"There's not much to it; it's exactly what you are feeling," Layen said.
"Your body will become lighter and lighter, more and more agile and more active until you reach me by going through my aura or your body reaches its limit of your rank."
Enopy wore a pensive expression and said,
"I want to train every day from 6 am to 5 pm with you now, and besides, you can do other stuff at the same time; you just have to keep your aura out, which you do all the time, so it's a win-win."
"I have no problem with it. But we should be moving soon," Layen said with a calm expression.
Layen's words pulled Enopy into reality, and he remembered that this was not the actual end of this journey.
"Right. But until then, we'll go by this schedule, alright?" Enopy said.
"Ok," Layen replied.
Enopy wasted no time and went back to his caravan; he sat on his bed and thought.
"I know it may be rude for me to practically order Layen to train me, but I need every chance to get stronger. From what I saw from that old man, I know there has to be a rank stronger than magic knights. I would have asked about it, but my level must be too low. Or else, with Kaito's slightly eccentric personality, he would have explained it. Or… maybe they don't know. But that's unlikely given how calm they were," Enopy thought.
He walked outside and sat on a rock; he went silent and deployed his aura. He had learned how to use his aura while staying calm. Minutes later, the edges of his aura were dark; they broke off of the rest of his aura and turned into tadpole-like shapes that beamed towards him and fused into him. His aura and body were given a considerable boost that soon died down, but it grew a bit stronger. He repeated this process 150 times, which is his body's current limit.
He stood up and said, "System, what time is it, and how long have I been training?"
"It's 5:27. You have been training for 4 hours and 35 minutes," the system said.
"It's good that this world works on 24-hour time, but there is no sun. The Chiaroscuro particles make up for that by going from light to dark," Enopy thought as he scratched his chin.
"My time has gotten shorter; this is great progress. But my cultivation is not rising. I'm at the peak of the bodybuilder stage, and I need to become a magic knight before I get to the training facility. After all, out there is the most dangerous I'm going to get. It's the best chance to push myself to the limit and enter the ranks of magic knights."
"Zow!" Enopy shouted for Zow. He wanted to talk to her and understand something deeper—maybe even test his boundaries and clarity after his intense training.
Zow eventually appeared in front of Enopy; she noticed his serious expression and a wry smirk appeared on her face.
Enopy noticed her reaction and was sure she thought it was something else. He walked toward his caravan, and Zow followed as he expected.
They barely stepped inside before Enopy looked at her and said, "Sit down. I want to ask you something, and I need honesty."
Zow tilted her head but complied. Her eyes studied his face with curiosity.
"I'm aware that you're more than you let on," Enopy said.
Zow's demeanor shifted slightly. Her gaze sharpened.
"Your senses are better than I thought," she said with a dull expression.
Before Enopy could speak, she continued, "Before you act on anything you're feeling, let me explain. I am a professional healer. To cultivate, I use energy transferred through closeness and intent. That's my technique. All healers are given something like this and a new method at each rank up."
"I am rank three. A professional. After being in this job for a while, you get some skills. I'm able to tell exactly what someone wants me to say, to do, or to act. And I do it," she said as though it were just a normal part of life.
"So it was all an act," Enopy said calmly. He wasn't mad—he never expected anything different from people. In this universe, deceit was as common as air.
He kept these thoughts in his mind but let his curiosity take over and asked, "Where do healers get trained?"
"The magic council building. On the 8th floor. Layen missed that when he explained it to you. And so did—" She walked over to him and, without warning, ran a finger from the tip of his nose to between his eyebrows. "You."
He stepped back and pushed her away gently. "How do you fight? The cultivation journey is heartless. To get to your level—it couldn't have been all sunshine and rainbows," Enopy said with a cold expression.
She looked hesitant but still talked. "Poison. Despite being healers, most of us are assassins."
"But now that we're done with that, let's get back to it," she said, smiling vaguely as if the conversation had simply shifted.
She stepped forward again, but Enopy placed a hand in front of her, signaling her to stop. He had full control of himself now.
He walked to the door and opened it. Without anger, he said, "Not now. Maybe never." Then he stepped aside and gestured for her to leave.
Zow blinked in mild disbelief but didn't protest. She stepped out, naked to the cold, but didn't seem affected. Her expression turned unreadable.
Enopy didn't dwell on what had happened. Instead, he focused on a different thought—one he had buried until now.
He transformed his orb into a kimono. He wanted protection at all times. Underneath, he wore armor. He wouldn't trust Kaito so easily.
"He might have tampered with it or got someone to mess with it. Better be safe than end up carelessly dead," he thought, shrugging his shoulders.
He exited his caravan and saw Kaito. Kaito looked at Enopy, and Enopy felt Kaito's intrusive gaze; soon, Kaito looked away and said:
"No matter what effects your item has, remember—it is only a peak rank one weapon. Don't get cocky."
Enopy kept a straight face but let Kaito's words resonate in his mind and thought...
"So it's peak rank one. I couldn't tell. I only felt that it was powerful. But he's right—I can't let my judgment be clouded. And if he can sense it, then others can too."
He proceeded to say, "Where's Layen?"
Kaito pointed behind him without lifting his head.
Enopy sprang into the woods and thought, "What is Kaito doing? I don't sense his aura, so what is he doing there? It's not my business, but that sense of danger is following me everywhere. It's not getting stronger or lighter. Where is it coming from?" he said with a slightly disturbed expression.
He wanted to train during the day, but out of worry that they would move soon, he decided to train at night till morning.
He soon saw the figure of Layen. His aura was not deployed, so Enopy beamed toward Layen. His finger barely grazed him before Layen's figure disappeared.
"How!?" Enopy was genuinely confused. "This should only be possible in aur—"
He was stunned by the orange tint that appeared in his eyes and the clarity in his senses that awakened.
"Layen, come out!" Enopy shouted when he pulled himself back to reality.
Layen pulled back his aura, and his figure entered Enopy's sight. He gave Enopy no time to ask and said...
"It's a skill that every magic knight gets. You'll get it when you enter our ranks. It's kinda tricky for me to use right now since we're covered in Kaito's aura. Now let's get to training."
This left Enopy speechless. All he could muster up was, "Ok."
Soon after, his mind came out of its daze, and Enopy shouted, "Kaito's aura!?"
"Yeah. We've been in it since after the fight."
"That's where the sense of danger has come from... But he said since the fight. So maybe I first felt the danger from the bandits, and when they died, Kaito deployed his aura. It felt like the danger never stopped... No—I don't feel danger in Layen's aura, so does Kaito have hostile intent towards me? No—it would be way stronger than this faint sense of danger," Enopy thought, as his expression turned more and more confused.
"What is it? What?"