‘But do I care? No, I don’t.’ Mikael’s lips curled into a small, determined smile. ‘I’ve e to genuinely appreciate Amelia during the time we’ve spent together, and I’m determio “court” her. I don’t know if “court” is the right word—maybe “quer” fits better. Either way, we’ve grown signifitly closer in a short time, and I think that’s impressive sidering this is my first attempt at pursuing a woman. With Kiara, it was less about me quering her and more about her quering me,’ he thought with a rueful smile.

  ‘Anyway, back to the matter at hand—Wernon and the Digeglide family. I’ll remember this.’ His expression hardened, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes.

  Mikael then grabbed his phone and started researg his newfound enemies. He learhat the head of the Digeglide family, Favian Digeglide, owerful SS+ ranked warrior and Wernon’s father.

  Seeing this information, Mikael’s brows furrowed. He tinued his search but found little on Wernon beyond basion knowledge. ‘It seems the family is actively proteg his details. Nothing useful here,’ he thought with frustration.

  Ending his research, Mikael sighed. ‘I ’t afford to be careless. With an SS+ rank warrior as a potential enemy, who knows what else they might have hidden. And all this because of the jealousy of a young master. Looks like I’m stuck at the Academy until further notice.’

  He sighed again. ‘I doubt Wernon send assassins after me while I’m at the Academy—his head would roll for challenging royal authority. But the moment I step outside, it’s open season.’

  The situation was frustrating, especially since Mikael had just discovered a lucrative LP farmihod, only to lose the opportunity before fully exploiting it. Yet, this annoyanly strengthened his resolve. He ched his fists. ‘I o grow strohe strong are always right!’

  Initially, Mikael had po dey his breakthrough until his trol improved further wanting to maximize the gain, but he knew he could no longer afford to stay stagnant. This time, he barely defeated two D+ rank assassins in a grueling fight. ime, his enemies would undoubtedly be stronger, and as he was now, he stood no ce.

  He checked his energy levels:

  [Energy:Aura (Dirarnia World): F- Tier 534/534 → 540/540Mana (Dirarnia World): F- Tier 527/527 → 535/535]

  His core had grown slightly from the strain of the battle, but he could feel it nearing its limit, stretg to aodate each additional point above 500—a feat only possible because of his exceptional trol.

  He assumed a lotus sitting position and began reminisg. ‘So, what do I know about breakthroughs?’ He pced a hand on his , adopting a ptive expression.

  ‘From what Emily expined, breaking through involves densing your aura or mana core until it bees smaller, returning to its initial size. By doing so, you increase the density of your aura or mana, making it signifitly more potent.’

  ‘The potency gained from densing a core depends on two factors: talent and trol. These factors determine how muergy is lost during the process. Higher talent minimizes energy waste, aer trol ehe same.’

  ‘I’ve also learned a bit about major breakthroughs, but those don’t me for now. Let’s foy first breakthrough.’

  Just as he was about to start, a thought crossed his mind. “Uh, Records, could having injuries during a breakthrough be a problem?”

  [Answer avaible for 20 LP. Do you want to pay? Yes/No?]

  ‘Oh, 20 LP? How cheap. Wait—factor in the additional 100 LP I’ll be spending soon, and it’s not so cheap anymore what a ‘surprise’!’

  He sighed.

  “Fine, I’ll pay.”

  [Transa firmed. Answer: Being critically injured during a breakthrough be dangerous, as the process is physically taxing. However, minor injuries that are healing won’t cause any issues.]

  ‘Good to know.’

  Reassured, Mikael returo his lotus position and focused inward, direg his attention to the spaear his heart where his two cores resided.

  ‘Whie should I start with?’ After a moment of sideration, he decided. ‘I’ll go with the aura core—it’s the one I use the most.’

  Following the instrus Emily had given during the Ranker Path css, Mikael visualized his aura core. Once he had a clear image in his mind, he began anding the aura within to dense.

  At that moment, he could feel and partially see the aura particles colliding with each other, almost as if they were battling. Surprisingly, the sensation wasn’t painful as he had expected, though it was deeply uling. Ign the disfort, Mikael maintained his focus on the process, determined not to make any mistakes that could diminish his potency gains.

  He steadily guided the aura in his core, densing it as the core itself gradually shrank. The battling aura particles were forced to fuse together as the trag core left them no choice. This sario repeated across the entire core.

  After what felt like an exhausting effort, Mikael mao reduce the core to one-fifth of its inal size.

  At that moment, a notification appeared before him:

  [F- Rank Aura Core nearing breakthrough to F Rank Aura Core. Two options avaible:

  Gain +3 to all physical stats.Gain +1 to all stats.]Mikael halted the breakthrough process just before its pletion and carefully read the notification. He felt a bloated sensation emanating from his core, knowing he didn’t have much time to decide. Quickly, he chose the sed option: +1 to all stats.

  His reasoning was simple. ‘Physical stats bee progressively less impactful as I grow stronger, especially pared to the boost provided by the aura cloak. By enhang my SPI and INT, I’ll accelerate my learning speed and strengthen both my aura and mana.’

  However, the bes would be deyed, as his current stats were already at their limit. The ats would only be applied once he unlocked a higher stats limit.

  [Choice two firmed.]

  Mikael resumed his breakthrough process. Moments ter, a sudden boom echoed through the room as a wave of aura burst from him, behaving like a strong gust of wind.

  Unbothered by the otion, Mikael focused on the new notification before him:

  [Breakthrough from F- Rank Aura Core to F Rank Aura Core pleted. Aura potencreased by 62%.]

  Though he felt slightly fatigued, he decided to tinue and proceed with his mana core breakthrough.

  Forty mier, another shockwave rippled through the room.

  [Breakthrough from F- Rank Mana Core to F Rank Mana Core pleted. Mana potencreased by 61%.]

  Having successfully pleted both breakthroughs, Mikael exhaled deeply before smiling in satisfa and cheg his updated energy stats.

  [Energy:Aura (Dirarnia World): F- 540/540 → F 100/100Mana (Dirarnia World): F- 535/535 → F 100/100]

  He nodded in satisfa once more, pleasantly surprised by the potency gain, which was higher than he had expected—even sidering his level of trol. He attributed part of the improvement to his mage talent, which likely enhahe mana core breakthrough, and to his warrior talent, which probably aided the aura core.

  Having pleted a double breakthrough, he was in a good mood and wao train further. However, his body was still in pain, and he didn’t want to risk worsening his dition.

  Instead, he decided to train his trol again, reasoning that it would strengthen him in the long run. trol training was one of the few productive activities he could manage, especially sihere weren’t any csses scheduled for the day.

  He briefly sidered going to the training room but dismissed the idea, choosing io sit on the cou his dorm. With his current level of trol, the aura and mana he lost while doing the advanced trol puzzles was minimal. He knew he could train for aire day without eveing his reserves, so why bother sitting on the unfortable floor when a couch was avaible?

  Settling fortably, Mikael started his training. Having already pleted the 50th and final level of the puzzle previously, his new goal was to clear all the levels—from 1 to 50—in one tinuous attempt as quickly as possible.

  He set a timer on his phone and began.

  Time passed.

  “And… stop,” he said, halting the timer. He g the s and saw that 1 hour, 34 minutes, and 15 seds had epsed.

  ‘Pretty good, but I do better,’ he thought.

  Motivated, he resumed his training, steadily redug the time needed with each subsequent attempt.

  Hours passed this way. The afternoon turned into night, and the night int. By te m, Mikael stopped his training and headed to the Ranker Path css.

  The css covered some useful topics, but nothing particurly groundbreaking. Mikael only paid partial attention, preoccupied with pnning his future as, until Emily rannounced:

  “…On another note, you’ve probably noticed that the older students have started iing with you over the past few days. Starting today, club recruitment will also begin. These clubs are run by students and offer various activities, such as arts, painting, soccer, basketball, and simir hobbies. There are also bat-reted clubs, like dungeon diving, archery, mage theory, and more. I won’t list them all.”

  “These clubs are entirely optional, but if you’re ied, head to the main pza he cafeteria. There, you’ll find stands where uppercssmen are recruiting new members.”

  With those words, she dismissed the css. The students quickly got up, ready to leave and check out the clubs.

  Mikael also rose and made his way through the chatting students toward the front desks. He stopped near Amelia and asked, “Want to check out the clubs?”

  Reizing him, Amelia replied simply, “Sure.” She stood from her seat and walked beside him.

  Nearby, Aria noticed the iion and, seeing an opportunity, called out, “Amy, I e with you?”

  As she spoke, her thoughts raced. ‘Amy took my joke too seriously when I said she’d found her charming prince! Falling in love with a oner is a terrible idea. They’re so different from us nobles, and our worlds don’t mix well.’ She paused, pting the situation before reag a firm decision. ‘No, I o protect her!’ she thought with determination.

  Hearing this, Amelia felt a small wave of disappoi, which surprised her. She realized that she had been looking forward to spending time aloh Mikael. Refleg on her emotions, she aowledged that during their time together, Mikael had grown on her more than she had expected.

  “Amy?” Aria’s questioning voice broke her thoughts.

  Amelia snapped out of her introspe, her expression uorween wanting to spend time with Mikael and not wanting to disappoint her best friend, she turo Mikael with a look that silently asked for his opinion.

  Mikael, seeing the situation, held back a sigh and said, “Sure, no problem.”

  Aria beamed at his response, but Amelia’s ral expressiorayed a hint of dissatisfa.

  At that moment, another voice spoke, this time male. “Mind if I join too?”

  It was Lucas. Seeing the group, he decided to seize the opportunity to speak with Mikael and attempt to sway him to his family’s side.

  Lucas wasn’t particurly close to Amelia. He was only there because he was Aria’s fiancé, and Aria was Amelia’s best friend. Still, his presence was tolerated for that reason.

  Having already allowed Aria to join, Mikael couldn’t reasonably refuse Lucas, so he nodded iant agreement.

  The group left the , attrag the attention of nearby students who were drawn to the versation. Some whispered and exged curious g the unusual gathering as they moved towards the main pza.

  On the way, the group chatted with each other.

  However, "the group chatting" was a bit of an exaggeration; in truth, it was mostly Mikael and Amelia versing, with Aria occasionally chiming in.

  Soon, the four of them arrived at the main pza. It was a rge, open space bustling with students from various years. Numerous club stands were set up, each manned by uppercssmen and marked with signs indig which club they represented.

  The group began to tour the clubs, cheg out what they offered while engaging in casual versation. Mikael spoke with all three of them but primarily with Amelia, making her smile and even ugh occasionally.

  He didn’t talk much with the other two, mainly because they felt like third and fourth wheels. But also, Lucas gave him an uneasy feeling, almost like a snake lurking in the grass. As for Aria, though she was cheerful with everyone, Mikael noticed a haughty glint in her eyes whenever she spoke to him. Holy, she didn’t i him at all.