A month passed like flowing water.
They woke, ate breakfast, and went to morning training. Then they ate lunch, attended aura class, had dinner, and spent their free time as they pleased.
Within those repetitive days, each trainee continued to grow.
A month was also more than enough time for the differences between the trainees to become starkly apparent.
Fwoosh.
Blue aura bloomed like a flame at Meirin’s fingertips.
It was only the size of a grape, but the surrounding trainees could not help being astonished.
Aura release.
Meirin had surpassed Miliana and Kamel, who were considered the most promising candidates of their class, and became the first trainee to achieve aura release.
“...At this rate of growth, passing the test will be nothing. Trainee Meirin, from now on, try to maintain the aura at your fingertips for as long as possible.”
“U-understood......!”
Meirin answered with an expression mingling tension and exhilaration.
Intoxicated by the sensation she was experiencing for the first time in her life, Meirin made her aura burn even larger.
When she even began changing the aura’s shape at will, Karl could not help letting out an incredulous laugh.
‘A once-in-a-generation genius.’
There could be no doubt.
Even Karl, who had grown up being called a genius by numerous masters, had taken a month and a half to achieve aura release.
That month and a half did not even include the time it had taken him to achieve aura awakening.
Yet Meirin had accomplished everything in one month, faster than Karl had.
Her talent, which drove her to explore and enter stages she had not even been taught yet, could only be called a blessing from the gods.
‘The other trainees are making steady progress too.’
Karl gave a small nod of satisfaction.
Miliana and Kamel would also be capable of aura release before long.
Quite a few other trainees, such as Julian, were showing remarkable growth as well.
‘The problem is.’
Karl turned his gaze. Over the course of a month, almost every trainee had awakened their aura.
All except one.
There was still one trainee who had yet to awaken his aura.
Ivan.
The trainee who had left the greatest impression on Karl on the first day.
Karl’s eyes reflected Ivan sitting alone and straining with an orb clutched in his hands.
Karl had served as an instructor at the training camp for many years, yet Ivan left him with nothing but questions.
‘I thought he would awaken his aura within a week at the latest.’
Ivan alone had failed to make any progress over the entire month.
Even Karl could not identify the cause.
‘If he was admitted here, he cannot be completely devoid of talent for aura.’
He was even a promising recruit personally brought in by the Director of the Guardian Bureau.
They had already confirmed on the first day that Ivan could instinctively sense the energy of aura.
Even so, Karl had occasionally projected aura energy at Ivan over the past month to make certain.
‘He reacted immediately every time I projected that energy.’
Without a single exception.
Then why had he still failed to awaken his aura?
Karl could think of only one explanation.
‘Could the cause be psychological?’
The mind was the most important factor in awakening aura.
Just as the arm moved when the mind willed it to move, the same was true of aura.
Of course, manipulating aura required a much finer sense than moving one’s limbs.
Even so, the underlying principle was identical.
‘A psychological cause merely needs to be resolved, but......’
Judging by Ivan’s appearance, he seemed completely unaware of his own psychological problem.
‘At this rate, he’ll be eliminated.’
A trainee being eliminated was nothing surprising.
Even so, an unpleasant feeling lingered in Karl’s mind.
It was only natural for someone with no talent to be eliminated, but the same could not be said of someone eliminated because a problem had kept their talent from blooming.
‘I should speak to the director about this.’
Ivan was no ordinary trainee. Karl had thought so from the moment they first met.
That belief had not changed.
Karl did not doubt his eye for talent.
That was why he wanted to see what sort of flower Ivan might someday bloom into.
***
Another day drew to a close.
The days remained unchanged, but Ivan’s shoulders drooped lower with each one.
‘Goddamn it.’
How? Just how had a whole month passed without him sensing so much as an ant dropping’s worth of aura?
For an entire month, Ivan had tried every conceivable method to sense aura.
He had hugged the orb naked and even rubbed it against his dantian.
He had tried every ridiculous thing imaginable.
Yet despite all that desperate flailing, the orb had not changed in the slightest.
‘That old bastard, the Director of the Guardian Bureau... He said I’d graduate from the training camp without a problem......’
The man was a fraud. At this rate, Ivan was certain to fail the test.
Ivan, who would normally have polished off his meal with gusto, merely stared blankly into space.
“Ivan... Are you all right?”
Meirin asked with an expression filled with concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Perfectly fine. Thinking about being sold back into slavery has just made me want to die, that’s all.”
“I-Ivan?! You can’t die......!”
“I’m joking.”
“Oh......”
Startled by his claim that he wanted to die, Meirin’s earlobes turned red.
“It really is strange. To think you haven’t sensed aura even after an entire month. Ivan, why don’t you visit the infirmary? There might be something wrong with your body.”
Julian stroked his chin as he spoke. Ivan scoffed in response.
“I already went. They said nothing was wrong. Apparently, I’m so healthy that it’s a problem.”
“Really? In that case, Ivan.”
Julian looked at Ivan with a solemn expression.
“It wasn’t long, but I enjoyed knowing you. Farewell.”
“Yeah. If I do end up leaving... I’ll tell the instructors all about that contraband book you snuck out of the library before I go.”
Ivan answered with a bright smile.
“...Ivan, you’re our precious companion. I can’t let you leave us like this!”
Julian immediately reversed his position.
“He is right. It is still too early to give up, Ivan.”
Kamel added his support from beside Julian.
After working out together for a month, Kamel and the other three had become close enough to eat together every day.
“Do you have some brilliant idea?”
