We quickly headed to my training room. My heart aches a little for hiding all this from my family—I just hope it doesn’t get me into trouble.

  Since it's quite close to the main house, we arrived fast. We didn’t see anyone on the way, so if we return quickly, no one should find out about our little escape.

  “Why are there so many wooden posts stuck to the floor, Maki?” Luna was the first to ask. Both of them were staring at me, waiting for an answer.

  “I use them to train my movements. Fights don’t always take place on flat ground.” I’m not exactly telling the truth, but I’m not lying either—it’s a half-truth. Her question came from genuine curiosity, no bad intentions. The problem is me—I don’t like to reveal too much about myself to people I’ve just met.

  Both of them started examining the wooden posts closely. I explained how they could move automatically with the push of a button. Luna simply nodded in understanding. Cris, on the other hand, had a totally different reaction—his eyes were sparkling with excitement.

  “I’ll ask my father if we can build a similar room. I’ve always trained on flat ground, but this system is way more exciting.”

  All I could do was cheer Cris on. I used the button to move the wooden logs to the side of the room, clearing up more space.

  “What do you want to train, Cris? Luna?” As the host, I felt obligated to ask what they wanted to do during our session.

  They both began throwing out suggestions. In the end, we decided to just demonstrate our skills without exchanging blows. I forgot to bring the protective necklace—sparring would be too risky under these conditions.

  Cris seems to be leaning toward hand-to-hand combat. He uses only his body as a weapon and is learning techniques from a martial art passed down in his family. Luna, on the other hand, is completely different—she wants to become a long-range dual-element mage.

  “I’ll go first, Maki. Watch me.”

  He began a routine with high and low strikes, mixing punches, elbows, kicks, and knee strikes. It was a good performance, clearly useful in real combat. I’m no expert in this area, but I could tell right away—his style focuses on fast strikes and avoiding attacks until his opponent tires out.

  “That’s not all. Watch this move.”

  He used his quick step ability to lunge forward with great momentum. But… why is it slower than mine? I could see a flash of fire mana when he moved—meaning it’s Rank II. Is it because of how much mana he used? It’s about half of what I usually expend.

  “I know, it’s impressive—but I’m not done yet.”

  He ignited his fists with flames and repeated the same routine, ending with his movement skill in what could’ve been a powerful blow.

  Quite impressive for a twelve-year-old. The problem is, from my perspective, he’s too weak. He doesn’t use his Imra, his movement ability is slower than mine, he has no defense against my swords, and I control my weapons better than he controls his body. My experience outshines his. If I fought him, the odds of me losing are very low.

  Still, my thoughts don’t matter here—I gave him enthusiastic applause and praised him. “Impressive, Cris. All those movements looked really smooth. Your control over your abilities is high-level.”

  I saw Cris blush a little as he sat next to me. He looked proud and genuinely happy. I really like his personality.

  “My turn. I only awakened my abilities recently, so they’re still low level.” Luna walked to the center of the room without paying much attention to her surroundings.

  I felt the mana move to form a fire arrow, then another one appeared beside it. The casting took a little long. The arrows looked strong enough to wound a fox or a wolf, though I doubt they’d be lethal.

  “My current limit is two arrows. I can also create sand arrows the same way. They’re pretty fast, though my control isn’t perfect.”

  She seemed satisfied with her demonstration.

  “You can shoot them at the walls. They’re reinforced,” I offered, eager to see their speed.

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  Both arrows flew toward the wall, hit, and vanished.

  “Very fast—really impressive, Luna.”

  Once again, I gave sincere praise. Her speed was slower than my spells, and my casting time and spell count were better—all thanks to my massive mana pool.

  These two must be above-average for Amethyst rank. Being nobles gives you more benefits than commoners—that’s what my grandmother explained to me a while ago. Now I have a clearer idea of how strong I am compared to them.

  “It’s your turn, Maki.” I had gotten lost in thought. Luna was now sitting next to me, gently nudging me to show my skills.

  I didn’t know what to show. My pseudo-domain ability is my trump card, so that’s off-limits. I also don’t want to reveal my concentrated spheres.

