Alden and the cavalry squadron returned home victorious, hauling a fortune in loot harvested from the corpses of Deathblade Unicorns and Black-Fanged Wolves. Mana cores, pelts, horns, fangs, bones—every part was carefully packed into crates for profit.
But perhaps the greatest prize was the last surviving pregnant female Deathblade Unicorn they had captured alive. Though wounded in the chaos of the beast-on-beast battle, it had been fully healed by the squadron's emitters, leaving it in robust enough health to transport.
Back at Valerius keep, news of the return spread quickly. The courtyard bustled with servants and soldiers unloading goods, their awed and uneasy eyes lingering on the chained, snorting monster whose jagged obsidian horn still glinted despite the iron bridle and restraints.
Alden was quickly summoned to explain. He stood before his parents—Duke Cedric and Lady Elera—and Commander Ruban in the estate. Calmly, he delivered a strategic account of the expedition, describing the plan, the profits, and the capture of the pregnant unicorn in dry, precise detail.
Notably, he skipped over the near-disasters, the panicked retreat, and the soldiers who had almost died. He'd learned that telling his parents such things only triggered fretful reprimands, wasted time, and undermined his authority with their well-meaning worry. He kept their attention on results instead.
After hearing him out, Duke Cedric and Lady Elera exchanged thoughtful looks and agreed: Alden would receive additional resources and staff to help care for the captured beast. If it gave birth successfully, Alden stood a real chance of taming the newborn and forging a rare contract bond with a Deathblade Unicorn—a terrifyingly effective mount and ally for the future of House Valerius.
Business concluded, Alden and Commander Ruban excused themselves and walked to the barracks.
As they walked, Alden's demeanor shifted, his voice lowering to a cold edge. "Ruban, we need to address a failure from today's hunt. Tavian, the wind conjurer of the cavalry squadron 16, acted against my order and exposed our position to the Deathblade Unicorn herd. His mistake nearly cost us everything—men, horses, the entire mission. The full details shall be covered by captain Torrin. Now, I want you to give the punishment."
Ruban's weathered face tightened, his jaw clenching, and he nodded: "Understood, my lord. For the crime of disobeying superiors' orders, the soldier will be whipped to the back. We will put him into mana suppression chains so he can't protect himself."
"Public punishment," Alden said flatly. "In front of the entire squadron. Let it be a lesson for all."
Ruban nodded: " I'll arrange it immediately."
The barracks courtyard was silent save for the crack of the whip and Tavian's stifled gasps. Stripped to the waist, the young conjurer was bound to a wooden pole, his wrists locked in mana-suppressing cuffs that dulled his core to a faint flicker. His back, already crisscrossed with red welts, glistened with blood as Captain Torrin delivered each calculated strike. The leather whip sang through the air, leaving shallow cuts that wept crimson. The soldiers stood in rigid formation, their faces pale, some averting their eyes as the count of whippings increased.
Commander Ruban stood before them, his voice carrying over the grim scene:
"Tavian's panic in the Beast Glades sparked a disaster that nearly consumed Squadron 16. His defiance shattered the formation's objective, caused damages and—most gravely—put our future duke in peril.
This is the punishment for him: 20 lashes for disobeying orders, 30 for sabotaging the mission, 80 for endangering Lord Alden, his comrades and nearly costing 2 lives. And 10 lashes for the loss of a horse, the cost of which will be deducted from his pay. Let this forge iron in your discipline."
At the eightieth lash, Tavian slumped against the pole, his knees buckling, his breath ragged. Blood dripped onto the cobblestones, pooling beneath him.
Ruban raised a hand. "Hold, Captain."
Torrin stepped back, coiling the whip, his face etched with grim resolve.
"Emitter," Ruban commanded, nodding to the healer nearby.
"Tend to him."
Healing mana flared, threads of light weaving across Tavian's torn back, knitting flesh amid his stifled groans. He teetered on the edge of consciousness, pain etched into every line of his face.
