block. It made no sense! Moreover, Seline could have sworn that Lian had not pronounced any arcane formula! With a rapid movement, too fast for its mass, the rock block surged forward, crashing into the sand before disintegrating into countless blue particles, a dazzling display of mana dissipating into the air. After all, no matter how real it seemed, the stone block was made of mana, not actual stone. Lian was stunned, but not because of the size of the stone block itself, or its power and speed. Not at all. He was stunned by the notifications that appeared in his mind. [Precision: 100%] [Error—] --- Author’s Note! 100% on the first try? Impossible!! What? The square is easy to draw? I agree, but life can’t be that simple... What about the circle? He can’t just abandon it!