Caelum sat in his room with Paul, both of them wearing casual clothes as they finished eating dessert.

Night had already fallen outside, and the long first day at the school was finally coming to an end.

The entire day had been filled with lectures from old people, guided tours across the enormous campus, and far more food than Caelum had expected.

After dinner, the students were allowed to return to their dormitories, and the baggage that had been sent ahead of them had already been placed inside their rooms.

The dessert they were eating had been prepared by Paul’s mother, whose family apparently owned a restaurant.

"I’m sleepy... awaah! Let’s sleep. Tomorrow is our first real day of classes and I don’t want to be late," Paul said as he climbed into bed and switched off the mana lights in the room.

However, just as he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly felt warmth nearby, as if a small fire had been ignited.

Paul turned around and looked toward Caelum, only to see him quietly casting a spell.

A faint flame hovered above Caelum’s hand.

It was the First Circle spell – [Ember].

"What?! Are you a Third Circle mage?!" Paul exclaimed in astonishment.

The spell Caelum had cast appeared without any visible magic circle, something normally only possible for mages of the Third Circle or higher, who could engrave spells directly into their Mind Space.

"Haha! I’m not a Third Circle mage yet, but I’m still awesome, right?" Caelum boasted before casually canceling the spell.

"Sleep for now. I’ll show you more tricks tomorrow," he added.

Paul looked slightly disappointed and confused, but eventually he turned around and went to sleep.

Though it might not appear obvious at first glance, Paul was quite intelligent despite his severe social anxiety.

Caelum, however, did not stop practicing magic.

If Paul had still been awake, he would have been shocked to see tiny droplets of moisture gathering in Caelum’s palms.

This was another First Circle spell — [Moisture Pull].

Because of his innate trait [Attribute-less], Caelum normally could not utilize elemental attributes.

However, on his sixth birthday, his father had gifted him something extraordinary that allowed him to bypass this limitation.

Closing his eyes, Caelum entered a meditative state and turned his attention inward to examine his Mind Space.

Inside his consciousness stretched an endless blue sky, illuminated by a dull, invisible sun that seemed to exist without warmth or light.

Orbiting around that central presence were two smaller suns – one blazing with fire, and the other shimmering with water.

Each orb contained simple engraved spell patterns that glowed faintly as they revolved in slow, perfect circles.

"But why didn’t Father explain what those two orbs actually are?" Caelum murmured to himself.

"I know for certain they’re valuable treasures."

Because he was Attribute-less, his natural affinity for elemental magic was essentially zero. Yet paradoxically, the potential of being Attribute-less itself was enormous.

Still, a Cultivator who became satisfied with himself could never truly be a Cultivator!

His cultivation technique, [Myriad Heavenly Ascension], was so greedy that just thinking about the resources it would demand in the future made his head ache.

"Forget it... there’s still time before morning. I might as well cultivate and refine my aura until then."

With that thought, Caelum withdrew from his Mind Space and resumed meditation.

As a Layer 8 Foundation Establishment cultivator, he still required sleep like any normal person due to his developing body, but even if he went a week without sleeping, it would barely affect him.

Thus the night passed quietly as Caelum cultivated in silence, steadily refining his aura while the school slept.

Before long, the first dawn of their true school life arrived.

***

Next Morning...

Erica was busy carrying out her duties, ensuring that every child in her batch reached their respective classrooms on time.

For nearly a month, she would act as their caretaker, because even though this was an elite school meant to nurture the future of the empire, the students in the Foundation Division were still just children.

Discipline needed to be ingrained into them from the very beginning.

This was also her mission.

To manage nearly a hundred troublesome brats and ensure that none of them caused problems. If she failed, the mission itself would be considered a failure.

"Alright, you all already know the way to your classes, so head there properly," Erica said while scanning the group.

"And have any of you seen that tall boy and his friend?"

She was referring to Caelum and Paul, who had yet to show up.

"No, I haven’t!"

"I think they left early."

"Yeah, I saw them wandering around this morning. That Caelum guy was even talking about drinking milk!"

"No wonder he still acts like a kid."

As the children continued chattering, Erica’s expression slowly darkened.

’Now where am I supposed to find those two?’ she thought, feeling a headache coming on.

Now she had yet another troublesome child to deal with.

Meanwhile, the two troublemakers in question were leisurely wandering around the school, casually peeking into different classrooms as they explored the campus.

"Won’t we be late at this rate?" Paul asked nervously, clearly frustrated.

Even if he wanted to go back, he knew it was pointless trying to drag Caelum along by force.

"Classes don’t matter that much, Paul," Caelum replied confidently.

"Remember, I’m the son of a Count, I can always get you a good job later."

Paul fell silent.

For some reason, that logic... made sense.

He no longer resisted skipping class.

Just as the two of them turned a corner.

THUD!

They collided directly into another pair.

A deep, irritated voice immediately echoed out, causing Paul to stiffen in fear.

The speaker sounded far too muscular and intimidating for someone their age.

"Little human brat! Can’t you see someone this big standing in front of you?"