“Wow!”

Kairen looked at the interiors of the building.

“Is sure is big.”

He glanced around. He was in a huge hall that looked like a gym. A super big gym. This place was the training ground of SMF.

He could enter the building after showing his invitation card to the staff. He was given a piece of paper that described the purpose of different rooms and floors of the building. It was easy to find the best place to train because of that paper.

The main training hall was built underground. It was built with special materials to make it as stable as much as possible and countless layers of barriers and shields were placed all around the area to prevent any possible harm to the outside of the building. The building was built outside of the city, but it was still better to be cautious.

It also had a training area outside the building where you could practice any dangerous or large-scale attacks without worry. The building had lots of floors that were each used in different ways.

There were lots of people training in the training ground. Kairen could see some muscular men swinging their weapons and two people sparring with swords. There was someone who was throwing knives at a marked board on the wall and someone else was casting a spell.

‘There are so many people here…’

Kairen hesitantly walked forward. He wanted to avoid people as much as possible so he walked towards an empty area in the right corner of the hall.

Kairen needed to test the newest spells he had learned. He had memorized them all but didn’t have the chance to test them in action.

He had been studying spells non-stop since the day he learned how to control his mana and used them when needed in his missions.

He now could cast almost every low-level spell as well as some medium-level and high-level ones.

He didn’t see the need to use high-level spells till now. Even his low-level spells had great power in them so he didn’t have to try any harder. But now he had to learn as much as he could for the upcoming entrance exam.

Kairen could finally find an empty area and stopped walking. He could see some training targets placed here and there. Kairen stood in front of a target and focused on the spell he wanted to cast. He moved his mana and cast the spell for the first time.

His mana circled around and gathered in one place. The spell shaped the mana the way he wanted and soon, a ball of fire was created. A medium-high leveled fire-type attack magic.

In fact, mages don’t really study all the spells there are. Everyone chooses what they want to major in when the right time comes.

Some study support type magic while some choose to learn defense type. Some mages like to study in some more peaceful majors. There are ones who use their power in things like technology or science. It is impossible to be able to cast all the spells that exist.

However, it is a little bit different for the cadets studying in the academy. They have to learn various types of magic spells and be able to use them all. Some of the cadets choose to focus more on one subject, but overall, they have to learn a bit about any magic that is used in battles.

Kairen had been learning the basic spells till now that everyone had to know. He had thought about what field of magic to focus on, but he couldn’t reach a conclusion.

When he asked Reyan and Serria, they said that the previous Kairen also hadn’t chosen a specific field and would learn any spells that seemed interesting.

Kaien looked at the burning fireball that was floating in the air.

‘Elemental magic is truelly amazing.’

Kairen liked Elemental magic a lot. You could create fire and move the wind. You could do lots of things with it. It was exciting.

He used to think before, why did people with the power of controlling the attributes exist when mages could create all of the natural elements with mana?

He found his answer after meeting that man in his first mission and Kain.

Elemental magic and controlling the element itself were completely different. The difference between them was so big, like the difference between heaven and earth.

What you could do with magic was just mimicking a small portion of the element’s power, while you could freely control and command the element when you had the power of nature.

Maybe that was the reason why the people with the power to control the main elements of nature were really rare. It would destroy the balance of the world if everyone had such power.

The ball of fire floating in the air moved with Kairen’s order. It flew towards the target and hit it.

BOOM

The training target exploded and started to burn. The whole thing soon turned to ashes.

‘Woha!’

Kairen placed his hands on his hips and looked proudly at the result of his magic. Not bad for the first try!

“…..”

Kairen rubbed the back of his neck. He suddenly had a strange feeling. When turned around, he saw a bunch of people staring at him.

“…..”

What?

Kairen looked at them, then looked at himself, and then turned to the target that now no longer existed.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

He smiled awkwardly and scratched his nose.

“I haven’t seen you around, are you new here?”

Kairen turned towards the voice. A muscular man was approaching him while wiping his sweat with a towel.

“Yes. I’m only a guest.”

“Hmm?”

The man raised his eyebrow and observed him from head to toe.

“Oh, it’s you!”

Someone jumped out from behind the man and walked towards Kairen.

Kairen looked at the man’s face. He seemed familiar.

‘Where have I seen him?’

The man stretched his hand for a handshake.

“You were on the rescue team last week. You guys saved me.”

“Ah!”

Kairen now remembered him. He was one of the three people that they met on the second floor of that building.

He grabbed the man’s hand and shook it.

“I didn’t do much.”

“No no.”

The men took back his hand and waved it in the air.

“You captured that man alive. It was a really wise act.”

“Really?”

The man looked around and then came closer to Kairen. He whispered his words in a low voice.

“I shouldn’t really tell you this since you aren’t a member yet, but well, this much isn’t really a lot so it won’t matter. Still, don’t tell anyone that I talked to you about this stuff.”

‘What is this?’

Kairen nodded his head. After seeing him nod, the man continued in a low voice.

“We interrogated him, and guess what? We found out lots of things about that building and what they were doing inside. It was really helpful for us.”

“But back then, he said he didn’t know much.”

“Even you wouldn’t be able to remember things if you were under team leader Dain’s gaze and a gun was pointed at you!”

“….”

That was right. Kairen nodded his head in agreement.

Team leader Dain’s looked experienced and skilled, Kairen didn’t feel fear because such a man was by their side. But it would be the opposite to the enemy.

Kairen remembered something that he had been curious about. He wasn’t sure if the man would answer him but he decided to ask anyway.

“That day… Team leader Dains said something about discussing matters with the team leader of your unit. How did it go?”

“That…”

The man gulped and avoided Kairen’s gaze. He looked around once more and came closer to Kairen.

“You’d better not know.”

“….”

He hurriedly took one step back and looked away as if afraid of being caught.

“What are you doing?”

The muscular man who was still looking at Kairen asked in an annoyed voice. The man in front of Kairen smiled and turned back.

“I was thanking him.”

“Thanking?”

“You guys don’t know him yet.”

He placed his arm around Kairen’s shoulder.

‘No, wait.’

A few more heads turned towards them. Kairen got an ominus feeling. He wanted to just train quietly and leave this place with no one ever noticing him. This wasn’t right!

“This young man was on the rescue team last week. He is one of the cadets that will work here in the future.”

“Oh?”

The number of eyes staring at Kairen increased dramatically. Kairen smiled and took a step back.

“How is he here if he is still a cadet?”

“Is he a guest?”

“He looks so weak.”

“Are you a mage? Come train with me.”

“I thought that magic from earlier was great!”

“Look at him, he is still a kid!”

The man smiled and grabbed Kairen’s arm.

“Come with me. To show my thanks, I will introduce you to some of our strong mages here. They can be a great help in training your skill.”

‘No! I don’t want to! Let go!’

But Kairen was forcefully dragged by the man, unable to resist his force.