Weeks passed in a similar routine.

I could feel myself growing stronger. Neither cared for me, but as long as I alternated my questions, I learned a lot from the two stern men teaching me.

I quickly gained strength in the early tiers under proper tutelage that was easy; however, it was only past Tier 3 and the breakthrough that it becomes challenging to improve.

The average person with Tier 4 potential would reach Tier 3 within a year. Still, only ten percent go beyond that to reach their full potential. The statistics are a little higher for people with more significant potential, but the natural barrier of Tier 3 was a nearly impassable chasm for much of the population.

I was now beginning to understand why.

Once I started taking my Aura work seriously, I quickly surpassed the others, reaching Tier 3 in less than two months.

Now though, it felt as if every step was two backward.

My teachers were of no help. You had to take your path to proceed past the bottlenecks. Conventional wisdom is near impossible because the way is different for everybody.

Still, the satisfaction of watching my Inner world grow, day after day, was very satisfying. The land became bigger with each day.

Creatures were populating my plains, growing in strength, getting spells both for defense and empowering my summons. Those gains were the only thing keeping me going. I had been working non-stop for the past two months.

Luckily my meditation was far more effective than sleep, so I completely took that out of my schedule. It was working as well.

Iirin hadn't got past the bottleneck yet either. Still, his combat capabilities and IQ had greatly improved, along with my summoning and defensive abilities, we had managed to get up to third place in the teams' rankings.

Still, the captain had upped our training quite considerably. The first mass training exercise was fast approaching. If we got a lousy ranking as a squad, that would reflect poorly on the Captain.

With Urtil on our side, we could be pretty confident to be in the top 5 teams, even though we were a mixed team.

15-20 place was the usual placing for mixed teams placed in the Heti contingent, but with Urtils pure firepower and me as the anchor in our team, we would have a reasonably strong chance to aim for the top.

That wouldn't be for a few weeks. Until then, continued practice and hope for a breakthrough were all I could hope.

Cultivating my Inner forces was also fruitful. I could move the tactics pretty well over to the creatures I could summon. A lot of them are very transferable.

Unlike Urtil, who seemed limited for the most part to one mighty elemental golem, or at least that is all he has displayed so far, I was capable of a much more extensive range of summons. The pretty standard division between all summoners. Quality or quantity.

Still, I was pretty happy with the relative strength of my creatures.

I now understood why I could have done significantly more damage to the Lirops shields. I didn't focus enough on creation when I was summoning.

Specialized and with a specific goal was the best way to get the most out of your summons when you incarnate them.

You could very often change the focus of the creatures from strength to speed within their form limits.

I learned to think far more tactically.

To live war rather than just react to it. It was an interesting mindset.

It allowed me to grow very quickly, but I could feel my connection to my past slowly slip away, which I wasn't sure I liked.

I had a reason for my goal. I couldn't let those people live in the capital any longer than I had to.

Learning in this environment did help me grow my hatred both towards that wretched High House of the Empire but also to the Warlords.

The information and the suffering I had seen in the other camp, where people from my town were now living, still filled my mind with disgust.

It was serene and clean. I could forget about all worldly worries apart from the art of war.

I knew out there, though, was a whole different game. The people I grew up with would have to maneuver without any backing, totally lost in a new and foreign world, with more people in a single square bit of land than they had ever seen in the town.

I hope they were doing well.

I would get a chance to see how one was doing right now.

We were observing the Heri ranking matches, set a month before our own.

The teams below us were quite a bit weaker. I could see that in their form. In terms of pure mage power, there wasn't a huge difference. Most of the mages down there were between Tier 3 and 4 but in terms of quality. I was fairly confident it would take five of their strongest members to defeat one of ours without any casualties.

Down there somewhere in the crowd was Ben.

The existence of a giant stadium in the camp had been a surprise, but as I discovered more and more what magic was capable, it even seemed a little shoddy compared to some of the other makeshift constructions.

They were getting ready to start.

The immense screens on either side of the Venue showing images of the teams to watch. Those who were most likely to ascend to Huti and join us in the ranking tournament.

The teams they showed were still lacking compared to us, judging from their formations and training.

I was confident even without Urtil we would win in a landslide against any of their teams.

That was when they showed their first mixed team.

Among many of the most capable outsider talents in Heri was Ben.

His team was one of the favourites.

I might have to face him in the Huti Culling.