With the mana awakening test being finished, the formal training in the training camp had finally drawn to a close. After that, each child went on and left for their second training camp.

Those who did not have a single shred of talent for mana awakening were sent back to where they had been while most of them decided to head for the army’s training camp. They would train there for another 3~4 years before moving to the frontlines to support the troops at the rear. The children who lit up a blue light, just like Jaiden, were sent to the military academy. 

Fortunately, Jaiden’s academy opening ceremony was just right around the corner so he was able to go there right away. Otherwise, he would just be like the other children who would stay at the training camp for additional training. The children would train as they waited for the academy’s opening and would only be picked up when it was time. 

“Bye. See you later.”

“Yeah.”

Jaiden sat in his room alone. He felt a bit lonely after sending off the last remaining child of his team. Since he was being sent to the farthest place, he was left waiting alone. After a few more days of waiting, he was also ready to leave for the Northeast. 

There were about thirty children that were waiting when Jaiden arrived but there was not a single person that was the same age as him. All of the kids waiting were older than Jaiden. However, they were still around 13 years old. None of the children went beyond that age. 

‘Are you saying that one has to reach the 2nd Stage by the age of 13?’ 

Remembering the words of Lieutenant Colonel Milwaukee, Jaiden was able to draw his own conclusions. It seemed like the requirements for eligibility to apply to the Northeast was determined by talent again. In other words, even if one had awakened their mana, they still needed to raise their level to join the Northeast Academy. Because of that, only those who had reached the 2nd Stage by the age of 13 were qualified for application. 

“You’re a bit young?” 

“Wow, you got picked right away?” 

“Amazing.” 

A knight came in just as everyone was murmuring about Jaiden. As soon as the blue-haired knight came in, the commissioned officers immediately sensed that the man was going to assess the children’s level. His aura was usually sharp but he looked like he was deliberately keeping his momentum and hiding his aura.

“More than 30 people… there are quite a lot of people gathered here. Nice to meet you. I’m Sky Renz. I belong to the 2nd Knights Division under the Northeast Command. I volunteered for the job since I want to personally greet my juniors.”

‘Sky Renz!’

In his previous life, Sky Renz was someone who had made it to the master level. One of the few people who had survived in the Northeast in his previous life was now standing in front of him. He was called an elite at this point in time but his talent would still explode later. 

‘He’s someone who can easily go over the 5th Stage at this point so why…?’

Jaiden couldn’t understand why he did something like this but he still remained calm. He knew that he was someone who was as talented as his youngest brother so he did not need to be a poor errand boy. 

“In fact, I’m already planning on going to the frontlines but I was also assigned to this mission. I know that everyone is a bit nervous but I hope that everyone doesn’t get scared too much. After all, the Northeast is still a place where people still live.”

Sky Renz spoke with a happy expression on his face as he took the trainees and headed straight towards the Drake Tower. Unlike other places that used warp gates or carriages to move from one place to another, the Northeast traveled by riding drakes. 

“Uwooooo…”

Some of the children were scared to tears while others were stunned by the strong wind as they rode the drake. Even though they could use their mana, they were all lost and out of their minds from the aerial monsters that popped out and attacked from time to time. What was worse was that it was not even small monsters that popped out but scarily huge monsters. 

Sky Renz grinned when he saw the children’s frightened state after landing on the Northeast’s Drake Tower. Then, he spoke to them.

“Let me formally introduce myself. I am Sky Renz. I will guide you to the Academy. I am also the examiner that will determine whether you’re eligible to enter the Academy or not.” 

All of their eyes widened when they heard Sky Renz’s words. Jaiden was not that surprised since he had heard some information beforehand. But the rest of the kids couldn’t adjust when Sky Renz’s eyes turned sharp. After all, he looked like he was a good and amiable person when he first picked them up.

“Your test is easy. Starting from the Drake Tower, you need to get to the Academy located over the ridge. I’ll take care of the dangerous monsters myself but I won’t stop the rest.” 

The pupils of the kids shook wildly after hearing Sky Renz’s words.

It seems like there aren’t that many people who have an actual experience. The oldest is around 13 years old, I think?

But he needed to test the children’s levels. However, the kid’s eyes were shaking at the thought of going through an actual battle. 

“Make it to the Academy alive. That’s the test that you will be taking.”

Sky Renz left those words as he took the lead and went down the tower.

They could see some soldiers giving a salute from time to time. 

“Just like you, all of the soldiers that have been deployed here have been trained at the training camp. All of them are talented and could be considered to be as good as a knight. Right?”

“That’s right.”

Sky Renz grinned when Jaiden answered.

“By the time they get discharged from the military, all of them will become elite non-commissioned officers. So I hope that you don’t become too arrogant and ignore the non-commissioned officers and soldiers after you become a commissioned officer. What I’m saying is that they’re not beginners but veterans.”

Sky Renz spoke about his experience. He willingly gave pieces of advice that were worth their weight in gold to his juniors that would definitely make mistakes later in life. Perhaps they were still unaware of the importance of his words since they were walking with their heads in the clouds but these pieces of advice would be a great help to them later when they were living the life of a commissioned officer. 

“I know that it’s the same for the others too but there are many people who choose rangers over knights in the Northeast Academy. After all, you won’t need to actively swing a blade since you can support with high-quality weapons from the back. Thanks to that, it’s quite hard to recruit knights every time.”

