Chapter 12 — Hunting Partners
At the age of nine, Ren was training in a different section of the Aethergrove Training Center.
This area was located beneath a massive cliff, where steep rock faces rose high above the surrounding forest.
For today's session, Ren was doing weighted rock climbing.
He climbed without ropes or safety equipment.
There was no need for them.
The formation array covering the training center would protect anyone from a potentially fatal fall.
"Ahhh!"
A scream suddenly echoed from somewhere nearby.
Ren glanced over.
A child had lost his footing and was falling from the cliff.
The boy dropped rapidly toward the ground.
Just before he could hit, a swirl of wind appeared around his body.
The formation array had activated.
The wind slowed his descent and safely guided him to the ground.
The boy landed without injury.
Ren simply turned back toward the cliff and continued climbing.
After completing his climbing session, Ren moved to the heavy training area.
He performed weighted squats, bench presses, and several other exercises.
The weights used at Aethergrove weren't ordinary weights.
They were made from extremely dense metals, allowing a relatively small number of plates to provide a tremendous amount of resistance.
This allowed Ren to train with enormous loads without needing a ridiculous number of weight plates.
After finishing his exercises, Ren took his usual potions.
Among them was a muscle density potion.
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The potion worked differently from ordinary muscle-building methods.
Instead of simply increasing the size of his muscles, it used magical means to compress and increase the density of his muscle fibers.
This allowed his muscles to become considerably stronger without making them much larger.
Ren also drank a potion that dissolved excess body fat and maintained his body at an optimal fat ratio.
As long as he continued taking it, he didn't have to worry about gaining excess fat regardless of what and how much he ate.
The result was rather deceptive.
Outwardly, Ren looked like an ordinary nine-year-old child who had never trained a day in his life.
There was no bulky physique or obvious muscular development.
Yet beneath that ordinary appearance was a body that had been trained for years.
At nine years old, Ren possessed roughly three times the strength of an ordinary human.
While Ren was resting, a familiar voice suddenly came from nearby.
"Hey, Ren! You're early today!"
Ren looked over.
A boy around his age was approaching him.
His name was Elias.
"I'm not early," Ren said. "You're just late, Elias."
Elias laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.
"Ummhumm. You know me. I got lost on the way."
Ren didn't bother responding.
He knew exactly what had happened.
Elias probably left home on time, wandered around instead of coming directly to the training center, and spent quite a while doing whatever he wanted.
Eventually, the training center notified his parents that he hadn't arrived.
His parents probably called him immediately, scolded him for slacking off, and told him to go straight to Aethergrove.
And that was how he ended up arriving late.
Elias quickly began his warmup.
Ren watched him for a moment before looking away.
Most children their age lived very different lives from Ren.
Going to school was the norm.
Wealthier families could send their children to better schools where mage instructors taught them, while ordinary families generally sent their children to normal schools with ordinary human teachers.
Mage families were different.
Since mages possessed greater resources and knowledge, many of them simply homeschooled their children.
Elias was one of them.
His parents were mages.
Ren, meanwhile, had chosen to live alone and follow his own schedule.
After finishing his warmup, Elias looked toward him.
"Ren, let's go hunt."
"Alright."
Ren had already planned to hunt after finishing his physical training.
The two walked toward the equipment rack.
Ren picked up his familiar clawed gauntlet.
Elias grabbed a sword.
Then they entered the forest.
They hadn't gone very far when Elias suddenly stopped.
"Damn! What a huge snail!"
A gigantic snail was moving through the forest ahead of them.
It was roughly two meters tall.
Without thinking much about it, Elias rushed forward and thrust his sword into the creature's body.
Splurt!
A stream of liquid suddenly burst from the snail's body and splashed toward Elias.
Sssss!
The liquid began sizzling.
Before it could reach him, a protective shield appeared around his body.
The formation array had determined that the attack could cause a potentially fatal injury and immediately intervened.
Elias stared at the shield surrounding him.
"Whoa..."
Ren ignored him.
He picked up a nearby stone and threw it toward the snail.
The stone struck one of its antenna-like eyes.
Pop!
The eye burst open.
The giant snail immediately reacted.
With a sudden movement, it withdrew its body into its shell.
Woosh!
Elias raised his sword.
"Alright! Let's break its shell!"
"Leave it."
Ren grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"Don't bother fooling around with it."
Elias looked at the enormous shell.
"But can't we break it?"
"No."
Ren shook his head.
"Not with our current strength."
The shell was too tough.
Even if they somehow managed to damage it, the snail possessed strong regenerative abilities and could recover from injuries relatively quickly.
There was no reason to waste their time fighting it.
Elias reluctantly lowered his sword.
"Fine."
The two continued deeper into the forest.
The creatures inside the Aethergrove Training Center might look like magical beasts, but they weren't true magical beasts.
They were only quasi-magical beasts created by the formation array.
Their strength was intentionally limited so that quasi-mages could fight them.
True magical beasts were on an entirely different level.
They possessed genuine magical power and were far more dangerous.
Only a true mage could reliably deal with them.
Ren was currently only a quasi-mage.
And Aethergrove was designed for people like him.
It was a place where they could strengthen their bodies, practice combat, and gain experience fighting quasi-magical beasts before they eventually awakened.
For now, that was enough.
Ren had no reason to rush.
One day, after becoming a true mage, he would naturally leave this place behind.
And then, he would finally see what the real magical world had to offer.