"It's done, Commander," the emitter reported, stepping back.
Ruban's gaze hardened. "Captain Torrin, finish the count."
Torrin resumed, the whip cracking 60 more times, each strike precise but heavy with purpose. Tavian's body shuddered, but the emitter's prior healing kept him from collapse. When the final lash fell, soldiers moved forward, untying him and supporting his limp form as they carried him to the infirmary.
Alden watched the public punishment from the edge of the courtyard, his expression unyielding. The soldiers' gazes flicked toward him, a mix of fear and respect. He turned away, signaling the end of the spectacle, and led a group toward the stables—servants, stable hands, and Jorvan, the head blacksmith, among them.
___________
Alden led a group of servants, stable staff, and blacksmiths to the yard where the chained pregnant Deathblade Unicorn stood, snorting and pawing the dirt in defiance.
They spent time in serious discussion, gathering insight from each expert. After considering their advice, Alden gave out a clear plan of building a sturdy, temporary enclosure for the beast first.
Under Alden's supervision, carpenters raised a framework of thick wooden beams, while blacksmiths forged heavy iron fencing to line the interior. Alden reinforced the entire structure with layers of compacted earth and stone, shaped and hardened by his magic.
Meanwhile, Jorvan and his smiths toiled over a massive rectangular metal case with a hollow core sized precisely for the unicorn's deadly horn. They filled it with a sticky slimy substance like glue. With soldiers holding the unicorn down, they rammed the case onto its bladehorn, locking it in place. The result was a crude but effective muzzle that rendered the horn useless for stabbing or slashing.
Next came the transportation to the cage. The unicorn shrieked and thrashed, foam at its lips, eyes rolling in panic. Alden and his soldiers forced it onto a sledge, dragged it to the newly built cage, and forced it inside.
Once in place, they secured its two rear legs with mana suppression chains anchored to iron-shod poles sunk deep in the ground.
Even with its magic weakened, the unicorn fought like a devil. It reared and slammed its chest against the bars, its hooves gouging the earth. Before it could lunge at the soldiers or swing its encased horn, Alden conjured thick stone whips from the ground. They lashed around the creature's torso and neck, pinning it to the earth with brutal efficiency.
The soldiers and Alden scrambled clear. Once the space was empty, Alden released the spell. The beast staggered upright, shaking itself off. It tried to thrust its horn, only for the massive metal case to drag its head down, unbalancing it. It battered at the iron fencing with its shoulder, but the reinforced structure held. Frustrated and exhausted, it snorted, glaring at Alden with furious eyes.
It tried to summon wind magic—the air around it shivered and died. The mana-suppressing chains glowed faintly, drawing the energy out of the beast until its snort ended in a strangled cough.
Satisfied that the creature was contained and its powers neutralized, Alden surveyed the cage one last time before issuing final orders. He picked 4 soldiers to stand guard in rotating shifts. Then he addressed the stable staff and horse trainers, making his expectations clear:
Their goal was to tame the unicorn, or at least calm it enough to ensure a safe birthing process. Constant stress and fear would only endanger the unborn foal. He ordered them to watch the creature carefully, learn its moods, feed it well and clean its cage. He handed them the book containing biological information of mana beasts that detailed Deathblade Unicorn behavior and diet to help them furthermore.
________________________
The sheer volume of meat harvested from the thousands of slain mana beasts far exceeded Alden's initial projections. It was so vast, in fact, that he was forced to invest an extra amount into constructing additional storage chambers within Valerius Castle. All of the meat were frozen by ice conjurer and then stored inside ice magic containers for preservation that can last to 12 months.
Alden saw an opportunity: if his restaurant business succeeded, the profits would not only recoup the storage and processing costs but potentially multiply them severalfold. If, however, the restaurant failed to turn a profit, Alden had already prepared contingency plans. He would sell the raw meat to alchemists, scholars, researchers, artificers who would need for their scientific purposes, or simply divert the stock into military rations for his army. No resource would go to waste. Alden had calculated every possible scenario, ensuring there would be no losses, only varying degrees of gain.
