Chapter 32
The guys who had returned like ghouls the previous evening reappeared in the morning, full of energy, like fish in water.
"Kainnnnnn!!!"
Edward, spotting Kain, charged towards him at full speed with an incredibly bright smile.
"Thanks, Kain!"
Edward ran with open arms, trying to give Kain a bear hug with all his might.
Swish.
But Kain took a step back at the precise moment and dodged.
"Thannnnks! Kain! But! Are you! Just going to! Keep dodging?"
As Kain nimbly dodged in succession, Edward finally gave up and caught his breath.
"Looks like it had an effect."
At Kain's words, Edward's head snapped up.
"Yeah. A huge one!"
Fohn and Bolio, who were behind him, couldn't hide their excitement either.
"Ah, when I woke up this morning, using magic was really... completely easy! I-it even felt stronger than usual, d-d-definitely!"
It was a surprisingly long statement for Fohn.
Bolio immediately raised his hand and conjured a small Fireball.
The Fireball radiated a clear and unrestrained energy.
"Seriously, Kain, thanks to you, I realized how stupidly I've been using magic all this time. It feels like I was running with a lump of iron on my back and finally put it down. My body feels lighter, and magic is easier to use!"
Kain immediately refuted two points.
"You're still using it stupidly enough. And your body hasn't gotten lighter."
"No, I just meant it feels that way! Would my body really get lighter in just one day?"
After the tough training yesterday, Bolio had already devoured the snacks he had been saving to replenish his energy.
"You need to make an effort to become lighter. A heavy body is a significant demerit in actual combat. You should have realized that after going to the snowy mountains."
"......"
Bolio sighed.
"Hoo. Yeah, you're right. Anyway, the training effect was definitely there. Sorry for doubting you. Please take care of us again today."
As Bolio slightly bowed his head, Kain chuckled.
"Alright. If you're ready, let's run right away."
The place was the same small vacant lot on one side of the West Wing as yesterday.
Initially, he had thought of doing it in the East Wing, but considering they would have to sweat a lot and then go back to wash up and receive instruction, it seemed better to stay closer to their quarters, even if the space was a bit cramped.
Perhaps because they had seen immediate results, the three of them were very enthusiastic.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
"Hah..."
"Damn it, I thought I got a little used to it yesterday!"
Of course, after being pushed relentlessly several times in a row, their enthusiastic appearances vanished without a trace.
"Fohn, stop."
Thump.
This time, he controlled them by further subdividing their individual limits.
One might think there wouldn't be much difference since their stamina levels were similar, but this was actually a significant increase in difficulty.
Yesterday, they could at least endure by waiting for someone else to reach their limit, but now they had to fight a fiercely solitary battle with themselves.
"Bolio, stop."
Thump.
Bolio collapsed as soon as his name was called.
"Edward, stop."
Edward, who had endured the longest, soon fell as well.
Having pushed themselves to their limits, they each put all their effort into manifesting and maintaining magic with the minimum amount of mental strength.
'For a change that happened in just one day, it's quite good.'
The number of failures had decreased significantly, and the quality of the magic they maintained had also visibly improved.
Like everything else, the initial stages of skill improvement were easy, and as one progressed, it became harder with less noticeable gains, but.
Even considering that, it was a decent result.
After several consecutive training sessions, the three of them finally got a break.
"Hoo... Hey, Kain. But why are you just running and not doing this with us? You said we need to get used to doing it when our physical and mental strength are depleted."
Bolio, whose sweat was about to drip into his eyes like tears, said with a slightly aggrieved tone.
In response, Kain cast a Fireball.
Whoosh!
"Wow..."
"K-Kain can do that after running like that...?"
Edward and Fohn's eyes widened.
Kain's magic was small in size, but in terms of mana density, purity, activity, and stability, it was far superior to the one Bolio had cast earlier when he was completely fresh.
Even someone who didn't know much about magic could clearly feel the difference in quality.
"Crazy... It's even crazier up close."
Even Bolio, who had been questioning him, stared blankly for a moment.
As Kain moved the Fireball around in the air, six pairs of eyes followed it like cats chasing a ball.
"As you can see, I'm already used to this kind of training to the point where I don't need to do it."
