The practical class finally came to an end after most of the students successfully managed to establish a basic connection with their inner mana, although a few still required Gerald’s direct assistance while others handled the process surprisingly well on their own after several failed attempts.Thankfully, I managed to avoid attracting too much attention to myself.Today was supposed to be the day Gerald confronted me regarding his research, and I had honestly spent the entire class mentally preparing for that conversation while still maintaining my focus on the lesson.As the students rested across the training field, I laid down against the cold ground while continuing to circulate mana throughout my body, and despite how simple Gerald had made the process sound during his explanation, actually doing it myself turned out to be far more difficult than I initially imagined.The closest comparison I could think of was trying to force water through an extremely narrow pipe filled with tiny holes because the moment I lost concentration, portions of the mana flow immediately leaked apart before the circulation could stabilize properly.Controlling mana itself was not the difficult part.The real challenge was maintaining a stable flow throughout the entire body without losing control midway through the process.Even after dozens of failed attempts, I had only barely managed to complete a single small circulation cycle, and by the time I succeeded, I already felt mentally exhausted despite barely moving physically.Still, the moment the circulation completed successfully, a strange sense of lightness spread throughout my body, almost as if my muscles had briefly become lighter than before.Before I could properly focus on analyzing the sensation, movement near the entrance of the training grounds suddenly caught my attention.The door leading into the training area slowly opened, and a woman stepped (...)