Importantly, this was never meant to be a permanent business. The restaurant would remain open only until the meat storage were depleted. Once that was accomplished, he would shut it down. By the end of the month, Alden's six-month leave from royal tutelage—granted by King Thane Glayder to pursue adventuring—would expire. He was due to return to the royal palace in Etistin and resume his tutelage under the king's watch. Once that happened, the supply chain of fresh mana beast meat would end, rendering continued operations of the restaurant unfeasible. In Alden's eyes, this was a temporary campaign—a short-term economic raid to convert beast corpses into coin.
Over the next three days, Alden personally helped and oversaw the setup of the establishment, named Glade's Cuisine. It was a quick-service restaurant located on a busy street adjacent to Blackbend's Adventurer's Guild. The concept was simple: serve hearty, affordable, mana-rich meals to adventurers using the spoils of the hunt. He supervised every element—menu planning, staff hiring, logistics, and the installation of security.
The building, a modest structure leased with monthly payments, featured a no-nonsense layout: sturdy wooden tables, a chalkboard menu scrawled with offerings like grilled Boggi, fried Maccao, Wroggi strips, Aptonoth skewers, Apceros stew and many more. The kitchen exuded a mouthwatering aroma of seared meat, rich spices, and sizzling fat—primal scents that beckoned any who passed.
The pricing was fair—neither exorbitant like noble restaurants nor cheap like rural fare. The meals themselves were simple in presentation but rich in flavor, full of energy. Designed to replenish the body after a hard day's work, the food met the exact needs of its audience: satisfying, revitalizing, and reliable. These were not dishes to impress royalty; they were fuel for those who earned their bread with swords and spells.
Alden also assigned a security team of six disciplined soldiers to maintain order, aware of the rowdy reputation that some adventurers carried. Taverns and inns throughout Blackbend often suffered from brawls, broken furniture and even assaulted staffs due to the arrogant, drunken adventurers with the ego larger than their brains. Alden would tolerate none of that in his establishment.
At the dusk of the first day in business after a whole morning of setup, Glade's Bounty opened to a flood of hungry customers—mercenaries, adventurers and even merchants and some other civilians—who eagerly ordered the dishes as they had heard its "advertisement" of being opened by the famous Alden Valerius. His reputation had preceded him—praised by commoners for reducing local crime rates, both respected and resented by adventurers for his ruthless efficiency in dungeons, and trusted by merchants for honoring his business deals to the coin. Either in positive or negative way, he had brought the attention of many customers into his restaurant, thus accelerating the revenue's gain.
By midnight, the restaurant had cleared a substantial profit, validating Alden's strategy to monetize the hunt's spoils.
_______________
*2 weeks later*
Alden made his way to return to Glayder Castle at Capital Etistin. The grand, fortified, giantic castle with layers of fortresses and thick high walls where he had spent 3 years of tutelage inside. It was the biggest castle, if not straight up the biggest building of Spain. And its size as a construction would only behind that of the Wall in the Grand Mountains.
The guards recognized his family sigil on his As Alden's carriage rolled up to the gate, the guards spotted the Valerius family sigil and waved him through without delay.
He stepped out onto the polished cobblestones and was greeted immediately by a liveried royal servant who bowed low.
"My lord Alden Valerius, welcome back. General Maxwell awaits you at the training yard. He insists your first session begins with his training today."
Alden gave a curt nod and followed the servant through the winding corridors and out to the yard, sunlight glaring off the flagstones.
