The first light of dawn slipped through the thin curtains of the small apartment, tinting the walls.
The city outside was still quiet, only the distant hum of early traffic and the occasional bark of a dog breaking the silence.
Claire blinked awake, and she lay still for a moment, adjusting to the morning chill that always seeped into their apartment during winter.
Her blankets were warm, but the air against her cheeks was cold enough to make her wrinkle her nose.
"…Cold," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.
After a short stretch, she pushed herself up, her hair and grabbed her cardigan from the chair, slipping it over her shoulders before stepping out of her room.
The apartment felt unusually quiet.
Claire padded toward Klein's room, lightly knocking on the door "Klein? Wake up."
She pushed the door open, and the bed was empty.
Claire blinked in confusion "…Huh?"
"Klein?"
Her heart did a single panicked flip before she noticed the note on the desk, written in his handwriting on the back of an old academy worksheet.
Gone jogging.
Back by 7.30.
Don't freak out.
– K
---
"Huff... Huff..."
Outside, three districts over, Klein was already on his second lap around the park.
Soft white mist puffed from his lips with each breath as he jogged over the fallen snow "Haa... It's really cold."
The early morning sun cast an orange shade across the streets.
Klein slowed to a walk with his hands on his knees, watching the steam rise off his own skin.
His vision swam for a second, black spots dancing at the edges, before he blinked them away 'This body is weaker than I expected...'
In his old world, he was twenty-seven, 83 kg of lean muscle, and a professional boxer.
He had trained six days a week and could run ten kilometers in under forty minutes without blinking.
Now he is twenty, fifty-six kilos soaking wet, and two laps around a shitty little park had him seeing stars.
'From the memories, I have 98 Mana nodes, which is not bad. In the future, I can increase them.'
'The original Klein had raw potential but zero discipline.'
'And as for my mana core...'
He raised his hand and thin sparks of blue lightning crackled along his palm 'I have affinity to Voltux and Aero, that is, lightning and wind.'
(A/n: You can read power system chapter in the auxiliary volume.)
'Having two elemental affinities is quite rare... but if you can't pass the examination in the Grayhaven Academy, they won't let you in.'
Looking up at the sky, he smiled faintly 'Within the next 16 days, I need to train hard and pass the Academy's 2nd-year entrance examination.'
It was early morning, and no one was in the park, so Klein slipped through the rusted gate and headed for the far corner.
The ground was flat with hard-packed dirt.
He dropped his hoodie on a bench, leaving him in a threadbare T-shirt that immediately glued itself to his skin with frozen sweat.
Then he began to do some exercises to loosen up his body a bit.
50 jumping jacks
30 push-ups on knuckles
20 air squats
10 burpees
He kept the mana output low and used it to enhance his body.
A mist of puff escaped his lips as he let out a soft breath 'The more I circulate mana while moving, the better my body adapts to the feedback loop.'
He rose slowly, rolling his neck until it cracked 'Uff... the body is quite rusty after all.'
His gaze drifted west, past the slums, toward the jagged silhouette on the horizon.
'The low-tier public dungeon. I should go there later with Big Sis and fight some real monsters to get some experience.'
He wiped his face with the discarded T-shirt, slung it over his shoulder, and started jogging again, this time toward home.
'Fuck, I am excited.'
Klein broke into a full sprint, wind howling in his ears and his feet slapping away the snow.
He passed the same old newspaper box he'd seen a hundred times through a monitor.
By the time he came back toward the apartment, the sun had finally breached the clouds.
He slowed to a walk in front of their building with his hands on his knees, sweat freezing on his skin.
And looked up at the third-floor window.
Claire was there, watching him with wide, stunned eyes and the note still clutched in her fist.
Klein lifted one hand in a lazy wave, and she raised the note like a white flag, then disappeared from the window.
Thirty seconds later, the front door banged open, and she ran out barefoot into the snow.
"What happened? You've never jogged once in your life, and suddenly you're out here before the sun?"
Her breath came in frantic little puffs that fogged between them.
With a nod, he replied "Yeah... training to enter the Grayhaven Academy."
Claire was stunned to hear this 'Did he finally get the motivation to transfer?'
Looking at her, Klein smiled "Come in, let's go and have breakfast."
-----
The noon tram took them across the city, past the soot-blackened factory district, until the tracks ended at the edge of the outer ring.
From there, it was a twenty-minute walk down a service road.
Klein carried the battered duffel with their gear: two short swords, two low-grade barrier crystals, Claire's alchemy satchel, and every stamina and healing potion she'd been able to brew before they left.
Yeah, Claire has talent in both fighting and alchemy.
Even the healing potion he consumed yesterday was brewed by Claire.
Neither of them spoke much at first.
Eventually, Claire broke the silence "You're really sure about this?" she asked, eyes on the distant dungeon gate.
"Whisperveil Hollow is… rough. Even the city guards only patrol the first three floors. Even people from guilds won't come here because it's a low-tier dungeon."
"And it costs 100 credits to enter; that's one week's worth of food, Klein."
Klein adjusted the strap across his chest. "Yeah, it's good. We can train in that dungeon. Don't worry, Big Sis."
The road narrowed, turning into packed gravel that crunched under their boots.
Ahead, they saw the dungeon entrance, a jagged arch of black stone carved with faded runes, half swallowed by ivy and frost.
A bored city clerk sat in a wooden booth beside it, stamping entry permits for the handful of low-rank adventurers in line.
Claire slowed, hugging her arms "Last chance to change your mind. We could just do theory study and-"
Klein stopped walking and turned to face her fully "Big Sis, look at me... we can't always stay in Stormcrest Academy and barely survive."
"If we manage to get into Grayhaven Academy, we can get into the dormitory. train there and get good money."
Claire's lips parted and her expression softened 'My Little brother is motivated; as his big sister, it is my duty to stand with him.'
"Okay, let's do it."
He nodded once, satisfied, and started walking again.
They reached the booth, and the clerk barely glanced up.
"First show your IDs."
Klein and Claire took the IDs from the Stormcrest Academy
The clerk finally looked up when the two blue Stormcrest Academy ID cards slid across the counter.
He blinked, squinting at the holographic stamps "Stormcrest?"
"You two sure you're at the right dungeon? Whisperveil's no training sim. People come out of here missing fingers."
Klein tapped his card against the counter, "Positive. Floors one through three are open to rank-D and above, right? We qualify."
The clerk snorted but flipped open a ledger anyway and looked at the IDs.
---
Name: Klein Herssen
Academy: Stormcrest, Year 2
Mana Signature: Voltux/Aero dual
Mana Core: D
Current Rank: 612 / 614
Notes: Disciplinary probation, scholarship revocation pending
---
Then Claire's.
---
Name: Claire Herssen
Academy: Stormcrest, Year 3
Mana Signature: Cryon (Ice)
Mana Core: C
Current Rank: 17 / 614
Notes: Full scholarship, disciplinary record clean
---
The clerk's eyebrows shot up at Claire's rank '17th rank at the Academy?'
The clerk suddenly became much more polite "Right. Uh… fifty credits each, plus ten for insurance. Total one hundred twenty."
Klein slid the coins across, and the man counted twice, then stamped their tickets with a loud thunk.
They stepped past him into the shadow of the archway.
Beyond the arch, stone steps spiraled down into cold blue darkness.
Torches burned with smokeless mage-flame every ten meters.
Claire pulled her scarf down and rolled her shoulders.
Klein drew one of the short swords, and thin threads of lightning crawled along the blade until it hummed.
His gaze narrowed 'I have entered dungeons thousands of times in the game, but actually entering one feels very strange.'