"Flicker Step!" Kael muttered the name of the technique. excitement gleaming in his eyes. This was one of his favorite technique in the novel, and he was quite eager to learn it.
Since Kael had exhausted all his mana during training, he sat down on a nearby rock to recover. Taking a deep breath, He began to recall everything he knew about Flicker Step.
After remembering and analyzing it, He concluded "Hmm… this technique is both simple and complex at the same time," He mused. "The mechanics of this technique are straight forward—you use mana to move yourself at extreme speeds. And it's complicated as actually executing this technique is quite difficult. I would have to focus a lot of mana in my legs to be able to move at such extreme speeds."
Kael furrowed his brows as he analyzed further "If I remember correctly, initially, I'll only be able to flicker a few meters at a time. I'll be considered proficient once I can cover a hundred meters in a single Flicker. But there isn't exactly a maximum distance one can Flicker. Instead, the key factor is how long I can sustain this technique."
A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "I had assumed I'd need to learn how to flicker multiple times in quick succession to escape from dangerous situations. But that's not the case. If I can flicker a hundred meters in a second and sustain the technique for ten seconds, I'd cover a full kilometer. That's actually more convenient than having to use flicker step repeatedly."
A small smirk tugged at his lips. "This might just be the perfect technique for me."
After resting for another hour, Kael stood up and dusted himself off. He glanced at the sky and thought, 'There's still half an hour before lunch. Should I try the technique now? Even though my mana reserves are low, I should have enough to attempt it once.'
In his excitement to learn his favorite technique, Kael failed to notice his exhaustion. Though his mana reserves weren't particularly high, his continuous meditation, body workouts, and rigorous training had pushed them far beyond what any normal ten-year-old should possess. His recent breakthrough using the Ironhide Clan's body reinforcement method had only strengthened them further.
For the first time since his transmigration, Kael acted recklessly without thinking things through. He took a running stance but hesitated.
"Wait… how much mana should I concentrate in my legs?" The novel never mentioned how much mana one should concentrate, It only mentioned that It requires little mana than other movement techniques.
After thinking for a moment, he muttered, "Since I'm still a kid, my mana reserves would be lower than the One's that used this technique in the novel. And right now, I've only recovered twenty percent of my reserves… Alright, I'll concentrate fifteen percent of my mana into my legs and attempt the technique."
Saying that, Kael focused his mana, gathering it in his legs—then shot forward like a bullet.
The forest echoed with the sharp crack of splitting air. Kael blurred across the clearing, mana surging through his legs like coiled springs. Trees whipped past him in a haze of green and brown. For a heartbeat, he felt unstoppable—until the world tilted.
'Shit. Too fast.'
He'd misjudged the angle. A massive oak loomed ahead, its trunk rushing toward him. Instinctively, he channeled whatever mana left in his body into his arms and torso, bracing—
THUD!
A dent in the shape of a humanoid figure was left in the massive oak.
The impact rattled his teeth. Pain exploded through Kael's body. Splinters rained down as he crumpled to the ground, groaning. His reinforced body had spared him broken bones, but his left shoulder throbbed fiercely, and a shallow gash wept blood above his eyebrow.
His body was already exhausted before the attempt. The high-speed impact, coupled with the complete drain of his mana, pushed him over the edge.
His vision blurred. Darkness crept into his mind.
And then, he blacked out.
After a few hours, he woke up, rubbing his head. Wincing, he staggered to his feet. He was a complete mess—his hair matted with dried blood, his clothes lightly torn and covered in dirt. When he looked up, the sky was painted in shades of orange and purple. Then, it hit him.
He didn't go home for lunch!
"Crap! I need to get back before they panic," he muttered, rushing toward home. But as he passed by the river, he caught sight of his reflection in the water and froze.
'Shit. If Helena sees me like this, I don't know what she'll do.'
Immediately, he cupped water in his hands, washing the blood and dirt off his face. He wiped his hair down as best as he could, making himself look at least somewhat presentable.
When he reached home, he avoided the front door, creeping in through the back instead. His boots were caked in mud, his shirt torn and stained. He had almost reached the stairs when a voice froze him.
"And where," Helena's voice rang out, soft yet deadly, "do you think you're going?"
