Testing

"Now that all of you have formed your cores, you may have noticed that they are empty. I will teach you how to fill them with magical energy." Dwight rose from the arena floor.

"With the formation of the cores, I'm sure all you can feel the magical energy in the air, right? Close your eyes and activate your cores, imagine that they are drawing the energy inward, this step is extremely easy." Dwight said seriously.

With his eyes closed, Sebastian felt the energy in the air. He imagined that his core was sucking in and drawing in this colorless energy.

After some effort, energy entered the core and it began to beat rhythmically as if it had come to life.

Sebastian noticed that the moment the energy entered their core, it took on various colors. There were red, black and blue.

"You must have noticed that energies of various colors are in your cores, right? There are energies of various elements in the air. What you must do is expel all energy that is not red in color." Dwight spoke in due course.

Sebastian started to expel these energies, it was a little tricky at first, but he got the hang of it. After a few minutes, just a little reddish energy was filling the core.

When only one type of energy remained in the core, he started pumping magic energy throughout his body. Sebastian felt a warm flow through his limbs.

"Well, looking at your faces, it looks like you guys got the hang of it. You guys noticed that when there was only fire energy in its core, it started spreading magic energy all over its body, right? That's one of the core's functions, which is similar to the heart. It pumps this energy automatically and improves the quality of the body. Over time, you will be able to repeat what I did on the steel block. Also, the process of expelling other energies from the core is called refinement. will become part of your routine starting today." The young people's eyes lit up as they listened to the teacher.

"Great, to advance to Low Iron Rank, you need to fill one-third of the core with fire energy. With two-thirds of the core filled, you will reach Iron Middle Rank. With three thirds, congratulations. You will be in the High Iron Rank, the last level of Iron. It's that simple." Dwight paced back and forth.

"As you all learned to refine, I need you to strive and reach Iron Rank to proceed. You need to understand that you are now students of Burning Academy, and we will not be left with incapable people.

Of course, I will not be unreasonable. The first to reach Iron Rank will be rewarded by me with a big round of applause, hahaha. All right, you're excused, we'll meet two weeks later." Dwight laughed heartily.

The students gritted their teeth at Dwight's words and started to leave the arena as the sounds of conversation filled the place.

Sebastian and Sam got out of their wooden seats quickly, they were eager to refine the magical energy.

As they were about to pass through the great gate, a mocking voice came from behind: "Well, well. If it isn't our little Baron Sebastian Lennox."

Looking back, Sebastian immediately recognized the owner of the voice. He had pale skin, short black hair and a sassy expression on his face.

"Patrick, what do you want?" Sebastian crossed his arms with an unpleasant and surprised expression, he didn't realize that Patrick was in the arena.

"Nothing, I just wanted to know why you weren't in your little town milking cows and plowing the fields." Patrick scoffed.

Patrick is the eldest son of Earl White, who rules the city of York. This city is neighboring Sebastian's. He has already met Patrick a few times when his father visited the Count.

"Oh, the great Patrick White unexpectedly did not stay in his hometown to inherit his father's territory, but was sent to Burning Church Academy to study with a poor milkman, how unexpected. It's like your father doesn't like you..." Sebastian replied with a smile at the corner of his lips.

Hearing this, Patrick frowned a little. Sebastian touched her sore spot. As the eldest son, he should have been at his father's side, gaining experience and preparing to inherit the family's estate. Being sent to the Church means he's out of the game. Patrick gritted his teeth at the thought of that and his father.

"Unlike you, I will soon return to my city, my stay here is only temporary. In fact, I was extremely saddened when I heard that you were kidnapped by a cult, I almost cried for you. Those madmen didn't force you to do anything, right?" Patrick showed great sadness on his face as he sighed.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes and considered. "Another one who knows such information? Why would the clerics do that, don't they care about the victims? No, maybe they weren't the ones who leaked the information."

"Thank you for your concern. Do you seem to know a lot about my kidnapping?" Sebastian probed.

"I've only heard about it. You know, Sebastian. You need to be careful when you go out. Your daddy is no longer with you to protect you. Well, goodbye. I have to refine my core." Patrick walked out with a mocking look.

Looking at his back, Sebastian thought deeply.

"Sam, tell me. He's the one who told you the information. If you do, I'll tell you what happened in the forest." Sebastian turned to Sam, who had been silent this whole time.

"Yes, it was him. That was two days ago." Sam responded quickly.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes, two days ago was the time he arrived at the Academy with the clerics.

"He acquired this information very quickly..."

"Hey, now tell me what happened there. I already told you what I know." Sam cut his thoughts.

"All right, I was kidnapped by some cultists and taken to a dark forest. After that, they knocked me unconscious, hahaha." Sebastian nearly died laughing.

"Bastard!" Sam turned red with rage.

...

In his room, Sebastian opened his eyes and sighed.

"It's tiring." He has refined magical energy in the last three hours. It's an extremely boring process.

Looking at its core, Sebastian realized that it was far from full, magic energy only filling 3% of capacity.

"Looks like the professor didn't lie this time. With enough effort, I'll be able to advance to Low Iron Rank in one or at most a week and a half." Sebastian rose from the bed.

Today he will test the extent of his recently gained powers. Despite knowing how to use it as if he always had it, he doesn't know its limitations.

Placing a delicate, empty glass pitcher in the center of the room, Sebastian took three steps back, concentrated, and turned gravity into the area around the pitcher with full force. At the same time, he marked the time on the clock that hung on the wall.

With the sudden increase in gravity, Sebastian became aware that the glass jar had begun to shake and creak as if it were under great pressure.

Crack!

Suddenly, the pot broke with a bang! She held on for three seconds before she broke into several pieces. Her parts didn't spread out as expected, but were pressed firmly into the wooden floor. At the same time, Sebastian's power suddenly stopped.

"Hm? I don't feel out of energy… a limit? It seems like I can only increase gravity continuously for three seconds, interesting." Sebastian increased the distance to two meters from the remains of the jar.

"Let's see how far I can handle it." Sebastian focused again and this time tried to lower the gravity of the area around the broken glass and…nothing happened to them.

"What? In addition to the time limit, is there one away?" He scratched his head in confusion and returned to his starting position. Sebastian tried again. However, nothing happened.

"I understand, aside from the three-second limit for continuously manipulating gravity, there's a time slot for each use as well." Sebastian concluded.

After a few more tests, he found that he can only use the gravity field once every thirty seconds and at a distance of one meter in all directions. Throwing a shard of the glass upwards, he managed to bring it down with a little less speed, but the difference wasn't very noticeable.

"Probably won't have any bearing on a real fight..." Sebastian thought with a little pity.

After finishing the tests, he felt extremely tired, but it was mental, not physical fatigue.

"So that's it. It's pretty limited, but promising. I wonder what will happen when I reach Iron Rank..." Sebastian rubbed a hand over his chin and, exhausted, lay back on his bed to rest.