The Extra who regained his past life memories

After breakfast, Mother left to attend to her work as usual.

Amy and I headed toward the training grounds together.

Along the way, I bombarded her with question after question.

"So how do you properly form an Ice Spear?"

"How do you control its trajectory?"

"How do you compress mana without making the spell unstable?"

"And how do you make the tip sharper instead of simply making it bigger?"

Amy laughed.

"You really don’t waste any time, do you?"

Still, she answered every question patiently.

"When forming an Ice Spear, don’t think about making the entire spear sharp."

"Focus on the tip first."

"Once the tip is complete, reinforce the shaft."

"If you try doing everything at once, you’ll lose control."

I nodded seriously, memorizing every word.

"And the trajectory?"

"Keep feeding it mana after you release it."

"If you completely cut your mana off the moment you throw it, it’ll become unstable."

"I see..."

"The spell is still connected to the caster."

"Exactly."

She smiled proudly.

"You’re catching on quickly."

For the rest of the walk, she continued explaining various principles of elemental control.

To my surprise...

She was actually an excellent teacher.

Patient.

Clear.

And willing to answer every single question I asked.

It made me realize something.

Outside my family...

I wasn’t very talkative.

I usually kept to myself.

But with Amy...

Talking felt completely natural.

Before long, we arrived at the training grounds.

Amy walked toward her usual practice area.

"I’ll continue my sword training."

"You go experiment with your magic."

"If anything goes wrong..."

She pointed at me dramatically.

"I’m stepping in."

I smiled helplessly.

"Yes, yes."

"My reliable big sister."

She grinned proudly.

"Hmph."

"You finally understand."

I simply laughed before walking toward the center of the training field.

Taking a deep breath...

I closed my eyes.

Ice Affinity.

The moment I reached toward it, I immediately noticed the difference.

Yesterday, using mana had felt awkward.

Unstable.

Like trying to grab flowing water with my bare hands.

But today...

Everything felt much smoother.

My Mana Core continuously circulated mana throughout my body, making it far easier to gather and control.

Mana slowly gathered around my right hand.

Cold air spread through the surroundings.

Thin streams of frost danced around my fingers.

I focused.

"Ice Spear..."

Just as Amy had instructed, I didn’t imagine the entire spear.

I imagined only the tip.

Sharp.

Thin.

Dense.

Slowly...

A beautiful crystal-blue spearhead began taking shape.

I continued feeding mana into it.

Then gradually extended the shaft behind it.

The spell consumed far more mana than I expected.

For a brief moment, the entire construct trembled violently.

Cracks spread across its surface.

I frowned.

"Hold together..."

I carefully adjusted the mana flow instead of forcing more mana into it.

Little by little...

The cracks disappeared.

The spear stabilized.

When I finally opened my eyes...

A complete Ice Spear floated quietly before me.

"...Success."

A small smile appeared on my face.

Not perfect.

But complete.

I raised my arm and aimed toward one of the training dummies.

"Let’s see how strong you are."

With a flick of my wrist...

The Ice Spear shot forward.

Whoosh!

It flew surprisingly fast.

But halfway to its target, it began shaking violently.

The mana maintaining its structure became unstable.

By the time it struck the dummy—

Crack!

The spear shattered into dozens of sharp ice fragments.

The dummy was covered in frost...

But it remained standing.

I stared quietly at the result.

"...So that’s the problem."

"The structure collapses after leaving my control."

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"The formation itself isn’t the issue anymore."

"It’s maintaining the mana after releasing the spell."

Instead of feeling disappointed...

I felt excited.

Because now...

I understood exactly where the flaw was.

And once I understood the flaw...

I could improve it.

I slowly exhaled before shifting my focus.

Ice had been more difficult than I expected.

Not impossible...

Just unfamiliar.

Which meant one thing.

I needed more practice.

But for now...

There was another affinity I wanted to test.

Darkness.

