Rush stood in the western Academy grounds — Rins Arena, wearing his training uniform, his arms folded while Nia stood beside him.
Nia simply stood beside him, listening and composed, observing the surroundings.
Nobody was late. Rush had simply arrived early.
A few minutes later, a loud voice caught their attention.
"Rush! Nia!"
It was Slavic, noisy as usual. Rush had grown accustomed to his behavior by now.
He turned around.
"Slavic."
Just behind him, the Aetos twins — Patricia and Kurt — walked onto the training ground.
They had almost identical appearances. The same sharp facial features. The same dark hair.
The only difference was their eyes.
Patricia's were grey. And Kurt's were black.Patricia was older by a few minutes. She carried it like it was considerably more.
Kurt walked slightly behind her. At first glance, he appeared calm and composed.
They look strikingly similar, Rush thought.
The twins stopped a short distance away from the others.
Patricia spoke first.
"Hi everyone. Hi, Ryanheart."
Kurt greeted them as well.
Rush had seen Kurt many times but had never spoken to him. They had only exchanged casual greetings. But he had worked alongside Patricia in the Red King's hunt.
"Patricia. Nice to see you."
Rush paused.
"By the way, what happened to the Red King's core?"
"It ended up in the Academy Archives."
Slavic immediately added another detail.
"She's now in the Academy's history records as one of the very few first-years to defeat a C-rank monster."
Patricia rolled her eyes.
"It's just a stupid record. It's not like I defeated it on my own."
Rush listened quietly.
Then something caught his attention. Kurt was looking for a place in the conversation to enter.
"Kurt, I saw you during professor Claire's training sessions. You're very good with magic spells."
Kurt looked at him.
"Thanks."
He stepped closer.
Without anyone noticing, Nia took a small step as well.
"Your combat style is impressive."
Kurt's eyes brightened.
"How many combat styles do you use?"
Rush opened his mouth.
Kurt continued before he could answer.
"From looking at you, I can tell you can use more than daggers. How many weapons can you use? Who taught you all that?"
Patricia interrupted him.
"Kurt. Stop overwhelming him. Not so many questions at once."
"Sorry sis," Kurt said immediately. "Sorry, Rush."
"It's okay, Kurt."
Their conversation ended with Richard's arrival — Amber and Cristofer behind him, Rosetta Eldorawich following with her stopwatch.
Richard looked at Rush. His eyes always carried the same fierce intensity whenever they met with Rush's.
The training began.
It was divided into physical conditioning, mana control, and spellcasting. Most importantly, Rosetta focused on integrating all three into combat.
Everyone took their positions and began training under her guidance.
Rosetta was an excellent mentor—sharp, attentive, and constantly aware of everyone present.
She watched Rush particularly closely. She had every reason to. And why not? She knew about his fractured core, about the Khaos Blocker. And the fact that it was the only thing preventing his core from shattering completely.
Rosetta approached while Rush practiced mana manipulation. Mana gathered in his palm, forming various constructs. He focused on making them larger.
More realistic.
More physical than the raven he had created before.
"Rush. You're doing it wrong."
Rush looked up — confused.
"What?"
Rosetta lowered her voice.
"With the Khaos Blocker restricting your mana output, you'll never be able to use magic efficiently."
Rush frowned.
"So what can I do? It's not like I can control the Khaos Blocker."
"You can't control the Khaos Blocker. But you can control your mana."
She is right, boy, Beelzebub said.
Hmm.
Rosetta continued.
"Try suppressing your mana actively."
"What do you mean?"
"What you're doing right now is allowing mana to flow freely. The Khaos Blocker suppresses it by absorbing whatever reaches it. But the Blocker has a lower limit. It absorbs only when mana exceeds that."
She pointed toward his chest.
"When mana flows freely above the limit, the Blocker absorbs it indiscriminately."
Rush listened carefully.
"All you have to do is control the mana released from the core itself."
"I think I understand what you're saying."
He went silent for a second. Then :
"But how do I do it?"
"Focus inward. Feel the broken core. Feel the mana flowing."
