Silas decided to head to the isolated rooms, given that he already had a plan in mind: to forcibly unlock his veins and arteries using the heartbeat cycle to simulate being a Legionary. While the plan was simple, it presented a major problem: how to know how much to unlock to reach the desired channeling percentage? For that, he would need the machine and calibrate his body with the data it provided, something impossible since students did not have access to that equipment.

  Silas began to channel Cognis to find a solution. He searched his memories of the Scholar classes but found nothing useful. He came to the conclusion that the answer must lie in the information of the Molders. Then he remembered Don Alfonse.

  With that memory, others began to sprout: the times he skipped Scholar classes, wandered around, and ran into Don Alfonse. Molder children were scarce in the village, so when one was missing due to illness, Don Alfonse was left alone in the workshop. One day, Silas entered and began to talk with him. Although Silas could not manipulate Mana, he understood very well the functioning of the artifacts and machines that Don Alfonse showed in his classes. Even, on occasion, Silas provided theoretical solutions that had not occurred to Don Alfonse.

  Over time, Don Alfonse grew fond of Silas and invited him to his workshop to learn things that might be useful if he didn't dedicate himself to being a Scholar. Apart from the practical Scholar classes which were entertaining, Silas's life at school consisted of being with the Legionary Professor Richard in his classes or helping Don Alfonse repair some machine in his workshop.

  One week, Silas didn't see Don Alfonse anywhere. He was told he had gone to the city for a job. Upon his return, Don Alfonse told Silas that he had to fix a machine at a Legionary school. Don Alfonse explained, leaning against a rustic table.

  —Look, Silas, I had to leave the village to help a friend with his Legionary evaluation machine. You see, those schools don't have much money, so, to do the periodic maintenance, I help them from time to time in exchange for some things —he told him with a mischievous smile, while taking a bottle of liquor out of his bag.

  —The truth is, it's not that difficult to maintain, unless a component is damaged —continued Don Alfonse—. Even you, with a little training, could maintain it.

  From among some empty liquor bottles, Don Alfonse took out a book with worn covers and handed it to Silas. While the boy began to read the first pages with curiosity, Don Alfonse leaned in, pointing out figures and diagrams, and explained every detail to him.

  Silas understood the functioning of the machine. It was a sealed bubble where sensors measured the Primordial Energy consumed by the person inside the bubble and the Ether they produced to measure combat channeling. To evaluate raw channeling, it is measured through the controlled emission of Ether. When a Legionary comes into contact with a high amount of this energy, the Ether reacts with their veins and arteries, providing the necessary data to determine the morphology of their unlocked blood vessels (similar to an X-ray).

  This process exerts pressure and wear on the Legionary's body, so the measurement of raw channeling is not a habitual procedure. It is recommended not to exceed a couple of measurements a year, and it is common for Legionaries to undergo a maximum of two or three throughout their lives. Once the second measurement yields the same value as the previous one, the evaluation is considered accurate, as this value rarely varies throughout a Legionary's life, and only increases in exceptional circumstances. Furthermore, precautions were taken so that no one who was not a Legionary entered the machine, since, although it was unlikely that the Ether pulses caused death (being too short), they could cause discomfort, such as headaches, weakness, a feeling of general malaise, or fainting.

  Considering the scarce resources of a life where he channeled Ether, Silas thought: ?Ether in that life caused me unbearable pain, and in this life the pain is much less?. Silas theorized: ?The test could have an effect similar to the first one, therefore, this will be a test... of pain endurance, since I am not a Legionary and I will have to force my veins and arteries to withstand Ether up to levels I haven't felt in this life?.

  Silas planned to keep the tissues near his veins active with millimeter precision, using Ichor controlled by his Cognis to heal his body while withstanding the machine's Ether and the pain. His Arcane mind was quite skilled for a twelve-year-old boy, and even for a fifteen-year-old, but not enough to perform four simultaneous actions throughout his body. Up to that moment, his Cognis could only handle two or, perhaps, three actions in the best of cases, but not four.

  Therefore, he had to choose. Maintaining the circulatory system active at the precise intensity to resist each cycle of Ether was the priority, and to achieve it, he would have to guide the Ichor with his mind. So, his choice was between healing himself while feeling pain intermittently, or damaging his body without feeling pain in the moment, but having to face all the suffering at once when the test ended and his Cognis ran out. Silas considered it safer to heal himself and withstand the pain with each discharge of Ether.

  With his plan in mind, Silas had to train his Ichor control very strictly to be able to resist what the machine imposed on him. This control was not yet so precise; his memories did not give him information on how to control the soul energy, so it was a process of discovery by trial and error. Silas also continued pushing his Arcane power to the limit, aware that his mind was his greatest weapon.

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  The days passed and the expected date arrived. Silas decided that he would heal himself as he felt damage and withstand the pain of each Ether discharge separately.

  After practicing in solitude with the greatest possible dedication, Silas felt prepared for the evaluation. The evaluation room housed Director Lenio, several first-year professors, among them Professor Bilard in charge of the initial instruction of the cadets, and a Legionary in charge of operating the machine, a complex device for measuring Ether channeling.

