Chapter 188: Testing New Things Out

"I don't mean here," she moved her eyes around, "I mean out there. The forest expedition won't be a hurdle, but that battlefield will."

"That slaughter house… but helping him there would require more arrangements," Igory paused, "and much resources."

"I'm not afraid of our enemies, but of our allies," Rana said, "we need to provide him some help and prepare for that from now."

"I'll do my best," Igory said, "but I alone can't do anything big to help."

"You aren't alone," Rana firmly said, "I'm already gathering up my own team to help."

And this time Igory was surprised as he raised an eyebrow before asking:

"All from the academy I assume?"

"Keep assuming then," she laughed, "just do your part and start preparing your forces."

Igory didn't ask more despite having deep doubts towards her words and plans. Yet he only cared about having his revenge, and he wouldn't hesitate to use any chance to achieve that.

As for Jim, the moment he entered his perfect moment he was separated from the real world. So what happened just now wasn't known by him.

Yet there was another one who heard and learnt about these plans, yet he decided not to tell Jim about it… for now at least.

"I want to test out something," just as Jim entered the world he thought of his medal and the next moment he felt its cold metallic feeling on his skin.

"It worked," he smiled before tossing it up in the air, "time to test if that would be possible."

He grabbed the medal firmly before thinking only of one thing… 'Give me a space where time runs much slower than the real world,' he had this thought in mind and kept focusing deep upon it.

Yet even after five minutes passed he didn't feel anything. "Weird… should I get out then and try?" he thought.

'It worked,' the old man said.

"But… I couldn't feel anything," Jim was skeptical as he didn't feel anything happening at all.

'It creates a bubble around you in the outside world,' the old man said, 'but I can't tell how effective this will be.'

"Really?" Jim's eyes shone brightly before laughing, "then let's put it to test. Come out," he touched his tattoo and let Don come out.

"Master," Don greeted the moment he arrived, "thanks for taking me out."

Jim smiled before waving around, "go and jump and play as much as you want."

'What will you train next?' the old man said.

"I want a flashy spell," Jim asked, "but before that let me test another thing."

Before the old man could say anything, Jim landed on the ground and closed his eyes. He started to regulate his breathing before imagining the same moment once again.

"Damn!"

Yet the moment he did so, he felt intense pain coming as a rebound from using the same technique.

'The two clashed with each other,' the old man said, 'and luckily you only got some physical wounds, nothing bad to your soul.'

Jim felt pain all over his body but there was no sign of any wound. 'It appeared on your real body, not here,' the old man explained and he got the meaning.

"Then I should change my approach then," Jim took a deep breath before enduring the pain he was feeling right now.

'Shouldn't you wait and recover first?'

"No time, and I need to know if this idea would succeed or not," Jim was stubborn and the old man didn't try to stop him.

After all he felt the success of this idea and if that happened, then Jim would gain much more from his own training.

"If using the same memory didn't work, then what about using another one?" Jim thought before closing his eyes, regulated his breathing and started to recall one single memory.

The memory of that closet.

This time the world around vibrated but he didn't feel it. Don glanced in panic towards his master before seeing a golden layer of light starting to appear around him, turning Jim into a shining little star in this world.

The shaking continued until Jim finally opened his eyes and found himself inside his closet once more.

"It… worked," he muttered before turning around, "but it seemed a little hard to maintain this for a long time."

'At least you succeeded,' the old man said in a happy tone, 'try to maintain this world as long as you can.'

Jim didn't speak again as he tried to recall this memory and think of each single detail inside his mind. Despite having managed to recall it many times already, he felt there were many missing pieces of this long memory.

Plus he never focused this much over this closet before when he lived in it. he just thought of it as his escape place, where no one would come and bother him like usual.

Yet despite all his effort, he couldn't maintain his presence there for more than one hour. Once the hour passed, he saw the world crashing all around before he returned again to the world of the game field.

"Only one hour…" he muttered while lost in thought.

"Master, you… you were shining brightly all around just now!"

Just as he was contemplating what happened, Don's words distracted him from his thoughts. "I was shining?" he asked.

"In bright gold light," Don said, "I was worried at first until those wisps started to appear all around like fire."

"Wisps?" Jim was at a loss of what Don was saying.

'It's the manifestation of your magic power,' the old man suddenly said, 'don't panic, this is normal.'

"Ah I see," Jim muttered, "so that means my energy increased?"

'I believe so,' the old man paused, 'but can't tell before trying a spell out.'

"Then teach me one old man," Jim laughed, "I want something strong."

'Let me see… There is a spell that requires much larger energy than you normally have,' the old man paused for a long minute before returning again, 'it's something so old and only exclusive to fairies.'