Eight years ago.
A Disaster-class monster tore through the front line. Red swung his heavy buster sword to meet the charge.
CLANG.
The steel bounced off the hard shell. He swung a second time.
CLANG.
The beast did not die, so the young boy gritted his teeth and stepped back.
Brown threw himself into the gap. He did not raise an iron shield or brace a steel breastplate. He blocked the monster's crushing strike using his bare arms. His thick yellow Aura protected his skin from most of the impact, but the sheer kinetic force pushed straight through the light. A sharp crack echoed in the tunnel. His bones broke, yet he held the line.
The beast finally slipped past the vanguard. It rushed toward the middle of the formation where Pink waited. She tried to dart into the shadows, but her hands refused to move. Her muscles completely locked up. She managed to dodge the heavy claws at the last possible second, though her movement was incredibly slow for a Thief.
When the monster bypassed the melee fighters entirely, Brown did not hesitate. He threw his heavy body high into the air and turned himself into a falling boulder to crush the beast. He landed directly on the monster's broken body. The beast died, but Brown lay on the cold stone floor. His entire body ached from dozens of fresh bone fractures.
Every single day, they followed this exact same routine. Brown always ended up with broken bones all over his arms and legs. Kian explicitly prohibited him from using a shield, armor, or any weapon. The young boy was forced to use his flesh and blood to tank the monsters directly.
But out of the three melee fighters, Pink suffered the most. Pure agony radiated through her entire body. The harsh reality was simple. Her Etheric Veins were completely messed up. Yellow could easily mend Brown's broken bones every afternoon, but healing magic cannot fix torn Etheric Veins. The only proven method to heal damaged internal Mana channels is a long, proper rest. Pink stubbornly refused to rest. She marched into the dungeon with the Feeble Soul every single day despite her ruined veins.
Red stayed in the best physical condition. He did not take heavy damage, but the psychological toll was making him lose his mind. He spent every waking hour trying to figure out how to kill an armored beast with just two strikes. He still could not do it.
The girls in the backline suffered the worst psychological torture. Yellow and Black finally collapsed onto the cold stone. Extreme Mana exhaustion hit them hard. Yellow had continuously cast a low-level healing spell on Kian, while Black forced a floating spell to keep him in the air. They completely failed to last the entire eight hours, so their bodies shut down before the exploration ended.
Kian did not feel dizzy when Lumina cast the float spell because he was wearing an ultra-rare magical necklace called 'Geostyr,' which he bought from a shady merchant.
Kian looked down at them.
Why are they trying so hard? he thought.
He felt horrified as he watched the color-coded kids quietly endure their brutal injuries day after day. He purposely gave them impossible tasks to make them quit the party, but they were incredibly relentless. The kids never uttered a single complaint.
It has been one month already since I gave them this crap training regimen, Kian analyzed silently. They believe every word I say without question. Why?
He stared at the exhausted children. The three melee fighters stood on shaking legs, while the Mage and the Healer lay completely drained on the ground.
When do these kids stop? he thought, a heavy knot of guilt twisting in his gut. Please give up already. You're just hurting yourselves.
He swallowed the guilt immediately. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his last Glisberry, and popped it into his mouth.
"That's enough," Kian declared flatly. "Let's call it a day."
He walked right past Yellow and Black without saying a single word.
When they stepped out of the dungeon, the five kids were completely exhausted. Kian remained perfectly fine. They had explored the dark tunnels of different dungeons for an entire month, fighting eight to ten hours a day without a single rest day.
A normal Adventurer party usually fought for a maximum of fifteen days, then rested for an entire week to recover. But Kian forced the color-coded kids to fight for thirty days straight without any breaks. They did not even carry Mana Potions to refill their energy. The children's bodies somehow adapted to this harsh treatment at a very young age.
---
After the dungeon exploration for the day, the color-coded kids stayed at the inn, while Kian remained outside. Yellow and Black sat on the wooden chairs. Brown, Red, and Pink stood near the walls. They all looked physically exhausted except for Red. The young boy felt mentally exhausted because he failed to figure out how to merge sound with sword technique. He wanted to refresh his mind after the agonizing mental test he took for an entire month, so he looked at Yellow.
"Celia, let's have a duel," Red said.
Pink snorted loudly and crossed her arms. "Huh?! Didn't you learn the lesson already? You always lose to Celia in a sword fight."
Red glared at her. His face turned red with irritation. He and Pink bickered constantly, but her words hit a sore spot. "I lost because I don't use Aura during our duels. I can beat her if I use Aura."
Lexi mocked him with a sharp laugh. "Don't make excuses.
"The last time we sparred was six months ago," Red said. "I am stronger now than before."
"As if," Lexi retorted.
Red gripped his hilt. "You want to spar with me?"
Lumina stepped forward and shook her head. "Stop it, Raze. You know Lexi's Etheric Veins are in a mess."
Red dropped his hand from his sword and faced Yellow again. "Please spar with me. I will show you how I've improved since the last time we sparred."
Pink interrupted him before Celia could answer. "You should figure out first how to use sound to improve your swordsmanship."
If any outside Adventurer heard about sound to improve swordsmanship, they would think it was complete nonsense. Sound and sword do not relate to each other at all. But for the Feeble Soul, it made logical sense to them because Kian told them that wisdom, though Kian deliberately talked about nonsense during that time.
"If I can spar with another Swordsman, maybe I shall get a clue or realize what I missed," Red argued. He faced Yellow with a serious expression. "I know. Why don't you figure out how to use Aura? If you can do that, we can spar on equal footing."
Red was a Heavy Swordsman who relied on heavy strikes, while Celia moved like a Light Swordsman who relied on mobility and agility.
At this time, in a pure sword fight without Aura, Celia fought slightly better in techniques and footwork. Her only advantage over Red was her height. She had the stature of a fourteen-year-old human, and Red was a nine-year-old boy. Their body physique differences did not matter in a regular fight, but in a close fight, a slight advantage became the deciding factor of victory or defeat.
Red was still very young with plenty of room to grow, so Celia always beat him in a pure swordfight without Aura.
However, when Red used his Aura, Celia did not stand a chance against him. This dynamic made Red wonder what would happen if Celia could use Aura to coat her body or her sword. The fight would be very interesting.
"Raze, that can't—" Celia started.
"Raze, are you being serious?" Black interrupted before Celia could finish. "Healers and Mages cannot coat their bodies and weapons with Aura. If they do, their bones and flesh will tear apart. In just a hundredth of a second, their bodies will begin to crush under the heavy pressure, and within one-tenth of a second, they will die."
Red shrugged. "So?"
Lumina frowned. "What do you mean 'so'?"
Red thought of a new idea at this exact moment. "Celia can—"
CREAAAK.
Before Red could finish his sentence, the inn door swung open and Kian stepped inside. The room fell into an abrupt, heavy silence.
Lumina remained the most silent among them. She gripped her right hand tightly on the hem of her skirt. She felt depressed because she always collapsed in their everyday dungeon explorations. The young Mage felt weak and hopeless.
Kian looked at them and felt confused why they were so quiet. "What's the matter?"
Pink stepped up immediately. "A Swordsman wants to challenge a Healer."
Kian looked at Red, then at Yellow.
Pink knew the reality of that matchup. If a Swordsman uses Aura against a Healer, the Healer loses. So she asked a different, curious question instead of focusing on strength.
"Which is much cooler, Swordsman or Healer?" Pink asked.
Celia moved like a Light Swordsman, but she could not be categorized as a Swordsman because she could not use Aura to coat her body or sword. She was a Healer.
"Of course, Swordsman is the coolest," Red said immediately. "Everyone knows that."