My System Doesn't Give Power

"Come back."

Zac stopped in his tracks.

He recognized Armani’s voice immediately, though he had no idea how she had managed to speak directly into his mind from such a distance.

He slowly turned and looked back towards the cottage. "Why is she calling me back now?"

[Perhaps she reconsidered.]

"She already made me kiss the floor. What else does she want? Is she planning to beat me up this time?"

[There’s only one way to find out.]

Zac stared at the path leading back up the hill and released a long, defeated sigh. "And here I thought academy life was supposed to be enjoyable."

He turned around and began trudging back towards the cottage.

When he arrived, Armani was standing beside the front door, waiting for him. Her arms were folded beneath her chest, and her usual commanding composure had returned in full.

Despite having called him back, her expression gave nothing away.

Zac slowed as he approached. The painful memory of being crushed against the floor was still fresh in his mind, and he briefly wondered whether turning around might be the wiser option.

[You’ve already come back. Running away now would only make you look twice as pathetic.]

"Very encouraging," Zac replied sarcastically.

He stopped a few steps away from Armani and lowered his gaze slightly.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

The moment she saw him, the coldness in Armani’s expression faltered. A trace of softness surfaced on her face, but Zac failed to notice it before she quickly concealed it.

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked.

Zac hesitated before answering. "I probably shouldn’t have made you feel like a substitute just because Lima didn’t answer."

He looked at her directly. "And believe me, that was never my intention."

Armani watched him in silence, her expression slightly strained. "Fine," she said at last. "You came here because you wanted me to train you in Mana Coating, correct?"

"When did I ever ask her to train me?"

[Just say yes and go along with it.]

"Why?"

[Because an extremely powerful variant has volunteered to train you personally. This is not the time to get hung up on technicalities.]

The system paused.

[Unless you’d prefer to be introduced to the floor again.]

Zac looked at Armani and answered immediately.

"Yes."

"Follow me." Without offering any explanation, Armani turned and walked around the cottage. Zac followed without asking questions.

The trail grew steeper as they climbed, but Armani moved without the slightest difficulty. Zac, meanwhile, was still burdened by doubled gravity, making every step far more laborious than it had any right to be.

After several minutes, the narrow mountain path opened onto a broad stretch of level ground.

The area looked completely out of place against the surrounding mountainside. It resembled a natural training ground, with solid earth beneath their feet and only a handful of enormous trees scattered around its edges.

A cool breeze swept across the clearing, carrying the crisp scent of the night air. Above them, a full moon shone against the dark sky, bathing the training ground in enough pale light for them to see clearly.

Zac walked over to Armani. "So, my question is..."

"Stop." Her voice cut him off at once.

"I’m the one training you," Armani said, turning to face him. "That means I do the talking. You follow my instructions and speak only when I ask you a question. Understood?"

"Yes."

Armani nodded and stepped back. "Now show me what you’ve got."

Zac stared at her in confusion. "You want me to fight you?"

For a brief moment, Armani said nothing. Then she burst out laughing.

"Ahahaha!"

It was not polite or restrained laughter. She genuinely found the idea hilarious, tilting her head back as though Zac had just said the most absurd thing she had heard in years.

"Why is she laughing like that?"

[Dude, are you serious? Do you have any idea who you’re talking to? Compared to her, you’re a pipsqueak standing in front of a monster. She could flatten you without even lifting a finger.]

Zac had no reasonable response to that.

Armani’s laughter eventually died down, though amusement still lingered on her face. "It’s been a long time since anyone asked me that so casually."

"I was only trying to clarify what you meant."

"I know." She looked at him with renewed interest. "I’m certain we’ll have a proper duel someday, but not now. It’s far too early for you."

Zac wisely chose not to argue.

"I only want you to show me how far you’ve progressed with Mana Coating. Nothing more."

Understanding what she meant, Zac nodded and put some distance between them before closing his eyes.

He drew Mana from the surroundings into his meridians, circulated it through his body, and directed it towards his arms.

Within seconds, a thin, translucent layer of neutral Mana formed around his hands and forearms. The coating remained relatively stable.

Zac opened his eyes and raised both arms for her to examine. "This is the offensive coating I practiced first."

Armani studied the Mana without showing either approval or disappointment. "Continue."

Zac closed his eyes again.

This time, he drew in a larger quantity of Mana and gradually distributed it throughout his body. The process took considerably longer, as he had to maintain an even layer across every part of himself.

Once the translucent coating covered him from head to toe, he opened his eyes.

"This is the defensive version I’ve been practicing. At the moment, I can only maintain the complete coating for forty-three seconds."

He glanced down at the Mana surrounding him. "But I think I can use it effectively in combat by activating it only when I need to defend against an attack."

"Really?" Armani asked.

Something in her tone immediately put Zac on edge.

Before he could respond, she raised one hand and placed her thumb behind her middle finger, as though preparing to flick a carrom striker.

"What are you..."

Armani flicked her finger.

The tiny movement produced a sharp crack through the air, and an invisible wave of compressed force tore across the clearing and struck Zac squarely in the chest before he could react.

The impact felt like being hit by a battering ram.

His feet left the ground instantly. He was hurled backwards, spinning helplessly through the air before crashing into the earth.

Zac rolled across the muddy ground like a discarded rag doll, slammed into one of the trees at the edge of the clearing, and slid down the trunk before collapsing at its base.

For several seconds, he could neither breathe nor think.

Pain erupted throughout his body. His ribs felt shattered, and every muscle seemed to have been torn apart.

[Well, that went catastrophically wrong.]

Zac tried to raise his head, but his vision was badly blurred.

When it finally began to clear, he looked down and saw that the mana coating around his body was still completely intact.

That made no sense.

Armani walked towards him at an unhurried pace.

Zac looked up at her and tried to speak.

"Why did..."

The moment he opened his mouth, warm blood spilled over his lips and ran down his chin. His head fell back against the tree.

Armani’s expression remained calm.

When she reached him, she crouched down and retrieved a small pill from her inventory. Before Zac could object, she pushed it between his lips.

The pill dissolved almost immediately with a powerful medicinal energy surging down his throat and spread through his body in a warm current.

"Start meditating," Armani ordered. "Guide the energy throughout your body."

Despite the pain, Zac closed his eyes and followed her instructions.

He circulated the medicinal energy through his meridians and directed it towards every injured part of his body.

The effect was astonishing.

He felt his damaged organs healing inside his chest, cracked bones shifting back into place, and torn muscles knitting themselves together. The recovery happened so quickly that he could clearly sense every stage of the process.

[So this is what they mean by pinching the baby and then rocking the cradle.]

Within minutes, the pain disappeared completely.

Zac opened his eyes and slowly stood. He moved his arms, twisted his torso, and took several deep breaths to make sure no injuries remained.

Once he confirmed that his body had fully recovered, he looked at Armani and asked the only question on his mind.

"Why?"

Armani raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, why?"

"Why did you suddenly attack me?"

"Oh, please. That was hardly an attack. I merely flicked my finger."

"Right. The same finger that nearly turned my organs into soup."

"That isn’t my fault." Armani folded her arms. "You called it defensive coating, didn’t you? I simply tested how defensive it actually was."

"By trying to kill me?"

"You’re still alive, aren’t you?" She glanced at the translucent layer of Mana still covering his body. "Besides, your coating never broke. So clearly, the injuries weren’t my fault."

Zac thought about the intact Mana layer, his expression tightening.

Armani stepped closer and tapped one finger against his chest.

"Instead of asking why I injured you, you should be asking yourself how my attack reached your body when your coating remained perfectly intact."

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