Chapter 58
The Amplified Training Grounds
You could call it a place overflowing with physical enhancement magic.
If doing the same training outside improved you by one point, training here would improve you by ten.
Even if you got injured or seriously hurt, your wounds would heal in no time. On top of that, since she could use healing magic herself, she was confident she could survive even if she fell from the highest cliff.
Just like before.
Now, it seemed like no one came here anymore, but long ago this place had often been used for the knights of the House of Elresia to train.
Feeling a rush of mixed emotions—fondness, nostalgia, and bitterness all at once—Seres closed her eyes for a moment.
The overgrown weeds had spread so thickly that the path leading to the cave was almost invisible. It was hard to believe this was the same place she remembered.
Are they stupid?
Why would anyone abandon such a precious location?
Had they really given up the sword completely?
Clicking her tongue in disbelief, Seres thought about the knights who used to serve the Elresia family.
“Wait, are you seriously saying we have to climb that rock mountain?”
“Yep. Once you get used to climbing that, next is the snow mountain over there.”
“……”
Was she serious? Did she really expect them to climb that thing?
“What are you standing there for? Start climbing.”
…She was serious.
“You’ve got exactly one hour. The one who finishes last will have tomorrow’s training intensity doubled. Remember that.”
“What?”
“Ready…”
“W–wait! Sis—”
“Start!”
“……!”
At Seres’s signal, everyone bolted forward at once.
Their instincts screamed one thing loud and clear—don’t be last!
“Seriously, what’s wrong with them lately?”
“No clue. They’ve been like that every day.”
Iron, the leader of Group A, frowned as he looked around the classroom where several students were collapsed face-down on their desks—as if they’d rehearsed it.
All of them belonged to Group B, which made it even stranger.
Starting a few days ago, they’d been running off somewhere right after class ended. And whenever they were actually in class, they looked half-dead like this.
What the hell had they been doing?
“Hey.”
“……”
Iron called out to the nearest one—Antonion.
No response.
Was he seriously asleep?
Still, how dare he ignore me?
Bang!
He kicked the desk hard in irritation.
Finally, Antonion slowly lifted his head and looked up at him.
“…What?”
The blank, hollow look in his eyes made Iron flinch without realizing it.
What was that expression?
It was like his soul had left his body—completely lifeless. Iron was at a loss for words.
He stood there for a moment, then regained his composure under the weight of others’ curious stares.
“What have you guys been up to lately?”
“…Good question. What have we been doing?”
“You crazy bastard. What are you talking about?”
“Iron…”
Antonion’s voice sounded distant, oddly emotional.
“W–what?”
A chill crept up Iron’s spine. He frowned hard, staring at Antonion.
“You were… always a decent guy.”
“What?”
“Just saying.”
You know, now I realize all that bullying you guys did wasn’t that bad.
“Haa…”
Antonion let out a long sigh and stared blankly toward the mountains in the distance.
Mountains… mountains… Damn those mountains!
Rustle.
As if responding to his words, the others who had been slumped over began to sit up one by one.
“……!”
Their hollow faces weren’t much different from Antonion’s.
“…You guys wouldn’t understand.”
“Our bodies aren’t tired, but our minds are breaking.”
“It’d be nice if we could just collapse, but this damn body doesn’t even let us. Why are we fine? Why aren’t we sick or sore?!”
“Tell me about it.”
Had they all gone insane? What the hell were they even saying?
Even as Iron shot them baffled looks, the B Group members just sighed deeply, their faces equally drained.
“You know what’s even crazier?”
Even though it was exhausting—driving them to the brink of madness…
We still want to go back there.
Antonion and the others clenched their fists as they looked at their hands.
They could feel it—their stamina, their skills—growing rapidly, visibly.
They didn’t know why, but following Seres’s brutal training definitely caused real change.
For those desperate to see results, that place had become irresistible.
“So, starting today, it’s the snow mountain, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Shouldn’t we bring scarves or something?”
“Scarves? Please. We’ve been soaked in a freezing river all day and didn’t even catch a cold. Bring one and she’ll just call you weak-minded and make you climb that snow mountain twice. You know how she is.”
“Guess you’re right.”
“Antonion… what is your sister, anyway?”
“…I don’t know.”
All the kids sighed together again.
Watching them, Iron’s face twisted with anger.
Are these bastards seriously ignoring me?
“Hey!”
Swish.
“……!”
A dozen dead-eyed stares turned toward him at once.
Iron involuntarily froze.
“Iron, do you know how to clean?”
“What?”
“You’d better learn. You’ll be cleaning soon.”
Leaving the dumbfounded Iron standing there, Group B slumped back over their desks again—catching what little rest they could before another round of hellish training.
They were preparing to roll.
“Unbelievable.”
Archmage Chayen, head of the Magic Tower, sat on the window ledge, furiously ruffling his hair.
He’d been agonizing over it for days but still couldn’t find an answer.
“There’s really nothing, Luca?”
“No, sir. No one has entered. If the 21st door had opened, rumors would’ve spread already. Whoever unlocked it wouldn’t have just left the formulas and magic tools behind.”
“Exactly.”
Chayen pushed his messy hair back with a groan.
It made no sense.
A few days ago, he had finally managed to open the next door of the small white tower—the one built by the former Tower Master, Artia.
He had found the answer to the 21st problem in the first edition of Artia’s autobiography that he’d picked up from an old bookstore.
With excitement, he had opened the 21st door—
“Welcome. Congratulations on being the second to enter this room.”
‘…Second?’
His joy instantly evaporated.
He’d been the first to enter the 20th room—he was sure of it. So who had opened the 21st before him?
“And the magic tools were all still there.”
If someone had entered, they would’ve taken the treasures, right?
But all the valuable magical artifacts had been untouched.
“Could it be a glitch?”
“Do you really think a magic space created by someone as brilliant as Artia could glitch?”
Chayen shook his head immediately.
Not from that Artia.
The greatest magician in history wouldn’t make a clumsy mistake like that.
“Someone definitely entered the 21st room before me. Keep digging. Check everyone who’s been near the tower recently.”
“Understood.”
No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t add up.
Why would anyone leave those priceless magic tools behind?
A true mage would never resist such temptation.
“…Unless they weren’t a mage.”
“……!”
A strange voice suddenly cut into their conversation.
Chayen and Luca both turned sharply toward the door.
There, leaning casually against the frame, was a man.
“You’re…!”
“…The frozen man?”
Kainel Persia.
Both of their eyes widened at his unexpected appearance.
“What the—how did he even get in here?”
To enter the Magic Tower without permission, one would have to bypass multiple layers of powerful wards.
The last time the Fire Spirit King had tried to force his way in, the entire tower had nearly exploded into chaos.
And this—this was the Tower Master’s office.
What kind of magic did he use?
More than the intrusion itself, that part fascinated Chayen even more.
“Secret passage.”
“Secret passage? What do you mean?”
There was a secret passage in the tower? How could there be something like that the Tower Master didn’t know about?
Chayen was so shocked that he didn’t even notice he was speaking informally to Kainel.
“Want to know?”
“Yes!”
Chayen nodded eagerly as Kainel took a step closer.
With no sense of caution whatsoever, he looked like a curious child. Luca, on the other hand, sighed deeply and quickly stepped in front of him.
“What brings you here, Duke Persia?”
It was all too strange. The secret passage, his unannounced arrival—it didn’t make sense.
“I came to ask something.”
“About what?”
“Not something you can answer.”
“If I can’t, then neither can Chayen.”
“…And what makes you so sure of that?”
