"We... Did it, right? We are alive" Xander asked, feeling confused.
"Yes, fire mages who burn themselves with fire are useless, good to see that you have managed to use your skills to your advantage Xander. We expect a lot from you, don't let us down." For the first time, Vendryt spoke with a respectful tone, but only directed at Xander.
"I won't." Xander replied while placing his right hand on his chest in a sign of respect.
Xander had not recovered from the cold, and it was clear that he was close to passing out from hunger at any moment, but his perfect posture did not show it.
'After all this, he continues to act like their dog.'
Xander does not even blink at his unconscious fellows on the floor. Looking around I realize that we are in the middle of a big rune, with a snow globe in the center of it, and also several other similar globes in every corner of the room, from the shelves to the floor.
'There was no way out then... I'm glad I didn't kill them, because if he was watching everything from the outside it would be a big problem.'
'I need to learn about runes soon, not knowing its limits can be a problem in the future. Maybe it can even help me to understand the inscriptions that are carved in me.'
After that, we carried Kiel and Mary across the bridge until we reached the other side. The reality seemed distorted on that path, but everyone was too tired to even pay attention around.
Vendryt closed the passage, and we went back to our rooms with two guards carrying Mary and Kiel to the nearby infirmary.
Our doors were closed from the outside again, but this time a hot meal was waiting inside the rooms.
'Hmpf... It is not what I want.'
I take the meal and throw it out in the bathroom.
---
---Vendryt Point of View---
In a dark room, the Grand Master Kluster Bhuor was sitting in a chair while seeing a large sphere of water.
The observation sphere, another artifact left by the founder that allows him to observe everything inside the castle.
The sphere now showed a view of the rooms of the newly formed group of aspiring mages.
"Layren was right, he doesn't eat food. Vendryt give me the report." The Grand Master spoke.
Vendryt took a clipboard with the files of each of them and passed it on to the Grand Master while speaking.
"Yes sir. You were right about Gremory, his abilities are unique but unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have that much control over them, he also wasn't able to create the aura of heat, but somehow he didn't seem affected by the cold or hunger. As for the others, Xander is the best of them, his natural ability came to the fore in the moment of danger, and he demonstrated mastery in its use, Yuno was also able to create the aura with ease and Kiel with some difficulty."
"Therefore, the other two are useless? Too bad, I thought Luther would be of some use..." The Grand Master spoke while flipping through their files.
"Give me some time with them." Vendryt answered.
"You will have it, and also if you intend to test the candidate selected by me tomorrow, be quick, we do not need to draw much attention with that."
'Be quick? He doesn't want anyone to see his pet failing? Kluster... I wish your father was still alive, he would not allow you to bring an outsider while ignoring the potential of the mages inside the house.'
"Yes sir." Vendryt spoke while taking care that his thoughts did not show up on his face.
'It will not be so hard to prove it to him, as long as Xander is as strong as his predecessors, after all, he is of the second strongest family in the Viridian house. The Kimthor family.
Vendryt put his right hand on his chest as a sign of respect and left the room.
---
---Gremory Point of View---
The morning came and with it, my hunger increased.
'I need to eat soon if I am going to keep using this amount of mana every day.
I get out of bed and do my morning exercises while I wait for the second day of training.
It didn't take long for Vendryt to arrive with his sulky face.
"Good to see that everyone is fine after the little adventure. However, now I want you to follow me because yesterday was just the beginning" Vendryt spoke.
Everyone was nervous thinking about what would come next.
Nevertheless, contrary to what everyone was expecting, we went to a classroom.
Vendryt took the chalk and started writing on the board while everyone prepared to go into combat at any time.
Still, nothing happened while Vendryt drew on the board.
"Yesterday's lesson was about controlling your heat aura, from that principle I want you now to be able to control your mana flow as well." Vendryt spoke pointing to us.
"Mana is nothing more than a cell that flows in our veins."
'There must be some catch, someone will come through the window ready to attack us at any moment.'
"The cells in our body have a limited life span and renew themselves over time. The same concept does not apply to mana, but if used in any process, the mana will gradually return over time as you already know."
Vendryt starts looking seriously at everyone, as no one has yet sat down waiting for the fight at any time.
"If you run out of mana in your body, nothing will happen to you, as it is not necessary to maintain any vital organ or biological process. Proof of this is the fact that most people have no mana and live a normal life. Several studies have been done, but it has not yet been discovered which organ is responsible for the production of mana cells."
Everyone decides to finally sit down after seeing that this would not involve any kind of fight.
'These mana cells probably are the elementary particles described in my body runes...'