Sokram turned to her, his silvery eyes widening in surprise, “Really?”

  He grinned proudly, “Well, if you can’t see through it with your millennial Dragon Sight, then no one else can.”

  “Is it a spell like Blink?” Hannah tried to guess.

  Confusion etched on her face as she fiddled with a long strand of ashen hair between her thumb and forefinger.

  “Heh, your eyes can’t see it, but there is no beating your wisdom, hm?” Sokram shrugged, then he scratched his head and shook it, “Still, not exactly, Nana.”

  After picking the bladed half, he came back to her side, “You do know how teleportation formations work, right?”

  “Yes, they manipulate spacetime, using the Ninth Paragon’s spacetime teleportation formula, which causes the fabric of space to bend and form a wormhole between two points.”

  Hannah crossed her arms, frowning slightly as she dug through her brain to remember everything.

  “The formation stabilizes it, creating a portal suitable for safe passage. But the amount of mana used is absurd. You would need ten dragons of the Semi-Perfect level or a grand mana stone to keep one portal open for five minutes.”

  Sokram nodded at Hannah’s explanation as it was correct. “But do you know why it costs this much mana, especially when creating the portal costs the same amount of mana as I used to do this?” Sokram showed her the two halves of the dagger, as if they had been cleanly cut.

  “Yes, for safety,” Hannah insisted.

  “For long-distance travelling? Definitely. But during a battle in an area between fifty and five hundred meters, all you need is a way to forgo the distance shifting from Point A instantaneously... And, of course, emerge unscathed on Point B.” Sokram’s grin brimmed with confidence, daring her to argue.

  But Hannah only shook her head, “That’s insanity, darling.”

  “Nope,” Sokram showed her the bladed half of the dagger, “This is proof that it is possible.”

  Hannah’s silver eyes hardened, her glare cutting through his excitement, “Promise me that you will only use it on yourself when you’re absolutely sure you will be safe.”

  “Nana…” Sokram began to speak but was abruptly cut off.

  “Promise me!” Hannah insisted, barking at him. Her expression shifted to a stern scowl, her eyes narrowing to silvery slits.

  “I promise.” Sokram nodded in resignation as his shoulders slumped in defeat.

  Then he thought to himself, ‘This was expected. Messing with spacetime, especially spacetime travel, can get quite… Gory.’

  After a moment of awkward silence, Sokram restarted the process.

  Initially, he experimented with different dagger shapes.

  But an hour later, fifty mangled daggers, some broken, some cut cleanly apart, spread all over the training ground floor like shining pieces of evidence of his stubbornness.

  Hannah, who was quietly observing like a hawk, asked, “It’s not the shape of the daggers. Do you think it’s the lack of blood-ink in the enchantment?”

  “No, it’s not an enchantment per se. It’s a written spell cast remotely. You know how runic bombs work, right?” Hearing his words, Hannah's lips thinned into a line, and the air around her momentarily froze.

  “You’re trying to teleport with a remote detonation spell?!” Sokram recoiled at the sharpness in her tone, suddenly cracking at his ears.

  But then the serene voice of two saviors resounded.

  “Teleportation, dear? That’s interesting.” Hilda smiled at him, unusually calm.

  “Wow, you can already use it even at True Existence? Don’t you have to be at least an Exalted to have mana enough for even the shortest distances?” Astrid’s gaze brimmed with curiosity as she followed Hilda for their training session.

  “Didn’t you hear what I said? He is trying to teleport with a remote detonation spell! A spell used for runic bombs!” Hannah's fists clenched at her sides, her breath hitching between words, truly exasperated.

  Still, she had her reasons and past traumas dealing with spacetime magic.

  Sokram knew full well that she was the one who kept spacetime-related knowledge away from him during his infancy.

  He tried again to explain, “All I’m using is the remote activation through mana links, because I, point A, must remain connected with the daggers, Point B. In theory and my calculations, the spell formula works. I merely need a way to make it safe.”

  Hilda glanced at Hannah, then looked around. “Well, if you can form a house like this one, using a Paragon-level spell, jumping through the fabric of space doesn’t seem like much of a hassle, right?”