Leonard Maxwell was already there, arms folded, a giant of a man with a build like a bear. His squinted brown eyes were framed by thick brows; his hair and beard bore the Maxwell family's typical brown with streaks of blonde. Despite his imposing frame and legendary reputation as an accomplished general, Leonard was famously charismatic, jovial, and gallant off duty. He loved combat like art, fought in tournaments yearly (winning almost every time—except for his two defeats to Lord Gregor Aurae), and was as boisterous as he was friendly.
He'd taken a liking to Alden over the past year, treating him like a favored nephew. He respected the boy's raw talent, quick wit, and maturity well beyond his years.
As Alden approached, Leonard's eyes narrowed in theatrical scrutiny, though a grin tugged at his lips.
"You're three minutes late. Has your little 'vacation' in the Beast Glades tarnished your discipline, my prodigal student?"
Alden bowed with practiced formality. "Master. Apologies. I had some business to conclude before returning."
"Hah! Dungeon diving, law enforcing, what else? Planning to takeover Blackbend away from your father duke you sly brat?", Leonard asked with a playful grin.
"No, master. Just applying what I learned here to my house's system. I should thank you for your letter to Blackbend's Guild; it sped up my rank exam process. Unfortunate we missed each other at the Kingdom's founding party last month—I'd hoped to thank you in person.", Alden explained.
"Bah! Think nothing of it," Leonard waved a hand, though clearly pleased. "Now, enough talk. Stretch out. We're starting with a spar. I want to see if you got soft during those six months." He cracked his massive knuckles ominously.
"What a 'precious welcome' from you.", Alden said with a sarcastic tone.
"Hoho, this is the only suitable welcome I can give to you.", Leonard replied.
Alden retired to the dressing room, swapping his noble attire for padded training clothes. When he returned, Leonard gave him a quick once-over and barked:
"No holding back. Show me this so-called 'quadra-elemental' everyone's whispering about."
The sparring without weapons nor armor, only person's own strength and magic.
Alden unleashed a barrage of wind-accelerated fire-stone bullets while conjuring layered stone walls to encase himself, masking his presence from Leonard's keen senses. Without his staff, his spells lacked their usual speed and potency, though he knew that at higher core levels—silver and beyond—such tools would become unnecessary.
Leonard, clad his fists in rock-hard gauntlets, weaving through the bullets with fluid dodges and shattering them with precise punches. He closed the distance in three seconds, his movements a blur of augmented strength.
Anticipating the charge, Alden formed a dense orb of pressurized air packed with jagged rocks, hovering where he'd stood. As Leonard tore through the stone walls with sheer force, aiming a fist at his student, he found only the orb—and a tunnel in the ground where Alden had vanished using tunnelling spell.
From deep underground, Alden launched a fireball into the orb above.
BOOOM
The compressed air ignited in a deafening explosion, engulfing Leonard in a storm of flame and stone shrapnels.
Alden resurfaced, his body wreathed in a crackling lightning barrier, ready for retaliation.
Through the smoke, Leonard lunged, unscathed, his body now clad in thick rock-scale armor conjured in a mere heartbeat that protected him from the explosion.
"Brat! Are you trying to assassinate your master with that trick?! Hahahaha!", Leonard, his tone jovial but edged with menace.
His fist crashed at Alden's head, it pierced through lightning barrier but suddenly got deflected slightly away, making Leonard miss. The lightning barrier crackling and destroying the rock armor on Leonard's arm, making him jumped back to assess the situation.
"Oh? I swear by the deities as witnesses that my fist was about to hit your face...What trick did you use now?", Leonard asked with a curious face.
"You taught me to not never let your cards slipped to your enemies, master.", Alden replied with a grin.
"Hahahahaha, indeed I did!!", Leonard laughed and stomped his foot loudly, conjuring a massive stone pillar that launched into Alden's gut with a speed that Alden couldn't catch up, sending the boy flying up to the air.
"But unfortunately for you—", Leonard murmured, leaping to intercept him midair.
"—I am—", Leonard swung his fist at Alden.
Alden coughed in pain as he barely conjured a stone shield, but Leonard's punch shattered it and grabbed Alden's arm.