And although he didn't say it, Kain's mental strength hadn't even come close to being depleted in the first place.
He had simply shown them what clean magic looked like with very little mental exertion.
There was no way the mental strength of someone who had been a great mage in his past life would be depleted by physical exertion to this extent.
'If anything, the gap between my physical and mental state is so large right now that it's frustrating.'
The reason he had collapsed in the cave in the snowy mountains, and the reason he had collapsed yesterday trying to train more, was not due to mental exhaustion.
His mental strength was fine, but his physical condition was so poor in comparison that it had caused those incidents.
'I need to quickly start not only stamina training but also strength training.'
Especially in real combat, when there's a need to reinforce the body with mana, strength is more important than stamina.
No matter how high the purity of mana, if the muscles receiving it aren't strong enough to support it, not only will it not perform properly, but pushing it too hard could lead to side effects, just like what happened in the snowy mountains.
Kain flicked off the Fireball and said,
"If you can match the density of your Fireball to mine, even closely, I'll immediately exclude you. The standard for 'closely' is..."
"I'll take that as 'just do it without the extra talk'."
Bolio readily gave up.
After the break, Edward, Fohn, and Bolio resumed training, while Kain instead focused on more stamina and strength training.
"What are those guys doing?"
"They're sweating buckets?"
"Kain's holding a rock the size of his head."
"Why is Bolio sweating so much just casting one Fireball in place?"
As class time approached, disciples leaving the West Wing for the East Wing passed by and tilted their heads in confusion at the sight of their training.
Among them, the disciples from the same floor called out to Bolio, who was closest.
"Hey, Bolio. What are you doing?"
"Ugh... Agh! You guys broke my concentration!"
Bolio, who had extinguished his Fireball at the sound of them calling him, snapped irritably.
"Why is that our fault? If your concentration breaks just from us calling your name, you shouldn't be using magic in the first place."
"That's right. He messed up himself and is just taking it out on us."
"Whatever, let's go. Haah, I should lie down and sleep a bit before the instructor comes."
When the others retorted, Bolio tried to say something more but then shut his mouth.
He himself knew that to others, it just looked like Bolio was struggling to cast a single Fireball properly.
'Even I thought, why am I failing when I first tried this? Damn it.'
Just wait. I'll grit my teeth and train so I can grow much faster than you guys.
'After yesterday, I actually saw hope.'
To be honest, before yesterday's training, Bolio had been half-resigned about his magical talent and his future, even though he pretended to be fine and confident on the outside.
'I lost to Kain in the duel, and even though I followed Kain to the snowy mountains, risking my life to somehow improve, in the end, only Kain reached the 3rd Circle.'
Bolio's only real advantage was his naturally abundant mana, but seeing Hayden Bederman, who had taken a flood of elixirs, had crushed even that pride.
'My skill in handling magic is lacking, and even my mana can be instantly outmatched by a direct descendant supported by elixirs. I wondered if this was my limit as an entry-level disciple.'
But after training according to Kain's guidance yesterday, Bolio finally felt like he had found a breakthrough.
It was like walking precariously with only a single candle in the dark and then suddenly having his vision become bright and clear.
'And thinking about it now, Kain was an anomaly from the start. Even these twins are direct descendants and honestly seem quite talented, but they're still far from catching up to Kain.'
Bolio glanced at Edward and Fohn.
'Alright. At least let's make sure I don't fall behind these guys, no, let's try to get ahead of them.'
Kain had shown him the direction, so from now on, it all depended on how hard he himself worked.
Thinking that, Bolio put all his strength into casting Fireball again.
"Fireball!"
And he failed.
Ah. This is really damn hard.
***
"Let's stop here too. We need to wash up and get to class on time."
More people were watching, and the success rate of the three's magic was rapidly declining, so Kain stopped the training.
"Yeah. Let's try again later tonight."
"T-that was really tough..."
Edward, Fohn, and Bolio nodded at Kain's words.
Kain also stopped appropriately this time, within his physical limits, and after parting ways with the three, he returned to his quarters to wash up and then headed to the East Wing.
"Oh, it's Kain."
"Look at him going straight up to the 3rd floor without even looking back."
"I'm jealous..."
