Chapter 39
Fifteen days until the Inspection Delegation arrived.
From that day onward...
The training facility became hotter at night than during the day.
Every spare moment before lights-out...
Section Five's cultivation area was packed.
That energy spread into the dormitories of other sections.
"...This is unbelievable."
"Are we really supposed to let them continue like this?"
"Leave them."
"The Head Instructor told us to watch."
Some instructors looked negatively at the growing exchange between trainees.
Others viewed it more positively.
Either way...
It was something Hell Island had never seen before.
And the trainees' passion exceeded expectations.
"Don't get impatient at the wall."
"The more desperately you strike it, the thicker it feels."
"If you move mana too quickly, the texture collapses."
"Slowly."
"Like water soaking in."
Theron's advice passed through the leaders of each section.
By the end of every night...
It had spread through the entire training facility.
Perka, who had already reached Two-Star...
Brought entire groups of struggling trainees and taught them directly.
Leaders from other sections gradually joined.
The excuse was perfect.
The Inspection Delegation was coming.
Theron might be the Special Trainee...
But raising the overall level of the generation would create an even better impression.
Even the instructors had no reason to interfere.
Some watched with satisfaction.
Hell Island's achievements were improving by themselves.
And while surveillance relaxed...
The real purpose spread silently beneath it.
Isaac updated the list every three or four days.
Circles drawn over crosses.
One.
Then another.
Some nights...
Three changed at once.
Other nights...
None.
Wherever a circle appeared...
Theron was usually nearby.
"Your problem isn't too little mana."
"It's too much."
A large trainee from Section Three listened.
"You dump everything against the wall and ruin the structure."
"Send only half."
"Half...?"
"Yes."
Theron nodded.
"Save the other half."
"You'll need it after you cross."
The boy closed his eyes.
Before dawn...
He crossed the wall.
Another time...
Theron spoke to a thin girl from Section Two.
"You're the opposite."
"You're so afraid of failure that you only send a tiny amount."
"That's why you can't cross."
His gaze hardened.
"Pour it all at once."
"Think of opening a floodgate."
She struggled for another three days.
Then laughed weakly at dawn...
Having finally reached Two-Star.
The eyes Theron had developed while leading hundreds in his previous life...
Could identify the exact reason a person was stuck after only a few breaths.
Everyone stood before the same wall.
But every person was blocked for a different reason.
Theron gave them different keys.
"One hundred ninety-six."
Six nights before the operation...
Isaac folded the list.
"At this rate..."
"This generation might go down in the island's history."
"It shouldn't."
Theron answered calmly.
"We need to disappear from its history."
"...Right."
Isaac's eyes became heavy.
The people running the island were not completely unaware of the changes.
"This generation's mana growth is unusually fast."
An instructor reported inside Berton's office.
"In the last fifteen days alone..."
"More than fifty additional trainees have entered Two-Star."
Berton did not look up from his papers.
"Cause?"
"Since rumors about the Inspection Delegation began..."
"The trainees have become obsessed with training."
"They perform voluntary cultivation before lights-out."
The instructor continued.
"The stronger trainees are teaching the weaker ones."
"There seemed no reason to stop them."
Berton finally asked,
"The center of that teaching is Theron."
"...Yes."
A brief strange silence passed between the instructors.
Berton turned another page.
"Leave them."
His voice sounded indifferent.
"If our results improve before the Inspection Delegation..."
"There's no reason to complain."
"Understood."
The instructors left.
Only after the door closed...
Did Berton's hand stop.
His gaze rested on a medical examination report.
[No abnormalities.]
He stared at those words for a long time.
Then looked out the window.
A crescent moon hung over the island and sea.
A smile slowly appeared at the corner of his lips.
"This time..."
"I should be able to receive an excellent price."
Theron was probably the greatest talent Hell Island had ever produced.
If Berton negotiated properly...
He might receive enough money to buy an entire village in some rural territory.
He was already looking forward to trading with "him."
There was only one issue.
I still don't know what that boy is planning.
Theron's ability was extraordinary.
So was his ability to hide his intentions.
Still...
Berton did not care.
Try whatever you want.
It changed nothing.
The Death Sigils inside their bodies...
Would always become collars.
And forever...
They will have no choice but to obey me.
All that remained...
Was the arrival of the Inspection Delegation.
Berton closed his eyes.
He had to suppress the laughter trying to escape his mouth.
The nights continued burning.
And at the edge of that heat...
The same small boy was always present.
He arrived earlier than everyone else.
Stayed later.
Yet beside Miro's name...
A cross still remained.
"Why can't he do it?"
Isaac asked one night while updating the list.
"He's not stupid."
"He does exactly what he's told."
"That's why he can't."
Isaac frowned.
"...What does that mean?"
"His technique is correct."
Theron looked toward Miro sitting in a corner.
"But in the final moment..."
"He holds onto something other than technique."
"What?"
"Fear."
Theron watched him.
He could teach someone how to cross a wall.
But releasing fear...
Was something each person had to do themselves.
"Haaaah..."
Five nights before the operation.
Behind the sleeping dormitory...
Miro sat alone before the wall again.
He controlled his breathing.