Kael turned his head slowly. His mother stood in the hall doorway, arms crossed, her gaze sharp enough to pierce steel. Emily peeked from behind her skirts, clutching her stuffed rabbit.
"Uh… to my room?" Kael tried, inching toward the stairs.
"May I know why you missed lunch?" Helena asked, her voice even but firm. "And why did you come home so late?"
Kael still facing towards stairs answered "I got caught up in training, Mom. I lost track of time. Before I knew it, it was already evening. "
Helena narrowed her eyes "Is that all?"
Kael nodded quickly. "Yes, Mom."
Helena's lips pressed into a thin line. "Alright then—"
'Huu... I'm safe! She's not asking me to turn around. I just need to get to my room and change—' Kaen thought. But unfortunately for him Halena asked
"If that's the case," Helena interrupted his thoughts, "why don't you turn around and say that to my face, dear?"
Kael froze.
'I'm Fucked!'
Still facing the stairs, he swallowed hard.
"Are you going to turn, or should I come and see for myself?" Helena asked, her tone was demanding.
Kael sighed and slowly turned around.
The moment she got a proper look at him, her expression darkened. In a blink of an eye, she was in front of him, grabbing his chin and tilting his face toward the light. Her eyes locked onto the cut above his eyebrow.
"Oh! god. What happend to you? What is this cut on your face?"
kaen tried to open his mouth but
"Do you get in a fight? Are the other kids bullying you?"
He tried again to answer but he was bombarded by another round of questions
"Why are your clothes are covered in dirt? What happened to Your shoulder —it's swollen! Are you in pain?"
Even emily also joined the qustioning with teary eyes "Bwover! are u Okay? Who hurt you? I will bite them!"
Continously bombarded by the questions, Kael sighed "Mom! I'm fine. As you can see, I'm not feeling any pain. These injur—"
when kael is explaining he was immediately cut off by his mother "What do you mean by you are fine. Look at you! Covered in bruises! Tell me, why are you injured so much?"
Kael hesitated before mumbling, avoiding Helena's gaze"Um...when I'm Training, I just...uh.. tripped"
"Tripped," she repeated flatly. "Into a sword?"
"No," Kael said, embarrassed. "A tree, actually."
Her expression darkened. "Sit. And explain why did you 'tripped' into a tree."
He obeyed, slumping onto a wooden stool. He said "When I'm training to run faster, I tripped my foot accidentally and hit the tree at full speed "
Helena fetched a basin of water and a cloth, her movements brisk.
"How clumsy can you be, How in the world did you not see a tree infront of you? " Helena said, dabbing at the cut. Her voice was low, trembling with suppressed anger. "Bruises. Cuts. Do you think I'm blind?"
Kael winced as the cloth stung. "It's not that bad—"
"Not that bad?" She seized his wrist, pulling up his sleeve to reveal a mottled bruise. "You're eleven, Kael. Why are you pushing yourself this much?"
Kael put on his best innocent face. "I want to be strong enough to enter the Imperial Academy. And I want to prove—"
He was mercilessly cut down by Helena who said "What are you trying to prove? That you can break every bone before you're twelve?"
Emily gasped. "Bwover gonna die?!"
"No one's dying," Kael reassured quickly.
Helena ignored him. "You think you can become strong just by running fast? Strength isn't just about power—it's about protecting yourself without getting hurt. True strength isn't measured by how much stronger you become, but by how many lives you can protect—including your own."
Her hands shook slightly as she wrapped a bandage around his shoulder. The anger in her voice faded, replaced by raw concern. "And why are you so obsessed with joining the Imperial Academy? There are other academies in the kingdom. Do you really think your worth will be questioned just because you don't enter that one?"
She took a deep breath, steadying herself before continuing, her voice quieter this time." And do you ever think about us? When you do these reckless things… if something were to happen to you, then what would we do?"
She trailed off, swallowing hard.
Seeing Helena like this, Kael felt a strange tightness in his chest. It wasn't the pain from his injuries—this was something different. Something he didn't quite understand. He had never felt this way before. Even in his past life, he never had parents or any relatives to worry about him.
"I'll be careful," he whispered.