She looked directly at him.
"Imagine mana as a river made of threads. Every strand of it."
Rush listened.
"Try weaving it around the damaged sections of your core. It will improve your control over both the core and the mana. Once you can do that, begin releasing mana in fractions."
Rush nodded, filing away every word.
"Yes. I'll try."
"It's not that simple, boy," Beelzebub said.
Rush ignored him.
And how does she know all this about fractured cores and mana?
"Did you forget who she is? She's an elf. If anyone would know, it would be her."
Then why didn't you or Grandma Elyse tell me?
"Because it isn't as simple as it sounds."
Beelzebub's voice became more serious.
"It requires immense focus and surgical precision when it comes to weaving mana around a core. And—"
And you thought I wasn't capable of doing it.
Rush wasn't particularly happy about that.
"No, child. It's not that you aren't able to do it. If you fail — it can be fatal. I don't recommend anything that could get you killed."
Rush said nothing. But thought:
It didn't recommend while taking control of my body.
"I could hear you, boy."
Rush exhaled slowly.
Rosetta gave one final instruction before moving away.
"For the next five weeks, you'll be doing that."
"Okay."
She moved on to Patricia, correcting her stance.
Rush immediately attempted the exercise.
He focused inward. Toward the damaged core.Toward the mana.
But nothing.
He tried again. Still nothing.
Again. And again. And again.
The training session eventually came to an end.
Rush picked up his daggers and walked back toward the dormitory with Slavic.
Slavic talked the entire way.
Rush barely heard any of it. His thoughts remained fixed on Rosetta's lesson.
After returning to his room, he freshened up and dropped onto his bed.
An hour passed in silence.
Then someone knocked on the door.
Rush opened it.
Jennifer stood outside.
He already knew why she was there.
"Give me a minute."
She nodded.
Rush grabbed his daggers. He rarely let them out of reach anymore. Not since the Phantom Sleeper.
Together they walked toward the quiet abandoned courtyard where Rush usually meditated.
Jennifer was there to help him with barrier magic.
If I could do what Rosetta suggested," Rush thought. "And actively control my mana output — stronger barriers. More stable ones.
"Yes. If you could released one- tenth of your total mana every second," Beelzebub said."You will be able to use spells with more efficiently."
One- tenth per second! Seems—
"Difficult right?"
Difficult but not impossible. And everything that's possible, I'll do it.
Beelzebub went silent as if Rush had said exactly what it wanted.
Rush continued with forming the barrier.
Jennifer told him to hold it longer. She imbued her hand with icy mana. With a flick of her finger, his barrier shattered.
Rush looked at her, dazed.
"Do it again," Jennifer said."Until it could stand a single flick."
Rush did it again — Spiritus Empodio.
But failed. Then again. And at his fifth try, he could hold the barrier formed a minute but couldn't stand the flick.
Jennifer showed him how to do it multiple times.
She was already able to form a two-layerd hexagonal barrier. It was strong enough to stand Rush's punch.
"Wow."
It was the only word he could think of. Beelzebub had commented on Jennifer's ability more than once. More than it had ever commented on Rush's.
They trained until the orange light of sun took over the Academy.
Not much improvement. But better than yesterday, Rush thought.
Jennifer seemed to agree.
Rush looked at her. Then at the sunset.
"It's time to go."
"See you at the dining hall."
They parted ways afterward.
Night arrived quietly.
Rush ate supper with his friends. Conversation about nothing important. Just friends talking.
Then he returned to his room. For him the day was not over yet.
He sat down at the oak desk near the window and began practicing his newly acquired ability—the frost control.
It was still far from reaching its full potential. But it was already more useful than most of the spells he knew. Not that he could use most of them properly with a fractured core.
Beelzebub guided him through every aspect of frost control.
Rush listened carefully.
Just like the Snow Lycan's Flash Step, the Phantom Sleeper's frost manipulation was now the part of him. Part of his biology. Part of his consciousness. Part of the Neuroverse.
And he was becoming more than just Rush Ryanheart.