A week had passed since Nathan's miraculous return from the realm, and the reasons for his return were still unknown.
Unfortunately, the only ones who knew what had really happened were the king of the mercenaries, Mesto and Faye, so in Khan they could not find out what really happened.
During that week nothing happened, no cataclysm or stampede of calamities.
Nathan had later learned that Dilliard and Byron along with several squads from each side had entered the castle guided by the mysterious calamity, but what had happened inside was also a mystery.
This was undoubtedly the first time in history that someone had ever dialogued to a calamity, changing the way they saw calamities as unintelligent, savage monsters.
Putting all that aside, Nathan was sitting in the middle of the arena in Syril's training room with his eyes closed and sitting cross-legged.
He was feeling his essence inside his own body moving like an ethereal energy without being directed towards any specific part of his body, just coursing through his veins freely.
As much as Nathan had suffered within the realm these past two months, he had gained more than he had achieved in almost 7 months in Khan's facility.
Having to survive day after day, he had to learn more quickly to control his essence more effectively. There was also the factor of Amelia, whom he fed most of the time he had some essence left over, which also helped him to increase his maximum essence capacity within his body.
Right now, he could feel that the essence inside his body had increased by almost 20 percent compared to before he entered, and he could now use it much more effectively.
Nathan did not know exactly how to define someone in a certain category, but he was sure that if he had not yet reached the third category, he was very close to it.
Opening his eyes slowly, Nathan looked at the orb floating happily around the training room.
'This is all incredible, I never thought machines like this existed for training!'
Even though it had been a couple of days since they had arrived on the tropical island, Amelia was still enchanted by everything she saw around her, as if she were a little girl at an amusement park.
Now that Nathan did not have to use his essence to survive every day, he was able to feed Amelia much more than before, so that she could stay in her light orb form longer and stay farther away from him than before.
Nathan stood up and massaged his neck after he had spent some time meditating.
'Do you want to go outside?' Nathan asked Amelia, knowing she was eager to see the surroundings.
Since they had arrived, Nathan had spent all his time inside the building of Dinna, Syril's teacher. So, Amelia had really only seen the inside of the building.
'Yes!'
Nathan simply smiled slightly at Amelia's response and headed for the elevator.
As Nathan waited to get to the second floor, he raised his arms and looked at them.
Bandages covered his entire body, from his legs, torso, and arms to his hands. Nathan's wounds were not too bad, but his body was in very bad shape, mainly because of the burns he had received from Gril.
So, in addition to the bandages, he had to constantly use ointments and take medicine to recover.
Fortunately, with today's medicine it was not impossible to heal his scars, even if it took some time. Nathan did not like to have burn marks on his body either, so he let the doctors help him.
Once he reached the first floor and the elevator doors opened, Nathan greeted the workers he had met the first time he entered the building with Syril.
"Good morning Cadet Nathan" one of the men in charge of the building's reception desk greeted him.
Nathan greeted him back and headed for the exit of the building, then stopped and looked at the man again before leaving.
"Where is Syril?"
"He's with Lady Dinna in a meeting" the man replied respectfully.
"I see, thank you"
Walking out of the building, Nathan breathed in the clean air around him. He had become accustomed to the smell of blood in the air, so he took his time to enjoy the atmosphere.
'It really is amazing…' Amelia sighed, looking at the large building they had just exited.
Nathan turned his head and looked at the large white building as well.
'It still seems like a waste to me that only two people live in it...'
Nathan scoffed at his thoughts.
'Although technically I sleep here too, so that makes three of us'
When Nathan returned, he found that they had vacated his room thinking he had died, so he had no place to sleep.
Fortunately, Syril had offered him to stay in the building, so his problem of staying was solved.
'Well... now'
Nathan looked around and started walking in a specific direction.
'Where are we going?'
Nathan was silent for a couple of seconds before he asked Amelia a question.
'You, who saw me fight, what do you think my biggest problem is?'
Amelia was silent as she thought about Nathan's question. She remembered all his fights against both calamities and humans, then she came to a conclusion.
'You don't know how to fight humans...'
Nathan nodded his head while he had a slightly sour expression on his face.
'Exactly. Most of my fights may be against calamities, but there will also be moments where I have to face a human'
Nathan remembered his first fight against Gril and Tana, which had been a complete disaster.
'That's why if I want to advance, I have to learn how to fight people first'
After a couple of minutes of walking, Nathan arrived at a place he hadn't visited in a long time, even before he went to the swamp realm.
Hundreds of eyes were on him, so Nathan started to walk down the stairs and approached the four combat arenas while ignoring the stares of the cadets.
'From now on, until I reach the third category, I'm going to face anyone who wants to face me'
Arriving at a group of cadets who were in charge of organizing the fights, Nathan looked at them in silence for a couple of seconds.
"W-what do you need?" asked one of the cadets.
Nathan looked at the four arenas and the fights that were taking place and smiled behind his mask.
"Put my name on that list"
The cadets looked at him in surprise and throughout the stand's murmurs began to spread about Nathan.
"W-well, then you'll be assigned fights according to your level-"
"No" Nathan interrupted the cadet. "No limitations. Anyone who wishes to face me let them do so, no matter if they are first category or third category"
The murmurs intensified, then the cadet nodded again, and Nathan sat on a nearby bleacher waiting to be called to his first confrontation.
In the meantime, he focused on the fighting going on and smiled slightly.
'I wonder who my first opponent will be...'
Nathan could feel the pressure of the stares on his back, and somehow he felt excited to see how strong he had become compared to the other cadets in the course of almost 10 months since he arrived at Khan.