Chapter 189: Gaining More Benefits

"Then let's try it then," Jim was excited when he heard that. His first spell to learn was such a grand one that he still depended entirely upon.

'This spell needs a large amount of energy, but only your energy, not the one absorbed by your fairy king power,' the old man said before explaining, 'the only advantage here is the presence of the Seson monster to your side. He will help you a lot in doing it.'

"What's that amazing spell? C'mon, don't leave me hanging like this."

The old man laughed, 'I'm about to tell you, just be patient and first you need to prepare your energy.'

"Prepare?" Jim didn't get the old man's meaning.

'This spell is flashy and would consume all your energy in one go,' the old man warned, 'so you need to accumulate enough energy first before activating it.'

"How?"

'Just raise both hands in the air and clench your fingers tight,' the old man said, 'then I'll tell you what to do.'

"Alright," Jim raised both hands up in the air and did as the old man said.

'Tell your pet to give energy to you,' the old man said after Jim started to feel a strange burning sensation over his two closed fists.

"Don, come and help me… fast!" Jim didn't hesitate to shout at his pet and Don instantly moved to stand beside him, rubbing his body on his feet.

"This is the way you will support me with energy… it's ridiculous!"

Jim was surprised to see what Don was doing and couldn't help but express his doubts.

'It's the simple and effective way,' the old man laughed, 'but in fights he can support you from distance while fighting. Yet this won't give you the same amount of energy as now.'

"Oh, so I have to keep him beside me all the time?"

'Not necessarily,' the old man laughed, 'just make sure not to lose his sight in any fight. After all you still are limited with a certain range to gain his benefits.'

"I would keep that in mind," Jim nodded, "now what should I do? My hands are turning like two pieces of fire!"

'Your energy is still lacking,' the old man said, 'keep accumulating energy until you gather enough.'

Jim could only sigh and return to endure the growing pain. His energy kept gathering up while the color of his hands turned from red to golden in slow motion.

"Now?" he gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to scream in pain.

'Not yet,' the old man said and Jim could only endure.

Accumulating his energy took ten minutes, but for him he felt like an entire day had passed. His body was now soaked with sweat and his muscles were now twitching from time to time.

'Alright, that's enough,' the old man suddenly said, 'descend your hands, the right one pointing to the left and the left is pointing to the ground.'

"Finally," Jim reached his limits a long time ago. At this moment he didn't care anymore about the spell and only wanted this torture to end.

Just as he descended his arms the same way his old man just told him, he felt a strange thing. It was as if his two hands just gave birth to new arms, thick and strong as they extended beyond his body and went far into the distance.

'Can you feel them?' the old man asked.

"I feel… like having long arms now," Jim slowly said.

'These are the arms of punishment,' the old man proudly said, 'they can hit anything and smash it away. Plus they can cause deep wounds against those at your level or slightly stronger.'

"You mean my grade?"

'I mean your magic power level,' the old man said, 'for example I believe facing someone like Lim would be a breeze for you with this spell.'

Jim turned around but he found no target to practice upon. "How long would this spell last?"

'For your current energy? Hmm… I believe five minutes is the limit.'

"That's not bad," Jim nodded, "but the only issue is the time needed to gather up the energy."

'This is just your first time,' the old man said, 'now shake off your hands and dispel the spell. Train more so your time will be greatly reduced.'

"Alright," Jim shook off his hands and felt the previous feeling vanish, "what about the time difference now? How much time has passed in the real world?"

'I believe not much,' the old man said, 'the same time you passed here passed in the outside world.'

"Wow, that's amazing!"

Jim was content with such a result. "From now on I'll only train here," he decided as this would save him a lot of time and effort.

'Stop wasting time then and start training.'

Jim nodded before starting to raise both fists high and started gathering up his energy again.

After some time of training he noticed something. "My speed of gathering up energy increased, but I also feel the quality of my energy to grow as well."

'That's normal, after all this place is meant to support your energy and grow it stronger,' the old man said, 'plus this is only you having the first layer, imagine having more.'

"First layer?"

'The magic energy can be measured in many ways, but the simplest is to count the layers of energy gathered upon one's body,' the old man explained, 'for example you have one layer, but someone like Lim would have two. Master like Rana would have five at least, and I believe Igory should have more than seven.'

"Hmm… So these layers are a rough method to measure everyone's power?"

'In fight you won't ask your enemy to test his power using any of the usual means in the academy,' the old man laughed, 'you should have other means to know if you should fight or run.'

"I understand," Jim nodded, "so how should I increase these layers then?"