I was back in Training Room 10 with Umbra again. I was surprised that Umbra Moria was personally teaching me.

I was wearing training clothes which were delivered when I was out exploring the headquarters. I also got to take shower for the first time in a few weeks.

He was currently having me jog around the room until I was sweating heavily. He previously made me do some stretches. I didn't question him about the purpose of doing this.

"I think you are ready now. Your adrenaline levels and blood circulation should be high enough. It will be easier for you to sense the mana in your and understand how it flows through your body."

I sat on the floor and start meditating. I could feel my heart pumping blood. Within my blood, this energy was flowing through.

'Is this mana?'

This was the first I had actually 'seen' mana. I had only felt it before. I tried manipulating it within my body and it was working. I could feel the mana flowing through my veins.

'Is this how drugs feel like?'

This feeling was exhilarating and I couldn't get enough of it. However, this feeling soon faded away. But I still could feel my mana flowing.

"That's mana. The feeling you just felt was all your all mana nodes within your body awakening and being used for the first time. Your mana pathways are now being used properly."

"I have used mana before? Why did it not feel like this."

"This is because you were just forcing mana to accumulate at one point. The mana in your body didn't take the right pathways to get there and kept interfering with each other causing congestion."

'That's why I was only able to produce so little mana before and why it hurt so much to use it.'

"Today you will only be circulating mana through our body. Your body needs to get used to using mana and taking the correct pathways."

I spent hours meditating and circulating mana only taking breaks to eat. It was extremely boring and draining. I wanted to give up, but I persevered.

"Ok, that's enough. You can go to your room now."

Umbra decided that was enough training for today. He wasn't watching me the whole time and occasionally other agents would be watching me and correcting my mistakes.

I tried getting up but I soon as I did, I collapsed. My muscles were extremely sore and I could barely move my body.

"What do you expect? You were constantly reinforcing your body and strengthening your muscles. You were for all intents and purposes exercising your body for the entire day. Tomorrow you can take a break and we'll resume the day after."

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I somehow managed to drag myself into my room. I took a shower and collapsed onto my bed.

The next day I woke up at 9 am. As I got up, I could feel my body cracking. It felt good and was satisfying. But, my muscles were still sore from yesterday.

I decided to treat myself to food from the cafeteria. You bought everything here with merit points. Merit points were earned from completing missions. Recruits earn merit points by scoring well in classes. The higher you are ranked, the more merit points you receive.

I have unlimited merit points courtesy of Umbra Moria. But that's only during the period I train with him. After that, I have to earn merit points like everyone else.

The cafeteria is a massive hall with many tables and chairs set up. To order food you have to go to a self-serve kiosk. You collect your meal afterwards when your number is called.

There is a variety of options at the cafeteria. It is also practically empty as most have their breakfast earlier. I decide to order pancakes and French toast.

The meal soon arrives which I finish eating soon after. For the rest of the day, I entertain myself by reading books.

The next day comes quickly and I soon myself in Train Room 10.

"Ok, it's time to learn how to use self-reinforcement and self-enhancement. These two things are essential for all mages to learn and will be used throughout your entire journey. This is a basic technique called body enhancement."

"How do I learn body enhancement?"

"You already know the first half. After circulating mana throughout your body, allow the mana to seep through every part of your body. Every cell of your body should have mana flowing through them."

I let the mana flow out of my veins and into every part of my body. It was surprisingly easy. It was a weird feeling. My body was strangely energetic and I felt stronger. The world around me felt slower.

"That was quick. Stop enhancing your body so we can do a comparison."

I went up to a force scale. This apparatus could measure the force of someone's punch.

*BANG*

The force scale gave out a reading of 800N. An average human in this world could punch with a force of 2000N.

I punch again but this time I coated myself with mana.

*BANG*

This time the force scale gave a reading of 1200N.

'A six times multiplier?!'

"That's the difference between using mana and not using mana. You could nearly double the force if you knew how to punch correctly."

I knew mana was powerful, but a sixfold multiplier when I just started was too much. Though I felt incredibly exhausted after using that one punch.

"Today I will be training you in basic hand-to-hand combat. You need to know how to punch, kick and block. You will not be using mana unless I say so."

"Ok, sir."

Umbra Moria started teaching me how to fight. He was a harsh teacher and by the end of the day, I was badly bruised and battered.

"Now before you leave, we are going to discuss your attributes. Place your hand on the Kerumiwa tree. This tree was used to identify one's attributes back in the day."

When I placed my hands on the tree, most of the flowers turned light blue, some dark blue, and a couple of them were red.

Umbra Moria was reading a book while sometimes looking up at the tree.

"According to the Kuremiwa tree, you have peak frost attribute, very high liquid attribute, and medium heat attribute. I don't know why they didn't show up on the mana-measuring device. The only reason why this could happen is that you have another attribute that's so overwhelming that it makes the others look tiny in comparison. Knowing you, you probably do."

"What do the attributes mean."

Based on the names, I could probably guess, but I wanted to make sure.

"I guess I'll give the rundown on the 5 basic attributes

Frost - An attribute that allows the user to freeze objects

Heat - An attribute that allows the user to heat objects

Solid - An attribute that allows the user to manipulate and create solids

Liquid - An attribute that allows the user to manipulate and create liquids

Gas - An attribute that allows the user to manipulate and create gases

There are more such as my dark attribute but I'll explain them later. You shouldn't be using attributed magic unless you truly know the attribute you have. For now, just focus on using pure mana."

After that, I left Training Room 10 and retired for the day.