Practice makes perfect! Thunder believed that one day he would achieve what he wanted. Unfortunately, today was not that day.
After a whole afternoon of practice—nearly blowing himself up with his own magic a few times—Thunder was utterly exhausted. He sat cross-legged to recover, then stood up and glanced at the sky. The sun had already set. It was the perfect time for fish to have their dinner.
*Stealing a half-day of leisure!* Thunder excitedly rushed to the corner of his bedroom.
The grasshoppers he'd caught this morning were meant for fishing. He thought of the pond gifted to him by that rich man Angus—he still hadn't checked it out yet.
The grass carp should be nice and plump by now, and grasshoppers were their favorite snack.
Later, he'd call Maria, fish with her under the sunset, chat about life, love… *Ah, bliss!*
Thunder had to admit, he had a bit of romance in him. At least he wasn't a complete blockhead when it came to women.
But when he reached the corner, he found the things he'd left there in the morning were gone!
*How could they disappear?* He searched around but found nothing.
"Who—who dared lay hands on my precious grasshoppers?" Thunder roared in anger. There were no cats or dogs in the house—nothing could've taken them.
After wandering around, he spotted Sisi and Tifa at a stone table in the outer courtyard, discussing something.
"It's folded like this, definitely! Look at the crease!" Sisi bent over the table, fiddling with something while explaining to Tifa.
"No, it's like this," Tifa argued stubbornly.
"Then you do it!" Sisi shoved whatever she was holding forward. Thunder squinted—it looked familiar. Then it hit him. *Weren't those the long leaves he'd used to weave a cage this morning?!*
This was unacceptable! Thunder stormed over and slammed his palm on the stone table, his face twisted in fury, his domineering aura radiating. "Who—who took this apart?!"
"What's the big deal?" Sisi blinked her long lashes, patting her chest lightly. "You scared me!"
"I asked who took this apart!" Thunder's murderous glare intensified.
Tifa, ever the traitor, immediately pointed at Sisi.
"Was I not supposed to?" Sisi looked up at him with pitiful eyes, her voice soft. "I didn't know… It just looked fun, so I played with it, and it fell apart." Then, like a true master of manipulation, she clenched her tiny fists under her chin, batting her eyelashes as if terrified.
The sheer lethality of that pose drained Thunder's anger instantly. He could only grit his teeth and ask, "Where's what was inside?"
"Those jumping bugs? They all ran away when I took it apart. A few even jumped on me, so I slapped them away."
*Oh, gods.* Thunder was utterly defeated.
Those were perfect fishing bait! Fat, juicy grasshoppers he'd spent all morning catching!
"You… are something else." Thunder struggled to find the right word for her. *A walking disaster!*
So much for his romantic evening with Maria under the sunset.
"Thunder, did you make this? Can you do it again? It's so pretty," Sisi said, handing him the dismantled leaves.
"I'm angry. Don't talk to me." Thunder staggered away, his figure desolate…
Behind him, Sisi and Tifa giggled mischievously.
---
Days passed.
Ever since that drunken night when Tifa had crawled into Thunder's bed to take care of him, she insisted on sleeping with him every night. If he refused, she'd pull the pitiful act—definitely something she learned from Sisi.
During this time, the three members of the Lightning Class had nearly memorized all the acupoints and meridians in the human body, though their progress varied. Women seemed to have better memories—despite Sisi's apparent laziness, she still outperformed Eric. Maria, of course, was the fastest learner. After Tifa's assessment, Maria could accurately identify over 90% of the acupoints. Soon, she'd be ready to try cultivating.
Thunder spent every morning practicing the Celestial Fox Steps, and the results were impressive. He felt he wasn't far from truly mastering the first stage.
In the garden, Thunder gazed with satisfaction at the glowing sphere in his palm.
His efforts these days hadn't been in vain—he could now finely control lightning elements. Take this *Palming Thunder*, for example. With precise manipulation of his mana, he compressed it into a perfectly stable sphere, smooth and steady, showing no signs of instability.
*Palming Thunder* was inherently volatile—any slight disturbance could disrupt its balance and trigger an explosion. Thunder had learned this through countless trials.
But now, with minimal mana and perfectly balanced compression, he could shape it into this form.
He flicked a finger, sending the sphere floating into the air. As long as the connection between his mana and the sphere remained unbroken, he could control it freely.
Ignoring the first sphere, Thunder conjured another *Palming Thunder*, compressing it into a second orb. The whole process took less than a minute.
But this was his limit.
Compressing two orbs and maintaining control over them was the best result of his training.
Don't underestimate this level of precision—only those who'd tried it knew how grueling it was.
Mastering control over one orb took him two days. Controlling two took ten. That was the difference.
For the third orb, Thunder easily conjured another *Palming Thunder*, splitting his focus to stabilize the first two while compressing the new one.
*Dividing his attention three ways was agony.* As he tried to suppress the *Palming Thunder* with his mana, his control wavered, causing the spell to destabilize. Panicking, he hurled it away.
This wasn't the first failure. And it wouldn't be the last.
Just as he was about to try again, Maria's voice called from the other side of the garden.
"Thunder, it's time for the academy. I checked yesterday—the students are back. The dean said assessments are today."
"Got it." Thunder stood up, walking over to hug her. Maria smiled softly, using her sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
*Will he finally master his magic—or will his experiments backfire?*