Although puzzled by the sudden request, Kamel took Kainik’s offered hand without any particular suspicion.
‘What is this bastard plotting......?’
Ivan, however, could not readily take Kainik’s hand.
An instructor pretending to be a trainee had suddenly approached and asked to shake hands. How could Ivan possibly accept with a cheerful ‘All right!’?
“My... No, my hands sweat a lot......”
He did not know what Kainik was plotting, but he felt that he should not take that hand.
Ivan naturally offered an excuse and stepped back. Of course, Kainik was not one to give up so easily.
“That’s fine. My hands sweat a lot too.”
Kainik pressed forward until he stood before the retreating Ivan, then forcibly seized his hand.
Ivan could not help flinching in surprise.
He had thought his reflexes had improved tremendously from facing Flora, but he had not even managed to react this time.
‘Shall we see what you can do?’
Kainik’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Ivan and Kamel.
Alia had warned him not to cause a disturbance.
Unfortunately, in Kainik’s view, laying hands on two trainees did not even qualify as one.
‘I’m only going to gauge their level, so this can’t be called a disturbance.’
He merely intended to send aura into them and see how much they could resist.
In fact, it was a common prank at Luverth, where people used assessing a newcomer’s level as an excuse to torment them.
There was no harm in letting these two experience it early, was there?
They would faint if they could not resist.
‘As if that would happen.’
There was no way boys who had sensed his fighting spirit would fail to resist his aura.
Having reached that conclusion, Kainik moved the aura gathered in his palms.
“Wait......”
Sensing something ominous, Ivan hurriedly tried to pull his hand free.
Before he could, Kainik smiled and sent his aura flowing into them.
With a tingling jolt like an electrical current, the aura invaded both boys’ arms.
“Urgh!”
Kamel reacted first.
Frowning at the energy suddenly surging up his arm, he raised his aura to respond.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Kamel glared fiercely at Kainik and tried to pull his hand away.
“Doing what?”
Kainik feigned ignorance and refused to release Kamel’s hand.
Kamel tried to remain as calm as possible, but he could not hide his bewilderment.
It felt as though hundreds of chains had bound his wrist.
He had no idea why this man was behaving this way, but Kamel had no choice but to draw up even more aura and resist.
‘He’s holding out well.’
Kainik could feel Kamel’s aura blocking his own attempt to push forward.
His control over aura was excellent. Perhaps because he was the Frost Duke’s son, he possessed the steadfast aura characteristic of northern warriors.
Geniuses capable of wielding aura this well at his age were exceedingly rare.
‘I look forward to seeing his future.’
Kamel was unquestionably an uncut gem that would shine with its own color if properly polished.
He was also a boy whose growth seemed to have no visible limit.
After roughly assessing Kamel’s level, Kainik turned his head.
“S-save me......”
There he saw Ivan writhing helplessly, unable to resist his aura at all.
“...I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but stop. Ivan hasn’t awakened his aura yet.”
Kamel spoke as he laboriously drove Kainik’s aura away.
Kainik fell speechless, his mouth opening and closing.
What? Ivan had not awakened his aura yet?
“You’re joking......?”
“I am not.”
At Kamel’s serious expression, Kainik let out a bewildered breath. Ivan, who had sensed his fighting spirit more clearly than anyone, had not even awakened his aura.
It was difficult to believe.
No matter what, how could a trainee at Pandora have failed to awaken his aura?
But Kainik soon had no choice but to believe Kamel.
Ivan truly could not block the slightest bit of Kainik’s aura.
‘Then how in the world did he sense my fighting spirit?’
Was it possible to perceive aura without even awakening one’s own?
He could not understand it at all, but that was not important right now.
“Um... How should I put this...? I’m truly sorry.”
Kainik released Ivan’s hand and scratched his head, looking dazed.
The test was nearly upon them, and he had never imagined a trainee might still have failed to awaken his aura.
Even someone as mischievous as Kainik could not help growing solemn at that moment.
“Ahem! Th-then I’ll be going now! I forgot I had an appointment, haha.”
In the end, Kainik chose to flee.
He had mercilessly poured aura into a trainee who could not use it. He would have no excuse if someone called him a piece of trash.
He had no choice but to run.
“Ah.”
