Limitless Succeeded

Jiang Bai learned Space Pouch in a short time, proving himself worthy of the title of genius.

Making the contents of that obscure magic book his own was as easy for him as eating and drinking.

Yet when he confidently began trying to construct "Limitless," reality gave him a resounding slap in the face.

He sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, imitating the man in his memories as he tried to wrap himself in a layer of infinitely extending, absolutely inviolable space.

The moment he channeled his magic, the space around him began to churn violently like boiling water.

Then, with a crisp pop, the spatial layer he had painstakingly condensed collapsed in an instant, like a soap bubble pricked by a needle.

A chaotic current of spatial turbulence rebounded against him, sweeping past his arm and leaving a searing sting in its wake.

Jiang Bai looked down and saw a thin, long cut on his arm.

"Fuck!"

He broke out in a cold sweat, instantly soaking his undershirt.

"Hiss... That really hurts. If it had been a little closer, my arm probably would've had to say goodbye to the rest of me."

Where had he gone wrong?

Jiang Bai forced himself to calm down and quickly reviewed what had happened in his mind.

He soon found the cause.

His mastery of Space Magic was still too limited, and his control over his magic was far from good enough.

"My magic output is too crude. Space isn't an enemy; I can't fight it with brute force... I have to weave it, guide it."

"Damn it, my control over my magic is still too rough. It's nowhere near precise enough."

It was like asking an elementary school student who had just learned arithmetic to solve advanced calculus by brute force. The difficulty was on a whole different level.

"I refuse to believe I can't do it!"

The stubborn streak in Jiang Bai's bones was fully aroused.

He locked himself in his room and plunged into a mind-numbingly tedious regimen of practice.

On the first day, he could barely maintain an unstable spatial film in front of him. It shattered at a touch, more fragile than freshly made tofu dregs.

On the second day, the film grew a little thicker, but tiny cracks still appeared in it from time to time. Like a sieve that let the wind through, it couldn't stop anything at all.

On the third day, Jiang Bai went without food or water, immersing himself entirely in sensing his magic. Again and again, he guided the power within him, feeling every subtle movement and change in the spatial energy.

Finally, on the morning of the fourth day, as the first ray of sunlight shone through the window and illuminated the dust floating in the room.

Jiang Bai's eyes snapped open.

The air around him warped violently enough to be seen with the naked eye, then quickly settled, as though nothing had happened.

He picked up a small stone he had used for testing during practice and casually tossed it at his own face.

The stone traced an arc through the air, then abruptly stopped the instant before it touched the tip of his nose, hanging there eerily in midair as though defying every law of physics.

It was less than a centimeter from the spot between his eyebrows.

"Phew... I did it."

Jiang Bai's lips spread into a tired but immensely satisfied smile.

Although he still couldn't use it as perfectly and effortlessly as the original, he had finally managed to put together a workable version of this simplified "Limitless" defense.

As for the offensive moves, "Blue" and "Red"?

Jiang Bai glanced at his little room, which was only about a dozen square meters, and decisively abandoned the dangerous idea.

"You've got to be kidding,"

he muttered under his breath.

"One 'Blue' and this whole boys' dorm would probably vanish from the map on the spot. I don't want to be saddled with years of mortgage payments while I'm still so young. That would be worse than killing me."

Of course, he still had no clue about the most crucial part: "ultimate control."

The current "Limitless" was more like a fixed program that had to be activated deliberately, and it consumed a huge amount of magic. He was nowhere near achieving Satoru Gojo's virtually cost-free "infinite mana."

He could only keep working at it.

Jiang Bai had a feeling that only when he could control every trace of magic in his body as naturally as his own limbs would the true path to invincibility open to him.

He sprang to his feet, stretched his somewhat stiff body, and pushed open the door, ready to see what Erza had been doing these past few days.

He soon found that familiar scarlet figure on the training ground behind the guild.

Erza was swinging a brand-new knight's longsword, tirelessly slashing at the wooden training post before her again and again.

The ground around her was covered in countless sword marks, each one deep enough to lay bare bone, a testament to their wielder's astonishing strength and unrelenting effort.

Watching her sweat under the sunlight, Jiang Bai couldn't help observing three seconds of silence in advance for this world's future enemies.

You had to be kidding.

The Fairy Queen had awakened this terrifying tenacity and strength five years early.

Jiang Bai didn't linger there reflecting on it.

He strode toward the training ground ravaged by sword marks, casually picking up a branch.

"Hey, Erza, starting your morning training this early?"

he called out.

The scarlet figure drenched in sweat came to an abrupt halt, and the fierce wind of her sword cuts died away.

Erza turned around. When she saw it was Jiang Bai, the fierce bearing so unlike someone her age vanished instantly, replaced by a hint of surprise.

"Jiang Bai? What brings you here? Have you completely recovered?"

She put away her longsword and hurried over to him, looking him up and down with some concern.

Jiang Bai smiled and waved his somewhat stiff arm, speaking in a relaxed tone. "I recovered ages ago. Besides, after four days of secluded training, I had to have something to show for it, right?"

He held the branch out to Erza, a confident, slightly challenging smile on his face.

"I recently created a new defensive magic. I'd like you to help me test how strong it is."

"Test it?" Erza blinked her scarlet eyes, a little puzzled.

"That's right." Jiang Bai pointed at his chest. "Just use this branch and stab me here with all your strength."

Hearing that, Erza shook her little head like a rattle drum.

"No! How could I do that?"

He had to be kidding. How could she possibly stab Jiang Bai with anything?

Jiang Bai seemed to have expected her reaction. He shrugged and tried a different approach.

"All right, let's do it another way."

He stepped back a few paces, planted his feet, and beckoned to Erza.

"Use only your fists and attack me as fast as you can. If you can touch my clothes, you win."

"During that time, I won't leave this circle, and I won't fight back."

As he spoke, Jiang Bai used the tip of his foot to draw a circle of moderate size around himself.

At the suggestion, Erza's expression changed instantly.

She knew Jiang Bai wasn't joking. His black eyes were full of seriousness and confidence.

It was absolute confidence in his new magic.

It was also a test of her strength.

Erza's desire to grow stronger flared up instantly.

Without further hesitation, she tossed the knight's longsword she had been clutching to one side, her little face solemn.

"Okay!"