  Alright—I’ve decided what I’ll show.

  “I’m also a mage like Luna, and at the same time, a fighter like Cris.” I saw confusion on their faces, as if huge question marks had appeared over their heads.

  I quickly created an ice sphere—it took me much less time than it took Luna. Then, I immediately created four more spheres almost simultaneously. I activated Cold Mind—controlling five spheres causes a headache without that skill.

  Cris looked thrilled, almost jumping out of his seat. Luna stared at me in admiration, surprised. Neither asked questions—they were unusually quiet for kids.

  I made the spheres disappear. “I can fight at long range, and also in close combat.” I walked over to grab a pair of wooden short swords, returned to the center, infused them with Imra, and began a series of shadow fighting movements. I finished with a quick movement ability, like Cris had done.

  I’m not entirely sure if they showed all their skills—probably—but I felt a little guilty for not showing three of my six abilities. That’s why I displayed the limit of what I could do if I only had three.

  “What do you think?” Both were staring at me in confusion, but then came the barrage of questions.

  “That was amazing, Maki! How do you have so many skills? How can you focus on two completely different paths? Not only can you create more spells than I can, even though you’re four years younger—you also fight hand-to-hand just as well as I do!”

  Cris was the first to explode with excitement, his face right up close to mine, grinning ear to ear.

  I tried to calm him down. After almost a minute, he finally relaxed. I began explaining a bit about my training, sharing little by little without sounding arrogant about my talent.

  They listened attentively, asking questions now and then. I answered everything I could without revealing too much about my crazy all-day training routine.

  “Cris, you mentioned something about different paths—what do you mean?” I recalled hearing something similar from my parents once, but I hadn’t paid much attention back then.

  “Yeah, it’s rare to see a hand-to-hand fighter train long-range spells, or the other way around. It takes a lot of time to level up your skills. That’s why, in the first two ranks, most people focus on strengthening their foundation. Only in Sapphire rank do they start acquiring skills to cover their weaknesses.”

  A child in my world wouldn’t normally explain things so clearly—must be because they’re baron’s children and have received etiquette and public speaking lessons since early childhood.

  I’m sure I’ve heard something similar from my parents before. In any case, that rule doesn’t apply to me. I already have a strong foundation in close combat, and I’m leveling up quickly thanks to that advantage.

  “Yes, many kids already choose their path before their first ritual, so they can focus their training time accordingly,” Luna added more insight.

  I thanked them for the explanation. It made sense—I had kind of deduced it myself, but hearing it confirmed helped clear up my doubts.

  We continued talking about our skills and our dreams for the future.

  They both want to attend a very prestigious school someday. The entrance exam is one of the hardest. The city it’s located in is huge and considered one of the safest in the world.

  That territory isn’t ruled by any king or emperor. It was founded by six Obsidian-ranked individuals, and they’re constantly recruiting powerful people, making it impossible to invade. They’ve also declared they’ll never attack or invade neighbors unless provoked.

  Because it’s such a safe and prosperous city, with a top-tier academy, they receive many students each year. Nearly all children of important nobles want to go there.

  The only issue is the tuition cost—but for a noble, that’s not a problem.

  The school and the city share the same name: Skyblue River, named after a huge river that flows through the middle of the city. I feel intrigued by that academy—maybe I’ll consider attending someday.

  Both of them started trying to convince me to attend in the future, talking about how wonderful the school was and the opportunities I could gain in that city if I became strong and showed great potential. I made them a promise to think about it and discuss it with my parents.

  The school’s policy is different—you can enroll if you pass their test regardless of age. Usually, kids start at thirteen in the Amethyst rank and only graduate at seventeen or eighteen. To graduate, you must at least reach the Sapphire rank.

  We decided to head back to the room where we had been before. They walked ahead of me, chatting about something between the two of them.

  At that moment, my mind began to wander. I’m very strong compared to others in the Amethyst rank. I’m confident I could defeat my two new friends quickly without taking much damage, even with the big age gap between us. That made me wonder about my strength—could I be one of the strongest Amethysts?

  Maybe I could even fight against someone in the Emerald rank if I went all out. Am I really that strong?