21 Controlling Mana

It was Monday today.

The teacher announced that I would be paired up with Luke again, while Ellen and Shelly exchanged partners with each other.

Since we would be starting all over again, I packed up my stuff to head towards another medieval-like room again. This time the change was permanent. So I decided I would study really hard to get a nice upgraded room and an abundant amount of points to get a decent meal as well.

There was an exam tomorrow determining how I would live for the next few years in middle school. I saw Luke already unpacking his stuff, while I placed my stuff on top of the straw bed. Sigh. If I could, I didn't want to live like this anymore.

\"Should we head towards the library?\" I asked Luke.

Luke looked genuinely surprised by my question as he thought I didn't like his intense study sessions. Well, it was true I didn't like studying with Luke, but it brought good results. And I was tired of sleeping on a straw bed for the past month.

So we went to the library study room together and we spent over forty eight hours just cramming all the materials that I had to catch up to from the past month.

By the time it was morning, I felt that we could at least avoid getting minus points with losing a night's worth of sleep.

So when I finished all my exams, I was looking forward to the results unlike the previous times.

When the results came out, everyone looked utterly surprised except for Luke and I. Well that was rude!

The monitor displayed:

Helena and Alex: 100 000 points

Rika and Luke: 20 000 points

Michelle and Allan: 90 000 points

\"Rika didn't get any minus points this time!\" Alex said while looking astonished.

\"As expected of Luke!\" Daniel praised Luke after he unfroze himself from the shock.

\"...\" Allan, Ellen and Shelly looked back at me wordlessly.

Was this really that surprising? You know we usually got a bit more than this amount of points in elementary school so you shouldn't get surprised!

When we got back into our rooms, I happily asked Luke, \"How should we spend the points?\"

I wanted to move into a good room right away so I could sleep without the moldy smell of the rock walls covered with a bit of moss.

\"Well, since moving to a smaller, but better room cost about 15 000 points, I think we should refrain from moving just yet-\" (Luke)

I clasped my hands while making myself look pitiful as I pouted, \"Please~. I promise I'll study harder for the next exam that's one week from now!\"

Luke gave in to my constant begging as he reluctantly decided to upgrade the room, leaving the rest of the 4800 points for our meals and rented two straw beds to sleep on for the next week for 200 points.

I wondered if there was a cheat in the dimensional library that would allow me to absorb all the materials instead of cramming it into my brain all the time. So when I made sure that Luke fallen into a deep sleep, I opened the dimensional library.

I asked the guide for the nth time, \"Is there any way I could absorb all the contents inside the books instead?\"

\"Since you're in middle school now and your brain is more developed. You have obtained the ability to absorb a maximum of two books per day!\"

Finally! I knew there was a cheat in the dimensional library! But to think it would take this long. Since the exam was next week for sixteen subjects, and I had seven days left to study, I should absorb as much books as possible. Meaning I only had to work on physical education and practicing my mana!

Sob. Why couldn't god give me this ability earlier? I picked two books covering this week's materials for two subjects and felt the knowledge sweeping through my head naturally. So this was how it was like for someone who studied regularly and thoroughly?

I was feeling great for this exam and I headed back to sleep with a smile.

Today was Tuesday.

I went to the mana practice room to learn to control my mana so that I could earn more points from the exam.

I was always doing well on my physical education exam, so there was no need to practice for that subject. However, having too much mana was a problem because it was harder to control.

I wondered what my problem was all this time? Why was my mana running out of control? It wasn't like I was putting way too much power into it with my visualizations.

Maybe I should try casting mana while opening my eyes? I only closed my eyes because it was easier to visualize and it kept me from distracting myself.

Maybe this would work! I imagined a fire dart heading towards the bullseye while opening my eyes and it ended up exploding the entire target area! Why!

Today was Wednesday.

After attending all my classes, and absorbing my books in secret, I went to the mana practice room to attempt to control my mana again.

However after destroying the target area again, I soon got kicked out by the teacher and I went back into my room to think what I've been doing wrong.

Maybe Luke would know the answer after I deliberated for a while. I was told that Luke had huge amounts of mana that could even potentially come close to mine, however I never saw Luke's mana coming out of control like mine did.

I went to the library to see him studying for next week's exams with Alex. I knew he would be in the library because Luke was the type who would make sure that he would get perfect results on the exams to balance out my miserable results.

I went up to him and asked, \"Do you have some extra time today?\"

Luke looked up in amazement as he soon asked, \"Does it have to be now?\"

\"Well it can whenever you have extra time today.\" I answered back.

\"No, I'll go now. I'll meet you later Alex!\" Luke said almost immediately.

I led Luke to the field where I saw a few upperclassmen practice their mana. \"Can you tell me how you control your mana?\" I asked.

\"I don't know why my mana is always running out of control, and I heard from the teacher that you also have a similar amount of mana that comes close to mine. However, I never seen your mana getting out of control,\" I said while pouting.