Chapter 47: Chaoter47-Practicing telekinesis
Two days later—
"Ouch. Slow down, Allen. That hurts."
I was sitting in my room, clutching my left arm. My elbow was visibly swollen, and Allen was applying antiseptic cream to the inflamed area with practiced care.
"Young master, for the past two days I’ve been telling you not to practice with swords in your room. Why don’t you listen?"
I winced as his fingers pressed against the sore spot. "Sorry. I thought I was being careful."
"Clearly not careful enough."
I let out a weak laugh. "Yeah... sorry. Again."
Allen didn’t respond this time. He just kept applying the antiseptic to my swollen elbow, his movements steady and methodical.
I made a silent decision not to tell him what I’d actually been doing in my room. If he found out, he’d be furious. Worse, he might confiscate my swords entirely.
But how had this even happened? I’d been careful. Or at least, I thought I had.
Here’s what went down...
For the past two days, I’d been training with Telekinesis constantly. Lifting swords, moving them around the room, testing how far I could push my control.
And I was getting better. I could now handle two swords simultaneously, which felt like real progress.
Earlier today, while running through my usual practice routine, a ridiculous idea popped into my head.
What if I made the swords fight each other?
An actual duel. It sounded absurd, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to see if I could pull it off.
So I tried.
I took control of both swords and commanded them to engage.
It was mentally exhausting, splitting my focus between two separate blades while trying to make their movements look natural and competitive. But I pushed through.
Gradually, the match intensified. The black sword clashed against the white one, both moving with surprising speed and precision. Sparks flew every time the blades connected.
The entire scene looked almost choreographed, like something straight out of an action film.
I got so absorbed in it that I actually stood up on my bed and started cheering for both swords like a kid watching a championship match.
The absurdity of it didn’t even register at the time, despite the fact that I was controlling both of them myself.
Then, mid match, the black sword deflected the white sword’s attack with a sharp clang. The white blade spun off course and shot straight toward me.
Straight toward my neck.
Panic flooded through me. I jerked my head to the side at the last second, barely dodging the tip of the blade as it whipped past.
But in my rush to avoid getting skewered, I completely forgot where I was standing. Right at the edge of the bed.
The moment I twisted to the side, my foot slipped off the edge. I lost my balance completely and went down hard, landing directly on my elbow.
The impact sent a sharp, searing pain radiating through my entire arm and up into my shoulder.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to scream, but nothing came out.
My mouth opened, but no sound followed. The pain was so overwhelming that my voice just shut down entirely.
I collapsed onto the floor, clutching my arm and writhing. I rolled from side to side, desperate to find some position that would ease the throbbing, but nothing worked.
The pain kept pulsing through me in brutal, relentless waves.
After what felt like an eternity, though it was probably only a minute, my voice finally came back. The second I could speak again, I shouted Allen’s name as loud as I could manage.
He appeared in my room within a second.
The instant he saw me on the floor, he moved fast.
He pulled a healing potion from his storage ring and was about to hand it to me when I stopped him.
"Don’t," I said through gritted teeth. "I’ve already taken too many today."
He paused, his eyes narrowing. "How many?"
"Fifteen. Maybe more."
His expression hardened. He understood just as well as I did that taking more than fifteen healing potions in a single day, especially at my current rank, would cause more harm than good.
The body could only process so much. Beyond that point, the side effects would outweigh any benefit.
Without another word, Allen put the potion away and pulled out a small container of antiseptic cream. He knelt beside me and carefully began applying it to my swollen elbow.
That’s how we ended up here: me lying on the floor, still clutching my arm, while Allen worked in silence.
Anyway...
Allen broke the silence. "Young master, why were you taking so many healing potions? A normal seven hour practice session shouldn’t require more than four. How did you end up taking fifteen?"
I hesitated before answering. "Well, I’m worried about the aftereffects of Telekinesis. So every twenty to thirty minutes of practice, I take a healing potion to make sure they don’t hit me."
The moment I finished speaking, Allen stopped applying the cream. He looked at me like I’d just said something completely ridiculous.
"You do realize you can’t actually stop the aftereffects of a skill, right?"
