‘Huh?’

Kim Songcheol opened his eyes. This was because his surroundings were too quiet. He couldn’t hear Seo Yi-tae’s voice telling him to ‘inhale and exhale’.

“Is there a problem…?”

“Oh, no. No problem at all.”

Seo Yi-tae’s voice trembled slightly. The other trainees’ expressions weren’t normal either. Although they were trying their best to act fine, their eyes were very different from before.

At this point, Kim Songcheol couldn’t help but notice.

‘It seems I overdid it.’

Kim Songcheol also felt the vortex of mana. Since he created it, it made no sense that he wouldn’t know.

Moreover, the documents he read last night made no mention of a vortex.

It was a unique phenomenon for Kim Songcheol alone.

‘But what can I do? I can’t go easy on them, can I?’

If you’re going to learn magic, you should learn it properly. It wasn’t a matter of worrying about others.

“May I continue?”

“Yes, yes. Please continue.”

Kim Songcheol closed his eyes again and began to breathe.

Each time he inhaled, it felt like he was drawing in all the mana within the lecture hall, to exaggerate a little.

But just as much mana flowed out with each exhale.

Even Kim Songcheol couldn’t store all the mana that entered his body.

‘Still, the efficiency seems pretty good.’

Kim Songcheol took a portion of the mana that entered his lungs and moved it to his heart. The breathing technique was a repetition of that process.

That wasn’t the only thing he had to worry about. He had to keep the mana that moved to his heart held in place.

Natural mana has a tendency to diffuse, moving from areas of high concentration to low concentration.

If he relaxed for even a moment, the mana he had painstakingly gathered might scatter in all directions.

“Inhale… maintain tension.”

Seo Yi-tae also kept reminding him. A trainee was practicing right before her eyes. She didn’t miss what she had to do.

‘The speed at which mana is accumulating is incredible. At this rate, he’ll be able to activate a Circle in no time.’

Seo Yi-tae concentrated on the sensation she felt at her fingertips.

She could feel the mana moving within Kim Songcheol’s body.

‘This should be enough.’

Seo Yi-tae prepared to finish the breathing technique. This was a lecture, not a training session. She couldn’t keep focusing only on Kim Songcheol.

“Alright, this is important now. We’ll conclude.”

Concluding is the process of firmly storing the mana gathered through the breathing technique within the heart.

It was the final stage of the breathing technique.

“You’re going to compress the mana gathered around your heart into a tiny point inside your heart and insert it. If you mess up here, you might lose the mana you gathered with the breathing technique.”

Concluding itself isn’t a very difficult task. However, beginners often fail.

Seo Yi-tae didn’t think Kim Songcheol would fail, but it was an important part, so she emphasized it once.

“First, compress.”

No sooner had the word “compress” left her lips than the mana gathered around Kim Songcheol’s heart rapidly contracted into a single point.

Seo Yi-tae couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. Even though she knew his mana control was astonishing, she still couldn’t get used to it.

“…Now, place it in the center of your heart. There will be a comfortable position. A spot where you feel, ‘This is it.’ Try to find and move it. That position is different for everyone.”

Kim Songcheol inserted the mana clump, smaller than a bean, into his heart and carefully placed it.

The mana clump moved slightly to the left of his heart and settled there.

“Is it done?”

Kim Songcheol opened his eyes.

“Yes, you did well. At this rate, you can train by yourself. Please practice the breathing technique whenever you have a chance. You’ll grow that much faster.”

“Yes, I understand. Is there anything I need to correct…?”

“…No. You’re doing too well.”

Seo Yi-tae shook her head.

Once Kim Songcheol’s instruction was over, the other trainees finally began their magic training.

They had been so engrossed in watching Kim Songcheol’s training that they had lost their minds, but then they quickly sat down and closed their eyes.

***

Kim Songcheol came out to the gymnasium in his training clothes.

This was because there was a basic physical training curriculum.

There were about 15 trainees in the gymnasium, all of them mages.

They felt very different from the swordsmen.

On his way to the gymnasium, he had seen the swordsman trainees running on the track in the exercise yard.

They were running at a speed that truly transcended human limits.

If he were to collide with one of them, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say his life would be in real danger.

“Doesn’t that person look a bit old?”

“He looks really old. He looks about thirty.”

Kim Songcheol heard the whispers. The country had raised the assessment age limit to 35, but Kim Songcheol was the only one who had entered the training institute.

In a place where everyone was around their twenties, a thirty-year-old clearly stood out.

‘Should I be happy or upset that they think I look thirty…’

Kim Songcheol tried his best to ignore the gazes and voices and warmed up.

As he rotated his wrists and ankles, a male staff member approached him.

“I haven’t seen your face before? When did you join?”

He was a male staff member with an ordinary face and glasses. Kim Songcheol had seen him laughing and chatting with other trainees earlier. He seemed to be naturally friendly.

“I joined yesterday.”

“Ah, so you’re a new trainee. That’s probably why you stand out.”

The male staff member subtly gestured around. There were still people glancing at Kim Songcheol.

‘This guy is considerate. Someone like him should become a Hunter.’

This male staff member seemed to have come to protect Kim Songcheol.

Kim Songcheol found his thoughtfulness quite touching.

“Well, it’s fine. I’m actually thirty-one.”

“Huh?”

The male staff member asked again, as if he had misheard.