I extended my right hand once again.

Unlike Ice, the mana that responded this time felt completely different.

It was heavier.

Denser.

Colder.

It flowed slowly through my mana channels, almost as if it had a will of its own.

The moment I gathered it in my palm, the surrounding light seemed to dim ever so slightly.

Not enough for anyone else to notice.

But enough for me to feel it.

"...Interesting."

Darkness wasn’t simply the absence of light.

It possessed substance.

Weight.

Presence.

I concentrated, trying to shape it into a simple sphere.

Compared to Ice, it resisted far more.

The mana continuously tried to disperse, refusing to maintain a stable form.

I narrowed my eyes.

"So you don’t like being controlled..."

Instead of forcing it...

I adjusted my approach.

Rather than commanding the darkness, I guided it.

Little by little, the unstable mana settled.

A small black sphere floated quietly above my palm.

It wasn’t large.

Barely the size of an apple.

Yet looking at it made me instinctively uneasy.

The light around it bent ever so slightly, as though it were swallowing the brightness around it.

Even the air felt heavier.

"...So this is Darkness."

For a few seconds, I simply observed it.

Unlike Ice, which radiated coldness...

Darkness radiated pressure.

It felt oppressive.

Silent.

Almost alive.

I raised my hand toward another training dummy.

"Let’s see what you can do."

With a gentle push, I released the spell.

The black sphere drifted forward.

It wasn’t fast.

In fact...

It moved much slower than the Ice Spear.

Yet there was something strangely unsettling about it.

As it traveled, the surrounding air seemed to distort.

When it finally collided with the training dummy—

The sphere didn’t explode.

Instead...

It collapsed inward.

For a brief instant, the area around the impact darkened.

Not completely.

But enough to blur vision.

The edges of the dummy became indistinct, as though reality itself had been slightly distorted.

A moment later, the sphere dissolved into a lingering black mist that clung to the dummy before gradually fading away.

Silence returned.

I stared at the result thoughtfully.

"...Interesting."

There wasn’t much physical damage.

But the effect itself...

It wasn’t meant to destroy.

It interfered.

Vision.

Awareness.

Reaction.

If someone were caught inside that darkness, even for a second...

Their perception would be disrupted.

And in battle...

One second was enough.

A smile slowly appeared on my face.

"I understand now."

"Ice specializes in direct offense."

"But Darkness..."

"It’s a support affinity."

"It creates opportunities."

Break an opponent’s concentration.

Distort their senses.

Force them to hesitate.

And the moment they hesitated...

That would be the perfect time to strike.

A swordsman only needed one opening.

Darkness could create that opening.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became.

My imagination began running wild.

Darkness covering the battlefield.

Ice attacking from blind spots.

And eventually...

Space tying everything together.

I quickly shook my head.

"No."

"One step at a time."

Mother had already warned me.

Space was off-limits until I reached F-Rank.

There was no point rushing.

For now...

Ice and Darkness alone were more than enough to keep me occupied.

⸻

Across the training grounds, Amy continued practicing her swordsmanship.

Her katana danced gracefully through the air.

Each movement flowed naturally into the next.

Precise.

Elegant.

Powerful.

She hadn’t noticed my experiments.

Or perhaps...

She simply trusted me enough to let me figure things out on my own.

I watched her for a moment before lowering my gaze to Eclipse resting at my waist.

"I still have a long way to go."

Yesterday, I had awakened.

Today, I had taken my first real steps as a mage.

But I wasn’t satisfied.

Not even close.

Because strength wasn’t measured by talent alone.

Nor by rank.

It was measured by mastery.

By control.

By the countless hours spent refining every movement, every spell, and every decision.

That was the path I wanted to walk.

Not the fastest.

Not the easiest.

But the one I forged with my own hands.

I tightened my grip around Eclipse’s hilt.

A faint smile appeared on my face.

"Let’s keep going."

Today was only the beginning.

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