A Whole Day of Bliss

Chapter 23: A

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—"

At night in [Oysaster], after finishing a hard day's work, the residents poured onto the streets one after another, enjoying their leisure time.

And on the streets, there were now many vendors selling snacks and toys. What's more, because magic users from the Northern Countries and Central Countries had gathered in the city recently, there were even magic users performing street magic along the avenues.

Those dreamlike, wondrous spells drew gasps of amazement from the residents. The applause of adults and the cheers of children together wove the noisy yet harmonious night of [Oysaster].

Inside the inn.

The clamor from outside gradually reached Guter's ears. His consciousness, which had sunk into silence, now groggily stirred awake.

"What happened to me?"

Guter, sprawled on the floor, suddenly scrambled up—only to collapse back down in the exact same spot the next instant.

"Tch—this is freaking brutal."

From head to toe, there wasn't a single spot in Guter's body that wasn't sore and aching. His muscles, his ligaments, even his little guy—all of it was limp and lifeless.

What the hell happened?

On the floor, Guter crawled over to the desk to grab the [Holy Scripture] while racking his brain for the memories before he'd passed out.

Finally, just as he strained to reach the [Holy Scripture], the memories from before he lost consciousness all flooded back.

It was right after Guter had eaten the [Memory Bread] containing the knowledge of the Body Tempering Method. Having obtained this divine technique, he couldn't wait to sit cross-legged on the floor, channeling all his magic power to circulate it along the pathways recorded in his mind.

As the magic power moved through his body, Guter's brow gradually furrowed. Clearly, the first time opening this narrow pathway didn't feel all that pleasant.

In the end, even though Guter was already as familiar with the pathway's flow as his own breathing, it still took him a full ten minutes to complete his first full cycle.

From then on, the magic power within Guter began to flow endlessly along this newly opened route—starting with surging waves and chaotic collisions, then settling into a trickling stream that gradually steadied, until finally stabilizing within this newly forged path.

Sensing the magic power in his body had calmed, Guter let out a breath of relief but also steeled himself.

Because what came next was the most critical part of the Body Tempering Method's physical training.

That was the vibration—forming magic power ripples to temper the entire body!

Guter sank his focus and gritted his teeth, then began.

Probably the boldness of a newborn calf that fears no tiger, Guter went all in with a hard tremor right from the start. The massive oscillation stirred up violent waves of magic power.

And the next moment, before Guter could even regret it, the sight before his eyes went black in an instant.

"So, I screwed it up, huh."

Guter laughed bitterly, lying on the floor. Fortunately, the [Holy Scripture] was now in his hands, and the magic power in his body had returned to its original state without deliberate guidance, making it convenient for him to cast [Goddess Magic].

After a few consecutive casts of [Wound Healing Magic] and [Fatigue Soothing Magic], the "pickled-cabbage-level" soreness in Guter's body finally subsided enough for him to stand up, leaning against the wall.

Squeezing his still slightly sore palms, Guter sighed in admiration.

"Even though knocking me straight unconscious was pretty annoying, I can't deny that this [Body Tempering Method] is a divine skill for refining the body. From top to bottom, not a single spot missed—the training is incredibly thorough."

"But I probably won't see the actual training results until after a while."

"Oh, wait!"

A thought suddenly struck Guter. After he'd passed out, he hadn't checked in on today's daily quest yet. He wondered if, during his unconsciousness, the lingering aftershocks of the [Body Tempering Method]'s vibrations could count as training time.

Luckily, Guter's luck was good—or rather, even after he'd blacked out, the few lingering traces of the [Body Tempering Method]'s vibrations still met the system's criteria for "training."

[Become Stronger (Physical Training): Completed (300%)]
[Quest Description: A strong physique comes from day after day of training]
[Quest Requirement: Train for more than one hour daily]
[Quest Reward: Double the day's training effect (capped at three hours), and training injuries will be cleared at 24:00 on the same day]

"That's a relief."

Seeing that today's daily quest was done, Guter let out a long sigh of relief.

Guter cared so much about this quest not just because he was afraid of wasting the reward effect. What he valued more was the system reward's ability to repair training injuries.

Although his senior predecessor had noted in his journal—through extensive calculations and small-scale trials—that this [Training Method] wouldn't harm the body's foundation as long as it was controlled properly.

But that was still just a theory-based calculation. No one could say for sure what the reality was.

Regardless, even just clearing out the hidden fatigue from every part of the body would be excellent.

With that, today's physical training daily quest was complete. However, the [Condense Magic Power] daily quest had fallen behind quite a bit due to staying up all night and being unconscious for the whole day.

Just as Guter, having recovered a bit, was about to head to the balcony for meditation, he suddenly remembered something he'd forgotten.

This morning, Teacher Serie had apparently told him to come to the exam site before the assessment ended.

Guter glanced out the window. Night had now fully enveloped the city. Today's exam had probably ended at least two or three hours ago.

Damn it.

He slapped his left hand to his face and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Well, now he'd just have to go straight to Teacher's house to find her.

Not wanting to miss anything important, Guter washed up briefly, took his coat from the rack, draped it over his shoulders, and walked out of the inn.

Three hours earlier.

[Continental Magic Association · First Mage Examination Venue]

As the barrier above the examination grounds slowly dissipated, signaling the official end of today's Mage Examination, the surrounding mages and onlookers who had gathered to watch also gradually dispersed.

Inside the main hall.

Two disciples stood below the hall, gazing up at their teacher Serie, who remained motionless in her original posture on the dais. Doubts began to stir in their hearts.

Gumi edged closer to her senior brother Lairn and whispered in his ear.

"Senior Brother, look at Teacher—staring into the distance without moving a muscle. Do you think she's angry inside?"

"Huh?"

Lairn was somewhat taken aback. Unversed in worldly affairs, he couldn't fathom the reasoning behind Junior Disciple Gumi's analysis. Driven by curiosity, he quietly asked back.

"Why do you say that?"

"Ehh~, Senior Brother Lairn, think about it. Teacher showed herself in public just to recruit promising disciples, right?"

"Mhm." Lairn nodded in affirmation.

"Well then, look—Teacher went all out with publicity and even conducted the interviews herself, yet not a single mage who came for today's examination passed. Senior Brother, if you were Teacher, wouldn't you be angry?"

"Umm... angry?"

Lairn said doubtfully.

"That's right, I think Teacher is a bit angry too."

Gumi said with some smugness. "Watch me, Senior Brother—I'll go comfort Teacher right now."

With that, Gumi stepped away and walked toward her teacher seated in the hall.

On the chair, Serie, who had clearly heard every word of her disciples' whispers, couldn't help but want to laugh.

How could she be angry or annoyed just because she failed to recruit a single qualified disciple? The reason she was still sitting here was simply that she wanted to wait a little longer for her current top disciple, Guter, to arrive.

And the reason Serie had specifically instructed Guter to come was actually quite simple.

It was only because the meal this disciple had brought her this morning was so delicious that she wanted to know the exact location of that restaurant.

Besides that, she also wanted to take this opportunity to have a meal together with her disciples as their teacher.