"— About to—.", Leonard sent a knee to Alden's belly.
Alden countered with a torrent of flame to the face, forcing Leonard to raise an arm in defense. Alden's fire shifted to lightning, forcing the general to finally release him.
But Leonard wasn't finished. He hurled a massive stone boulder the size of a carriage at the boy mid-descent.
Alden conjured stone whips from the ground to snag his own legs and drag himself down, narrowly evading the boulder as it crashed.
"—find out—", Leonard, with a terrifying speed, already appeared behind Alden's back.
He wrapped an arm around Alden's throat and shattering the whips with a single kick. With terrifying strength, he executed a one-armed suplex, flipping the eight-year-old upside down. Alden, augmented with mana and earth, layered wind around his head to cushion the impact.
"—soon.", Leonard finished his full sentence of taunting mid suplex.
CRACK!
The suplex slammed Alden into the ground, but his protections softened the blow. Leonard's laughter rang out, wild and unrelenting, as if reveling in the brutal training.
Leonard began to throw a right roundhouse kick but then Alden used wind once again to push the kick away to the opposite side, disbalancing Leonard. Before Leonard could comprehend, Alden swung his leg and swept him. The general fell to the ground in pure surprise.
"Hahaha! So it was the wind you used to deflect my strike!! Excellent!!", Leonard laughed as he figured it out.
Alden immediately conjured the ground into quick sand to drown the general as he used water magic combined with earth.
"Oh hoho, here's the fourth element water , and mix it with earth? Very creative!!", Leonard complimented spontaneously as if he didn't care about him was began to drown deeply down in the quick sand area.
Alden concentrated and generated a high amount of lightning in his right hand while forming a flaming spear in his left hand, he planned to combined both the spells into a powerful protectile that could shred through Leonard's defense.
"However....here's an important lesson.", Leonard said, his face went a little more serious. He manipulated the muddy quick sand to jump to Alden's body, even if the quicksand was a combined spell between earth and water, Leonard's power over earth mana manipulation was significantly superior than Alden's.
Leonard took control over the boy's trapping spell quickly and back fired him as he manipulated the quick sand to engulf Alden's hands and mouth, suffocating him, cancelling the conjureration of the lightning fire spear.
"Never try to subdue a higher-core mage with their own element they mastered. It's like you are a monkey trying to beat a fish at swimming competition when you want to trap me with earth-based spells.", Leonard said and gave a spinning kick at Alden, sending the boy flying.
Alden staggered to his feet, pain pulsing through him. Leonard's strikes were precise, bruising enough for the training but never crippling Alden, a proof to his mid-silver core mastery.
Alden used wind and water magic to clear the quick sand sludge off his body.
"Still good to go?", Leonard asked with a grin.
Alden nodded and concentrated, changing strategy.
*5 minutes later*
"End of the spar. Rest up.", Leonard said, wiping the dirt and dust out of his clothes.
Alden, laying like a dead man(almost) on the ground, used everybit strength of him to get up straight, feigning cheerful sarcasm.
"I hope that someday I can put a trial against you for brutalizing children, master."
"Hahahahaha! Treacherous boy! Dare to put your master to the court!", Leonard laughed.
"His Majesty ordered me to use any method to forge you stronger! You think I'd go easy?. Oh well, 6 months were enough to make you forget, aye?", Leonard grinned.
"Not really, but I could have expected you to reconsider and change your methods of teaching and training to be more suitable after 6 months, master.", Alden rolled his eyes.
Leonard rubbed his beard, smirking. "Hmm, good point. Perhaps I should increase the intensity to make up for lost time…"
"No sir! Please forget what I just said.", Alden replied.
"Hahahaha! Nevertheless, good work brat. You managed to trip me falling like a drunkard in the inn and stood your ground longer than before. For those 6 months, discipline intact.", Leonard commented.