  “Yes, it’s a basic spell formula, but I’m struggling with making it safe.” Sokram showed her the two halves of one of the newly reshaped daggers.

  Astrid looked at the dagger thoughtfully, seeing its strange shape.

  She couldn’t help but think that it didn’t fit his style, “But does it have to be daggers?”

  Hearing that, Sokram’s expression shifted as if an idea struck him.

  “I was insisting on using daggers because they travel fast, but you’re right, it doesn’t have to be dagger exclusively.” Sokram picked up the destroyed daggers and reshaped them into various types of throwing weapons.

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  Hilda and Astrid gave him space, but before starting their practice routine and sparing session, Hilda approached Hannah with an inquiring look, “After all you said, you’re the one trying to clip his wings now?”

  “Spacetime magic is dangerous.” Hannah spat sharply, scowling.

  “Everything he does is dangerous. Some of the things he did almost killed him. And yet, look around you, look at that sword he gave you, at this house he built. He’s ambitious and a little overly eager, but he is not stupid, Hannah.”

  Hilda, looking back at her own actions, added, “It took me a while to understand that. So, if you can't help him, then don’t get in his way. He’ll figure it out.”

  Hilda looked at Hannah, who, for the first time, disagreed with her worries.

  Hannah's gaze softened.

  As worry and pride fought each other behind her eyes, she began reevaluating herself, ‘Am I really worrying too much?’

  Hannah continued to observe him.

  Hilda and Astrid began sparring a few dozen meters away.

  Sokram continued to test throwing weapons until he reached an impasse between throwing knives, shuriken, darts, and needles.

  The problem with the knives and shuriken was the spinning.

  The rotational momentum of the knives and shuriken scrambled the predictability of the spacetime jump, and the shuriken was too small to fit the inscription of the spell properly.

  Darts also shared the same problem with their size.

  Despite offering greater precision and being faster than the needles, they didn’t go far.

  And Sokram couldn’t keep its balance when forming them solely of Mithril, which was already a very light metal despite being very strong.

  Sokram picked a needle and threw it while observing it intently with his Dragon Sight and Precognition.

  As he focused, the world around him seemed to be in slow motion until nothing existed but the traveling needle.

  He realized that it wasn’t a matter of how powerful the throw was, but a matter of aerodynamics.

  After fetching and throwing it a few more times, he understood what he needed to do.

  First, he dissolved all the throwing weapons he had made, and then he redesigned them into a type of needle.

  But the needles were too light.

  He needed more mass, so he chose the heaviest metal in his glove. One that wouldn’t interfere with the mana coursing through the Mithril.

  Thus, it could only be Adamantium. Sokram formed a denser yet thinner needle to serve as the core. Then, revested it with Mithril.

  Now the needle had an even denser mass than a throwing knife or a shuriken.

  Then he needed a way to make the needle gain speed mid-flight, which he easily fixed by adding spiral carving along the needle.

  Inside those carvings, he had enough space to inscribe the spell multiple times.

  Instead, out of the six spiral carvings on the needle, he used three for the teleportation spell, one for a wind enhancement runic line, and two for a lightning catalyst.

  Finally, he ensured the needle's balance was good without exceeding fifteen centimeters in length or becoming too thick, as they could also be used for penetration, especially with Sokram sharpening it to the molecular level.

  After finishing the needle and dispelling the Matter Manipulation Spell, he threw it.

  “Swish!”

  The needle left his hand with a sharp, almost silent hiss. It was a silver blur that traveled fast like a lightning bolt.

  It cut through the wind, flying fast and in a straight line until it hit the wall.

  The only reason it didn’t penetrate the wall was the magic protection ward in the inner layer of the moonstone cladding.

  Sokram went to fetch it. And with a new fruit in hand, one that resembled a blue tangerine, he threw the needle once more.

  Once it had crossed fifty meters, the fruit blinked out of existence in his hand and reappeared right in front of the traveling needle.

  A squelching sound echoed, and Hannah's gaze found the fruit again as it had just been pierced by the needle.

  “Success!” Sokram cheered, punching the air.

