The next morning dawned.
Ivan's eyes opened automatically two hours before training began.
He needed to eat breakfast.
During his reincarnated life, Ivan had acquired the motto, ‘Even if I die, I'll eat three meals a day first.’
When he had been a slave soldier, if he woke even slightly late, the other soldiers would routinely devour his share as well. Ivan had always needed to wake before anyone else.
“Nngh!”
Ivan stretched his whole body and rose with disheveled hair.
The clock showed 6:00 a.m.
He had heard that breakfast began around 6:30.
An alarm would sound in the dormitory to wake the trainees, but Ivan had no need of it. An automatic alarm was already installed in his head.
“There's still about thirty minutes before wake-up time.”
Ivan headed to the bathroom to wash. What surprised him most after coming to Pandora was that each room had a private bathroom.
It even produced warm water! What astonishing luxury.
In the past, washing meant dumping freezing river water over himself, so Ivan could not help being moved.
“Washing with warm water really is heaven.”
After enjoying a pleasant morning for the first time in ages, Ivan sat cross-legged on his bed.
He held the orb from the aura lesson.
The assistant had lent it to trainees who had yet to awaken their aura so they could practice alone.
“Huuu.”
Ivan closed his eyes and held his breath.
It was already his second day. He knew he should not be impatient, but he still wanted to sense even the slightest trace of aura today.
Being alone seemed to let him concentrate more comfortably. He focused on his dantian and imagined the aura it should contain.
‘An enormous vessel.’
My dantian is an enormous vessel.
Ivan deepened the image while repeating it to himself like hypnosis. An ocean filled the enormous vessel.
A storm raged as though devouring the world, and waves soared as if to pierce the sky.
The waves grew fiercer according to Ivan's will and spread farther and farther.
Displaying tremendous concentration, Ivan quickly entered a trance.
How much time had passed?
“......!”
Ivan's motionless body suddenly flinched. Something had tingled within his dantian.
He felt something filling his dantian exactly as imagined, something that seemed ready to spill out at any moment.
Could this be the aura he had only heard about?
Joy and exhilaration surged through Ivan's entire body, but he refused to panic and struggled to maintain his composure.
He calmly sustained the image and expanded the scene in his mind with greater detail.
Then it happened.
‘Hm......?’
Wait. Something about this was.......
After focusing intensely on his dantian for some time, Ivan sensed something strange and hurriedly opened his eyes.
“Ah.......”
An exclamation immediately escaped him. He had realized something was wrong.
Ivan lowered his head and looked toward his dantian. The place where he felt liquid moving was not his dantian, but slightly lower.
“......”
That was right.
The source of the tingling sensation was not his dantian, but Ivan's bladder.
Apparently, he had concentrated so intensely that he mistook the urine in his bladder for aura in his dantian.
“This is driving me insane.”
To think he had been sensing his bladder instead of his dantian all this time.......
Ivan sprang up and rushed to release the water that felt ready to burst out.
He took fresh underwear as well, since he thought he might have leaked a little.
Aura, my ass. The only thing pouring out of Ivan was urine.
***
Before long, the wake-up alarm rang through the dormitory, and the drowsy trainees gathered in the hall.
Alia, who had arrived before anyone else to wait for them, took attendance.
Skipping a meal to sleep longer was not permitted.
An empty stomach could interfere with training, so it was a natural measure.
“Meirin, is your body feeling better?”
After receiving his food and choosing a seat, Ivan asked Meirin beside him.
“Yes. I drank the potion the infirmary gave me yesterday, and when I woke this morning, all my fatigue was miraculously gone.”
“It worked that well?”
When Meirin nodded, Ivan looked astonished.
Meirin had seemed so exhausted yesterday that Ivan took her to the infirmary near the fitness room.
There, she received a potion said to aid muscle recovery, which Ivan had assumed was little more than a medicated patch.
He had never imagined it would be this effective.
‘If I'd known, I would've gotten one too.’
He would go ask for one today. Ivan resolved inwardly.
“Speaking of which, Ivan, didn't you cause quite an incident yesterday? Word even reached the library.”
Julian, who had been listening to Ivan and Meirin, spoke as though suddenly remembering it.
Ivan replied as if it were no great matter.
“It was nothing. Some idiot made a ridiculous demand, so I said a few words, and he challenged me to a duel.”
“Then what?”
“He proposed arm wrestling, so I humored him. I beat him twice, but he whined like a child that he couldn't accept it. I nearly smacked him, but things worked themselves out somehow.”
“Your opponent was the second son of House Granton, wasn't he? Then it wasn't nothing.”
Julian appeared to know about House Granton. Curious, Ivan asked.
“Is House Granton famous?”
“Very. They aren't a traditional martial house, but they run several businesses, possess tremendous wealth, and have impressive connections.”
“No wonder they were traveling in a pack from the first day.”
“You should be careful.”
“What do you mean?”
“Arrogant nobles can hold astonishing grudges. When my father was expanding our company, harassment from several nobles even made him start losing his hair.”
Fair enough. Even Ivan thought Daniel likely held the strongest grudge in the entire training center.
“It's already happened, so there's nothing I can do. Let's eat.”
“If I'd known, I would have gone with you. I'm disappointed I missed the spectacle.”
“If you're that disappointed, challenge someone yourself next time.”
“No, thanks. I like watching a burning house, not jumping into one myself.”
Julian shrugged. Ivan took a spoonful of food and continued the conversation.
“Were you in the library all day yesterday? I didn't see so much as your nose.”
“Yes. It had more interesting books than I expected. Oh! Ivan, lend me your ear for a moment.”
At Ivan's question, Julian suddenly wore a sly smile and gestured for him to lean closer.
“What is it?”
“It's not something I can say aloud. Give me your ear first.”