Alden shrugged. "With all respect, I feel sorry for your daughter when she gets subjected to your teaching."
Leonard's brow arched. "Speaking of Aliya. You met her at the party last month, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did, although it seemed she did not have a friendly manner towards apparently.", Alden answered.
"She told me some a little about you with a weird behavior.", Leonard pointed out.
"How… 'weird' was she, by your meaning?", Alden asked.
Leonard scratched his head, sighing. "She was acting like she hated you… or me… or both of us. With some reason that she just kept refusing to share me. Bah! Children and their damned puberty."
"Anyway," Leonard declared, slapping his big hands together with theatrical glee, "today I'll teach you about gravity deviant magic—and maybe even help you unlock it. Consider it my gift to 'celebrate' your glorious return to tutelage! Hahahaha!"
He turned, noticing Alden still bent over, breathing raggedly, sweat soaking his hair.
Leonard's grin faltered into mock offense. "Oh come on! Where's your spirit?!"
"...yay..." Alden mumbled without lifting his head.
Leonard barked a laugh. "You don't appreciate how lucky you are, boy. Among all the noble houses of this kingdom, only the Maxwells have preserved the methods to unlock gravity deviant quickly. No other bloodline has managed to keep that tradition unbroken."
"I know, master...but forgive me if I'm too physically broken to show much excitement right now," Alden rasped.
"Hah! Looks like none of those mana beasts you hunted prepared you for me. Where's that glorious Quadra-elemental the public sings about?"
"I don't recall hunting any S- or SS-class mana beasts last time I checked, master."
Leonard roared in laughter. "If my first beating wore you down this much, you'll never survive the living hell I'm about to put you through to unlock gravity deviant."
Alden straightened just enough to glare tiredly. "...Challenge accepted."
Leonard's grin widened like a devil.
___________
Leonard wasted no time. He ordered a large group of soldiers to bring out the training equipments: blocks of carved stone, dense mana fused steel bars, and boulders weighing tons, which they were carved with their weight number on them.
Leonard began, his voice firm but not unkind. "Gravity deviant magic isn't something you simply think your way into. It's not about fancy castings or calculating formulas. You feel it. You become it. And that only happens when your body truly understands weight. Pressure. The relentless pull of the world that never stops.Like it or not, you as a conjurer, must train in a similar way of an augmenter but much, much, devastatingly harder for this deviant. And no, I'm not exaggerating here."
He walked among the assembled weights, gesturing broadly.
"You see these? Hundreds of kilos to literal tons. Today, you're not just lifting them. You'll hold them. Balance with them. Walk with them. Endure them. Because gravity is a force that never stops—only weakened or strengthened, and to bend it, you must respect it."
Alden stood in front of the mountain of training equipment, staring at the iron blocks, enchanted boulders, and massive stone cylinders piled like some sadistic giant's toys.
Leonard walked up behind him, arms folded across his broad chest, surveying his student with a slight smirk.
"Alright, light-orange core conjurer," Leonard rumbled, voice full of amused authority. "How much do you weigh these days?"
"37 kilograms," Alden answered evenly, not breaking eye contact with the mass of stone before him.
Leonard nodded thoughtfully: "We'll start light, then."
He pointed at a gray block of carved granite:"That one. 100 kilos. Don't give me that look—it's just warming up."
He stepped forward, demonstrating. His huge frame moved with surprising precision as he squatted deep, back perfectly straight, hands gripping the block's sides. With a controlled exhale Leonard lifted the stone smoothly to his chest, then set it back down without a grunt without the need of mana augmentation, only his pure physical strength and technique.
For a giant like Leonard, 100 kilos was truly warm up.
"Watch carefully," he ordered. He repeated it twice more, slower each time, exaggerating the posture. "Back straight. Deep squat. Core tight. Don't just heave it like a sack of grain. You lift with your entire body working in unison. Otherwise, you'll tear your spine in half and I don't think you want to experience it at all even though we have emitters, do you?"
