The school bell has just finished ringing, but today I do not join the crowd rushing toward the station as usual. Instead, I make a beeline for a quiet street, heading straight toward the Setagaya district. Walking behind me are two invisible entities, an energetic gray wolf and a lazy calico cat, trailing slowly and occasionally teasing each other, causing the surrounding air to distort in odd ways every now and then.

  Today's destination is the Sensitives' Hub. Ever since the horrifying incident in that Beta Hell, and especially after the Tartarus prison break, Itsuki-sama has become stricter than ever. With my current level of aura control, I am practically a glowing lightning rod in the dark, just waiting to invite the Anomalies to pay a visit. Consequently, a special training plan has been established just for me, and the person directly coaching me is none other than Kujo-sensei.

  Stepping through the secret shoji door, I find Kujo-sensei already waiting in the hallway. He is still wearing his neat business suit, but his platinum hair is disheveled, as if he has just survived a battle with a pile of lesson plans.

  "Here already, kid? Follow me."

  He leads me to a room deep within the corridor. When the wooden door slides open, I truly have no words to describe the feeling. It is a vast tea ceremony room with a polished black stone floor, the air smelling faintly of incense and the sound of water trickling from a small stone basin in the corner. But the most magical part lies in the floor-to-ceiling window at the back. Instead of looking out at Setagaya, outside is a lush green bamboo forest, leaves rustling in the wind, and a silvery waterfall crashing down into a peaceful lake.

  "So beautiful..." I feel as if my soul has just been purified.

  Kujo-sensei takes off his overcoat and hangs it on a wooden rack. "According to regulations, we are supposed to train in the 'Peach Blossom Garden' room belonging to the Jade Palace Conglomerate's private sector. That place has abundant spiritual energy and scenery like fairyland. But since both you and I are Japanese, Itsuki-sama used some connections to switch us to this room so we can focus better."

  "Pfft, fairyland my ass," Xiaolang suddenly manifests, his thick wolf tail slapping hard against the floor, ears perked up in dissatisfaction. "This bamboo room looks so bland. Our 'Peach Blossom Garden' has rainbow clouds and flying cranes. It looks way cooler!"

  Nanao snorts, his calico eyes squinting with utter disdain. He saunters over to the water basin and lightly pokes the water with a cat claw. "You truly are an unrefined stupid dog. Silence and minimalism are the peak of art. Look at this waterfall. It helps regulate the mind much better than that noisy bird garden."

  "Who are you calling a stupid dog, you skanky cat?!"

  "Would you two please be quiet and let the kid focus for me," Kujo-sensei cuts off the bickering. He sits down on a tatami mat and signals for me to sit opposite. "Let's get to the main point. The first and most important lesson you must master today is this: Aura Concealment."

  I sit cross-legged, full of questions. "Sensei, why don't Itsuki-sama or Xiaolang and Nanao teach me directly? They are gods, after all."

  Kujo-sensei gives a slight smile. "Kaito, you have to understand one thing. No one teaches worse than gods."

  "Huh? Why is that?"

  "Because for them, controlling aura is as natural as breathing," he explains, fingers tapping lightly on the wooden table. "They are born with power, so they don't need to learn anything. Even if they can do it, they don't understand why they can do it, so how can they explain to us mortals where to start? Asking a god to teach you aura concealment is like asking a bird to teach you how to grow feathers. Useless."

  I nod along. That explanation actually sounds reasonable. "So... who taught you back then?"

  "Self-taught, of course. Just open the instruction manuals on Solak and read. Whatever part you don't understand... well, paying the price with a few near-death experiences will make you understand immediately."

  Kujo-sensei leans forward slightly, his deep blue eyes fixed on me, creating an invisible pressure that makes me instinctively sit up straight. He raises a finger and taps a rhythm on the ebony table.

  "Hey Kaito, do you ever feel like you are a broken valve? The aura is just continuously leaking out of you like water flowing from a rusty faucet?"

  I stare blankly, trying to focus on all my senses. Even though I try to take a deep breath and exhale, aside from a feeling of nervousness and warmth in my chest, I do not feel any "faucet" at all.

  "Um... honestly, I don't feel anything clear." I scratch my head, laughing awkwardly.

  Kujo-sensei clicks his tongue softly, leaning back against the cushion. "Don't worry, every rookie is like that. When I first started, I was just as clueless as you. Since there was no one to guide me, I had to ask for advice from Itsuki-sama. Do you know what that old fox answered?"

  He pauses for a moment, mimicking Itsuki-sama's lazy and indifferent tone perfectly. "'Just go fight Anomalies alone, you'll level up on your own, why worry'."

  My eyes widen, feeling a jolt of electricity run through me. "S-so... what was the result? Did you really go fight an Anomaly alone?"

  "Hmph, he sent me the coordinates of an abandoned industrial zone," Kujo-sensei squints as if recalling a horrific memory. "I don't understand how it happened to be a Rank A Anomaly. It was tall and lanky, limbs long like bundles of dry firewood and completely faceless."

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  He runs a hand through his platinum hair, his voice still carrying a shudder. "I had to hide and skulk around for thirty minutes like a sewer rat, finally figuring out how to shut off my aura flow. The price for that lesson was almost registering for early reincarnation."

  "Exactly!" Xiaolang suddenly jumps into the conversation, tail thumping the floor in excitement. "If a Sensitive wants to level up the fastest, only real combat works! Just throw them into a death trap and they grow strong instantly!"

  Nanao, who is currently lazily licking the fur on the back of his hand, lets out a cold snort. His calico tail lightly flicks Xiaolang's leg. "Shut up, you brainless dog. That incident with Reo back then was because Itsuki-san was clumsy and sent the wrong target coordinates to a rookie. Reo here is a rare genius, one in a million, to survive that. If it were anyone else, we would be picking up corpses by now."