Ivan looked suspicious but leaned toward Julian.
The next instant.
Ivan's eyes widened at Julian's words.
A prohibited topic was omitted under the minor-safety rule!
Ivan's interest was immediately stirred by the omitted topic.
A further explanation of the prohibited topic was omitted under the minor-safety rule.
Ivan reacted strongly to the omitted topic......
Ivan looked at Julian with deeply moved eyes.
A question about the omitted topic was omitted under the minor-safety rule?
A reply about the omitted topic was omitted under the minor-safety rule.
A strongly emphasized remark was omitted! Further content was omitted under the minor-safety rule!
After whispering that, Ivan snorted and repeatedly poked Julian's side.
A proposal concerning the omitted topic was omitted under the minor-safety rule.
A logistical concern concerning the omitted topic was omitted under the minor-safety rule.
A pledge concerning the omitted topic was omitted under the minor-safety rule!
Ivan and Julian exchanged conspiratorial grins as if they had rehearsed it.
Meanwhile, Meirin felt terribly excluded because Ivan and Julian were whispering without her.
But she could not summon the courage to ask them to include her, and her expression quickly crumpled.
***
“Let's go, Julian. We must seize our future.”
“Yes, Ivan. Let's do it.”
Ivan and Julian rose, their friendship now one step stronger.
“M-Me too.......”
Reading the mood, Meirin followed them.
After finishing breakfast, they returned to their rooms to prepare for training.
Before long, all the trainees assembled in the hall again before 8:00.
“Everyone is present, so we will begin training. Today's training will differ greatly from yesterday's.”
Alia surveyed the trainees and spoke.
“We will move to another location. This will be outdoor training, so form an orderly line and follow me.”
After the brief instruction, Alia walked out of the hall, and the trainees followed.
‘She said it would be outdoor training.’
Yet Alia led the trainees inside a building.
Ivan looked puzzled. What kind of training could they possibly do here?
Meanwhile, Alia spoke with several people who appeared to be employees at the front.
Following an employee's guidance, Alia and the trainees descended the building's stairs and entered a vast space filled with complex machinery.
At its center, a circular machine emitted a humming sound.
“Wait. Isn't that... a warp gate......?”
“Really? Isn't that the cutting-edge mana-engineering machine recently invented by the Magic Tower in the capital?”
“I've seen one before. That's definitely a warp gate. It's incredible even the second time.......”
Several trainees who recognized the enormous machine exclaimed in admiration.
A warp gate. The pinnacle of mana engineering, capable of crossing dimensions and instantly transporting someone to any location whose coordinates were set!
Even ordinary nobles were said to wait years for a chance to use one, so the trainees could hardly remain calm with a warp gate before them.
“Some trainees appear to know, but for those who do not, I will explain. This machine is called a warp gate. Simply put, it opens a dimension and allows you to cross to another place.”
Alia added the explanation for trainees entirely unfamiliar with warp gates.
“You will feel slightly dizzy after entering the warp gate. It is only temporary, so do not be alarmed.”
While Alia explained, the employees entered the coordinates she requested into the warp gate.
They then pressed various buttons, and the many cables connected to the warp gate began vibrating with a deep hum as if heating up.
“Everything is ready, Instructor Alia.”
“Understood. Trainees, follow me through one at a time.”
Alia stepped into the warp gate first.
The blue, rippling dimension swallowed her body.
“Next person, step forward.”
Following the employee's guidance, the trainees passed through the warp gate one by one. Soon, Ivan's turn arrived.
‘A dimensional gate.......’
Ivan could not help being amazed.
Even in a world where magic existed, he had thought leaping through space was something only the blue raccoon from the cartoons of his childhood could do.
He had never imagined the world had advanced this far.
He felt like a savage who had spent his life in the mountains and entered a city to see a car for the first time.
Of course, Ivan did not want to reveal himself as a country bumpkin, so he pretended confidence and stepped into the warp gate.
HUMMMM.
His vision distorted, and he felt a recoil as though someone had shoved him.
Swallowing a groan, Ivan forced himself upright.
He held his dizzy head and opened his eyes to a forest packed with trees so enormous they seemed to cover the sky.
“Ugh... my head.”
“I didn't expect a forest.”
Meirin and Julian passed through the warp gate behind him and approached.
Ivan looked around.
Dozens of buildings resembling watchtowers sat atop the giant trees, connected like a spiderweb.
The sky glimpsed between the leaves looked hazy, suggesting a barrier surrounded the forest.
“It looks like an elven forest from a fairy tale.”
One trainee murmured while staring blankly at the scenery.
“An accurate observation. This training ground was designed after an elven forest.”
Alia nodded at the trainee's remark.
“Starting today, this instructor will push you to the utmost limits in this training ground. Becoming a special investigator requires more than simple stamina.”
Alia turned to face the trainees and spoke sternly.
“The harsher and steeper the terrain, the faster your stamina drains, as it will here. This training will be extremely difficult, but if you endure to the end, your stamina will improve dramatically. This instructor guarantees it on her name.”
Indeed, the forest contained not only trees, but numerous obstacles such as fallen branches and rolling stones, while the slope itself was remarkably steep.
“Therefore, trainees must give more than their best. Now warm up so we can begin.”
Alia spoke, and the trainees took her words to heart as they warmed up with tense expressions.
At that moment.
WHOOSH.
Figures who had been concealing their presence and observing from the watchtowers dropped like leaves from the trees.
Despite the considerable height, they landed more lightly than feathers.
The trainees flinched when people unexpectedly fell from the sky, but Alia merely turned toward them without changing expression.
“It has been a long time, Instructor Alia.”
They approached and bowed to Alia.
With pointed ears, flowing blond hair, and skin like white jade, they were the assistants responsible for this training ground.