"Could someone answer me properly... what is mana?"
'And here we go again with this boring crap...' Evan sighed, as Jeffrey began his famous questions.
In the story, Jeffrey was portrayed as a kind of mad scientist. He was obsessed with theories and discoveries about mana.
Combat wasn't his strong point, since his rank hovered around B+, which was already extremely high compared to most people.
But it was in the scientific field where he truly stood out. It was Jeffrey, alongside Celine, one of the main characters, who came up with one of the main theories for curing cellular mutation caused by mana usage.
And speaking of Celine... there she was. A young girl with light brown hair, violet eyes, wearing a pair of glasses completely disproportionate to her face, sitting right next to Evan.
'Why did this girl have to sit beside me?...'
Celine was known for her strong personality, presenting scientific arguments for any debate that came up. Unlike most people, she didn't care much about social classes and that kind of thing. All she cared about was how stubborn you were when it came to theories.
'In short, a true mana maniac...'
As expected, the same girl sitting beside Evan was the first to raise her hand to answer.
"You may answer, young lady." Jeffrey said, with excitement in his tired face full of dark circles.
"Well... we can explain mana as the force that manipulates the forces of this world. It can be considered a conscious energy, and it exists within all living beings..."
After nearly 15 minutes, most of the students present, except for maybe three of them, were practically asleep after Celine's explanation.
In the other corner of the classroom, near the door, a figure caught Evan's attention.
Short black hair, down to shoulder length, with small silver strands. And most striking of all, a beautiful pair of grayish eyes.
It was Karin RoughStone, the main female heroine of the story, and one of the only characters to possess a dual elemental affinity: water and earth.
Unlike the others, Karin was paying full attention during Celine's explanation.
With the RoughStone family being one of the most influential families on the continent, alongside the Silver family, Karin lived through her own internal storms, since she faced a fierce battle for the family heir position against her older brother, Oscar.
...
After about two hours of Jeffrey's endless lecture, Evan could barely keep himself awake.
Not because the explanation about mana wasn't important, but because Evan already knew all of those details after reading New Era countless times.
In fact, Evan knew perfectly well one of the main theories that would later revolutionize the industry of artificial mana-powered weapons.
But that wasn't something the boy wanted to get involved with right now.
...
Walking toward the cafeteria, Evan knew the academy provided the highest quality food for its students.
The best proteins you could possibly imagine. And the best part was that students could eat as much as they wanted.
'This is literally a dream...' Evan thought to himself.
But as he approached the line to get his food, a young man twice Evan's size bumped into him, knocking Evan completely to the ground right in front of everyone.
"Get out of my way, worm." the huge troglodyte said.
That massive boy was Christian, one of Erick's subordinates. Christian was Erick's brutish bodyguard, and he would later be completely humiliated by Mikael during one of the combat evaluations.
Christian was one of the first secondary antagonists to appear in the story.
Evan kept an unreadable expression on his face, not letting the rage boiling inside him show.
'I'll make you pay myself, you piece of shit...'
As he tried to get up, Evan noticed a hand reaching out to help him. When he grabbed it for support, he immediately recognized that childish face.
Curly blue hair, brownish eyes, and a face that highlighted his innocence... it was Victor, one of Mikael's main companions in New Era.
Victor became known in the novel for his compassion and social skills, earning great respect inside the academy.
Victor was the son of one of the strongest mages in Etherea, Lady Cinthia, often ranked among the three strongest human figures.
But compared to his mother, Victor never stood out because of his magical abilities, even though he had tremendous potential.
"Did you get hurt?" the boy asked with a huge smile, helping Evan back up.
"It's nothing. I'm fine." Evan replied coldly.
Victor kept that innocent expression on his face.
'Argh... this is so troublesome.' Evan muttered.
"Good! I'm glad you're okay then! My name is Victor, what's yours?!!"
"You can call me Evan." Evan replied coldly.
"The pleasure is all mineee!... what do you say we have lunch together?" Victor suggested.
But before Victor could even finish the sentence, Evan had already walked away quickly.
"Is it so hard to have a little peace in this place?" he complained.
...
After the mandatory classes ended, students were free to choose the rest of their daily schedule. Instead of picking extra subjects, Evan preferred to spend his time in the training center.
When he entered the place, carrying his humble sword, Evan couldn't help but notice the structure.
'This... is way more impressive than it was in the novel.'
It left him completely speechless.
The academy's training facilities were equipped with the most advanced technology available at the time.
Countless weight training machines.
Robots programmed for sparring.
And there were also ten gravitational chambers inside the facility.
"Hmm... I think going to the gravity chamber for now is the best option. I won't be bothered there."
Evan knew that even though his body looked somewhat athletic, it was far from truly strong. Compared to the rest of the academy's elite, Evan was less than a single atom.
"Rank 2812, huh?... get ready..."
Walking toward one of the available chambers, Evan placed his hand on the fingerprint sensor. After a few seconds, a door made of pure black obsidian opened.
The moment he stepped inside, the door closed immediately.
From the outside, the place looked simple and small. But the moment Evan entered, he realized it was the complete opposite.
The space was absurdly huge for just one person, and its interior was made of pure obsidian, with mana circuits running all around the room.
"Even the air in here feels heavier... let's start slowly." Evan murmured.
"Increase gravity to 5x." Evan ordered.
The gravity chambers had an integrated artificial intelligence that regulated the gravity levels through the user's voice commands.
Suddenly, Evan felt the environment around him becoming heavier and heavier, to the point where he could barely remain standing. That was when one of his knees gave out, nearly dropping him to the ground.
"Aaghr! Shit!"
"Seriously? This is only 5x gravity?"
In the original story, Mikael's first training sessions inside the chamber were shown with gravity increased to around 20x. Meanwhile, Evan could barely even move under this condition.
"T-these next two hours are going to be h-hell..."
With two hours per day being the limit each student could use the chamber, Evan knew he had to make the most out of every second.