Three days had passed.

  Lainus stood alone in a dim corner of the courtyard, behind him, the other trainees occupied with their own drills nearby. His eyes were fixed on the shadow cast by the tall, solid stone wall.

  He exhaled slowly.

  "Shadow Step."

  The moment he spoke those words, something shifted inside his spiritual core.

  The spiritual ability, the translucent purple-and-shadow leaf bearing the shape of a green-furred wolf, began to tremble as if answering the call. The golden eye, always half-open, opened fully for just a moment. Alert and aware.

  A pulse of pale white essence surged from the essence stone, flowing through the hollow seedling and into the leaf. The wolf's form glowed brighter, and wisps of shadow energy began streaming outward, traveling through the channels of his core and pushing outward through his body, spreading across his limbs through invisible roots, and pooling beneath his feet.

  The sensation was strangely cold, unlike his warm pale-white essence, and it felt like his body was being pulled in two directions at once.

  Then, before he knew it—

  The shadow on the wall before him swallowed him whole.

  One blink ago, he was standing in the sunlight; the next, he was inside the shadow cast by the tall walls — it was instantaneous, like the space between had never existed.

  He looked back at where he had been standing, his gaze sharp and analyzing.

  '...That's it?'

  For the past few days, Lainus had been learning how to activate his spiritual abilities. It hadn't taken long to figure out the basics — he just had to call the ability's name aloud or focus internally on something similar to what he'd done when absorbing the spiritual orb.

  But what made it harder were the limits and restrictions of the spiritual abilities themselves.

  It had taken countless attempts to finally reveal the limitations of his abilities without anyone's guidance. Every failure expended essence from his essence stone, which made the process take far longer than he'd hoped.

  But now he'd managed to master the basics of his abilities.

  And it was unexpectedly disappointing.

  His first spiritual ability, Shadow Step, had heavy limitations to activate it successfully.

  The range itself was pathetically short, spanning around a meter, sometimes less. The destined shadow had to be large enough to fit his entire body; otherwise, he couldn't teleport to it. He'd tried stepping into a shadow the size of his fist on the second day and found himself slammed back into his own body with a sensation like hitting a wall — It was painful and disorienting.

  And the moment something blocked his line of sight, the ability expended essence but refused to activate — that was what disappointed Lainus the most. He'd thought he could move through small gaps to the other side, but the reality was far more brutal.

  Direct, intense light drastically reduced the number of usable shadows. In broad daylight, his options were painfully limited. And if there was no shadow at all? The ability was completely useless.

  He turned his awareness inward toward his spiritual core — the essence stone that had been almost half-filled had drained noticeably. Roughly four and a half percent per use. At full capacity, he had perhaps ten uses, maybe fewer, before he was running on empty.

  But Lainus wasn't disheartened by such limitations.

  'Well, I guess it can have some uses in the future. It's better than nothing.'

  He observed the seedling that held the essence crystal at its core, studying it carefully while planning his next moves.

  There were now two leaves sprouting from the small seedling. One took the shape of a Gloom Wolf — this was the Shadow Step spiritual ability leaf, translucent and ghostly, tinged with purple and shadow. The small wolf lay curled in slumber within the leaf's veins, one golden eye half-open.

  The second took the shape of a purple snake with small black wings sprouting from its head — the Spitfang Viper. This was Toxic Slime, the spiritual ability from the second orb he'd recently absorbed. Like Shadow Step, it radiated essence weakly around it, pulsing faintly like breath.

  'I've already learned all I can on my own about the basics of the abilities I currently have. Further training with them won't help much or change their fundamental limits. It's just a waste of time. I need practical combat experience to make them useful in an actual fight, especially since time is running out.'

  'And I need a real weapon — something that can actually put me on equal footing with my opponents. Otherwise, these abilities are just parlor tricks that might buy me time to escape in volatile situations.'

  'Of course, considering that I won't be the only one with supernatural powers in this tournament, most likely all of those participants will have special abilities as well, and they might be far stronger than mine. Relying on abilities alone won't win me a fight...'

  He lifted his head, glancing toward the other trainees across the courtyard. They were sparring with each other, testing their abilities to the fullest. Near them stood the tall, muscular woman, instructing and correcting their mistakes — it was Nina.

  Lainus walked toward her slowly, his posture hunched, his steps hesitant. He kept his eyes lowered as he approached.

  "U-Umm... Master?" His voice came out shaking, timid, barely above a whisper.

  Nina didn't even look at him. She kept her eyes on two trainees clashing with iron swords.

  Lainus thought she hadn't heard him, so he was about to speak again. "U-Umm..."