"It hasn't been that long since he went up to the 2nd floor..."
Just like when he went up to the 2nd floor last time, Kain received a lot of attention while going up to the 3rd floor and after arriving there.
"But he deserves it. I saw him duel Hayden."
"Yeah. Thinking about what he showed us back then..."
"If I were the Clan Head, I would have sent him up right away too."
However, what was different from last time was that most of the disciples didn't try to belittle Kain or come up to pick a fight.
In fact, there were even people who approached him and asked kindly how he had grown so quickly..
It was such a peaceful start that one might even think he should thank Hayden for demanding the duel.
Ah, but of course, he had no intention of actually thanking Hayden.
"Quiet. I'll take attendance and then we'll start right away."
While Instructor Curtis, who had a long scar on his face, called roll and conducted the lesson, a girl named Anias sitting next to him glanced at Kain several times, but he didn't particularly pay attention.
"...The 3rd Circle's Flame Spear and the 2nd Circle's Fire Arrow are the same in that they are both linear projectile magic, but there's a significant difference not only in size but also crucially in the structure of the mana woven inside and the resulting physical force. Here, the calculation formula that distinguishes the difference in structure from other magic..."
Unlike Rowen, Curtis had a rather rigid style.
Without testing Kain with difficult questions or anything, he taught as if Kain had been a student there from the beginning, and as soon as today's content was finished, he closed his book sharply.
"That's it for today. I need to leave for other business now, so if you have any questions, come find me separately in the afternoon."
The format and schedule of the main building's classes vary depending on the floor and the instructor.
Generally, as one goes to higher floors, the time instructors spend directly teaching decreases, and students spend their time freely reading magic-related books appropriate for their level or having personal training time.
'There are many days without theoretical lessons, and instructors often select suitable missions, give them to the disciples, and have them carry them out.'
Now that Kain had reached the 3rd floor, there was a possibility that Curtis would give him a suitable mission soon.
'If possible, I'd like a mission that allows me to go down to the lower regions of the snowy mountains.'
That way, it would be good to directly grasp the situation of the territory residents and how the political situation within the empire was unfolding after 200 years.
Anyway, since the 3rd floor's schedule for today only had a short theoretical lesson in the morning, Kain was immediately free.
He had planned to have lunch with Edward and Fohn, but since there was still some time before lunch, Kain headed straight to the archives.
Click.
As he entered the archives, the musty smell of paper greeted Kain.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the reason Kain, who valued procedure, hadn't objected to the Clan Head's offer to send him to the 3rd floor without an exam was because of this archives.
'There are definitely quite a few useful materials starting from the 3rd floor.'
There wasn't much about the Bederman clan, but he was able to find several records about significant requests or incidents that the Siers clan had resolved or been involved in in the past.
Most of these would have been events that occurred in various places outside the clan, so by looking at the records, he should be able to indirectly learn what had happened on the continent during that time.
Kain began to unfold and read the ones he had chosen one by one in order.
'It's probably obvious, but there's nothing written about the Great War or the period immediately after it.'
It was a very long time ago, and more than anything, everyone would have been too preoccupied at the time.
There would have been no room to keep records, and even if there were, the chances of them being preserved until now would be low.
'Even looking at the records... it seems they went through several places before coming to this Gariel Snowy Mountain.'
They probably moved from one abandoned noble clan's territory to another after their demise in the Great War.
If so, the older records would have been even more likely to be lost.
'Still, that means there are many relatively recent records left. Not bad.'
Kain continued to read the records.
'Participated as the 3rd magic support clan in the subjugation of the demon beast Kebarsh... Oh ho. Kebarsh appeared at that time.'
Like a housewife grabbing discounted items at the market, Kain read on, steadily filling his head with information, when his eyebrows slightly lifted.
'This is also a relatively recent record. Eight years ago.'
It was almost the most recent record among those he had found so far.
Looking at the title, it didn't seem like a very important incident.
Compared to old events, more recent ones were probably relatively minor...
"......!"
As he thought that and was about to turn the page, Kain's hand froze.
Kain's pupils, which had never wavered before, trembled slightly.
The very bottom corner of the page.
Kain slowly opened his mouth and uttered the name written there.
"Desmond."
