Everything was going well.

Reivan's plan was quite simple. He would jump diagonally upward as high as he possibly could, then use shields nailed in place by his [Formless Will] as a makeshift set of stairs. With this, the problem of moving while maintaining focus on using his ability was solved — he merely had to rely on forward momentum and gravity to move, with minimal effort on his part as well as minimal contact with his unreliable footholds. On his way down, his mind would be freed up, leaving him enough time to retrieve and rematerialize his Soul Armament at an appropriate spot.

Then he would just have to nail that shield in place and repeat the process.

Sure, Reivan's head felt like it would release steam any second now and his clothes were soaked with cold sweat, but he'd make it to the central platform if he kept going at this pace.

If he hadn't just missed a step, he would have been home free.

"Ah!" Reivan exclaimed as he quickly materialized another circular shield on the spot he was falling to. Once on, he quickly tried to regain his balance.

However, the shield didn't give him enough time; it quickly started to drop with him on top of it.

Making a split-second decision, Reivan made the Soul Armament disappear and reappear a few meters below its original spot, using it as a foothold to leap forward as much as he could. He once again tried to stabilize himself, and luckily succeeded. Before it started to plummet, Reivan hastily hopped forward.

'Fuck...'

Reivan inwardly cursed, despite having recovered from the hiccup. After all, he'd lost quite a lot of altitude from that blunder. Now, Reivan wasn't quite sure if he could still make it. Plus he'd lost momentum, meaning he had to rely on himself more — which was not ideal, since he needed to focus on maintaining his footholds.

'Damn, that means I wouldn't have made it without [Reckless Endeavor] either...'

Shaking his head to clear his mind of useless thoughts, Reivan focused even harder. If he still wanted to make it, he'd have to push past his limits, increasing the length of time he could freeze the shields in place.

'But I even used up my lifespan for this much, so how the hell am I going to improve even more...? Am I actually fucked here...?'

As Reivan made it to another foothold, he gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists — once again, he'd almost given in to pessimism. Blood from his hand danced in the air behind him as he leaped forward for the umpteenth time.

'It's just a few dozen meters...! I can do this!'

"I'm gonna make it!" Reivan roared a prayer that shook the air as he stepped onto the next foothold. This time, however, he didn't intend to use it to descend. His leg muscles screamed in protest as they bent like bows, charging up tremendous power.

Surprisingly, his Soul Armament stayed in place for a full second, as if it was respectfully waiting for Reivan to finish with what he was doing.

Having gained enough time, Reivan released the force he'd been saving up, flying across the air like an arrow. With hope, it would be enough to reach the platform floating proudly — almost mockingly — in the middle of the lake.

His knees felt like they were encased in molten steel, and his calves were numb, but he didn't care as long as he succeeded. If he couldn't make it with this jump, Reivan didn't know what else he could do.

Placing his fate in the hands of his desperate leap, Reivan mentally prepared himself to curse like the filthiest sailor or yell in triumph.

The cold wind rushed past him as he hurtled through the air, his eyes fixed on the platform ahead. He could see the surface of the lake rushing up to meet him, and for a moment, he feared that he wouldn't make it.

And his fears were well founded since if he did nothing, he really would fail. In fact, his landing point would be so far away from the platform, he honestly wondered why he'd placed so much trust in the jump he just did. Sadly, he didn't have time to beat himself up over it either.

'Son of a...!'

As he hurtled towards the water, Reivan knew that he had to act fast. He summoned his Soul Armament a few meters above the water, focusing his [Formless Will] on it. With that as a foothold, he dived face-first toward the platform.

Still, his legs having used up most of their strength, he wasn't able to reach very far.

In the end, Reivan would still fall into the lake.

"AHH!" Reivan yelled as he made yet another shield. But this time, he used his hands to "step" onto it. His arms trembled from the strain of trying to kill his forward momentum and maintaining an awkward handstand. Just before he lost control of his shield, Reivan's arms burst with energy as he did a forward flip.

The world in Reivan's eyes spun a few times before he felt his feet make contact with solid ground. He hastily tried to steady himself with whatever stamina he still had left.

