Chapter 142: Really difficult
On the sixth day, Louis continued trying to control his subconscious. It was a difficult situation, which had to be extended into the seventh day.
His path seemed to be through a thorny place or one with enormous rocks that blocked his way. He couldn’t get through. It wasn’t just failing for the sake of failing; it was failing even when it shouldn’t.
It’s failing at a time when everything seems perfect.
So the hours passed, and soon the first week had come to an end.
Although he had passed the other levels with relative ease, or at least saw progress, there was no progress for a long time in this one.
On the night of the last day of the first week, he meditated on it, trying to find something that would give him a clue.
He read the grimoires he had bought, which taught him various spells of different levels. There were spells of levels 1, 2, 3, and even 4.
They were quite comprehensive and showed ways to reach those magic levels more easily. Hardrial was full of praise for these grimoires, calling them divine grimoires, more because their authors were incredibly famous.
Gods or monarchs, great research mage (sorcerers), and all kinds of world-renowned people.
They were so well written that even he learned things from them and put them into practice, understanding many things he had previously been unaware of.
They helped Laura greatly improve her work, but they didn’t give Louis many clues.
He would use them when he advanced to the next stage; for now, they didn’t seem to be of any use to him.
He put the grimoires aside and spent the rest of the night meditating on what he could do.
In the end, he concluded that he just had to do something simple yet complex: make the mind believe that what is wrong is right only in certain circumstances.
With that in mind, on day 8, the first day of the second week, he tried again very early in the morning.
Failed attempts, failed attempts... almost successful attempts.
The first part of the day passed quickly, and he still hadn’t managed to do it.
Making the mind believe that wrong is right makes no sense, he concluded.
He decided to try something else: to look at the exact moment when his subconscious creates magic, to try to do something that alters its creation.
Hardrial told him to continue concentrating on formulating the magic and let the subconscious work on the fabric. That would create the magic in the right way and very quickly.
Therefore, paying less attention to magic than fabric was completely out of the question.
So, what was the best option?
Perhaps there really was no best option. Perhaps it was simply trial and error. But he knew that if he paid special attention to his subconscious at the right moment, he could find a way to prevent it from being completed.
Now, this had several problems. The first was that he had to see his subconscious at the right moment, which meant he had to divert his attention for a moment, and that would be doing what Hardrial had told him not to do.
So he had to find an alternative. He easily found it: divide his attention, rather than simply divert it.
The other problem was precisely that. Dividing attention in this circumstance was easier said than done. It is a circumstance in which dividing attention does not usually work, because you need to have enough mental power to formulate magic for it to be created.
Besides, what exactly is seeing the subconscious? What is the subconscious? The soul?
’No, I don’t need to see the soul. It would be enough to see what I am creating, since my subconscious is focused there,’ he thought.
But there was another problem. His subconscious was practically him, only deeper. How on earth could he do that?
On Earth, that might be considered impossible, but remember that a few days ago, Hardrial mentioned to Laura that magic was based on Division and the correct Choice of what you want to use/do, in a world where all things seem to be united, but physically separated at the microscopic level.
In his day, he was the best student at the university, which attracted people who only wanted to take advantage of his intelligence. He clearly remembers his physics classes.
Something that is apparently united but physically separate is practically the universe and its existence in its entirety.
Atoms are physically separate, and matter is made up entirely of atoms. Magic, in this case, is a matter. It is mass.
Therefore, what Hardrial meant was this.
However, all human beings are made up of atoms, so technically, they are connected but physically separate at the microscopic level.
If he took this to a spiritual level, then his soul did not necessarily have to be in tune with his body at all times. That subconscious, perhaps, was not so connected to his own mind. Although the spiritual level may not apply in this case, thinking this way at least gave him a path to follow.
So he immediately began to test it.
The first thing he did was try to divide his attention, while still keeping the creation of the magic in the foreground. It was more complicated than he thought. Now he could perform this magic in about 50 to 60 seconds, so it took him 60 attempts, a full hour, to manage to divide it a little.
It wasn’t even that much, but he didn’t need it to be too much. He just needed to find a moment to interfere with the creation of the thread.
Another 60 attempts later, he felt he had become decent at this control of intention and began to watch.
Slowly, for another 60 attempts.
It was 3 p.m., and soon it was 3:30 p.m.
Just then, Louis saw a perfect moment to act.
And he did.
As he acted, the speed of creation suddenly slowed dramatically.
"Shit." He groaned and immediately undid the Fabric he was creating.
He failed because he focused all his attention on creating the fabric. As a result, the magic did not form in time, and the weave slowed down.
He had to start over.
Soon, he had failed 45 times in the same way.
He was beginning to believe it wasn’t possible, but he didn’t give up and kept trying.
Attempt 46, 47...
And so on until he reached attempt number 57 after the first one.
At that moment...
The fabric was interrupted.
"Did it fail?"
BOOM*
His body was pushed back by an aquatic explosion coming from the weave.
He regained his composure in the air and looked at the threads around him as he fell into the water, wanting to see that Magic Reaction he had seen before...
Unfortunately, he didn’t see it.
’It didn’t fail. Sigh.’
He hit the water in frustration and swam to the spot once more.
He knew it hadn’t failed because what had dispersed wasn’t the fabric, as that would have created that slight overexposure of threads. What had dispersed was the magic itself, which had been created, but the interruption caused by his bold movement had caused it to explode.
That was not what was wanted. The fabric had to fail in its creation. It did not need to disperse; that was for sure. According to Hardrial, overexposure could occur, but it was not essential to know if it had failed.
Following this method, the thread would be created in his hand, but the magic would not be activated. It could disintegrate on its own or simply explode in overexposure.
But this was already a breakthrough in his mind. A very good breakthrough, one he should be proud of, as he was beginning to achieve it.
He returned to his place and once again began to work.
As time passed, at 6 p.m., Louis had another breakthrough.
He managed to find the exact moment to interfere, which caused the fabric to fail.
It was created, but the magic did not form. The fabric scattered everywhere in an overexposure, which brought him great joy.
But then he could see how all the threads were ignited in fire, and the overexposure was not created. Instead, countless threads ignited in the fire remained for a few seconds before the fire dispersed.
Seeing this, he could not understand if he had failed or if it was a success.
The fabric was not formed, but that magic belonged to magic and caught fire, so...
Confused, he looked for Hardrial, who was watching him from a distance, next to Laura.
"He did it very quickly," she said, amazed.
It wasn’t time to finish yet, but Laura used up her orbs at ridiculous speeds today because of the strong current. Although she made progress and managed to create some orbs, they were useless because she lost other orbs. She had to use the orbs she created to stay underwater longer, but that brought her back to 0 orbs.
That’s why she went out to see Louis and witnessed something that had taken her too long to do.
In fact...
"Haha, in just a few days, he reached where you are in this training. What do you think about that?" Hardrial asked, looking at her sideways.
"Hmm." She smiled. "I can’t compare myself to geniuses, you see."
"Hahaha, tsk. A genius saying that doesn’t make me feel good. It took me much longer than you." He sighed sadly and then walked over to Louis.