A Day of Pure Bliss

"Splash—splash—splash—"

At night in Oysaster, after finishing a hard day's work, the residents poured onto the streets to enjoy their leisure time.

The streets had also gained quite a few vendors selling snacks and toys. With mages from the Northern Countries and the Central Countries gathering in the city recently, there were even mages performing magic along the streets.

That dreamlike, wondrous magic drew waves of amazement from the residents. Adults' applause and children's cheers together formed Oysaster's lively yet harmonious night.

Inside the inn.

The clamor outside gradually reached Guter's ears, and his dormant consciousness groggily began to awaken.

"What happened to me?"

Guter, sprawled across the floor, abruptly pushed himself up, only to collapse back down exactly as he had been.

"Hiss... this feels damn painfully good."

From head to toe, not a single part of Guter's body was free from soreness and fatigue. His muscles, his ligaments—even his little brother was limp and utterly listless.

What exactly had happened?

Still on the floor, Guter dragged himself toward the desk to grab the "Holy Scripture" while searching through his memories from before he had passed out.

Finally, just as Guter strained to reach the "Holy Scripture," his memories from before losing consciousness flooded back.

It had happened after Guter finished eating the Memory Bread containing knowledge of the Body Tempering Method. Having acquired this miraculous technique, he eagerly sat cross-legged on the floor, mobilized the magic power throughout his body, and circulated it according to the internal pathways recorded in his mind.

As magic power moved through his body, Guter's brow gradually furrowed. Clearly, opening up this narrow pathway for the first time had not been a pleasant experience.

In the end, even though Guter had become as familiar with the circulation route as breathing, it still took him a full ten minutes to complete the first cycle.

After that, the magic power within Guter's body began flowing endlessly along this internal path. It started as surging waves that crashed about wildly, then became a gentle trickle that gradually steadied, until it finally stabilized within this newly opened route.

Noticing that the magic power inside him had calmed down, Guter let out a breath of relief, but he also steeled himself.

Because what came next was the most important part of the Body Tempering Method's tempering process.

Vibration! Creating waves of magic power to temper the entire body!

Guter's expression darkened. Gritting his teeth, he began.

Perhaps it was simply the fearlessness of a newborn calf, but Guter immediately gave his body a fierce shake. The violent vibration set off turbulent waves of magic power.

Then, before Guter even had time to regret it, his vision instantly went black.

"So I messed it up."

Lying face-down on the floor, Guter gave a bitter laugh. Fortunately, he now had the "Holy Scripture" in hand, and the magic power within him had returned to its original state without his deliberate guidance, making it convenient to cast Goddess Magic.

After casting several Wound Healing Magic spells and Fatigue Soothing Magic spells in succession, the pickled-cabbage-level soreness in Guter's body finally eased considerably, allowing him to stand while leaning against the wall.

Flexing his still slightly sore palm, Guter sighed.

"Passing out immediately was pretty damn annoying, but there's no denying that this Body Tempering Method is an incredible technique for strengthening the body. It misses nothing from top to bottom and trains everything thoroughly."

"It'll probably take some time before the effects of the training become apparent, though."

"Wait a second!"

Guter suddenly remembered something. After he passed out, he had not had time to check in for today's daily task. He wondered whether the lingering vibrations from the Body Tempering Method during his unconsciousness counted toward his training time.

Fortunately, Guter's luck was good. Or perhaps even the few lingering traces left behind by the Body Tempering Method after he lost consciousness had tempered his body enough to meet the system's criteria for "training."

Become Stronger (Physical Training): Completed (300%)

Task Description: A strong physique comes from day-after-day training.

Task Requirement: Train for more than one hour every day.

Task Reward: That day's training effect is doubled (maximum of three hours), and all training injuries will be cleared at 24:00 that day.

"That'll do."

Seeing that today's daily task had been completed, Guter let out a long sigh of relief.

Guter cared so much about this task not merely because he feared wasting the reward effect. What mattered even more to him was the system reward that repaired training injuries.

Although his senior disciple from the previous generation had stated in his notes, after extensive calculations and limited testing, that this training method would not damage the body's foundation as long as it was properly controlled—

That was still only a largely theoretical calculation. No one could say for certain what the reality was.

No matter what, even if it only cleared away the hidden fatigue throughout his body, that was already excellent.

With that, today's Physical Training daily task was complete. However, the daily task for Condense Magic Power was still far behind, since he had stayed up late and then spent the entire day unconscious.

Just as Guter, having recovered a little, planned to go to the balcony to meditate, he suddenly remembered something he seemed to have forgotten.

This morning, Teacher Serie seemed to have told him to visit the examination venue before the assessment ended.

Guter glanced outside. Night had completely enveloped the city by now. Today's examination had probably ended at least two or three hours ago.

He was screwed.

Guter slapped his left hand against his face and helplessly held his forehead.

Fine. He would just go straight to Teacher's home and find her.

To avoid missing anything important, Guter quickly washed up, took his coat from the hanger, draped it over himself, and left the inn.

Three hours earlier.

Continental Magic Association—First Mage Examination Venue

As the barrier above the examination grounds slowly dissipated, today's Mage Examination officially came to an end. The mages surrounding the area and the crowds of onlookers gradually dispersed as well.

Inside the great hall.

The two disciples stood below the dais, watching Teacher Serie maintain her original posture without moving at all. They could not help but feel uneasy.

Gumi moved a little closer to her senior disciple Lairn and whispered into his ear.

"Senior Disciple, look at Teacher. She's staring into the distance without moving. Do you think she's angry inside?"

"Huh?"

Lairn was somewhat taken aback. Poor at understanding worldly affairs, he could not make sense of Junior Disciple Gumi's reasoning, so he quietly asked in return.

"Why do you say that?"

"Hey, Senior Disciple Lairn, think about it. Teacher made a public appearance because she wanted to recruit talented disciples, right?"

"Mm." Lairn nodded in agreement.

"Then look, Teacher went to such lengths to promote this and personally interview people, yet not a single mage who came to take the examination today was qualified. If you were Teacher, wouldn't you be angry?"

"Um... angry?"

Lairn said doubtfully.

"Exactly. I'm guessing Teacher is a little angry too."

Gumi said proudly, "Watch me, Senior Disciple. I'll go comfort Teacher right now."

With that, Gumi left where she stood and walked toward her teacher seated on the dais.

From her seat, Serie heard every word of her disciples' whispered conversation and could not help wanting to laugh.

Why would she become angry just because she had failed to recruit a single qualified disciple? She was still sitting here only because she wanted to wait a little longer for Guter, her current chief disciple, to arrive.

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

It was only because the meal he had brought her that morning was delicious, and she wanted to know the exact location of that restaurant.

Besides, she could take the opportunity to have a meal together with her disciples.