Alden's eyes tracked every movement with the focus of someone memorizing a spell diagram while nodding his head to agree with his master's warning.
Leonard set the block down one final time with a thud and dusted off his palms. "Got it?"
Alden nodded once, serious. "Yes, Master."
Leonard gestured grandly at the block. "Now your turn. Augment yourself. Feel the mana in your limbs. Make your body worthy of this weight. Ah yes, and don't be stupid trying to copy me. I can lift the weight without mana since I am a grown adult."
"I'm not a toddler, master. I can use my brain to think.", Alden rolled his eyes which Leonard chuckled slightly.
Alden closed his eyes, inhaling slowly. He let his mana pool in his core, then channeled it down to his legs and arms. Earth mana reinforced bone and sinew, made flesh heavier, denser, stronger. He opened his eyes, dropped into a deep squat, back as straight as a board. He wrapped his fingers around the block's edges, exhaled, and pushed.
The block rose off the ground with a grinding scrape, every muscle in Alden's body straining, veins standing out on his arms.
Leonard watched like a hawk. "Good. Good. Not bad for beginner and for an 8 year old."
But then he scowled. "Hold it there." He walked around behind Alden and used two thick fingers to tap his spine. "Your back's curving here. Straighten it. Now."
Alden clenched his teeth and fought to adjust, the strain making his arms tremble.
Leonard's voice softened slightly—only slightly. "Don't fight the weight. Embrace it. Feel the pull of the earth. Imagine the ground dragging you back, testing you."
Alden's breath shuddered. He corrected his posture. The block steadied.
Leonard grinned, showing white teeth in his bearded face. "Much better. Now set it down. Don't drop it. Set it. Slowly."
Alden lowered it slowly, carefully, until it thudded back onto the ground. He exhaled with relief, wiping sweat from his brow.
Leonard crossed his arms again. "Good first try. Very close. But not perfect. And you're going to do it again."
He jerked his chin at the stone.
"Ten more reps. Then we move up to the 120-kilo block."
Alden resisted the urge to groan. He straightened up, cracked his neck, and glared at the stone like it was a rival.
Leonard's grin only widened.
"Welcome back to training, boy."
And so the ordeal began.
They progressed from simple heavy lifting to a variety of exercises with the heavy weighted objects: static holding, walking lunges, squats, benchpressing, and even sprinting short distances under crushing loads.
When Alden's muscles began to fail, Leonard bellowed at him to augment harder, to pour more earth mana in. When Alden's core wavered, Leonard swept his legs, forcing him to stabilize instantly or be crushed.
But the physical wasn't all.
Leonard also drilled mental aspects relentlessly.
"Gravity pulls, Alden! It anchors everything to the ground. Don't just feel your own weight—feel the earth pulling you back! Imagine the mana in the ground wanting to reclaim you!"
He forced Alden to use earth magic mid-lift: raising and lowering columns while holding weight, shaping walls with one hand while clutching boulders in the other.
At one point Leonard conjured a platform with an absurd stack of stones—Alden had to stand underneath and hold it up with both augmentation and earth mana manipulation to keep it from falling and killing him.
When Alden began to falter, Leonard roared:
"Do you think gravity cares if you're tired? No! It will bury you alive without mercy! Your magic will only answer you if you respect its weight!"
For hours they trained, pushing Alden's muscles and mana core to their limit. Leonard even forced him to balance smaller stones on his limbs while doing push-ups and planks, teaching him precision under strain.
They ended the session with Alden flat on the ground, panting, twitching, sweating heavily, mana's pool close to empty.
For Alden, this workout made him remember about the similar thing from his past life: bodybuilding. Although this was a much more absurd version of it.
Leonard sat beside Alden on the training yard's packed-dirt floor. He uncorked a canteen and handed it over.
"Drink. Stay hydrated."
Alden accepted it without a word(he simply too tired to say anything), tipping it back and letting the cool water soothe his raw throat.