  "Huh? Sent the wrong coordinates?" I stammer, cold sweat starting to break out.

  Yeah," Kujo-sensei nodded, his eyes gleaming with a twisted sense of joy. "After that mess, Director Ariel dragged Itsuki-sama into his office and grilled him for three solid hours. Seeing him stumble out with his fur all ruffled and looking like death warmed over... I gotta admit, it felt like sweet justice. Served him right for being such a sloppy boss.

  Hearing this, I feel my heart pounding wildly. Does he intend to "accidentally send" me to some monster to "self-study" too?

  Seeing my face turn pale and bloodless, Kujo-sensei suddenly bursts out laughing, slapping me hard on the shoulder.

  "Relax, don't worry, kid. I'm a teacher, I have professional ethics, unlike someone else. I will teach you in the friendliest way possible. Ready?"

  "To make a completely clueless rookie like you 'enlighten' fastest," Kujo-sensei stands up, dusting off his trouser legs, his tone becoming strangely professional, "the optimal way is not to dive headfirst into death, but to use floatation therapy."

  "Floatation... therapy?" I look bewildered, repeating the keyword that smells more like a wellness spa than spiritual cultivation.

  "Correct," he nods, pacing around the room. "You cannot feel your own aura leaking simply because you are too heavily dominated by worldly senses and emotions. Noise, light, temperature, the friction of clothes on skin... all of these are interference signals."

  He stops in front of me, raising two fingers. "Typically, there are only two paths for a Sensitive to become aware of the flow inside themselves. One is being pushed to the brink of life and death, forcing the brain to discard all distractions to focus extremely on survival, just like I did. This way is effective, but let's just say the dropout rate is... permanent."

  "And the second way," Kujo-sensei smirks, "is to completely isolate the senses. A much more friendly and civilized method."

  As soon as he finishes speaking, the space in front of the room suddenly vibrates slightly. From the void, a gigantic bag of pure white salt and a huge white porcelain bathtub appear, landing on the wooden floor with a heavy thud.

  Xiaolang and Nanao immediately take action. An invisible divine force wraps around the two heavy objects, sliding them smoothly to the center of the room as if they were made of foam.

  "How is soaking in a tub supposed to teach aura control?" Xiaolang grumbles inquisitively while using his front paw to push the bathtub into position. "Humans are truly strange creatures, complicating problems."

  "Shut up," Nanao is sitting perched on the salt bag, lazily licking his claws. "A stupid dog like you knows jack shit about the art of teaching. Just let Reo handle the brains; your job is just to be the pack mule."

  While these two deities start their familiar verbal sparring again, I stand looking at the empty bathtub, face turning red with embarrassment.

  "Uhm... Sensei," I whisper. "I... I have to soak in there? But I'm wearing my school uniform, and... I didn't bring swimwear. Stripping naked is... a bit awkward..."

  Kujo-sensei looks at me like I am an alien, then lets out a long sigh. "It's the digital age, kid. Take out your phone. Go to the Solak app, search for Sensitives' Hub Service, Setagaya Branch."

  I hurriedly follow his instructions. The app interface appears smoothly.

  "Find the Object Printing section," he instructs.

  I tap on it, and a long list of personal items appears: towels, toothbrushes, pajamas... and naturally, swimwear. I randomly pick a simple pair of black swimming trunks and tremblingly press the [PRINT] button.

  Less than two minutes later, a blue light scans the space right in front of the room. Matter particles gather, crystallizing gradually, and the swimming trunks, identical to the image on the screen, fall to the floor.

  "Whoa..." I pick up the trunks, feeling the cool stretchy fabric. "Sick!"

  "Printed with divine power, obviously," Nanao hops down from the salt bag, his calico tail wagging slightly with smugness. "This technology is used to reconstruct matter from pure energy. Anyway, printing these trivial things costs a tiny amount of FP, about 0.05 FP a time, barely anything."

  "Huh?" I am surprised. "But I don't have any FP? I'm a mortal."

  "The Conglomerate has a welfare FP budget specifically for Sensitives," Nanao explains, sounding like a financial advisor. "Petty expenses like printing, laundry, or food services at the Sensitives' Hub are all paid from this fund. Human money has no value here, but for the Conglomerate, exchanging a few drops of FP for employee comfort is cheap as dirt."

  Kujo-sensei chimes in at this point, tearing open the salt bag and pouring it into the bathtub with a rushing sound, clicking his tongue. "It is also because of this 'cheap as dirt' mechanism that many laughable situations arise. I remember a time when graphics cards from human tech companies were sold out, prices pushed sky-high. So some Sensitives with a scalper mentality used this service to print tons of high-end GPUs and smuggled them out to sell for profit."

  He shakes his head in exasperation. "The consequence was that Solak had to release an emergency patch, placing a quota on the value of printed items. Currently, you are only allowed to print objects with a market value under 1000 dollars a month. Exceed it and the feature gets locked."

  One thousand dollars a month?

  My brain crunches numbers faster than a supercomputer. One thousand dollars... is enough to print a few limited edition 1/7 scale figures, or a complete special edition manga set that I have always dreamed of!

  My heart feels like it's opening a festival, almost making me jump for joy. Being a Sensitive has its price, but it has perks too!

  "Don't stand there smiling like an idiot, go change quickly," Kujo-sensei urges, cutting off my 'get rich quick' train of thought.

  After I awkwardly finish changing, Kujo-sensei walks around the room, turning off all the lights. The room sinks into darkness, leaving only the dim light reflecting from the bamboo garden outside through the window. He pours the rest of the salt into the bathtub, stirring until the water becomes thick.

  "Come here," his voice echoes in the dark, low and serious. "Time for real training."