Chapter 23
The following afternoon...
After finishing the morning schedule, Theron carried the temporary access pass given to him by an Executioner and headed toward the main building.
Only a low wall separated the trainee dormitories from the main building.
But to trainees...
Everything beyond that wall belonged to another world.
A guard checked the pass and looked Theron up and down suspiciously.
"...Section Five?"
He frowned.
"You're the Special Trainee?"
"Yes."
"Strange world."
The guard stepped aside.
"Go in."
The hallways were cool and quiet.
As Theron walked...
He memorized everything he saw.
Every branching corridor.
Where guards stood.
The height of windows.
The terrain visible outside them.
Even without training... this place is worth entering.
Things he had ignored in his previous life were now pieces of a map.
Eventually...
He reached the stairs leading underground.
When he opened the iron door at the bottom...
A wide space appeared.
The underground training hall was completely different from the ordinary trainee grounds.
Black stone designed to absorb impact covered the floor.
Real weapons lined the walls.
Not wooden training swords.
Sharpened steel.
At the center stood Berton with his arms folded.
"You're here."
"Yes."
"Before training begins, I need to confirm something."
Berton gestured.
A man stepped away from the wall.
Gray robe.
Various tools hung from his waist instead of a sword.
Clearly not a warrior.
"Medical officer."
Berton explained.
"Special training places a different level of burden on the body."
"We need to check your condition before starting."
"...My condition?"
"Size of your mana hall."
"Development of your mana pathways."
Then Berton added casually...
"And whether the Sigil has properly taken root."
Theron's heart skipped one beat.
...Sigil.
The Death Sigil.
The restraint planted into all trainees when mana training began.
The tool that would eventually be used...
To kill them when their usefulness ended.
No trainee on this island knew the truth.
Even Theron had only discovered it at the moment of his death in the previous life.
But there was a problem.
Theron no longer possessed a Death Sigil.
The night he consumed the Blood Jade Fruit...
Its burning power destroyed the parasite within his heart.
And now...
On the very first day...
This problem appeared.
The medical officer approached and grabbed Theron's wrist.
Theron instinctively tensed.
The man spoke.
"Stay still."
"I'll only send mana through you to examine your body."
"It won't hurt."
Cold foreign mana began entering through his wrist.
It traveled against his pathways.
Toward his heart.
Think.
Theron's mind became cold.
If they discovered the Death Sigil had disappeared...
Everything would end.
Forget being a Special Trainee.
He would probably be dragged underground and dissected.
There was only one solution.
Imitate it.
Theron remembered exactly how the Sigil had felt inside his heart.
He had lived with it nearly his entire previous life.
And when the Blood Jade Fruit destroyed it...
He had felt its structure break apart in detail.
The Death Sigil consisted of two main elements.
The parasitic roots around the heart.
And the shackles tightening the mana pathways.
The medical officer could inspect for it using mana...
But not with perfect precision.
He was only searching for a foreign presence around the heart.
Therefore...
I'll replace it with something else.
Theron controlled the Dark Tempelst mana until it became incredibly thin.
Then he used it to draw a shape around the surface of his heart.
The same pattern as the Death Sigil's roots.
It required extraordinary control.
But Theron had already reached the limits of mana control in his previous life.
Hummm.
The mana settled around his heart and moved faintly like the Sigil.
"...?"
The medical officer felt something strange and looked at Theron.
Theron tilted his head innocently.
"...Nothing."
The man concentrated again.
Meanwhile...
Theron deliberately constricted several of his mana pathways.
He needed to hide the true quantity and purity of his mana.
However...
"..."
Purposely choking perfectly healthy pathways created a suffocating pain that felt almost like cutting into his own flesh.
Theron showed nothing.
He tightened them even more.
Then the medical officer's mana reached his heart.
"..."
A long, heavy silence.
The air in the training hall seemed frozen.
Theron felt the probing mana touching the surface of his heart.
He kept the imitation Sigil perfectly stable.
Even his breathing remained constant.
A single bead of sweat formed on his forehead.
That was fine.
For a young trainee receiving this inspection for the first time...
Some nervousness was natural.
The probing mana moved around his heart.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
...Please.
Cold sweat moved down Theron's back.
A fake remained a fake.
A sufficiently skilled person might notice the difference.
Then...
"...Everything is normal."
The medical officer removed his hand.
"Sigil properly settled."
He considered Theron again.
"Mana hall... slightly above average for his age."
"Mana pathways are developing well."
"I see."
Berton nodded.
It had never been an inspection ordered out of suspicion.
It was simply a routine process for every Special Trainee.
Yet to Theron...
Those few moments had been the most dangerous since returning to Hell Island.
...Passed.
Theron silently relaxed the pathways he had constricted.
The crushing pain disappeared.
His complexion returned to normal.
But...
If they ever inspect it another way...
That could become a serious danger.
Which meant...
I don't have unlimited time before escaping.
He had gained another reason to hurry.
Theron looked at Berton as though nothing had happened.
"Is it finished?"
"Yes."
Berton walked toward the center of the training hall.
"Now your training as a Special Trainee begins."
He took a real sword from the wall and threw it toward Theron.
Theron reflexively caught it.
Berton also drew a sword.
"Instructor... personally?"
"Consider it an honor."
Berton's eyes hardened.
"But it won't be easy."
Shing.
Cold steel emerged from the sheath.