'Ah. I did it...?'

Feeling slightly dazed, Reivan took a second to assess his situation. But the fact that he hadn't sunk ten feet underwater despite being in a daze for even just a second, was a clear indication of his success.

'Holy shit! I did it! Let's go...!'

Reivan stood there with his head hung low for a moment, panting in exhaustion, but he had succeeded. Although it was a close call, he'd avoided failure and completed his task. He looked around, taking in the view of the lake and the surrounding stone walls. Finally, he felt a sense of accomplishment wash over him.

Of course, he knew that his training was not over yet and that there were more challenges to come. But for now, he was content to bask in the triumph of this accomplishment.

"Hehe..." Reivan chuckled. He knew that this moment would be etched in his memory forever, and he couldn't wait to tell his family about the tale of his incredible feat. In fact, there was a nasty old man in the room who would serve as the perfect person to hear his boasting.

Looking up, Reivan didn't see a bald man in white robes. What he saw was a massive orb of white light.

'Hmm...? Wasn't that the light source buried in the ceiling? What's that doing down here...?'

It was then that Reivan noticed a lack of response from his legs. And with that, he realized that his knees had given up on him and he was currently falling backward, right into the water.

"AHHH! FUUUUUCK!" Reivan yelled louder than he'd ever yelled before.

'NO NO NO! I'm not failing after all that shit! Oh god, no! Everyone's gonna laugh at me! Hell, I'll laugh at me!'

Time seemed to slow as he squirmed mid-fall, instinctively trying to turn around to see the cause of his impending doom. But the last bit of defiance within him made him swipe his right hand sideways with all the force he could muster.

[Reckless Endeavor] responds to your overwhelming determination!

⚠Warning⚠

Greater power comes at a cost!

Your Lifespan has been further decreased by a year!

[Formless Will]'s effectiveness will be boosted by +1000% for 10 seconds!

As if in response to his will, a significant amount of water was instantly pushed to the side. Naturally, the water closest to him was also displaced, buying him some time before he fell into the water and failed the challenge he thought he'd already won.

'Oh my god! I just pulled a "Moses"!'

Reivan was elated over the unexpected outcome, but he wasn't pleased about reducing his lifespan by another year. Still, as long as he reached that realm, a little loss of lifespan didn't matter.

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'But more importantly...!'

Not wanting to waste any more time, Reivan made another foothold with his Soul Armament. However, he truly couldn't muster up any more strength to move. Even though he'd thought the same thing numerous times before, he was still able to move in the end, but this time, he truly, truly could not move anymore.

As such, instead of using the foothold as a foothold — or in this case, perhaps "handhold" was more apt — he instead had the shield rush towards him, ramming straight into him.

"Grk!" Reivan made a strange sound as he felt the blow from his strengthened [Formless Will] throwing him upward. His self-inflicted attack took his breath away. Literally, since his lungs were begging for air after he'd openly received a punch to the gut.

'Heh.'

Despite the pain assaulting him, the tightness in his chest, and the blood rushing to leave his body via his mouth, Reivan couldn't help but smirk. As expected of his boosted [Formless Will], he was sent flying in the air so high and far, Reivan was absolutely sure he'd succeeded Donovan's challenge for real.

'A bit less impressive than I would've liked, but a win's a win. Plus, I probably set a record for the fastest time to complete this challenge, right?'

Reivan was convinced of this. After all, there was no way someone else did it faster than him — who had access to all sorts of abilities. In fact, he was sure that this challenge was meant to beat a cadet's confidence to the ground by causing them to fail their first task.

'You better have a bunch of compliments ready, old man!'

The impact from the landing that he was expecting never came, and soon, Reivan found himself floating a few inches from the central platform's floor.

"Took you long enough." Donovan drolly pulled Reivan out of his musings while standing nearby, his arms crossed in front of his chest. With a light wave of his hand, the mysterious force keeping Reivan afloat disappeared, making him fall to the ground. "Don't you have the ability to reproduce medicine effects? Go and fix yourself up before your parents have to plant a tree for you. We've got enough of those damn trees."

