Chapter 65: The weight of a dream (1/2)
Chapter 65: The weight of a dream
In a secret training field in Holy Dawn Academy.
Ayrin quietly faced a wooden pile a section higher than himself, thick enough two persons were needed to surround it with their arms.
Dense ropes circled round and round around this wooden pile, as if wrapping it in thick armor.
Ayrin looked at this giant wooden stake with the same expression he would have when looking at an enemy.
“Whoosh!”
His body broke through the air all of a sudden. His left hand pressed toward this wooden stake, the whole hand covered in astonishing numbers of arcane particles, as if a dazzling magenta sun had risen from his hand.
A white block of ice about the size of this wooden pile suddenly appeared between his left hand and this giant wooden pile. It crashed loudly against it, and all the thick ropes encircling it exploded out, chunks after chunks splattering away.
The entire wooden pile was pulled out from the ground, about to fly backwards.
Just at this moment however, a terrifying sound came from Ayrin, as if hundreds and thousands of ropes ruptured at the same time.
This sound was entirely produced by the tremendous vibrations of the air around him!
In this instant, his body gave off the terrifying feeling that every muscle inside his body, the power inside every minute molecule was about to burst out from extreme saturation, as if his entire person were about to explode.
His right fist ruthlessly landed on the huge white block of ice in front of him, carrying with it the strength of mountain floods bursting out.
“Crack crack crack…”
The huge white block of ice seemed like a living object. It once again burst out with power. The entire block of ice deformed: icy protrusions sputtered forward, and on the originally almost square-shaped white block of ice, long and narrow shapes splashing forward formed. It looked entirely as if a giant crown of ice and snow lay flat on it!
“Crack!”
The wooden pile that had already been lifted off the ground broke into pieces under the renewed outburst of power at this instant. White blocks of ice and snow froze the countless broken shards of wood as they splashed backwards, sprinkling everywhere behind in an area several dozen meters wide.
Ayrin looked on, dumbstruck.
He stayed still for several seconds, then he leaped up, leaped up six or seven meters high in a single jump.
“Amazing!”
“I succeeded! I finally succeeded, I successfully unleashed a double combination of physical and arcane attacks!”
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!…”
…
Carter walked out from inside the shadows of the trees, not far away behind Ayrin. Watching Ayrin randomly jumping and wildly shouting out of excitement, he couldn’t resist shaking his head, thinking that Ayrin felt more and more fearsome.
“How was it, teacher Carter, did you see that? I succeeded, I can already use ‘Crown of Ice and Snow!’”
“I saw.”
Seeing Ayrin arrive in front of him with a jump, Carter breathed deeply and said, “You’re ten days earlier than even my fastest expectation. Since things turned out this way, you take two days of rest. After that you’ll start again doing all-out strength training.”
“Rest for two days?”
Ayrin looked at Carter and had a little trouble understanding. “The match against Divine Shield Academy is only in ten days though, my spiritual strength hasn’t reached the level of condensing arcane particles yet… Shouldn’t I continue to train my hardest?”
“Have faith in my judgment. I will arrange the most appropriate rest or training according to the condition of your body and spirit.” Carter explained, gentle and patient, “You first rest for two days, then continue training according to what I asked of you. The result will be better compared to you training bitterly for ten days nonstop. Your body and spirit are currently in a state of excessive pressure. If you were to force yourself and continue training, it would bring more harm than good to your body. Giving your body and spirit a proper rest, letting them relax, then giving them a powerful stimulation after that, you will progress faster this way. Tension, relaxation, tension… Training needs to follow this rhythm, you also have to figure out the rhythm most suitable for yourself. Also, I will manage and be in control of when you condense particles. Do you still remembers what I told you at the beginning?”
“To have faith you, that you’ll help me seize victory after victory!” Ayrin smiled. “I understand now, teacher Carter, I will do as you say.”
“Go then, get a proper rest.”
…
“Teacher Carter! Teacher Carter!”
Carter followed Ayrin’s departure with his eyes, but not long after, as soon as he walked out of this secret training field, he saw an Ayrin bustling with energy run back his way.
“What?” He couldn’t help but stare a little blankly.
“Is Chris’ home right here in St. Lauren?” Ayrin asked him, “I just went to the Thinker’s Stone Forest, but she wasn’t there. After that I saw two classmates of hers training there, and heard them say that Chris went back home. Teacher, you’re the one in charge of registration, you must surely know where her house is in St. Lauren?”
“You want to go look for her?” Carter blinked in surprise.
“Yeah.” Ayrin scratched his head in embarrassment. “I don’t know what to do during rest. Originally I wanted to go watch her training, I didn’t think she wouldn’t be there.”
Carter hesitated slightly, but he still said, “If I remember correctly, her house should be in the Spirit district, it’s near the foot of the mountain at the southern side of St. Lauren. There are many small secondhand goods shop and curio shops there. If you’re looking for her, you can search first for a shop specializing in the repair of leather boots, her house’s near this shop. Just ask there and you should be able to find her.”
Ayrin finally found the boot repair shop Carter spoke of after spending no less than half a day.
This was a small shop with walls and shelves entirely covered in black or brown shoe polish, with some buck naked, dirty kids playing some kind of game in the doorway.
The Spirit district was a slum area compared to the whole of St. Lauren.
Just like the vast majority of cities in the kingdom of Eiche, the higher the place the more exclusive it was. High places were for rich people and noble clans, while on the contrary, lower areas at the foot of the mountains were places were low-level craftsman, failed businessmen, frustrated artists and arcane masters gathered.
To give the most simple of examples, the sewage pipes were all arrayed from high to low. There would be a lot of sewage flowing down to the foot of the mountains everyday. Perhaps people in these district would, when they went out, find themselves face to face with streams of sewage stinking to high heaven.