Helena cupped his face gently, her thumbs brushing over his cheeks. "Promise me. No more hiding injuries. OKAY!"
He nodded.
Emily, who had been silent until now, tugged at his sleeve. "Bwover, you okay? Can you pway with me now?"
Helena sighed, finally relenting. "Go. But listen carefully—you're not stepping outside for the next week. And if I find out you've been sneaking out…" She gave him a pointed look. "Then we'll start your studies in the morning as well. If you dedicate your entire day to learning runecrafting, you'll improve at a much faster rate."
Kael shivered. "No! I won't go outside this week!"
Emily cheered, dragging him away to play wooden blocks with her. As he let her pull him along, Kael silently vowed to master Flicker Step—without injuring himself again.
Later that night, Kael was treated to two meals—one prepared by his mother, and the other in the form of his father's scolding for worrying her.
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It took him a month to successfully execute the Flicker Step technique, despite learning the correct way to concentrate mana in his legs within just three days. Even then, he could only flicker a few meters at a time.
Over the next month, instead of trying to increase the range, he focused on reducing the delay between each flicker, increasing the speed of execution. In a single month, he probably practiced that technique thousands of times to be able to do that.
Next, he worked on increasing the range of the technique. It took him 4 and half months in all to reach 100 metre with Flicker Step. He then started focusing on sustaining the technique for a longer period.
After 6 months, he was able to flicker 500 metres away in less than 5 seconds. After that, he thought, 'My original plan was to start improving my lightning affinity by now, but Flicker Step has more applications than I expected,' Kael thought. 'Sigh… I'll stick with it for now. Mastering Flicker Step to a high degree will be extremely useful later on.'
He continued refining his technique. By the time another month and a half passed, He had managed to sustain Flicker Step for 15 seconds and managed to cover 2 km. He could also change the direction mid-way, though he couldn't do it very frequently, and could also perform flicker while in a forest and having to avoid running into a tree
He was extremely pleased with his progress.
Twelve months of predawn training transformed flicker sep from a liability to a weapon.
Kael stood at the edge of the river, eyes closed, mana coursing through his legs.
He flickered.
The world dissolved into streaks of color. One heartbeat—he was at the riverbank. The next—he had zigzagged around boulders, leaped over roots, and skidded to a halt a hundred meters downstream. No trees assaulted him. No missteps.
'Finally.'
He grinned, breathless. Over the year, he'd learned to bend momentum, shifting direction mid-flicker by flaring mana in one leg or the other. Now, he could dart through a forest like a ghost, covering 3.4 kilometers in just 20 seconds.
However, there was a cost to pay.
Due to highly focusing on mastering Flicker-step, His training on lightning affinity had suffered. Since most of his mana had been dedicated to Flicker-Step, he had only managed to develop basic sparks—enough to kill a rabbit, but not an actual opponent. Still, his control had improved. The erratic surges of electricity now flowed more smoothly through his fingers.
Runecrafting, too, had progressed, though not as much as he had hoped. Helena's drills had burned E-rank seals into his memory, but the more complex, multi-layered formations of intermediate-level runecrafting still eluded him.
"I think Runecrafting will take one or two more years for me to learn everything at the intermediate level. No point in rushing it." Kael muttered.
He sat by the river, deep in thought.
How much time he still had before the monster wave.
'There were still nearly seven years left. I should plan my next steps for the coming years. The current training plan was starting to lose it's effectiveness.'
Kael exhaled sharply, eyes narrowing.
'Hmm... I should prioritize improving my mastery over lightning. I've neglected it for too long. With Blink at a stable level, I can finally focus on it. Time to create a new training plan'
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Author's Note:
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Kael has finally mastered Flicker-Step after a full year of training, but at the cost of his progress in lightning element. What do you think of his approach to training? Should he focus solely on lightning now, or balance it with his other skills?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter! How did you find the pacing of Kael's training? Did the progression feel realistic? Also, what do you think about Helena's reaction? I wanted to capture a mix of motherly concern and discipline—did it come through well?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Any feedback on my writing—whether it's flow, descriptions, or character interactions—would really help me improve. Thanks for reading, and I appreciate all your support! 🚀🔥