Chapter 197: Progress

’What the hell did I just do?’

The question continued repeating itself inside Riven’s mind as he stared across the training grounds, yet no matter how many times he reconsidered what had happened, he could find no reasonable explanation.

He simply did not know what he did not know, as there was a blank space between the moment his vision had turned white and the moment he found himself nearly a hundred meters away, with no amount of thinking capable of recovering information his mind had never registered in the first place.

Riven tried retracing the final few seconds within his memory, recalling the exact position of his feet, the rhythm of his breathing and even the sensation of Storm Aether circulating through his legs, yet every attempt reached the same abrupt end when the flash filled his vision.

After that, there was nothing until his senses returned nearly a hundred meters away.

Unable to make any sense of it, Riven eventually released a long breath after several more minutes of pointless contemplation.

*Sigh*

There was little point standing around asking himself questions he could not answer, especially when attempting [Lightning Step] again might reveal whether the strange incident had actually changed anything.

’Maybe if I do it again, I’ll understand what really happened.’

Turning around to face the distant shelter, Riven returned to his [Lightning Step] stance as he steadied his breathing and carefully coiled the muscles within his legs.

Storm Aether flowed from his Soul Vessel as he directed it downward through the prescribed pathways, following the same circulation pattern he had attempted countless times throughout the night before finally launching himself forward.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Three explosive movements connected in rapid succession as Riven shot across the training grounds, covering more than ten meters in barely a second before his control finally collapsed and forced him to complete the attempted fourth step at ordinary speed.

The sudden loss of momentum caused him to stumble slightly before recovering his balance, while faint sparks disappeared from around his legs and sank into the rain-soaked ground beneath his feet.

For several seconds, Riven stared ahead in surprise as his mind slowly caught up with what his body had just accomplished.

’Whoa... That was halfway correct.’

A surprised smile gradually spread across his face, as until moments ago, his greatest problem had been maintaining the circulation beyond the initial movement, with his Storm Aether consistently losing its proper flow before he could connect the second step.

This time, however, the circulation had felt considerably smoother, as there had been no desperate struggle to force the Storm Aether from one movement into the next until his control finally broke apart while attempting the fourth.

He had successfully completed three of the six movements required for [Lightning Step], despite his previous limit having remained stubbornly fixed at one throughout the entire night.

’Was that a fluke? Can I do it again?’

Riven immediately turned back towards his original position before steadying his breathing, coiling his muscles and circulating Storm Aether through his legs once more.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Once again, three explosive movements carried him across another section of the training grounds before the circulation collapsed at almost precisely the same point, leaving his attempted fourth movement considerably slower than the first three.

"Hahaha!"

A genuine laugh escaped Riven’s lips as he looked down at his legs, feeling the lingering traces of Storm Aether gradually disappearing from his muscles while the realization that he had successfully repeated the result settled within him.

Whatever had happened during that mysterious flash remained completely beyond his understanding, but the improvement he was experiencing now was undeniable.

’What the hell happened to me?’

The question inevitably returned, although this time it struggled to hold his attention as excitement over his sudden progress quickly overwhelmed his desire for an immediate explanation.

Only minutes earlier, Riven had been kneeling beneath the rain wondering whether all the effort he had invested into mastering a single spell was getting him anywhere, yet now he could suddenly perform half of its complete movement sequence.

Perhaps the strange incident had somehow helped him, or perhaps his countless failures throughout the night had finally accumulated into genuine progress, although Riven had no way of knowing which explanation was correct.

For the moment, he hardly cared.

’If I can take three steps, then with enough practice, I should be able to take four.’

With that thought occupying his mind, Riven immediately returned to training as he repeatedly crossed the rain-soaked grounds, attempting to preserve the smoother circulation for just one additional movement.

Sometimes his third step came slightly slower than the others, while on particularly poor attempts his control began collapsing before he properly completed it, although most attempts now carried him through all three movements successfully before the fourth inevitably broke his rhythm.

Riven experimented with the timing of his breathing and adjusted how much Storm Aether he released into his legs, even attempting to preserve slightly more energy for the transition into the fourth movement, yet every variation eventually produced the same limit.

Nearly another hour disappeared before Riven finally accepted that three steps were as far as he was going to progress tonight, as despite dozens of additional attempts, the fourth remained stubbornly beyond him.

"Ah, shit."

He muttered as his attention fell upon the time clock mounted on the distant wall beneath the covered section of the training grounds, only to realize that Professor Mike’s morning class was rapidly approaching.

After spending nearly the entire night awake and exhausting himself further through hours of additional training, Riven was now going to attend the most physically demanding class of his day without having slept at all.

’Guess it’ll take me a few more weeks to completely master this move... unless I get another lucky break.’

Riven reluctantly began walking away from the training grounds, although despite the exhaustion weighing heavily upon his body, a satisfied smile remained across his face.

At the same time, the violent clouds that had covered the Imperial Academy throughout the night gradually began breaking apart, while the heavy rainfall weakened into a gentle drizzle and the thunder rolling across the distance became increasingly faint.

Riven paid little attention to the passing storm as he made his way towards Professor Mike’s class, with his thoughts still divided between the progress he had finally made and the inexplicable gap within his memory.

He understood that he could now reliably complete three steps of [Lightning Step], although what had happened between the moment his world turned white and the moment he found himself nearly a hundred meters away remained a complete mystery.