Friday evening was quiet.
A faint orange glow from the setting sun filtered through the curtains, painting the living room in warm light. The house was silent except for the soft ticking of the wall clock.
Noah sat cross-legged on the floor.
His palm was extended forward, his fingers slightly spread. His back was straight, and his breathing was slow but focused. The air in front of him shimmered faintly as mana gathered at his fingertips.
He was practicing his Ice Creation ability. A thin mist of cold air spread outward.
"Steady..." he muttered under his breath.
Mana flowed from his core, traveled through his arm, and into his palm. The temperature in the room dropped slightly. Frost began forming in the air, tiny white particles condensing together.
At first, it was unstable.
'You can do it!'
The forming structure cracked and dissolved into snow-like flakes that drifted onto the floor.
"Tch."
He exhaled slowly and tried again.
This time, he controlled the mana output more carefully. Instead of forcing out a large amount of mana all at once, he released it in gradual, precise layers.
Ice began to form again.
A narrow shape appeared in the air.
The outline of a blade. He focused harder.
The hilt solidified first, followed by a straight, translucent blade extending outward. The ice glowed faintly blue beneath the dim light.
Creating small objects was easy.
Daggers? Knives?
He could form them within seconds, just as he had while fighting. In fact, it didn't even take a full second. The previous Noah was already accustomed to creating them.
To prove it, he flicked his wrist.
In three seconds, a sharp ice dagger materialized in his grip.
It was smooth, balanced and deadly.
Another flick, and a second dagger formed. It was simple, efficient, and placed minimal strain on his mana.
But a full sword? That was different. The mana consumption increased exponentially. Stability became much harder to maintain. The ice required far greater density through compression.
He needed to make it sharp, give it a perfect shape, and refine its edge to the limit.
And that was far more difficult.
To his bad luck, the previous Noah had never attempted to create a sword.
The only things he had used this ability for were forming daggers and massive chunks of ice—glacier-like structures with no proper shape. Those were easy to make as long as he supplied enough mana.
The half-formed blade hovering before him trembled.
Crack.
A fracture spread across its surface.
"No!"
The sword shattered into countless fragments before it could fully stabilize, dissolving into frost.
Noah wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"It's the density..." he murmured.
He finally had an idea of how to create a proper sword.
In truth, he could already make a normal-looking sword.
But it wouldn't be like a real one.
It wouldn't possess the sharpness needed to cut through an enemy.
It would merely be an ice replica of a sword, and that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted an ice sword capable of cutting just like a real blade.
A weapon wasn't just about its shape. It also required structural reinforcement. Compressed layers of mana had to be woven throughout the ice to prevent it from becoming brittle.
He closed his eyes briefly and adjusted his approach. This time, he formed the inner core first.
Instead of shaping the entire sword from the outside, he condensed mana into a thin rod of highly compressed ice.
It was dense and compact.
Then, slowly, he layered additional ice around that core. The sword gradually took shape.
The temperature dropped even further. A thin layer of frost spread across the wooden floor beneath him.
His breathing grew heavier.
"Hah... hah..."
Thirty seconds passed.
Then forty. More than a minute later...
Finally, a complete sword hovered in his hand.It was longer than a dagger, thicker, with a solid core running through its center.
The blade shimmered with faint frost patterns.
He grabbed it. His hand wrapped around the cold hilt.
It was solid and very old.
He gave it a light swing. The air hissed as the blade sliced through it.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"It works."
Noah had been working on this for the past few days.
Finally, he had succeeded in creating it perfectly. Even while holding it, he could feel the mana drain.
Once created, it didn't require a constant supply of mana to maintain its form. But in the end, it was still made of ice.
If Noah stopped supplying it with mana altogether, it would gradually melt because of the surrounding temperature.
After a few swings, tiny cracks began appearing near the edge.
He dispersed the sword.
"That still needs work."
Now... The spear.
He slowly stood up. Creating a spear required even greater control.
Its length. Its balance.
The flexibility of the shaft. The sharpness of the tip.
Over the past few days, he had been studying the structure of swords and spears online using his phone.
It had actually helped him a lot.
This time, he extended both hands.
Mana surged forward.
Ice formed at the center point between his palms before extending outward in both directions.
A long shaft gradually took shape.
Unlike the sword, the spear required flexibility throughout the shaft while maintaining extreme hardness at the tip.
He focused on creating different densities.
Less compression along the shaft.
Extreme compression at the spearhead. The forming weapon trembled violently. Sweat poured down his face.
His shirt clung tightly to his back.
Even though he was using the ice element, which was naturally cold, it didn't stop him from sweating.
It felt strange even to him.
The sweat wasn't caused by the ice itself.
It was the result of his intense training at the combat center, combined with the excessive use of mana.
More importantly, he wasn't simply generating the weapon.
He also had to maintain absolute concentration.
His brain was working at full capacity.
"Hold..."
The spear lengthened to over six feet. Its tip sharpened into a deadly triangular point that glowed faintly.
But just as he finished shaping it... The middle section cracked.
The imbalance in mana flow caused the entire structure to become unstable.
The spear shattered into icy dust.
Noah bent forward slightly as he caught his breath.
"That's why it takes longer..."
Daggers and knives were simple constructs.
Swords required layered reinforcement.
Spears required structural engineering.
He straightened himself once more.
"I won't stop here."
He tried again.
This time, he worked more slowly.
More carefully.
Layer by layer.
One minute passed.
Then another. Finally, a complete spear formed in his grasp.
He stepped back and thrust it forward. The spearhead pierced through the air with a sharp whistle. A trail of frost followed its movement. He spun it once. The shaft held together.
Cracks appeared across its surface, but it didn't shatter.
A grin spread across his face despite his exhaustion. "Now that's better. Hehe! It seems I do have talent for this."
He had been training for nearly a week. And finally, he had managed to create both weapons.
However, his mana reserves had dropped considerably. His mana core felt warm and slightly strained.
With a thought, he dispersed the spear into glittering frost particles that slowly faded into the air. The room gradually returned to its normal temperature.
Noah sat back down on the floor, breathing heavily.
Creating small weapons was easy. Creating durable weapons suitable for the battlefield?
That still required time... And refinement.
He looked at his open palm.
"If I can reduce the creation time to just a few seconds..."
His eyes sharpened with determination.
"...then I won't need to carry weapons at all."
Though he understood one thing.
Creating swords and spears would gradually become easier the more he practiced. Over the past few days, Noah had regained more of his memories.
It felt as though he were watching a movie. But one thing was certain.
"This guy was a real scumbag who enjoyed his luxurious life."
Noah felt both angry and envious of the previous Noah at the same time.
He snapped his fingers, and tiny frost particles slowly drifted onto his face, giving him a cool sensation.
'This is nice.'
He smiled broadly.
Tomorrow, he needed to leave for the academy.