Sky Renz expressed his regrets to the kids that were following him. 

“It would be good if there were aspiring knights among my juniors but just think of it as my passing words.”

Sky Renz increased his pace as he mumbled under his breath.

Just like that, they easily left the vicinity of the tower as they entered the mountainous terrain. He just walked through the forest in a straight line. If there wasn’t a path in front of him then, he would just create a path. With just a light swing of his sword, the tall grasses that blocked their way were easily cut off. This created a path in front of them in just an instant. 

“Heok… heok…”

“Hoo… hoo…”

All of the kids were breathing heavily as they used their mana to support them. 

‘But it will be harder if I’m going to use my mana this early…’

Jaiden was also struggling but he could still bear this much so he just endured with his body instead of using mana. He could see that those who were around three or four years older than him were also refraining from using their mana as much as possible. They looked like they had a bit of experience so they were trying their best to endure.

And it seemed like Jaiden’s judgement was correct.

―Kyaack!

“A lynx? No, why is it so big?!”

“Where did the knight go?!”

“Are we supposed to deal with that?”

It was not just one or two but there were quite a few that jumped after the children. Sky Renz had already slipped away from them as he observed how the children would cope with his Hawk’s Eyes.

Under the observation of such an examiner, Jaiden silently pulled out his steel sword. The sword was dull but if it was just based on his physical strength then it was more than enough for him to beat them to death. Following Jaiden’s lead, the rest of the kids also started pulling out their steel swords. 

Although the creature in front of them was a mutant lynx, all of them were still people who had awakened their mana. There were too many of them to be intimidated by just a few lynxes.

Jaiden was the first to run out. He immediately went after the lynx that targeted one of the scared children.

Then, when the others finally found their composure, they immediately ran out in fear that their thunder would be stolen. Since this was a test, they realized that everything that they did here would be reflected on their scores. After realizing this fact, the children, who were just cowering in fear, began to move. It seemed like the thought of getting a better score had helped them overcome the fear, even if it was just for a bit. The people who had been gathered here were too talented to be frightened by just a few wild animals. 

However, this was just the beginning. From here on out, monsters and mutant creatures at the same level as the children would be waiting for them. 

As this thought crossed Jaiden’s head, he quickly stepped back to conserve his strength after he killed the first mutant. 

When Jaiden stepped up first, the rest of the children overcame their fear as they pulled out their steel swords and beat up the wild animals that blocked their path. After getting beaten up from all sides, the lynxes started to die one by one. 

Sky Renz appeared once again when he confirmed that the few lynxes that appeared had died. 

“Pretty good, juniors.”

Sky Renz glanced briefly at Jaiden before moving ahead. Another mutant appeared after they had walked for a while but they easily dealt with it. After experiencing it once, the children began to ease into their roles. 

But this time, Sky Renz did not wait for them. He continued to walk slowly. If they did not take care of things quickly then they might get left behind by Sky Renz. Jaiden continued to follow Sky Renz while dealing roughly with the wild animals that rushed to him. He did not know if the others had noticed this but the kids started to focus on following their comrades instead of dealing with the wild animals completely. 

“Heok… heok…”

“Hoo! Hoo!”

It did not matter if their mana had awakened, they were still children whose bodies were still undeveloped. Unlike Sky Renz who was walking leisurely at a slow pace, the children began to get tired. After all, they were walking while dealing with the wild animals that attacked them. Furthermore, the situation began to get worse. Small monsters started to attack the children.

When a flock of mutant birds started to attack them, Jaiden was the first to jump in the air and stepped on a tree to attack them. Several birds fell down after being attacked by Jaiden. The other kids followed him and attacked the birds instead of just swinging their swords blindly from below. Some of the kids also gathered together as they threw stones at the flocking birds. But doing that clearly had a lot of restrictions. Eventually, some of them suffered from minor injuries. 

Since they were beginning to get injured on top of being still weak and small, the children found it difficult to keep up with Sky Renz even though he was walking slowly. 

‘Are you trying to look at our spirit and will?’

It seemed like he was testing whether they could move forward and endure the test just like they did during their training in the training camp so Jaiden had to grit his teeth and move even though he was also starting to get physically tired. However, he felt like it was not that difficult since he went through the same kind of hardship in his previous life.

The amount of wild animals that attacked them  

As they continued to climb the mountain, more and more of the animals attacked them. Even the intensity of their attacks had increased significantly. Thanks to the mana fog in the area, the skins and hides of the mutated animals had grown tough. It was as tough as that of a monster’s so it got harder for the kids to kill them. 

And finally, a creature that could be called a real and legit monster had appeared in front of them. 

“Is that… a gnoll?”

The gruesome monster had the head of a dog but it was walking on two legs. Calling it a gnoll seemed to be correct. And thanks to its nature, there was no way that such a monster was walking around on its own. 

When dozens of such monsters appeared in front of them, Jaiden’s hold on his sword tightened. Even the other children that were frightened from their appearance grabbed their swords tightly.

An extremely tough battle was ahead of them.

***

Notes:

[Gnoll] – feral humanoid monsters. They have the head of a hyena and would attack without any warning. Thanks to the nature of hyenas, they tend to move in packs.

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