"seth... Seth... Seth!" The sound of his name being called grew gradually louder until it turned into a shout.

"Huh? Yes, Mr. Parker?" Seth replied, still half asleep.

"Were you sleeping during class?" Mr. Parker asked in a severe tone.

"What? Of course not."

"Then why were you snoring?" Mr. Parker inquired, causing the entire class to burst into laughter. However, his expression remained unfazed.

"Um, well... I was just clearing my throat," Seth replied nervously, accompanied by an awkward smile.

"For ten minutes?"

"Yes?" Seth answered, prompting another round of laughter from his classmates.

"Come see me after class," Mr. Parker instructed before returning to the front of the classroom. "Now, who can answer question 7?" he asked, resuming the lesson.

"Pssst, Seth," Jake whispered to him.

"What?" Seth whispered back.

"Are you alright, dude? You seem really sleepy today."

"Yeah, don't worry. I'm just exhausted."

"Huh? From what?"

"I stayed up late training."

"Geez, dude, you're a training maniac."

"Jake, Seth, I can hear both of you whispering," Mr. Parker called out without even turning around while writing on the digital board.

‘F*ck, I forgot about that annoying ability of his,’ Jake cursed inwardly as he refocused on taking notes.

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The class continued, but Seth struggled to stay awake. His eyes continued to close against his will, causing him to doze off for a few minutes at a time without even realizing it. The past two days had left him completely drained.

After agreeing to be trained by Miss Leywin, they spent the entire day training in the gymnasium until it closed. Seth pushed himself relentlessly, taking only brief breaks to use the bathroom or eat one of the protein bars Miss Leywin had given him to compensate for his missed breakfast and lunch.

Reading the fine print on the wrapper, Seth discovered that they were military-grade protein bars. Specifically designed to sustain espers for weeks without the need for any other food, they showed Miss Leywin's likely affiliation with the military. She was probably an HSA operator and potentially even a Black Guard operator, although Seth dismissed the latter. It was already weird enough that such a powerful esper had taken an interest in him, even if it was that she just saw him as a kind of toy. The fact that a Black Guard operator was interested in him didn’t make any sense at all not even if it was out of pure amusement. So, Seth assumed that Miss Leywin was likely a control stage esper associated with the military in some way.

By the time Seth arrived home, every inch of his body was aching. Each step sent waves of pain coursing through him to the point that making it home had been a monumental task.

‘Thank goodness tomorrow is Sunday, and I can rest the entire day,’ Seth thought as he collapsed onto his bed. The only thing he had was his awakening class on Sunday evening, but he thought that he would be completely recovered by then. ‘Tomorrow I’ll be able to rest the whole day so I must give it my all now!’ that's what he had thought to keep up with the training, because there was no way he would train on a Sunday, Miss Leywin would probably also want to rest, or had something better to do…

He was wrong.

"Hey! Wake up, kiddo!"

"Huh? Miss Leywin? What are you doing in my house?" Seth mumbled, half-asleep, as he noticed the young woman with sunglasses standing in front of him.

"Your house?" Miss Leywin responded with a smirk.

Seth glanced around and suddenly realized his surroundings.

"WHAT THE F*CK?! WHAT AM I DOING IN THE GYMNASIUM?! HOW DID I EVEN GET HERE?!" the shock completely woke him up.

"How did you get here? Isn't it obvious? I brought you here," Miss Leywin replied nonchalantly.

Seth was dumbfounded.

"You're such a heavy sleeper. We'll need to sharpen those senses of yours. But even your aunt and uncle didn't notice someone casually entering their house and taking their sleeping nephew away so I suppose it runs in the family," Miss Leywin added shrugging her shoulders.

Seth was completely and utterly flabbergasted.

Miss Leywin turned to face him and noticed his jaw almost hitting the ground.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you actually expected you would be able to rest today. Don't be so innocent," she said, but Seth remained speechless.

It wasn't just the fact that she had taken him away WHILE HE WAS ASLEEP, which was already shocking enough and could be considered a form of kidnapping. It wasn’t just that. He had never told her that he lived with his uncle and aunt, so how did she know that?! Even more, HE HADN'T EVEN TOLD HER WHERE HE LIVED, HOW HAD SHE KNOWN?!

"Get up, kiddo, and eat this before we get started," she instructed, tossing him a protein bar.

Seth caught the bar and stood up, still trying to comprehend what was happening.

*Sigh* "Seth, let's get one thing straight. The tournament starts in less than three weeks. That means we have less than three weeks to prepare you, and there's a lot of work ahead. You want to awaken your ability, don't you?"

Seth nodded vigorously.

"Then you'll have to work harder than anyone to achieve it. Remember, we're aiming for a miracle. What will set you apart from the other espers won't be just your talent but your unwavering determination. Your perseverance is what will lead you to surpass them. Without taking this one into account, we have only two weekends left before the tournament, which gives us four full days of training. During weekdays, we'll have to settle for evening sessions since you're at the academy all day."

Those words brought Seth back to reality. She was right. If he wanted to succeed, he would have to work harder than anyone else. Even if it meant training until he collapsed, he would do it.

"Are you ready, Seth?" Miss Leywin asked, observing the determination building up in Seth's eyes.

"Let's do it."