11. Cheat
The following morning Noah woke up at dawn, the first lights of the day disturbed him.
He got out of bed and was ready to go wash his face when he stopped in place.
'I had never been disturbed by the first daylight before!'
He entered his sea of consciousness focusing on the center of his brain. When his half-transparent figure opened his eyes he could see that the level of the sea resumed the original level of half of the sphere.
'So one night of sleep is enough to replenish half of the sea! I will test again late in the afternoon for how long I can endure the training'
What he didn't know was that since he was a transmigrator his mind was far stronger than the one of an average kid of his age. Overall, his mental age was about 35 years and the events of both his lives contributed to strengthening his mind even more, so it could endure looking at the rune for far more time than any young man. If a 10 years old child was to look at the Kesier rune for 4 hours straight, his mind would shatter.
When he neared a bowl of water and washed his face, he shivered a little. The water seemed colder than usual.
"Why is the water is so cold?"
He asked a passing servant pointing at the bowl.
The servant put her hand on the bowl and looked at Noah with a confused expression.
"The water feels of the same temperature as always, young master. Is it possible that you caught a cold? Do you want me to call the madam?"
Noah was a bit surprised by her answer but then he thought of something.
'Is it possible that my senses got more sensitive with only one session of training? That shouldn't be so fast right?'
"No, it's fine, keep going with your work."
He dismissed the maidservant and went to eat breakfast.
'I will ask Master when I see him. Now I should focus on the twin saber style.'
He went back to his room, opened the martial art book and picked the two sabers.
He did the same thing he used to do whenever a guard would "give" him a martial form or a technique: closing himself in his room and practice till those movements became a habit.
This time though, he found difficulties in managing two sabers at the same time.
'I guess it's really harder to get used to it, as Master said. I can only practice more until I can use these moves in an actual fight'.
Like this, his day passed by.
Noah went out of his room only to get his lunch and spent the dinner reading the Forging of Seven Hells closed in his room. When he felt that he had digested it was already night. He closed his book and took out the Kesier rune from his clothing. As his most important asset, he would always keep it with him.
He stared at the rune sitting on his bed and kept going until the level of the water
Some retches ran through him but he suppressed them with his eyes closed until they were gone. Only then, he looked outside the window to understand how much time he had spent training.
'About four hours again, even by reaching my absolute limit. It seems that practicing all day has its toll on the mind otherwise I'm confident I could have held for about five hours.'
Even though he had reached the limit his body could withstand, of about one-fifth of the sphere, he stayed in the sea of consciousness for the same time as the previous night. He added another question to the list of those he had to ask his Master once he saw him.
'If tomorrow morning I wake up completely fine too, I will keep going like I have done today. Training all day is tiring and this terrible headache is discouraging but I can hold on! What is a bit of sweat and pain if compared with power?'
Reaffirming his determination, he lied in bed completely exhausted both in body and mind and slept soundly.
In the morning, Noah woke up at dawn again, as soon as he noticed the light on his window.
Checking that everything went smoothly in his sea of consciousness and that apart from some soreness from his limbs he had completely recovered, he chose to repeat the same actions of the previous day. He trained from morning till mid-afternoon in the twin saber style, read the Forging of Seven Hells while eating dinner and digesting it and practiced with the Kesier rune during the night till his body was on the verge of throwing up.
Like this, the day of his meeting with William arrived.
In the same spacious room from the week before, Noah was sitting on his knees looking at his Master standing in front of him. He was waiting for William to finish his yawn before asking him to clarify some of his doubts.
"Master, ever since I have begun training my mental energy I can notice the light of the morning through the window during my sleep. Moreover, everything seems colder or warmer than it used to be and I'm pretty sure I can hear some servants whispering in other rooms if I concentrate enough."
Noah never slacked off in those days and the changes in his perception grew every day more evident.
William was a bit surprised when he first heard that but then remembered how stubborn his disciple was when it came to training. He thought that he should impose more limits on his training habits before Noah hurt himself due to exhaustion.
"It seems that you practiced really hard on the Kesier rune. I remember that when I first started practicing my mental energy at the age of 15 I could not keep going on for more than 2 hours before collapsing. I remember the captain called me a rare genius! Haha, don't worry, as you grow up your mind barrier will solidify and become sturdier, allowing you to train for more time."
Noah was speechless, staring at his Master with wide eyes. William put a proud expression and thought:
'Yes, that's right, your Master is a genius. Are you comparing yourself with me right now, right?'
A slight smirk was on his face as he thought that he had finally obtained some respect from the kid.
'Wait wait wait wait, is he saying that he collapsed ONLY after 2 hours? A rare genius, him? What is the double of a rare genius? Maybe because my mind has already undergone another life it can be considered as a fully formed mind, so I can train for the same period of time of grown-up men while being still 10 years old. Isn't the same as saying that as long as I don't slack off, no one of my very age will ever reach me?'
Noah's mouth became a little dry and then he gulped. Trying to shift the focus of the conversation away from the hours of training he questioned William about another one of his doubts.
"How much did you take, Master, to memorize the first rune?"
William smile grew and said with a proud smile:
"About 6 years, but I could have done it in 5 if it wasn't for the captain always sending me in missions"
'So, if I keep going like this I might actually become a rank 1 mage in 3 years! Maybe the process will be slower due to my still unformed dantian, yet it's extremely good!'
Noah already wanted to drop this talk with his master and go back to his room to train, he was eager to understand what it felt like to cast magic spells.
William dropped his prideful pose and looked at him smiling.
"You have trained in the twin saber style too, right?"
"Yes, Master"
Noah answered, remembering the main reason he had come for that day.
"Do you want to show it to me?"
"Yes, please! Master, don't go easy on me."
Noah stood up and picked 2 training sabers from the wall behind him.
"Don't worry I won't."
William said, putting his left hand behind his back and raising his right one to his chest, the side of the hand pointing at Noah.
Immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed.