Onside, Mikael took his time to tour the room he would be living in for the foreseeable future. He leasantly surprised by how well-desighe ‘apartment’ looked. It exuded a luxurious vibe without being overly ostentatious, avoiding the excessive use of gold or other preetals.

  The apartment had two bedrooms—one serving as a guest bedroom and the other as the master bedroom. Both were furnished with spacious, fortable beds, which Mikael sidered the most importaure of any bedroom.

  It also included a modern bathroom, a cozy living room equipped with a coud a rge TV s, and a dining area featuring a sizable wooden table capable of seating multiple people. Finally, the st main area, apart from the training room, was the kit. It was fully equipped with modern appliances and ample ste space, ensuring all his ary needs were met.

  Mikael decided to skip the training room during his tour, knowing himself well enough to realize he’d be tempted to start training if he went in.

  As he finished expl, a self-depreg smirk crossed his face:

  ‘To think that my room here at the tral Academy, which is only temporary, is far better than my apartment ba the Records. That pce doesn’t even have a kit, and the worst part? I pay for it, while this one is free...’

  He sighed.

  ‘Yeah, it’s kind of depressing. But let’s not dwell on it too much—it’ll only annoy me for no reaso’s focus on what’s important.’

  With that, he approached the cou the living room, where a bracelet, a uniform, and a small booklet ced.

  He picked up the booklet and began to read. The first se expihe bracelet and its funalities. While iing, it didn’t provide muew information. However, when he reached the se about the uniform, he leasantly surprised.

  ‘Oh, the uniform is ented—. It has self-ing, self-repairing, and size-adjusting entments. Holy, these three may not seem like much, but they’re incredibly useful in everyday life. The enter profession seems really iing.’

  ‘Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to learn it. With all the subjects I’ve chosen, my schedule is packed. For now, learning about arrays is more important than enting. The two courses have overpping schedules, so I could only pie.’

  ‘Arrays are more crucial because, at a suffitly advanced level, I’ll should be able to create an array that gees aura and mana. This will allow me to keep growing my Aura and Mana Cores even after leaving this world!’

  Finishing his thought, he returo the booklet and reached the st se, which covered the Academy in general: its yout, how it funed, and the rules.

  He was surprised to learn about the existence of a Mission Hall where students could take on missions assigned by the Academy in exge for credits. He made a mental note of this before moving on to read about the rules. To his surprise, he discovered that fights between students, even outside of css, were implicitly allowed. While it wasn’t explicitly stated that such fights were permitted, there was no rule prohibiting them either.

  The only restris were that Aura and Mana couldn’t be used during fights, and students were forbidden from inflig severe injuries on others. Those found guilty of breaking these rules could face punishments ranging from credit fio expulsion.

  Once he fihe booklet and memorized all the information, Mikael turo the bracelet and strapped it onto his right wrist. The bracelet was bck, featuring a tactile s that offered various funalities. It could act as a credit card, key, ID card, map, and more. While some features resembled those of a smartphone, Mikael already had his iPhone, making the bracelet’s extras more of a ve bonus than a y.

  , he took the uniform and put it on. Standing before a mirror, he examined himself. The refle revealed a handsome young man with messy bck hair, pierg emerald eyes, and a lean, muscur build—not overly bulky, but well-defined, with visible abs.

  Mikael’s uniform exuded elegand practicality, seamlessly blending style with funality. The primary fabric ristine, matte white, symbolizing purity and excellence. Radiant gold ats traced along the seams, adding a regal and sophisticated touch.

  The upper part sisted of a fitted, long-sleeved jacket with a mandarin colr, desigo provide freedom of movement. The asymmetrical fastening used hidden buttons, while the academy’s embroidered crest—a stunning golden phoenix on a white background—glowed subtly on the left chest.

  Underh the jacket, he wore a moisture-wig, short-sleeved white undershirt, ideal for interaining sessions.

  The slim-fit trousers were made from magically enhanced fabribining flexibility and durability. Gold lining ran along the sides, plementing the jacket’s design, and reinforced kches ehey could withstand rigorous use.

  The shoes pleted the uniform. Sleek and lightweight, they were primarily white with gold ats along the edges and soles. Ented for enhanced grip, they were perfect for both physical activities and magical duels.

  The uniform's attention to detail extended even to the undergarments, which were crafted from a soft, breathable material to ensure fort during inteivity. plementing the look were moisture-wig socks in white and gold, both style and support while perfectly matg the shoes.

  After examining himself in the mirror, Mikael couldn’t help but think, ‘Holy, I look really handsome in these clothes.’ He then performed a series of quients to test the uniform’s flexibility and see if it restricted his range of motion.

  To his astonishment, wearing the uniform felt almost like being naked—not inappropriately, but in the sehat the fabric seemed to meld with him. Thanks to some kind of magical enha, the uniform didn’t hinder him at all. In fact, it felt eveer than modern sportswear!

  Once his quick test was done, Mikael gave the apartment a final go ensure he hadn’t fotten anything. Seeing nothing hy, he headed toward the room he was most excited about: the training room.

  Upoering, he found himself in a spacious area approximately 100 square meters in size. The walls, floor, ceiling, and even the door were made of a sleek bck stone, giving the room a unique aesthetic.

  What immediately caught his attention, however, were the tiny blue particles floating in the air. Normally, he could see aura and mana particles in the enviro if he trated, but here the tration was so high that they were visible without any effort. Of course, this didn’t mean just anyone could see them—his heightened senses, far beyond what a normal human could achieve, made this possible.

  The high tration of aura and mana didn’t surprise him much, though. He khat the room was equipped with a mid-grade Aura and Mana tration Array, an array that the name already said the effects. Not dwelling on it, Mikael immediately began his training.

  This time, he tio focus on trol exercises by creating multiple aura threads from his hands and attempting to manipute them. This type of training was incredibly effit, as it simultaneously improved his trol, pced a mental burden that enhanced his intelligeats, leveled up his Aura Threads Creation and Manipution skill, and boosted his Meditation skill duri periods. It was, as he liked to think, a ‘four birds with oone’ endeavor.

  As his aura became fully depleted, he received a notification—one he had expected, but not without surprise:

  [You have fully depleted your aura. Ambient aura in the air absorbed. Capacity increased by +7.5 aura (+50%).]

  The increase surprised him. Instead of the usual gain of 5 points, his capacity had grown by 7.5—a remarkable 50% boost in growth rate. This ued development filled him with hope. If he could reach a suffitly high level in array creation, he might design arrays capable of growing his cores at a rate equal to or even surpassing that of individuals with higher ialent!

  Fueled by this newfound motivation, Mikael tinued his training, this time creating mana threads. pared to aura threads, he found creating and trolling mana threads much easier. He had noticed this phenomenon before—mana seemed ily more manageable when used outside the body.

  Refleg on this, he thought, ‘It makes sense. Based on the knowledge provided by the background system, aura is more of an internal force desigthen the body. Using it externally is harder and less effit. Mana, oher hand, isn’t meant to reinforce the body but to manipute reality itself.’

  Satisfied with this line of reasoning, Mikael pressed on with his training, alternatiween aura and mana exercises throughout the night.

  …

  The M

  Mikael sat on the ground, his focus unwavering, as two threads extended from each of his hands. Each thread roximately 12 meters long and moved seemingly indepely in a mesmerizing dance.

  It was a beautiful sight: threads posed of glowing blue energy weaving through the air, crossing near each other yet oug. After a few moments, the threads came to a halt before vanishing, the energy returning to Mikael's body in a smooth flow.

  He remained motionless for a brief moment, then sighed and murmured, “Ahh, that was good training, but I should stop now. My first real css is about to start.”

  With that, Mikael headed to the shower. Though unnecessary—his magical uniform prevented signifit sweating and ed itself—he ehe ritual for its calming effect.

  As he stepped out of the shower, a thought struck him:

  ‘Now that I think about it, I havee. For me, it doesn’t really matter. With my vitality stats, I could go a week without food and still fun fine. But in this world, even high-ranking Rankers o eat regurly. They’re still human.’

  He paused, refleg on what he knew.

  ‘At least, that’s what I’ve learned from the life I’ve “lived” in this world. It’s on knowledge for the general popution, but maybe things are different for truly high-ranking Rankers. Do they require less food? I don’t know for sure—I don’t have any information about that.’

  Shrugging off the thought, he tinued, ‘Anyway, I’m just an F- Ranker, so I o eat to avoid raising suspi. If someone decided to iigate me, ing would definitely look strange.’

  He walked over to the fridge and ope, unsurprised to find it pletely empty.

  ‘Yep, just as I expected. No worries—if anyone asks, I’ll just say I was so excited to train using the array iraining room that I fot to eat. Still, I’ll o do some shopping after css ends.’

  Having reached this clusion, Mikael left his dorm room aed the building. Outside, he noticed the area was more poputed than the day before. He also caught glimpses of people gng his way and seemingly whispering about him.

  He pondered for a moment, ‘It’s probably because I’ve gai least some level of fame, as the first stage of the Famous quest pletion notification indicated. But there’s no point dwelling on it. Let’s foy first real css. I’m actually excited to see what I’ll learn.’

  After walking for some time and following the map dispyed on his bracelet, Mikael finally arrived at the where he had met Emily the day before. This was where his first css, The Ranker Path, would be held—taught by her than Emily Auror.

  The door opened, and Mikael stepped inside, drawing a few quices from his peers before they quickly lost i. He noticed that the room was far from full, which made sehere were 100 desks, but his group only sisted of 20 students. Choosing a seat he wall in the middle row, Mikael settled in and began passing the time on his phone.

  When the clock struck the hour, Emily rose from her desk at the front of the css and began to speak.

  "Hello, everyone. Before we dive into the subject of this course, I o address something else first. Yesterday, we took attendance, but that was the first and st time. The academy has a policy that ences freedom, which means we won’t chase after you if you decide to skip a css!"

  Her eyes sed the room before tinuing. "However, keep in mind that when exams e around, skipping csses regurly will make things signifitly harder for you. On the flip side, if you believe your time is better spent training, that’s your choice. Just remember: you’re here at the academy to learn, and skipping csses could be terproductive!"

  She paused for a moment, letting her words sink in, then resumed. "Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s start discussing rankers! aell me the different types of rankers?"