After abandoning Ivan, who was shuddering hard enough to convulse, Kainik turned away like an arrow but came to a stop.
“Friends, do you see that black-haired young lady over there? Sorry, but could you pass along a message to her for me?”
Kainik gestured with his eyes toward Miliana.
“I understand that she wants to grow quickly, but pushing her body too hard is not a good method.”
He had no desire to interfere with the trainees, but he felt he had to tell her that much.
That was how precarious Miliana appeared in Kainik’s eyes.
With those words, Kainik left the fitness room like the wind.
“Ivan, are you all right?”
After the storm passed, Kamel looked down at the collapsed Ivan and asked.
“...Do I look all right?”
Ivan barely managed to raise his still-tingling body.
‘What kind of bolt from the blue was that?’
The man had given him an ominous feeling from the moment Ivan first saw him.
Even Ivan had never imagined he would pull this shit.
Ivan did not know why the man had done it, but he gave up trying to understand.
The world was vast and packed to the brim with madmen.
Ivan had once again realized just how many lunatics inhabited the world.
‘Lucky bastards.’
He could only envy Julian and Meirin for skipping today’s workout to prepare for tomorrow.
‘More importantly.’
Holding his stiff neck, Ivan turned his head. The message that lunatic instructor had asked him to deliver lingered in his mind.
Even to Ivan, Miliana did not look well.
***
How many laps had it been already?
Miliana ran around the track while suppressing pain that felt as though her lungs might tear open at any moment.
Her stamina had reached its limit long ago.
She was even carrying a weight nearly equal to her own body weight, causing her breath to fail all the faster.
“......”
Miliana ground her teeth and forced her trembling legs to move.
She could not stop here.
Her vision was blurry, and the urge to collapse assaulted her, but she continued forward without stopping.
It was still not enough.
‘I can’t defeat him like this......’
Miliana exhaled raggedly, her face twisted with determination.
There was only one reason she was pushing herself to the absolute limit: Ivan.
During their first training session, Miliana had painfully realized the gap between herself and Ivan.
She had felt jealousy and inferiority.
But she consoled herself with the belief that she could easily surpass him if she worked hard enough.
‘Just a little. I only have to work a little harder.’
Then she would surely be able to race ahead once more.
She already spent most of her time training, but after that first session, she had increased the intensity even further.
Yet as Miliana grew, Ivan grew as well.
—No matter how much you struggle, you’re nothing but trash born of base blood.
—No matter how hard you struggle, you could never truly become a member of our family, could you?
—Father has already shown you immense grace simply by not expelling someone as lowly as you, so do not try to rise above your station.
The further Ivan advanced ahead of her, the more the words she had heard from her family tormented Miliana’s mind.
Miliana had struggled to deny their words all her life.
That was why she had endured so desperately, wanting to prove her worth to her family.
She was not trash.
She was a true member of House Leonhart, with her father’s blood in her veins.
Fortunately, Ruben recognized Miliana’s talent and brought her to the training camp, allowing her to seize a precious opportunity.
If she graduated and distinguished herself as a special investigator, surely her father and the rest of her family would acknowledge her.
—No matter what anyone says, you are a child who carries the blood of the great House Leonhart. Many sad things will happen in the future... but you must always live with your head held high. Can you promise me that?
She could not let her mother’s final words go to waste—the words spoken during that bone-chilling winter as her mother forced her frozen lips into a smile and stroked her hair.
For that purpose alone, Miliana had to run ahead of everyone here.
Otherwise, she would never receive so much as a glance from her father, let alone the slightest interest.
“Huff... Huff......”
She had to earn the highest score on tomorrow’s test.
She could not lose to anyone. She did not want to lose.
Driven by that single conviction, Miliana pushed herself even harder despite already reaching her limit.
She had forgotten that her efforts were instead poisoning her.
“Urgh......”
Perhaps from overexerting herself so severely, Miliana staggered when a cramp seized her calf.
She did not fall.
“Hey, isn’t this too much when the test is tomorrow?”
Ivan had caught Miliana by the shoulder as she began to topple.
Breathing roughly, Miliana looked at Ivan through her blurred vision.
‘When did he get here?’
She had pushed her body so hard that she had not even noticed Ivan’s presence.
“L-let go of me......”
