A C-Rank Magic Student Who Deludes Himself into Thinking He Is SSS-Rank - Chapter 3: Shion Kurosaki <2>

Now seventeen years old, Shion trains daily, never faltering in his quest to become the strongest.

His daily training begins not so much in the early morning but rather at a time more fitting to be called late at night.

Sleeping only one hour per day, Shion wakes up much earlier than sunrise. Except for that one hour, he devotes almost all his time to honing his magic skills.

After waking up, he washes his face, brushes his teeth, and has breakfast. Then, he consumes potions for fatigue recovery and magic power recovery.

He uses a basic recovery magic spell, “Recovery Promotion,” which allows him to recover from fatigue with only one hour of sleep sufficiently, but he supplements any shortfall with potions.

Then, he changes into black training clothes and packs a sword, several potions, and academic books into his bag.

Having prepared his clothes and bag, Shion left his dormitory room and headed to the C-class students’ open practice field, walking through the still-dark academy grounds.

Arriving at the practice field after about three minutes, Shion stretches lightly, places his bag in a corner, and begins training.

He deploys a magic circle targeting a mark placed eighteen meters away and repeatedly casts a basic fire magic, “Fireball.”

One shot, two shots, three shots… On the nineteenth, his magic power is completely depleted, leading him to a state known as “magic exhaustion.”

Breathless and with a distorted face, Shion sits on the ground. His entire body is sweaty, his veins abnormally swollen, and his face pale. He drinks a magic recovery potion to restore his depleted magic power.

The potion he drinks significantly accelerates magic power recovery but doesn’t instantly restore it completely. Thus, Shion spends the recovery time reading academic magical books.

After about five minutes, when his magic power is restored, he stops reading and stands up. He then repeatedly casts a basic water magic, “Water Bullet,” until his magical power is depleted.

He repeats this process with potions and academic books, alternating between casting basic wind and then earth and lightning magic until his magic power is exhausted.

This routine is designed to familiarize his body with handling each magic type and increase his basic magical power capacity.

When a large amount of magic power is used, the body’s magical power undergoes a kind of “over-recovery” upon replenishing, increasing the total amount held. Shion is exploiting this mechanism to boost his magic power.

To induce significant over-recovery, he repeats the exhaustion of his magic power until it’s completely drained.

Normally, the human body retains a small amount of magic power, even after extensive use. Depleting it to the brink leads to a state called “magic power deficiency.”

A person with “magic power deficiency” struggles with extreme fatigue and shortness of breath and is unable to stand, let alone use magic. Attempting to use magic in this state causes excruciating headaches, rendering the person unable even to speak.

Only after forcing oneself to use magic until the end, causing “magic exhaustion,” does one experience these severe symptoms.

Originally, “magic exhaustion” places a significant strain on the body. The first time Shion experienced it, he suffered unimaginable headaches and hyperventilation and lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was in so much pain that he couldn’t speak and lost consciousness again. This cycle of waking and fainting is repeated several times.

After more than half a day, when he no longer fainted, he was then plagued by a high fever exceeding forty degrees Celsius, repeatedly hovering on the brink of death.

For about three years after he could use magic stably, Shion spent his days fainting daily from magic exhaustion. Gradually, he reached a point where he could barely maintain consciousness even after exhausting his magical power. Seven years since his first magic exhaustion, he can somewhat endure its effects.

However, it’s abnormal for someone to repeatedly experience magic exhaustion to the point of becoming accustomed to it. In the entire world, it’s rare to find anyone who would undergo such an ordeal daily.

Repeatedly causing magic exhaustion is akin to a suicidal act, as the risk of death associated with it is the same for anyone, regardless of their magical talent.

In Shion’s case, it was only due to the potions desperately given by his parents and sheer luck that he miraculously did not die.

A typical magician would naturally increase their magic power without risking death simply by repeating magical training, so they would not need to take such risks.

If any top-level magician knew of their actions, they would be horrified by the abnormality of it.

However, other magicians are still making compromises or making lesser efforts.

Imagine a cliff where jumping off it and enduring unbearable pain leads to a 90% chance of death. But if one survives, they become stronger. Yet, no sane person would jump off such a cliff when there are countless other ways to become strong.

Shion Kurosaki is an anomaly who continually jumps off such a metaphorical cliff daily.

But with risk comes reward; the over-recovery of magic power he experiences after magical exhaustion is extraordinary.

If a normal magician underwent the same training as him for thirty years, they would undoubtedly become the most powerful magician in human history in terms of magic power.

Unfortunately, Shion was born with extremely little magic power, and its growth rate is less than one percent of a typical magician’s.

Therefore, even with his insane training regimen, he barely clings to the magic academy’s C class.

Yet, he does not despair.

He believes that crying in sadness does not lead to growth. If there’s time to cry, it’s better spent on training every possible minute and second to get closer to one’s dream.

However, while he continues to pursue his dream of becoming the strongest without sparing any effort, something odd happens to him around the age of fourteen. He began behaving strangely, and before long, he became known at the academy as an eccentric who delights in pretending to be an SSS-ranked powerhouse, hiding this fact from everyone else…