It had been four days since Amon started practicing a new advanced magic spell.

The fourth month had begun. The students had been given a one-week holiday to train and practice for the Practical Exam.

He had asked for some help from Seraphina while they were training together. She was a huge help. But learning new spells was harder than he expected.

For the past four days, Amon had spent all his time learning spells while meeting his friends and professors from time to time.

Currently, he was in the Training Chamber.

The training chamber echoed with the faint hum of mana.

Amon stood alone in the vast circular hall. Its smooth white stone walls marked with faint scorch lines and dark burns left by countless students before him.

Floating crystals around the room radiated a soft light, illuminating the faint traces of dust and magic residue drifting in the air.

He exhaled slowly, sweat already trickling down his neck. "Alright… focus."

He raised his right hand. Black mist began swirling around his palm, unstable, flickering like a dying flame.

"Eclipse Bolt," he muttered under his breath.

A small sphere of darkness began to form. Dense, unstable, pulsing with faint reddish veins. The moment he tried to compress it, it detonated in his hand with a thump, releasing a puff of black smoke that knocked him two steps back.

"Damn it!" He coughed, waving the smoke away. "Why does it keep destabilizing?" he questioned.

He did everything as it was written in the notes and books. Even Seraphina explained these things to him, and he followed obediently. Still, it's not like Seraphina had the darkness element.

The spell's concept was simple: use mana and condense darkness into a projectile, then launch it. But darkness wasn't just energy. It was heavy, consuming, chaotic. It resisted being shaped.

While Amon's control was not refined enough.

He sat down cross-legged, letting his mana flow calm. "Control the core of it… let the energy spin, not collide," he muttered, recalling Professor Aria's lecture. "Darkness wants to spread. I need to bind it."

Closing his eyes, he tried again, imagining the darkness not as wild power, but as an extension of his will.

'The book from the library had written something like that in it.'

A silent hum filled his palm. This time, the orb stabilized, small and dark as ink, faint crimson sparks flickering inside it.

Amon's lips curved. "Finally—"

The orb shattered.

"…Or not."

He sighed and dropped his hand, feeling the faint sting of mana recoil. "One more failure for the list."

He stood again, shaking off the fatigue. "Fine. Maybe Grim Mirage will work better."

Gathering shadow element this time, his mana transformed into shadow energy. It moved through his hands.

"Grim Mirage," he whispered.

The shadow that came out from his hands twitched, then rose slightly. Like ink flowing against gravity. It took shape. A blurry copy of himself, flickering between solid and transparent. It didn't have any facial features or eyes, just a shadowy clone-like thing.

"…You look so ugly. Well, a shadow can't copy my handsomeness," Amon muttered, not knowing where his confidence about his looks came from.

The mirage tilted its head. Almost mimicking his movement.

He grinned. "Not bad."

But seconds later, the mirage wavered and dissolved into smoke. His mana faltered, leaving him light-headed.

"Still too unstable…"

The mirage wasn't something that could attack. As its name said, being a mirage, it would be useful to distract and confuse enemies.

Even though it wasn't useful in direct fights and didn't give any firepower, it was still useful for running away from his enemies. This was perfect for someone like Amon.

He dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. His mana control was improving, but it wasn't enough to sustain both form and motion simultaneously.

Grim Mirage needed not just mana. It needed intent and mental strength to keep its shape, just as his shadow ability did.

For the past four days, Amon had been practicing these two spells like crazy. These were the easiest ones out of the others. He had been neglecting his sword, hatchet, and revolver practice because of them.

He smirked, wiping his sweat. "So, you want me to give you my brain power, huh?" Though Amon was not too smart, his willpower was strong. He did have some screws loose, which helped him be a madman. So this much toll on his brain wasn't much.

His reflection in the marble floor looked back silently. "Fine. Let's make you move."

Amon spent the next hour repeating both spells, switching between failure and small progress.

The training hall echoed with explosions, faint laughter of frustration, and the hum of dark energy.

At last, after what felt like dozens of tries, something changed.

He lifted his hand again, darkness swirling tighter than before.

"Eclipse Bolt!"

The black orb formed. Compact, pulsating like the heart of night. With a sharp motion, he released it. The bolt shot forward, leaving a faint dark trail before colliding with a mana target, exploding in a silent burst of shadow energy.

The crystal target cracked.

Amon blinked. Then he grinned, panting. "Heh. Finally!"

As the echo of the impact faded, he turned to his shadow once more.

"Now your turn," he muttered.

His shadow rippled, rising again. This time, the mirage didn't vanish immediately. It took a step. Clumsy, unsteady, but real. Its outline flickered faintly, mimicking his posture with delay.

Amon smirked. "Good enough. We'll work on your manners later."

The training hall returned to silence.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down, exhaustion creeping into his limbs. But his expression held quiet satisfaction.

One new spell mastered, another half-born. Progress.

The light from the floating crystals dimmed slightly as his shadow stretched long across the marble floor.

Amon looked at it and muttered softly,

"Someday… I will master these shadow spells to the point where, with just a mere thought, I can conjure them… heheh~"

Then he stood, the faint dark glow of the fading Eclipse Bolt still reflecting in his black eyes.

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