Miliana weakly shoved Ivan’s arm away. She could not help it.
The moment she saw Ivan, she felt something surge up inside her.
She also knew that it had to be an ugly emotion.
That was why she did not want to face him.
‘Because if I keep looking at you, I feel like I’ll fall apart.’
It felt as though she would never rise again once she collapsed.
That vague fear had driven Miliana to lose all reason and push herself to the edge of a cliff.
After glaring at Ivan in silence for a moment, Miliana turned away.
Her back as she trudged away somehow seemed to long for something she could lean on.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but hang in there. And someone asked me to tell you that pushing your body too hard isn’t a good method.”
Ivan spoke toward the departing Miliana.
He considered supporting her, but somehow, it seemed better to leave her alone right now.
At Ivan’s words, Miliana’s shoulders flinched. But she soon resumed her heavy steps and left the fitness room.
No reply came.
‘It seems.’
Ivan picked at his ear and nodded as though he understood everything.
“She’s been hit hard by puberty. Well, she is right at that age.”
Judging by that prickly reaction, it had to be puberty.
Ivan arbitrarily reached a wildly incorrect conclusion, convinced there could be no doubt.
***
The atmosphere among the trainees gathered in the residential hall early that morning was heavier than usual.
It was only natural. Today was the day of the physical fitness test.
“Everyone is here. As you trainees know, today is the final physical fitness test.”
Alia addressed the trainees assembled in the residential hall in her usual tone.
“As you all know, any trainee who fails this test will immediately begin the process of leaving the camp.”
At Alia’s words, the already heavy atmosphere sank even further.
It was understandable. The result of today’s test could reduce all the effort they had endured through clenched teeth for over a month and a half to nothing.
“The physical fitness test will last a total of three days. You will take the test alongside every other Red class trainee, and the training center director will explain the details personally. Follow me.”
Each carrying tension and resolve, the trainees followed Alia to the central training ground.
“It appears everyone has gathered! Then we will now begin the Red class physical fitness test!”
The person standing on the platform and raising his voice in a roar was Ragon.
Hundreds of Red class trainees, including those from Ivan’s class, stood in formation across the central training ground.
“The test is very simple! You trainees must follow the course drawn on your maps and reach the safe zone within three days!”
At Ragon’s ear-splitting volume, the trainees unfolded the maps they had received earlier.
“As you can see, the course you must complete within three days consists of four sections!”
Ragon proclaimed in a passionate voice.
“The first section is Carlos Grand Canyon! Carlos Grand Canyon has been famous for thousands of years as a place where mages and martial artists fought duels to the death! As a result, rockfalls caused by their battles have scattered stone fragments of every size throughout the canyon!”
In other words, it would be dozens of times harder than running on flat ground.
“Furthermore, the temperature in the canyon exceeds forty degrees at this time of year! This course will demand not only stamina but tremendous mental fortitude!”
The nobles who had never endured prolonged exposure to heat dismissed it as nothing serious.
Ivan, however, had spent entire days fighting monsters in sweltering heat and knew that the heat would pose the greatest hardship.
“If you make it safely through the canyon, you will reach a river! To reach the next section, you must swim across it! The current is powerful, so stay alert or you will be swept away!”
Several trainees who were poor swimmers turned pale at those words.
But Ragon mercilessly continued his explanation.
“Beyond the river lies a jungle! Its obstacles and uneven terrain also make it difficult to run! However, it is not particularly large, so you need not worry too much!”
This time, Ragon relaxed the trainees’ tension by making it sound insignificant.
Ivan, however, did not relax in the slightest.
He had not forgotten what Ragon had done to him.
There was a high probability that when Ragon said it was insignificant, he merely meant it would not kill them.
“Finally, after leaving the jungle, you will reach a grassland! Because it is flat, it will be easier to run across than the other sections! Follow the map across the grassland and reach the safe zone, and you will pass the test!”
When Ragon finished explaining, the trainees were able to feel at least a little relieved.
Rumors claimed the test ran red with blood and the trainees’ screams never stopped, but it did not sound quite that difficult.
Unfortunately, it did not take long for their expressions to sour.
“And one more thing! The trainees in this class appear quite skilled, so by my authority as director, I have added a special rule!”
Ragon dropped a bomb on the relieved trainees with a mischievous smile.