  "What?" Nina's tone was cold and flat, cutting him off.

  "I-I've finally managed to activate both abilities..." Lainus forced his voice to tremble. "Shadow Step and... and Toxic Slime. I can use them properly now."

  Nina glanced at him briefly, her expression unreadable.

  "Huh? Already? It's only been three days." She turned back to the sparring trainees. "Are you lying to me?"

  Lainus lowered his head further, playing the part of the chastised slave.

  "I-I would never dare, Master. I've just been diligently training... using the guidance you gave me, every chance I could..."

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "I see." Nina crossed her arms. She didn't want to bother testing if his words were true. "So? What do you want? Make it quick. I'm busy."

  "I... I thought... since I can use my abilities properly now, maybe I should..." He paused, as if gathering courage. "Maybe I should start training? With the others?"

  Nina was silent, watching a trainee stumble during a strike.

  Lainus waited for a moment, but there was no reply. He knew he needed to push a little further.

  "I-I've learned the basics of Shadow Step, Master. I can activate it whenever I need to. B-But Tox-ic S-Slime..." He hesitated, wringing his hands nervously. "I d-don't have a weapon to coat it on, and... l-like you said, I can use it on w-weapons, and I... I can't really test my abilities full capabilities on the walls..."

  Nina's eyes narrowed slightly.

  "So you want a weapon and someone to spar with." It wasn't a question.

  "Y-Yes, Master. I want to learn how to f-fight properly under your instruction before the tournament. I don't know how to fight with my bare hands m-my sister once told me my fist look so weak, and I..." He made his voice even smaller. "I don't want to embarrass you in front of everyone."

  Nina stared at him for a long moment, her expression hard.

  Then she sighed, clearly annoyed.

  "Fine." She jerked her head toward the wall lined with practice weapons. "Go take a weapon from the rack. Don't pick anything too big for your size, you're too scrawny for something heavy. Then join the others in training."

  Lainus nodded quickly, bowing his head.

  "Y-Yes, Master. Thank you, Master."

  Nina had already turned away, barking corrections at the sparring trainees.

  Lainus straightened slightly, his fearful expression fading for just a moment as he walked toward the weapon rack.

  He stood before the weapon rack, his eyes scanning the options.

  Swords. Staffs. Spears. Axes. Maces.

  There were many options to choose from, there were even some strangely shaped weapons. One sword bent like a fan.

  'What? How do they even use these?'

  Lainus took a deep breath as his mind began to exclude weapons he couldn't realistically use.

  As Nina had pointed out, most of these weapons were far too large for his weak, eleven-year-old body.

  'I don't know how to use any of these anyway.'

  In his previous life, weapons like these were useless relics, old historical pieces kept in museums. Who needed a sword in a world that had guns? One trigger pull was enough to kill your enemy. No excessive training required, and most importantly, no need to get close to your enemy and risk your life.

  Eventually, his options became very limited.

  His eyes settled on a small iron dagger near the bottom of the rack.

  He picked it up. The weight felt manageable. The grip fit his small hand well enough.

  'This will do.'

  The dagger looked average, its head made of iron, its handle simple wood. Its reach was small compared to swords or spears, which meant he'd have to get very close to his enemies. But it was the most viable option he could find.

  Better than having nothing at all.

  Lainus took one last glance at it, then returned to the other trainees in the training ground, dagger in hand.

  The other slaves recognized this new small black-haired slave, they'd seen him before eating with them at the end of each training session, though no one had spoken to him directly.

  Now, standing among them, he could feel their eyes on him. Assessing. Judging. After all, he was the youngest and smallest among them, his body was that of an eleven-year-old boy.

  A few whispered to each other, but quieted when Nina's gaze swept over them.

  The instructor barked an order for one of the young novice slaves to pair up with Lainus for sparring.

  A lean boy with dark hair and sharp eyes stepped forward. He looked about fourteen, older than Lainus, and held an iron short sword with practiced ease.

  Lainus kept his head down, his posture meek.

  They sparred.

  The sparring was... adequate.

  Nothing impressive happened. Nothing too terrible. Exactly what one would expect from someone who didn't know how to hold a weapon.

  Lainus moved clumsily, his strikes hesitant, his footwork awkward. He blocked poorly. He stumbled. He let the lean boy land hits he could have avoided. He did avoid any serious fatal attack.

  The spar ended in Lainus's loss, leaving him with a few bruises. But he could still stand.

  After a few breaths, the lean boy got into position again, ready for another round.

  'We're sparring again already? Let me catch my breath first.'

  Lainus steadied himself and prepared for the second match. This time, he decided to test his ability.

