Chapter 7

When Hadeon opened his eyes, it took him a few seconds to understand where he was. He felt refreshed. When his eyes met the clock on the wall, he saw that it was still too early for breakfast. Still, he tried not to pay too much attention to the clock and got up. Though his head didn't hurt too much, he felt mentally exhausted, but this didn't mean he would give up his entire day.

'Excuses are always the biggest obstacles to success,' he thought, and he wasn't wrong.

He took his right hand in front of him and tried to focus on its meaning. After the ordeal he experienced with his left hand the day before, he didn't feel quite right about training with the same hand. He was used to the curse activating at random times and the effects it caused, but he still didn't think he had enough courage to use the same hand. When he saw that his thoughts were wandering in very different places, he slightly furrowed his brows. He should focus on his mana, not on what happened yesterday. Yesterday would remain yesterday, and there wasn't a single power that could change that, while the present and the future were entirely in his hands. They were made up of his choices. The real question was which choices would lead him to his ideal future? Or what would his ideal future be?

'What exactly am I hoping for from the future...?'

When he asked himself this question, the answer he received was acceptance. He wanted to be like everyone else. When he went somewhere, he wanted smiles and friendly waves, not whispers and rumors about him. What should he do for this? Of course, he should become stronger and show everyone that he is not the person they think he is.

He sighed and started to change his clothes. There was a wardrobe in the room with the clothes he would wear during his training. He took one and put it on, then left the room to go to the training area. He wandered around a bit to find the training ground. Except for the singing of the birds, there was no other sound, as it was still early. It was clearly a very peaceful environment, of course, if Karaş's grumbling was ignored. When Hadeon entered the training ground, he shivered a little. It felt strange that it was so empty, but he tried not to focus on this small detail and started training with a light jog. This jog, which he had initially planned to be 'light', eventually turned into a test to push the limits of his endurance. His body was burning from sweat, he was struggling to keep his breathing regular, and he was forcing his numbing legs to move. At some point, he decided to stop running because his swollen spleen would no longer allow him to run further, and he took a short walk. His legs felt like spaghetti. But at least he could still walk, so there was no problem.

He continued training for a few hours. After the training, he took a quick shower and checked the time. It was time for breakfast. Reluctantly, he walked towards the cafeteria, but was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder and immediately went into defense mode. Fortunately, the first thing he did when he turned around was not to throw a punch, but to examine the person who had poked him. It was Izel. Hadeon knew the child's intention was not this, but he couldn't help his momentary shudder.

"Hadeon?" Izel said in a monotonous but questioning tone. "Did I scare you?"

No, I was just lost in thought.

"Well, whatever you say."

The two continued their way to the cafeteria in silence. Since they had met, there seemed to be an unspoken agreement of silence between them. Aside from certain dialogues, they spoke so little that any conversation was more regressive than the silence. Neither of them spoke until they entered the cafeteria. There weren't many people inside, and most of the children were practically sleeping on their feet, so they had no problems with either food or gossip. They approached the man behind the counter and took a meal for breakfast. Hadeon had chosen a classic meal with not much in it. Izel, on the other hand, had decorated his tray according to his own taste and followed Hadeon to the table they would sit at. Their breakfast also passed in the usual silence. As the minutes passed, the cafeteria began to fill up, so the two quickly finished their meals, turned in their trays with the dirty dishes, and rushed out of the cafeteria. Everyone would be gathering in the training area in half an hour anyway. The two sat down in the training area and waited for the time to pass. During this time, Izel took a box out of his bag. When he opened it, Hadeon saw the tiny cakes inside. They seemed to have different aromas. Izel took the chocolate-flavored one for himself and handed the white-layered one to Hadeon.

"Eat."

Hadeon responded after looking at Izel and the cake in his hand for a few seconds.

Thank you.

Although Izel is sometimes really weird, Hadeon found his eccentricities interesting. However, this child, whose behavior was completely the opposite of most people, was really confusing him. When Hadeon took a bite of the cake, he realized it was lemon-flavored. To be honest, it was one of the best things he had ever eaten. After taking a few more bites, the cake was finished. It wasn't a very big thing anyway.

"Did you like it?" Izel asked. He seemed to genuinely wonder if Hadeon liked the cake.

Hadeon smiled in response and nodded up and down. Seeing this response must have made Izel happy, as the corners of his lips lifted slightly.

While they were waiting, a few more trainees had entered the training area. Time didn't seem to be passing at all. Fortunately, this waiting ended with the arrival of the remaining trainees and trainer Arran. Arran was quite late for the start of the training. Nevertheless, with his indifferent and relaxed attitude, he was surveying the children, further delaying the training.

"Everyone gather up! As students of Training Area 4, you will start with endurance training today, and then sword training!"

While surprise appeared on the children's faces, Arran was grinning. A brown-haired girl from the trainees asked:

"But sir, aren't we just trainees? Training with real swords... Isn't that a bit too much?"

Approving voices rose from the children. Many of them thought this was an exaggerated training. After all, if you give a group of children who have never held a weapon before real swords, the only thing they can do is injure themselves or cause a mess.

"Who said you would be using real swords?" Arran said. As he walked towards a closet-like room in the corner of the training area, a pile of wooden swords fell in front of him as he opened the locked door.

"You will be using these wooden swords. After all, this will only be a technical training."

While satisfied murmurs rose from the trainees, a few people had a visible disappointment on their faces. Looking closely, these people were heirs of the main bloodline families of the Phasnis clan. This meant they had already received basic training. They had probably hoped to work with real swords, but these dreams had been dashed.

"What are you waiting for! Start running! Those who want can also use the equipment in the indoor hall," Arran called out as he left.

With Arran leaving almost as he had come, the trainees hesitated for a moment, but with a few people taking the lead, everyone scattered to do their own training. Izel and Hadeon were no exception. The duo preferred to go to the indoor hall and do weight training. On the other hand, the rest grabbed the wooden swords after a short run and were clumsily swinging the swords into empty space. Some were even trying to duel each other. Who could blame them? They were just eleven-year-old children.

So the children spent hours in the training area. Of course, many of them got tired and went to the cafeteria to slack off. While about eight people continued to train with the wooden swords, four people, including Izel and Hadeon, had just finished their training in the indoor hall and taken their wooden swords. Hadeon took one of the wooden swords that fit his height and weighed it in his hand. It wasn't as heavy as he thought, but he knew it was lighter compared to a real sword. Not because he couldn't lift a real sword, but because it would be harder to move quickly with a heavier sword. Still, without dwelling on this, he started swinging the sword in the air. At first, the position and movement felt very strange since he had never done this kind of training before, but as he swung it, he started getting used to it. The sword was slipping a bit in his sweaty hands, making his task even more difficult. But Hadeon had no intention of stopping. As he continued to swing the wooden sword, he glanced at Izel out of the corner of his eye. The lavender-haired boy was in the same state as him. The endurance and strength training had exhausted them, but that was the whole point. If they became sword masters in the future and dropped their swords just because they were sweating, it would be truly ridiculous. He tried to focus his thoughts on the sword. He wasn't very successful, because there was a subject that had been bothering him for a while. Karaş had been silent all day, and this was certainly not a good sign. The God of Darkness must be planning something. Raksa had taught him that people say "silence before the storm" in reference to this situation. This was definitely the definition of Hadeon's current state...