The utterly exhausted Reivan grimaced from Donovan's rough treatment and turned his head to the right while lying down on the cold floor. After spitting out some blood, he went ahead and healed himself with [Drug Memorization]'s [Effect Reproduction].

Sub-Skill #1:

[Effect Reproduction]

Can reproduce the effect of any drug that this unit has [Memorized].

Can also increase or decrease the potency of its effects.

After using his convenient ability to reproduce the effects of the Beast King's Ichor, Reivan felt all of his physical fatigue disappear. His muscles also regained their vigor, and even his self-inflicted injuries — although not serious — were healed instantly.

"Haah..." Reivan sighed while basking at how useful [Drug Memorization] as a whole was. If only he could activate it as effortlessly as [Supreme Insight] or [Essence of Falsehood], he might have been able to use it to complete the challenge easier.

'Too bad I can't really do that while focusing on moving stuff I'm touching...'

"It's good that you're fine. Because we're not done yet." Donovan snorted while looking down at him. "We haven't even started training yet, I'll have you know."

"...Right." Reivan stood up with a bitter expression on his face.

'Would it kill you to congratulate me or something...?'

Still, the balding man was right. They hadn't even started the actual training yet.

Reivan decided to keep his bitterness in check for now. He didn't come here for praises and compliments. What he wanted out of Donovan was for the alleged "best knight producer" in Aizen to help him get his ass in shape, not for the old bastard to kiss his ass.

"What do I have to do, then?" he asked. "Also, it's getting pretty late... Do we even have enough time?"

"Of course we do." Donovan rolled his eyes in a way that made it clear how fed up he was. "You'll fail in no time. Mark my words."

Reivan defiantly glared at the man's wide back. If looks could kill, maybe the bald bastard would... well, he'd likely only feel a light prick on the back of his head.

'I can't wait to see the look on your face when I ace whatever task you have in store for me...'

His previous triumph had already left his head. Now, all that occupied his mind was proving his teacher wrong.

----------------------------------------

"Right." Donovan crossed his arms as he floated directly above the middle of the platform. "Let's get this over with quickly. I'm quite hungry. Now, go stand over there."

"Yes, sir." Reivan obediently moved toward the center of the indoor island, eager to start his next task. "Now, what?"

"I'm getting to that." The old man snapped impatiently, his lips curling up into a sneer. "You're quite eager to go home and tell your mother about how you failed? I'll help you with that."

'Fuck off...'

If Donovan noticed the grimace on Reivan's face, he did not show any signs of doing so. With his palm facing the ceiling, he slowly raised his right hand as if lifting something up.

And as if obeying his non-verbal command, the water around the platform rose to form a thick wall that reached twenty meters in height.

"Your task is to not get hit by the ice shards that will come at you from nearly every direction." Donovan gestured around him, at the wall of water. "You cannot ask for help from anyone. The use of the Soul Armament's energy is also prohibited, but you can still use the armament itself, albeit only as a sword. Naturally, you cannot ask your bond for help as well."

Reivan marveled at his surroundings. The wall was in constant motion, rapidly rotating as it isolated him and his bald instructor from the rest of the room. Although he had no particular intention of doing so, he was convinced that his tiny prepubescent body would be ripped to shreds if he tried to jump through.

Suddenly, a question popped into his head.

"Sir, I thought you didn't have any elemental affinities...? So, how..."

"I'm here to train you. Educating you is your scholarly guardian knight's duty." Donovan's expression was indifferent as he said this, but after a moment, he sighed. "But I suppose it's fine to tell. Listen well, since I despise having to repeat myself. Despite how it seems, I don't particularly like the sound of my own voice after all."

"Yes, sir." Reivan nodded eagerly.

"Hm." After nodding in satisfaction at his student's attentiveness, Donovan explained, "All beings have roughly the same amount of magic power within them, but the efficiency of that magic power varies from person to person. And as long as you have enough magic power, you can manipulate phenomena to a certain extent. One can summon a small flame, create some water, or conjure wind from one's fingertips."