"Yeah, I know that."
"Then why are you taking so many healing potions?"
I shifted uncomfortably on the floor. "Listen, Allen, I read somewhere that for mental based skills, if you take enough healing potions, you can slow the aftereffects down. Then when you go to sleep, they hit you while you’re unconscious, so you don’t feel them."
Allen stared at me for a long moment before responding. "Young master, I’m sorry to tell you this, but that method only works for skills below C rank. Your Telekinesis is well above C rank."
Wait. What?
My stomach sank.
"What?"
Allen’s expression stayed perfectly calm. "If you’ve taken more than fifteen healing potions, you’ve likely made the side effects worse. And those aftereffects are probably going to hit you in the next few minutes."
Damn it.
The way he said it, so matter of fact and completely emotionless, made it even more unnerving.
Wait. Let me count again. How many potions did I actually take?
Two there. Three here. Five that time...
Okay. Fourteen. Yeah, fourteen total.
I looked up at him quickly. "Wait, wait. Allen, I might have told you wrong. I didn’t take fifteen healing potions. It was fourteen. I just counted again."
Allen raised an eyebrow. "You’re certain?"
I ran through the count one more time in my head just to be sure.
"Yeah, I’m certain."
Allen nodded slowly. "Then you should be fine. But still, young master, you should prepare yourself for the aftereffects."
How was I supposed to prepare myself? What did that even mean?
I had no idea what was going to happen. I didn’t know what kind of side effects I’d be dealing with. For some reason, over the past two days, I hadn’t experienced any aftereffects from using Telekinesis at all.
At first, I thought maybe something was wrong with me, so I asked the system. That’s when I learned that the aftereffects of Telekinesis would only hit me once I managed to lift 0.4 percent of the metallic object limitation placed on the skill.
0.4 percent meant two objects.
I’d only just learned to lift two swords yesterday, and from that point on, I’d been chugging healing potions nonstop to try and delay whatever was coming. So I genuinely had no clue what to expect when the aftereffects finally arrived.
Thank god I hadn’t tried lifting anything lighter after the first sword. I could have easily controlled needles, staples, nail clippers, or any number of other small metallic objects. The system had confirmed I was capable of it. But I hadn’t done it.
If I had, I would have officially crossed the 0.4 percent threshold sooner than I did. And based on what Allen just said, that would have made everything far worse.
I took a slow breath and tried to steady myself. "Yeah. I’m trying to prepare myself."
Allen nodded. "Good."
As we sat there, something suddenly occurred to me.
Wait. I hadn’t noticed it before, probably because the pain had been too distracting, but now that I was feeling a bit better, something didn’t add up.
Why was Allen using antiseptic cream?
My elbow was swollen, not cut or bleeding. An ice pack would have made more sense.
I looked at him. "Allen, why are you using antiseptic cream? I don’t have any cuts. An ice pack would’ve been enough, wouldn’t it?"
Allen didn’t look up from what he was doing. "It’s not antiseptic cream."
Oh. I’d just assumed it was.
"It’s not? Then what is it?"
"It’s a normal cream infused with my blood."
I went completely still.
Blood? Did he just say blood?
"Blood? What do you mean?"
Allen kept applying the cream with the same calm, methodical movements. "Don’t worry, young master. It’s to make sure your elbow pain goes away and the aftereffects don’t hit you."
I stared at him, still trying to process what he’d just said. The aftereffects wouldn’t hit me because of cream mixed with his blood? How did that make any sense?
Allen must have noticed the confusion written all over my face because he explained further. "The cream contains my natural aura because of my blood. That aura will suppress the aftereffects of your Telekinesis."
"Oh. So that’s how it works." I paused, then asked, "But wait, aftereffects can actually be stopped that way?"
"Yes. But only if the skill’s rank is below S, and the person providing the aura is above Ace rank."
I hadn’t known that was even possible.
Which meant, as long as Allen was around to help, I could practice Telekinesis without worrying about the aftereffects at all.
Allen looked up at me, and I could tell he’d already figured out where my thoughts were going. "Are you planning to use my aura or blood to avoid the aftereffects of the skill every time you practice?"