Julian asked, and Kamel nodded without hesitation.
“They say humans awaken when placed in mortal danger. Long ago, people in the North supposedly threw themselves from cliffs to awaken their aura.”
“A-a cliff......?”
Meirin went pale at Kamel’s words.
Having awakened her aura at once, she could not understand such a method. The same was true of Ivan, who had yet to awaken his.
“So... you’re telling me to die?”
“Do not worry. You need only jump from a height that will break a few bones.”
“And what if I land wrong and end up crippled?”
“You can do it, Ivan. I believe in you.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t believe in me, so that idea is rejected.”
When Ivan answered firmly, Kamel’s shoulders dipped slightly in disappointment.
In the end, they finished dinner without finding a suitable solution.
No matter how awful the situation was, Ivan went to the fitness room as usual and worked his body brutally hard.
Nothing could serve as an excuse not to exercise.
Thanks to training to his limit every day in an effort to banish his gloomy thoughts, his strength and stamina had unintentionally improved by leaps and bounds.
“Goodbye, Ivan.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“I hope you will reconsider my suggestion.”
“Yeah, not even if it kills me.”
After finishing their workout, the four said their goodbyes and headed to their respective rooms.
Creeeak.
Ivan opened the door listlessly, dragging his exhausted body—or rather, his exhausted mind—inside.
“It has been a while, Ivan!”
He immediately saw the training center director standing in the middle of the room, his muscles rippling.
Click.
Ivan reflexively shut the door.
Hmm... Should he run?
The thought crossed his mind, but he could not act on it.
Creak.
The door opened again, and Ragon grabbed Ivan roughly by the collar and dragged him inside.
“Gah.”
“I’m disappointed that you didn’t return my greeting!”
Still speaking in his booming voice, Ragon pulled Ivan against his chest and squeezed him with both arms.
Setting aside why that mass of muscle was in his room, Ivan pleaded desperately for his life.
“I-I’m sorry. I was so surprised... So could you please let go of me......? I-I think I’m going to die......”
Ivan had thought his strength had improved considerably since arriving here, but he was still no match for Ragon’s power.
Ragon’s assessment, however, was different.
“Oh, you’ve gotten even stronger.”
Ragon’s eyes gleamed in surprise as he relaxed his arms.
Finally freed from the human compression machine, Ivan quickly put some distance between himself and Ragon and asked.
“Um... What brings you here......?”
“I heard the news! It seems you still haven’t awakened your aura?”
“Ah, yes......”
“At this rate, you will fail the test and have to leave the training camp!”
“I suppose so.”
“You are a recruit personally selected by Director Ruben. If you fail without even passing the Red class, Director Ruben will lose face. I cannot allow that!”
Ivan’s eyes flew open. Did Ragon have some method?
Apparently reading Ivan’s expression, Ragon bared his teeth and said.
“Follow me. Starting today, I will train you personally!”
Honestly, the thought of undergoing special training alone with this man was a little—no, quite terrifying.
But this was no time to be picky.
“Understood!”
Ivan answered boldly.
If the man said he would awaken Ivan’s aura, Ivan would do whatever he was told.
Ragon burst into a hearty laugh at Ivan’s answer and took him straight to the warp gate.
***
Hummm.
An empty wasteland appeared when they passed through the warp gate.
“Then we will begin the special training immediately! Ivan, dodge every attack I send at you from now on.”
Ragon abruptly raised a fist as he spoke.
There was a considerable distance between Ivan and Ragon.
But the instant Ragon lifted his fist, chills swept over Ivan’s entire body.
Standing in place, Ragon lightly swung only his fist.
“Urgh!”
There was nothing visible.
Yet Ivan sensed something approaching at high speed.
He twisted his body and dodged whatever was flying toward his thigh.
CRASH—!
Something struck the spot Ivan had just vacated, leaving a large crater.
‘That was......’
He had experienced it once before. The slash Ruben had fired when testing him.
‘Aura.’
Ragon moved his fist again. This time, Ivan sensed something approaching his waist.
He twisted diagonally and evaded it.
“So what Karl told me was true. Ivan, you can already sense aura!”
“What?”
Ivan could only tilt his head at Ragon’s abrupt declaration.
He was going through this whole goddamn ordeal precisely because he could not sense aura, yet Ragon claimed he already could?
“The attacks I just launched were aura. And you dodged every last one.”
“Ah, yes.”
Ivan nodded, but he did not understand at all.
If he could sense aura, why could he not move it?
“Ivan, do you have any unpleasant trauma related to aura?”
“Before coming here, I barely even knew what aura was.”
No matter how he racked his brain, nothing came to mind.
“How strange. Well, no matter.”
Ragon stretched his enormous body this way and that.
“Your failure to sense aura is most likely psychological. In that case, I need only push you until the psychological problem embedded in your mind disappears!”
Crack.
An ominous sound came from Ragon’s fist.
“From now on, I will launch aura at you without pause. One hit will break a bone, so keep your wits about you!”
“Wait......”
Ivan tried to say something, but Ragon did not wait.
Ragon charged toward Ivan at terrifying speed.
Ivan laughed hollowly to himself. He had thought Ragon had some special method.
‘This is no different from Kamel’s idea.’
After his hollow laugh, Ivan soon surrendered himself to the situation and focused.
If this truly was the only method, he had no choice but to endure it.
‘...He is the training center director, so he won’t kill me.’
Ivan forced himself to think positively, opened his eyes wide, and began tracking Ragon’s movements.
And that day, Ivan returned to the training camp as a bloody mess.