  His excitement drew Hilda’s and Astrid’s attention while Hannah looked at him stupefied, thinking, ‘He did it? No, too early to be a true success.’

  “Did you see it, Nana? The organic matter test is a complete success! Now I can move to a living subject.” Sokram's eyes shone with excitement, the same expression he had when he was about to take another step forward in the path.

  It was an intentional display to play with the strings of Hannah’s heart.

  It worked perfectly as memories of the times he was still learning magic from her flashed through her mind, and she couldn’t help but smile proudly at him.

  Hannah picked up the needle and gave it back to him. “Congratulations, darling.”

  “Very cool, right? Now, let me fetch a goblin. I’ll be right back.” Sokram bolted toward the stairs using his lightning to move faster.

  Hilda’s lips curled, the same teasing smugness Hannah had once used on her, “You can’t stay cold when he smiles like that, hm? Nana…”

  “Go back to your training! Hmph!” Hannah went back to the corner where she was seated, turning her back on Hilda, who was still giggling at Hannah’s embarrassment when she rejoined Astrid.

  A few minutes later, Sokram came out of the lift pushing a cart with twenty rats in cages while the goblins followed him obediently.

  Seeing the rats, Astrid felt chills coursing through her whole body. She stiffened visibly and let out a high-pitched shriek.

  Hilda looked at her with raised brow, “You can slaughter through an entire nest of Strong-Arm Bears, but fear little rats? Really?”

  “They are disgusting, these little critters, and a Bear is easier to hit!” Astrid's tone was sharper than she intended.

  But Hilda felt like teasing her.

  “Sokram, bring me one of these rats. Your sister needs some fear-fighting training.” Hilda smirked, and Sokram, noticing her intentions, nodded promptly and brought a small cage to her.

  But he didn’t even get halfway before Astrid tried to bolt.

  “No!!” Astrid cried out, but Hilda held her in place.

  “Calm yourself, Astrid.” Hilda cupped her face, looking into her eyes, “Breathe with me.”

  Sokram, not wanting to waste time for the sake of teasing Astrid, left the cage with the rat on the floor two meters away and went back to his tests.

  But just as Sokram had settled the cart in place, he heard Astrid screaming again, “NO! Please, No!”

  “Astrid di Androny vid Dracnakrid! Come back here!” Hilda shouted, but Sokram didn’t even need to look to know what had happened and couldn’t contain his laughter either.

  Hannah approached Sokram, also smirking as she watched Hilda chasing Astrid with the cage in her hand, “Your mother can be brutal in her teaching methods sometimes. I like that about her.”

  Sokram grinned, nodding, “Yeah, so do I.”

  “You only say that because you don’t fear anything.”

  Hannah gently poked a finger into the dip of his cheek, but Sokram’s face instantly lost its mischievous light.

  His eyes, usually playful, became heavy, reflecting a realm of regrets.

  “Of course, I have fears. Losing any of you is the biggest, followed by death by stagnation.”

  Hannah was a little taken aback by his shift, but then she saw him grinning mischievously, “And dying virgin. That scares the Nether out of me.”

  Hannah couldn’t contain it and burst out laughing.

  A mischievous glint flashed in her eyes, and hugging him from behind, she whispered in his ears, “All you have to do is stay alive until you’re of age, after that… Haha.”

  Sokram looked back at her and teased back with an innocent look on his face, “Heh, hold your horses, Nana. I’m not there yet.”

  Not able to handle his shamelessness, they both laughed out loud.

  Sokram reinitiated the tests.

  First, he used the rats by hypnotizing them, then marked their bodies with runes to link the rats to the teleportation spell in the needles.

  That was somewhat successful; out of every ten jumps, only one would result in a rat being chopped in half.

  But after a few adjustments in the spell formula, the rats were teleported above the needles and unharmed, even after tens of jumps.

  It was late at night already when Sokram finally reached complete success in testing the spell with rats, but he didn’t even stop for dinner.

  Hannah didn’t either, no longer concerned about his safety.

  Now, she was totally invested in the success of his new project, even offering pieces of advice and some good ideas.