Leonard wiped his own brow with a forearm, eyes twinkling with that half-mocking, half-genuine fondness he reserved for teaching moments:
"Want to know a fun fact, boy? Ever wonder why dwarves have so many gravity mages among their ranks compared to us?"
Alden lowered the canteen, breathing hard: "Enlighten me before I pass out."
"What is the very first thing that racist humans...and also elves, would judge and insult upon a dwarf ?", Leonard asked.
"Their ....short height?", Alden replied.
Leonard's eyes went wide with mock astonishment. "Amazing! You can still think even half-dead!"
He snorted: "Yep. 'Stunted little mole-men.' 'Walking boulders.' 'Can't see over a table.' All classics."
Alden sighed theatrically: "Wow there, master. Real progressive of you. Didn't you get the memo? The kingdoms are trying to improve relations."
"Pfft! What? You think I'm being racist?!",Leonard's eyebrow shot up.
Alden pointed accusingly with the canteen. "I think your mouth is the crime scene here."
"Hey! I'm quoting the racists. Big difference here." , Leonard defended himself before continueing:
"Back to the point,due to their height, most people overlook dwarves' sheer physique. The fact is that they have muscle fibers and bone structures far denser than ours. Despite their small frame in height, dwarves are freakishly physically ripped and strong, let them be augmenter or conjurer or non-mages, almost every one of them is a chunk of big muscles. Hell, even a she-dwarf has more body muscle rate than an average human soldier.
It's not just cosmetic. It'sevolution. Generations of living underground and inside caves, carving out entire cities from mountainsides, mining ores that weigh ten times what these training equipments do. They carry them. Forge them. Shape them. Move them up vertical shafts with nothing but their backs and rope. Everyday."
Alden blinked, listening despite the exhaustion.
Leonard tapped the side of his head. "So when dwarves learn magic, especially gravity deviant? It's not some mystery. It's instinct. Their bodies and minds understand mass. They know exactly what weight feels like, how it presses on bone, how it drags at every tendon. That's the key to gravity magic: not simply commanding weight to increase or decrease but truly understanding the nature of mass and force."
Alden let out a long breath. "So… what you're saying is I need to train like a dwarf."
Leonard's teeth showed in a grin. "Exactly. But also, in the far future, you'll possibly have to think like a dwarf if you want to go further."
A pause.
Alden looked up with a dry expression. "We're not going to get accused of cultural and racial heresy for this, are we?"
*WHEEZE* "Hahahahahahaha!!!", Leonard wheezed loudly on his breath before letting out a booming laugh that echoed off the training yard walls.
"Deities help me, you cheeky brat— you'll be a fine diplomat and a mage!"
Alden took another long gulp from the canteen, then lowered it slowly, eyes serious.
"But I have a question…" he began, voice low with fatigue but earnest. "What if I still can't unlock gravity deviant, no matter how hard I train? Isn't that determined by the body too? Who can assure that my blood, my lineage is totally suitable for this deviant?"
"Bah! Hush with that doomsaying," Leonard said, voice dismissive but not unkind.
"You're a quadra-elemental, boy. And a lightning deviant, no less. Don't pretend you're some unfortunate farm lad praying for a miracle. I'd bet a year's salary you'll unlock the rest of the deviants eventually."
Alden frowned, still skeptical.
"And if it turns out you don't?" Leonard shrugged broadly, as if the answer was obvious.
"Then you'll still walk away from this stronger than most men alive. Your bones denser, your muscles forged from labor. You'll know the feel of weight, the truth of force and strain. Even if the spell never comes, the strength will stay with you."
He gave Alden a grin full of teeth and challenge.
"Besides, if my training doesn't work, I can always take credit for sculpting you into the strongest failure this kingdom's ever seen."
Alden let out a tired breath, but his eyes glinted with reluctant amusement.
"Truly reassuring, master."