The young prince's eyes widened as he watched his teacher demonstrate one by one.

'Magic...'

There was something strangely thrilling about that word. Reivan's heart thumped loudly in excitement — all while he imagined himself shooting lasers out of his eyes or breathing fire from his mouth.

"Affinities, on the other hand," Donovan continued, "help make controlling that particular element much easier. And not just by a little, no. For example, let's say that I need a ten-foot pillar of ice. Now let's say that we have two people who are exactly the same, except one of them has the Ice Affinity. If the one without the affinity had to use a hundred units of energy, the one with the Affinity would only have to use one unit."

Reivan gaped at the disparity between those with affinities and those without.

"So aside from the fact that those with affinities can manipulate their elements with just a thought, they also required less energy to perform magic or martial arts that use that element. That's all, really. To answer your question, a lack of affinities does not necessarily mean that one cannot perform magic. It's just that those with affinities can use it more efficiently, and at a larger scale. As I'm sure you're aware, I'm an Ascendant. I have access to a higher form of energy called essence — which gives me access to spells that exceed the scope of anything a mortal can perform, no matter what affinity they have and despite my lack of affinity."

"I see..." Reivan nodded along, doing his best to take in all the information he was hearing. His brain was like a sponge as it soaked in Donovan's wisdom.

"Of course, this doesn't make affinities obsolete. Nor are they the end-all-be-all when it comes to combat. Efficiency can never be ignored, so everyone with an affinity will likely build a fighting style that incorporates their element, however at the same time, a lot of schools of power don't have an affinity attached to them... like Sword Arts, Space Manipulation, and Prayers. All of which can do things that the elements never could. So don't get a big head just because you have a bunch of affinities. No warrior fears a fool that brought ten swords to a sword fight when only one would have sufficed. Variety can be a weakness as well."

"Yes, sir. I'll take care not to let it be that way."

"A good answer, but we've digressed quite far from what we were supposed to be doing." Donovan frowned, the folds of his forehead increasing. "But I suppose it's fine since this will be over in no time."

'There he goes again...'

Maybe it was because Reivan felt thankful for his teacher's little lecture, but he wasn't as affected by the sharp-tongued baldy's verbal jabs anymore. A human's ability to adapt was truly amazing.

'Oh, wait a minute... I'm only half human, huh?'

"Hm, that's right. I almost forgot." Donovan snapped his fingers. The water wall's rotation immediately started accelerating. "You must not use any of your special powers either. In particular, that fraudulent power involving medicine, and the one you use to make swords float. I demand that you use your true abilities while doing this task."

"Uh... w-wait a minute... I can't really stop one of my abilities from activating..."

"Find a way."

"No, but—"

"Find. A. Way."

"...Yes, sir." Reivan bit his lower lip in frustration but tried to think of a way to do it. He'd half given up, trying to think of a way to talk his way out of doing it, when his vision was suddenly lit up.

[Intent] responds to your intentions!

Would you like to temporarily seal [Intent]?

[Yes] [No]

'Oh. Well, that's convenient... I didn't know it could do that.'

In hindsight, Reivan had never tried. He'd never had a reason to try it in the first place. Who in their right mind would refuse a buff?

'But [Intent] took a few years off my lifespan, so I guess I now have a reason to turn it off sometimes...'

Needless to say, he'd be foolish to turn it off when he was in real danger. He wouldn't have a use for his lifespan if he died after all. However, using up his lifespan for training was excessive, so it would probably be better to turn it off during training in the future.

'For my mental health, I'll just think about it as an investment. At least I didn't have to find out about it when I'm in actual danger. Now, I'm a little more aware of my options, so it's kind of a good deal...?'

After selecting [Yes], Reivan hesitantly raised his hand. "Uhm, I'm ready now, sir. My power won't activate on its own anymore."

"Good." Donovan nodded before swinging his hand downward. "Let's begin."

"Eh? Wait a minu—"

Reivan didn't even get to finish his words before he saw an ice shard flying toward his face.