  "Toxic Slime."

  Essence flowed from his core. The spiritual ability in his core trembled, releasing its strange energy through his body. Purple venomous poison seeped from his palms, coating his small dagger's blade in a sickly sheen.

  But he didn't try to actually strike his opponent with it — He didn't want to expose his true capabilities yet, so he pretended to be fighting for real with all his might.

  'Everyone here is a potential competitor. We might face each other in the tournament in less than two weeks. Pretending to be weak now means they'll underestimate me later. That will give me an easier time dealing with them when the opportunity comes.'

  Still, in front of them, he pretended to be friendly. He occasionally asked his sparring partner questions, starting with simple ones a child would ask, to paint himself as a complete newbie in their minds.

  "How do you know where I'm going to strike?"

  "When should I use Shadow Step in a real fight?"

  "Can Toxic Slime be applied mid-combat, or does it need preparation?"

  The other trainees were distrustful at first, understandable, given their harsh lives as slaves. But after seeing Lainus more, a small, fragile child fighting for his life —empathy rose in their hearts. Some began answering his questions when they could.

  As they grew more trusting, Lainus asked more complicated questions about cultivation — things that had always been on his mind. Most of them didn't have real answers; as most of them were illiterate and newly awakened. Only a few understood cultivation well enough to answer what they knew.

  Surprisingly, he received good answers that cleared up many of the questions in his mind. It seemed he didn't need to find a way to sway the instructor to answer for his deeper questions about the mechanics of cultivation for now — the slaves were far more willing to talk than Nina, and their answers were surprisingly useful.

  Nina herself only intervened when she spotted obvious mistakes — intentional ones that Lainus had made to test how much she paid attention.

  "Your stance is too wide. You'll trip yourself."

  "Don't telegraph your strikes. I can see what you're doing from across the courtyard."

  "Stop wasting essence. Activate your ability after you've created an opening, not before."

  Lainus nodded meekly each time, adjusting his technique just enough to show he was listening.

  By the end of the day, he was very satisfied with the information he'd gathered.

  As evening came, the trainees gathered for their meal, served to them by other slaves who worked inside the building itself: a piece of bread and a bowl of thin soup.

  It wasn't much. But compared to the scraps he'd received in the cage, it was a feast.

  Lainus ate slowly, savoring every bite.

  He'd noticed his physical condition improving. His skin looked healthier, his complexion better. Perhaps he'd gained some weight as well. The bones that had once jutted sharply beneath his skin were slowly becoming less pronounced, and his hands were beginning to fill out.

  Over the past three days, Lainus had tried to speak with the maids who led them each evening, hoping to gain insider knowledge about what was happening in the building. But it hadn't been successful. They refused to speak, offering only respectful gestures — their eyes emotionless, like dolls.

  Lainus entered the room the maid led him to. It was small, with simple design. A narrow bed, a wooden closet, a single small window that let in faint moonlight.

  Nothing fancy. But after a week in the cold, smelly cage, it felt luxurious compared to that hell.

  He sat on the bed, closing his eyes.

  His consciousness drifted inward, back into the spiritual core.

  The essence stone glowed faintly, barely filled. He'd used too much essence today testing his abilities, pushing their limits during sparring.

  The wavy energies inside the core circled the stone slowly, being absorbed bit by bit. But the process was agonizingly slow. Each particle of essence took time to refine.

  At this rate, Lainus estimated it would take hours to refill completely.

  'Since I've got nothing better to do, I might as well try the essence absorption technique I learned today.'

  His consciousness returned to the living world.

  He shifted into a cross-legged position on the bed, straightening his posture, and began to breathe slowly. Deliberately.

  It took some time before he noticed the shift.

  The trickle of energy flowing into his core had quickened. His essence stone refined faster as more energy poured in, drawn inward with each deliberate breath, steady and continuous. At this rate, he estimated it would take half the time he had originally predicted to refill completely.

  'Mystics absorb the world's energies from their surroundings like magnets. This energy enters the core through the body and is refined by the Essence Stone into pure essence — usable fuel for spiritual abilities. But this process can become significantly faster through meditation and controlled breathing techniques. This method is better known as cultivation: the deliberate act of drawing more energy into the body at an accelerated rate, forcing more energy into the core than it ordinarily holds, compelling the essence stone to refine at a pace it would not otherwise reach.'

  He'd overheard the trainees mention it during breaks. They discussed how cultivation was the foundation of all mystic growth and the most common way to refine essence more quickly. They also mentioned small details about it being a standard method to strengthen the core itself and push past its limitations to reach higher levels.