The next morning.

  Even though today was a holiday, I still went to the first year training ground. This time I went there early, at 4:30 am. My goal in coming early to the training ground was to train Irene while the training ground was still quiet. Because usually at 5:30, the training ground was already filled with students who wanted to see Irene and I spar.

  "In the end I agreed to Irene's offer when she said she would make me food every day while at the academy," I thought.

  "But making food huh? Somehow it seemed like she and I were a real couple. Maybe she did this so that other people would believe that we were a real couple. Even though this relationship was just pretend, she was totally committed to it," I thought again.

  Then I arrived at the training ground, Irene was seen practicing alone there. Irene stopped for a moment when she saw me coming.

  "Morning, Rid," said Irene.

  "Morning too, Irene," I said.

  "Sorry for making you come here so early in the morning," Irene said.

  "It's okay, how about we start training now?," I asked.

  -

  I taught Irene about the ice magic techniques that I learned from my parents' book. I taught her the techniques one by one, although not all of them. Irene is the type who understands quickly after being taught. She was immediately able to use the techniques I taught her in just 2-3 tries. I also taught her about magic and mana manipulation as well as Forging magic that I previously taught to Noa and the others.

  "Do you know how to strengthen your mana capacity, Irene?," I asked.

  "With exercise and meditation?," Irene said.

  "Yeah, that's right. Not only exercise, anything that makes your heart better will also increase your mana capacity. Because the heart, apart from being a source of life, also acts as the core of mana in living things. That's why everyone has a different mana capacity because everyone's heart condition is also different. Each race also has differences in their mana capacity," I said.

  "In addition to exercise, there is also meditation. In addition to increasing our mana capacity, meditation is also useful for training our concentration. With good concentration it will be useful for us to use magic or any technique that requires high concentration. But good meditation to increase our mana capacity is to meditate in places that contain natural elements, such as in forests, waterfalls, rivers and others. Meditating anywhere when it rains is also good for increasing your mana capacity, because you will feel the natural elements directly, namely the rainwater hitting your body. But you must remain focused on meditating and do not let your concentration break because of the rainwater hitting your body," I said.

  Irene just nodded while listening. She was like a child being taught. Well, I said she was a child not to tease her.

  "In addition to those two, there is another way to strengthen your mana capacity, which is by eating creatures that have mana. When we eat everyday, there are usually vegetables and animal products such as meat, eggs and others. Eating that will also increase our mana but in very small amounts because the mana capacity of the creatures we often eat everyday is very small. But eating creatures that have mana means eating other creatures that have a fairly high mana capacity," I said.

  "What you mean, Rid?," asked Irene.

  "By eating creatures like Monsters, they are creatures that have a fairly high mana capacity. I have never tried it but they say eating monsters will increase your capacity especially if the part of the monster you eat is the monster's heart," I said.

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  Irene continued to listen to my explanation.

  "However, the explanation about eating creatures that have mana is often interpreted very broadly, which results in there being an explanation about eating meat and mana cores from other races will also increase your mana capacity. For example, you who are a human eat the heart of an elf, it will increase your mana capacity. But this is just a rumor because I have never tried it and will never try it," I said.

  Irene just focused on listening. She didn't seem to be afraid of the explanation just now.

  "And the last one is by transplanting the mana core from another race into your body. For example, you transplant an elf's heart to replace your original heart. That will increase your mana capacity significantly. Your mana capacity will increase the same as the elf's because normally the elf's mana core has a greater capacity than the human's mana core," I said.

  Irene continued to focus on listening to my explanation.

  "Irene didn't seem surprised when she heard my explanation. According to Miss Karina, the Elf corpse found in San Lucia was a victim of mana transplantation. Does that mean Irene didn't know about it or did she know about it but didn't show any excessive expression?," I thought.

  After I explained about it, students from my class appeared who seemed to want to see me spar.

  "It seems like they've come to see us, let's end my lesson for today. We'll continue tomorrow," I said.

  "Okay," said Irene.

  "Then, Irene. How about we spar now?," I asked.

  -

  After that, we returned to the dormitory together.

  "Then, I'll go to my dormitory first, Rid. "I'll bring you food later," said Irene.

  "Okay, I'm going to my dorm too," I said.

  We both entered our respective dorms.

  A few moments later, there was a knock on my dorm door. Then I went out to open the door and outside was Irene who brought food.

  "This is for your breakfast," said Irene.

  "Thank you, Irene," I said.

  "I also thank you for teaching me today. I look forward to the next lesson. Then I want to go back to my dorm first," said Irene.

  "Okay," I said.

  Irene went back into her dorm as did I who entered mine.

  I opened the food that Irene brought and poured it onto a plate. Then I immediately ate the food. I didn't expect the food to be so delicious.

  "I didn't expect the food she made to be this delicious. But I didn't expect the daughter of a Duke to be able to cook even though when she was still living in the Duke's residence, she was often served by her servants. When I visited her dorm, it was very clean. Maybe behind her flat expression, Irene is very good at doing homework," I said.

  -

  In the afternoon, I decided to go to the library again. Besides, today, I didn't have any plans with the others. After arriving at the library, I looked for books that interested me and then read them.

  "It seems like senior Gretta didn't come to the library today. Maybe she has a lot of work at Elevrad," I thought.

  I thought like that because I usually met senior Gretta who was reading a book in the library during the holidays. When I was focused on reading, suddenly someone greeted me.

  "Good afternoon, Rid," said the person.

  I looked at the person.

  "Senior Nadine? Ah, good afternoon too," I said.

  It turned out that the person who greeted me was senior Nadine.

  "Are you free now?," asked senior Nadine.

  "Well, as you can see, I'm free and just reading a book. Do you need anything from me?," I asked.

  "Yes, I have something I want to ask you. But before that...," said senior Nadine.

  Senior Nadine snapped her fingers and said.

  - Silence -

  Suddenly the voice I heard sounded silent. It should be that in the library you are not allowed to talk but the voice I heard this time was really silent.

  "Did she get rid of the voices?," I thought.

  I looked around and I felt like there was a small invisible dome surrounding me and senior Nadine. It seemed like this dome was what made the sound from outside inaudible.

  "Now no one will hear our conversation here," said senior Nadine.

  "Is something you asked so secret that you have to do something like this?," I asked.

  "Yes, what I want to ask is... are you really dating Irene?," asked senior Nadine.

  "So it turns out the question is about this," I thought.

  "Why don't you just ask Irene? even though you and Irene are cousins," I said.

  "I've asked Irene and now I want to ask the same thing as you," said senior Nadine.

  "I see, it seems like she wants to confirm my answer. She wants to confirm whether the answer I gave is different from Irene's or not," I thought.

  "Yes, I really dating Irene. Do you think Irene and I are just pretending?," I said.

  Senior Nadine was silent for a moment hearing my answer..

  "I see, Irene also gave the same answer. Then thank you for your answer," said senior Nadine.

  "Why did you ask that, senior? It seems like you want to confirm my relationship with Irene," said senior Nadine.

  "My purpose in meeting you was to confirm that. Because I want to tell this information to someone," said senior Nadine.

  "If I may ask, who do you want to tell the information about my relationship with Irene?," I asked.

  "The person I want to tell about this is Irene's own father, Lord Duke San Lucia," said senior Nadine.

  -To be continued