The air in the training ground was heavy and damp. The mixture of rainwater and the soil of the parade ground emitted a pungent, earthy scent, and above the massive stone walls surrounding the area, the flags of the Knights hung heavily, soaked by the rain.

Jay leaned his body toward the last remaining piece of magic steel. His thigh muscles convulsed as if they would tear, and a fluid—he couldn't tell if it was rain or sweat—blocked his eyelids, blurring his entire vision. Forcing back the breath that had risen to his throat, Jay squeezed out an ancient breathing technique to pass energy through his vessels. It was at that very moment, as he tightly locked his breath and expanded every muscle in his body to push the iron.

Crack-boom!

Deep inside his head, specifically inside his right temple, a blood-stained red lightning bolt exploded.

It wasn't just a simple headache. It was a hellish pain, as if an unidentified goblin was thrusting a skewer behind his right eyeball and twirling it around, causing his entire cerebral blood vessels to swell as if they would explode. Jay fell to his knees before he could even scream. He pressed his forehead into the cold mud and clutched his temples, but the pulse of the blood vessels transmitted to his fingertips throbbed like the gears of a clock gone mad.

"Starting again, I see."

He felt the cold gazes of the instructors pouring in from across the parade ground. Neither the reclusive scholars of the Veterinary Medicine faction nor the renowned elixirists of the Imperial Dormitory could find the cause of this pain. They merely spread rumors that he should be expelled from the Knights, calling it the 'Myeong-gu Headache' that arrived whenever he exerted strength.

In fact, the problem was a strong medicinal acupuncture treatment he had received three days ago on the fine meridians around his neck and shoulders to circulate his body's energy. The stimulation from the unresolved acupuncture had made his neck muscles extremely sensitive, and the pressure of the energy he exploded while excessively holding his breath had focused entirely on those sensitized cerebral blood vessels.

Jay, clutching his head with mud-stained hands, staggered toward the outer gate of the Knights' quarters as darkness began to settle heavily. If he couldn't make it through this night, the silver crest—his identification as a Knight—would be stripped from his chest forever tomorrow morning.

--- Time Passes

The rain grew heavier as he reached the restricted area outside the Knights' quarters, a secluded zone thick with rumors. At the end of this alley, where old wooden buildings stood precariously leaning against each other's shoulders, a small pharmacy was hidden, barely touched by light.

Jay pushed the mossy wooden door with a trembling hand. A worn bell rang, cutting through the humid air. The interior was saturated with the smell of various dried herbs, unidentified purple reagent bottles, and old parchment.

Before Jay's eyes, an unknown woman wearing a worn robe pulled low approached quietly. On the hem of her robe, instead of wet mud, delicate silver runes glowed faintly.

The woman silently looked down at Jay's furrowed brow, the trembling of his neckline, and the blood vessels in his eyes that were fluctuating irregularly. Then, she spoke in a voice that was calm, almost arrogantly composed.