“Thirty-one. My age.”

“Oh, they said they expanded the age range this time, but there really are people over 30 joining?”

The male staff member blinked and then called his friends over.

“Say hello. He’s thirty-one.”

“What? Isn’t that the first time since the training institute was founded?”

“Probably?”

“Oh, hello.”

“Hello.”

About six or seven people came and bowed one after another.

Kim Songcheol, who hadn’t expected a group introduction, awkwardly returned their greetings.

“Then what should we call him? Uncle?”

“Hey, isn’t ‘uncle’ a bit much?”

“I’m 19?”

“Just call me uncle.”

Kim Songcheol, unable to watch any longer, interjected.

The title was important, yet not important.

It didn’t matter what they called him, but his conscience wouldn’t allow him to be called ‘oppa’ by a 19-year-old.

One fortunate thing was that the male staff members just decided to call him ‘hyung-nim’ on their own.

This was thanks to the first male staff member who spoke to him quickly calling him ‘hyung-nim’.

“Alright, alright.”

At that moment, the instructor entered the gymnasium. He wasn’t as bulky as Go Jung-in, but he was a sturdy male instructor.

From the way he entered, he seemed to be either a former elite athlete or a special forces officer.

As the instructor entered, the trainees roughly formed lines. Kim Songcheol also discreetly took a spot in the back.

“First, we’ll start with a light 20 laps.”

‘Light?’

Kim Songcheol suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong.

This gymnasium is quite spacious, unlike an ordinary one.

20 laps around here?

It felt like almost 5 kilometers.

Could someone with the stamina of a hawk, who just sits in front of a book and fiddles with Excel, manage that?

‘I don’t think so…’

“Alright, let’s go.”

The instructor’s command was given. The front runners began to circle the gymnasium widely, with Kim Songcheol trailing at the very end.

He managed to run for one, then two laps. But by the third lap, he started sweating profusely, and by the fourth, he was out of breath.

‘Oh, this isn’t right. This isn’t it.’

The trainees running ahead were full of energy. They showed off the steel-like stamina of teenagers and twenties without reservation. They had even entered the institute early and were already training, making comparison with Kim Songcheol impossible.

Kim Songcheol began to fall behind. He was the slowest trainee and also the one who looked the most exhausted.

“Uncle, hang in there!”

“You can do it!”

The distance between them gradually widened, eventually becoming a full lap.

The trainees he had just met earlier passed by, encouraging him.

Of course, Kim Songcheol couldn’t really hear them.

He was too focused on running the track.

“Hey, hey, I just heard some amazing news.”

Compared to Kim Songcheol, the other trainees had energy to spare. So much so that they could even chat during their run.

“What news?”

“A friend of a kid who took magic classes in the same class as that person over there told me, that person is amazing, apparently?”

“What about them?”

“They just felt mana on their own after seeing the lecture fee, and immediately started the Breathing Technique in class, but it wasn’t breathing, it was some kind of inhaler…”

“They just felt mana on their own? It took me two weeks!”

“That’s what they said? Doesn’t sound like a lie.”

“Really? Then how high is their Mana Affinity?”

“If they’re coming to the training institute after turning 30, it must be incredibly high, right?”

“About… 60?”

“Oh, come on, surely not that high?”

While Kim Songcheol was blocked by the immense wall of running, rumors about him were already spreading beyond that wall.

To cut a long story short, Kim Songcheol was excused from physical training class.

He somehow managed to complete the running, but he didn’t have enough stamina left to immediately continue with the subsequent activities.

After a ‘light jog,’ all Kim Songcheol was allowed to do was lie down and breathe.

If the instructor had adhered to traditional teaching methods a little longer, today might have been Kim Songcheol’s memorial day.

After catching his breath for a while, Kim Songcheol finally managed to sit up and watch the trainees’ activities.

They were doing something similar to CrossFit, and just watching it made him feel like his lifespan was shortening.

‘I have to do it. I have to do it too. To enter a dungeon.’

Kim Songcheol envied the young people’s stamina and steeled his resolve.

A mage cannot just stand still. A dungeon is a place where you never know what dangers might pop out.

Stamina is not national power; stamina is life itself.

He had to improve it somehow.

“Trainee Kim Songcheol.”

The instructor walked over to Kim Songcheol. It was about halfway through the training session. In his hand were two small pink dumbbells.

“Yes?”

Kim Songcheol stood up awkwardly. After resting, he had recovered that much strength.

“Try lifting them.”

“Yes.”

Kim Songcheol got up from his seat and took the pink dumbbells.

“Are they heavy?”

“No. They’re not heavy at all.”

“Unexpectedly, your muscle strength is quite good?”

The instructor said with a slight suppressed laugh.

It wasn’t condescending or dismissive, just a light joke.

This instructor seemed like he would have a pretty cheerful personality if met in private.

“Oh, I can lift this much.”

“Then, from now on, we’ll do some light exercises following me.”

The instructor didn’t neglect even the excused trainee, taking care of him.

Taking care of him, of course, meant physical training.

He was given familiar yet subtly difficult movements, and the pink dumbbells, which were light at first, strangely became heavier and heavier.

“Are they heavy?”

The instructor asked again.

“Ugh…! Th-they’re heavy now.”

Kim Songcheol, who had dismissed the pink dumbbells, paid a hefty price.