  —Initiate Cadet Silas, please approach the machine —announced the Legionary responsible for the test.

  Silas stopped in front of the imposing Ether Evaluation Machine. It was a hulk of metal and crystal, much more complex than the rudimentary Baptism device of his village. The air vibrated with its latent energy. Don Alfonse had explained that, at the start, this machine emits ten cycles of Ether, increasing the intensity from ten to one hundred percent. Anticipation and a slight nervousness ran through him.

  Before proceeding, Silas channeled the maximum amount of Cognis he could gather. The Legionary pressed a button, and the evaluation began. The first discharge, representing 10% channeling, flooded Silas's body with a wave of energy. Quickly, Silas activated his Ichor, distributing it through veins and arteries in a sort of defensive shield against the Ether emitted by the machine.

  Silas, who had opted to heal himself continuously and thus withstand the discharges of pain from each cycle of Ether, discovered that the sensation was much more intense than anticipated.

  A mechanical hum filled the room, and Silas felt the Ether invading his veins, a growing pressure in his limbs. ?These first ten cycles?, Don Alfonse's voice resonated clearly in his mind, ?are to establish the tens?.

  He concentrated, trying to assimilate the energy flow. Upon reaching 20%, the sensation manifested: ?It is as if they were throwing a bucket of almost boiling water at me?. At 30%, the intensity amply exceeded his expectations, resembling: ?They are as if they were whiplashes, let it pass quickly!?. Using the brief intervals between each cycle, Silas understood: ?The increase in pain intensity is related to the exponential increase in the strength of Legionaries. It is a factor I had not considered due to the recklessness of subjecting myself to the machine without being one of them?.

  With gritted teeth, he received the 40% discharge. The pain was about to make him lose consciousness, feeling: ?This is as if I had a building on my body?. Suddenly, the Ether emission stopped. A sharp beep broke the tense silence. Silas took a deep breath, his body still vibrating.

  ?The machine detects up to which cycle the veins and arteries adapt, and then stops?, Don Alfonse had told him. The next phase would define his future. Silas modified his plan. ?I will use Cognis to suppress most of the pain?, he decided, knowing that this would have significant consequences after the test, but it was necessary to reach the planned percentage.

  The 50% discharge felt like a kind of electric current, not painful, but causing numbness. Upon reaching 60%, he experienced the numbness again, although a fraction of the pain managed to filter through, recreating the sensation of boiling water. He decided to let the following cycles pass, recognizing his inability to withstand them.

  The machine came back to life with a new hum, sharper than before. Silas tensed, preparing for the next wave. ?Now it will emit another ten cycles?, he reminded himself, Don Alfonse's phrase resonating with precision, ?and these will be to determine the exact units?.

  The true challenge was just beginning. He faced ten consecutive cycles between 60% and 69%. However, Silas could only tolerate the first of them, the 60% one, already feeling the mental exhaustion caused by the effort of blocking such an amount of pain without losing his sanity. Finally, the test concluded.

  The result was announced: —Initiate Cadet Silas: 60% raw channeling.

  The professors' expressions reflected a certain disappointment. While it was a respectable value, sufficient to aspire to the rank of colonel, they harbored the hope of witnessing a Legionary with 90% channeling. Director Lenio's face denoted deception. ?I had gotten my hopes up with this boy?, he thought, ?the definitive Legionary will have to wait. Besides, why am I going to risk it for a 60% boy if there are other cadets with better prospects? This boy is not a good investment?. All these thoughts were interrupted when the machine opened, revealing Silas passed out.

  Professor Bilard, with urgency in his voice, ordered: —Take the boy to the infirmary!

  After receiving the last cycle at 60%, Silas closed his eyes. The pain was so immense that it escaped all comparison; a sensation so overwhelming that, had death been among the options, he would have seriously considered it.

  Then, he found himself waking up in a kind of unreal alley, between two semi-ruined stone buildings, wrapped in a mist of dust and dirt. At the end of the corridor, a shadowy figure remained seated on the rubble of one of the buildings. A mantle or cloak covered most of his body, revealing only his bandaged hands soaked in blood. His face, partially hidden, revealed eyes of such depth that Silas confused them with blackness itself, although he knew they only reflected the inner darkness of the individual.

  Despite the distance, Silas perceived an athletic and resistant body under the cloak, as firm as steel. Each breath of the subject resonated in the silence like a war drum. Slowly, he moved his mouth and, with a tired tone suggesting an existential weariness more than physical, articulated between laughs: —The pain... was the price. The only payment that could be accepted. —His voice seemed distorted by an ominous energy. At those words, Silas closed his eyes again, as if seeking to protect himself from something incomprehensible.

  Upon opening them again, he was in the infirmary. His body felt heavy, exhausted as if he had run a hundred laps around the stadium in armor. However, he barely felt pain. He understood that he had fainted and that, unconsciously, his body had begun to heal with Ichor. He still had much to learn about how to optimize his healing with Ichor and the activation of Ether.

  A strange sensation persisted in him, similar to the memories of a dream that gradually fade upon waking. But the important thing was that he no longer had to fear being expelled from the academy, and he would have a couple of years to advance in his Ichor and Ether training.