Chapter 4: The Illusory Edge and the Strain of Acceleration
The Novice Quarters, once a place of simmering ambition, now pulsed with palpable anxiety. Arch-Wizard Rian's announcement regarding the Echo Chamber of Exhaustion had shattered the casual confidence of the A-grade prodigies. They were used to effortless power; the concept of a sustained, high-pressure environment that systematically stripped away their natural advantages was terrifying.
Kaelen, however, felt a strange, cold calm. He knew the source of their fear: dependence. They relied on their vast Mana pools and rapid regeneration. He relied on nothing but the forced efficiency of his mind.
He returned to his private, sound-dampened room, his focus now absolute. He had twenty days to reach 9.50% in Basic Illusory Veil. The remaining 0.50% would be secured during the final, grueling 24 hours inside the Chamber.
[Basic Illusory Veil: 6.75%]
[Target: 9.50%]
[Remaining Gap: 2.75%]
To close the 2.75% gap in twenty days, he needed an average daily gain of 0.1375%. This required running the Illusory Time-Warp for approximately five to six perceived days of practice per actual day.
Kaelen escalated his regimen.
The four-layered defense system was pushed to its absolute limits:
1. Noise Suppression (Layer 1): Maximized to the point where even his own breathing and the dull pain of his strained eyes were almost nonexistent.
2. Focus Stabilization (Layer 2): Kept rigidly in place to prevent mental drift during the Time-Warp.
3. Deceptive Echo (Layer 3): Running flawlessly, ensuring every failed attempt was registered by the Proficiency System as a successful repetition.
4. Illusory Time-Warp (Layer 4): Sustained for five consecutive hours of real-time, pushing his internal clock to function at over four times its normal speed.
The effect was physically and mentally devastating.
When running the Time-Warp, the world around Kaelen dissolved into a terrifying crawl. In what felt like days of continuous, minute practice, the actual passage of time was barely five hours. He would emerge from the state gasping, his body rigid, his MIND score scraping the lower limit.
[ATTRIBUTES:]
[MIND: 8 (Critical)]
He developed a new technique specifically to address the Chamber's environment: Echo Endurance Simulation.
Using his Illusory Affinity, Kaelen began preemptively layering a simulation of the Chamber's effects over his Mind Fortification shield. He fabricated the chilling, draining sensation of total Mana suppression, intentionally making his current practice attempts feel harder and more futile than they actually were.
The purpose was twofold:
• Pre-Acclimation: By forcing his mind to practice under the illusion of total exhaustion, he was conditioning his mental fortitude for the real environment.
• Forced Efficiency Feedback: The Proficiency System, recognizing the simulated struggle and the forced success (via the Deceptive Echo), accelerated the gain rate further, labeling the practice as 'High Resistance Training'.
Day 17 Remaining: Illusory Veil 7.55%.
The high-grade novices around him were attempting to adapt. Kaelen observed them briefly during meal times. They were trying complex, slow-burn energy conservation rituals, attempting to 'store' mana in external artifacts or focus on passive, low-cost defensive magic.
One morning, the silver-haired girl, Elara (an A-grade Wind Affinity prodigy), was attempting to continuously weave a thin, defensive wind curtain around her meal tray. After thirty minutes, she collapsed her spell with a frustrated sigh.
"It just drains!" she complained loudly to her companions. "My Mana storage is resisting the drain, but the effort to keep the spell running is astronomical. How are we supposed to practice repetition if we can't even cast twice?"
This was the critical flaw. Their Mana use was like burning huge logs of wood (high output, high consumption). Kaelen's use was like trying to generate heat by constantly lighting and extinguishing tiny sparks (minimal output, maximum repetition). In the draining environment of the Echo Chamber, Kaelen's spark method was infinitely more sustainable.
Day 10 Remaining: Illusory Veil 8.90%.
Kaelen was close. He had pushed the Time-Warp to six hours daily, leaving him barely enough time for the stabilizing phase. His body was sustained by pure mental willpower, and he rarely spoke more than a few words, terrified of breaking the rigid mental focus.
One afternoon, while performing his stabilizing meditation, he detected a breach in his peripheral awareness.
Someone was watching him.
Through the faint, high-frequency distortion of his Self-Optimization, he registered the presence of Legate Varis, the indigo-robed Wizard who had summoned him. The Legate stood outside Kaelen's training room, observing through a tiny, magically reinforced window.
Varis did not knock or speak. He simply watched the young man sitting unnaturally still, his expression utterly blank, but his internal aura screaming with intense, controlled energy. The Legate stayed for nearly an hour, watching Kaelen enter and exit the Time-Warp cycle, a cycle that made the Wizard's own senses swim from the sheer speed of Kaelen's internal focus.
When Varis finally left, Kaelen didn't react externally. He checked his panel.
[Mind Fortification (Passive): 2.99% (Novice)]
The Legate was likely trying to assess the "anomaly" registered by the Sweep—the F-grade talent that somehow generated a "uniquely stable and resonant Echo Affinity signature."
Kaelen understood. Legate Varis was not watching him for talent; he was watching him for effort and method. The Wizards understood that the system was the ultimate efficiency judge.
Day 1 Remaining: Illusory Veil 9.45%.
He was ready. The final push was scheduled for the Chamber. The sheer psychological momentum of his twenty-day grind had brought him to the threshold. He deliberately held back the remaining 0.55%, knowing that achieving the final breakthrough inside the Chamber would be his ultimate confirmation to the Academy—and his salvation.
The final announcement came at dusk.
"All Novices will assemble at the Grand Assembly Hall for transport. The Trial of Ascension begins at midnight."
Kaelen stood up, stretching muscles that felt alien after weeks of stillness. He felt physically weak, his Mind score still registering 8, but internally, his focus was a sharpened blade. He had traded the strength of talent for the strength of a perfectly tuned machine.
He was the weakest talent, but the most efficient practitioner. And for this trial, efficiency was the only magic that mattered.