After watching the kids leave, Darius had blinked to his quarters to continue feeling out the way for the Order spell he was developing.
He had remained there focused on his task until he sensed the students rush out and head toward the unoccupied training rooms via Miranda's navigation. Noticing this Darius raised his own HoloBrace up and spoke to his AI daughter.
"Miranda, it's time to create the official child AI to manage the user network." Darius prompted her with a smile.
Miranda appeared and seemed excited as usual. "Yes! After I create the child AI, I can finally focus exclusively on you, Daddy! So, who should we style it after?"
Darius pondered for a brief moment and then smiled. "Let's complete the family then. Make it after Martin when he was around your age."
Miranda acknowledged the order and focused. This time, it took her a shorter period of time to create a child AI thanks to the experience she now had as well as the fact that Martin's tasks were not as much as Solena… for now.
A young boy with deeply tanned skin, a mischievous smile, and shifty eyes appeared beside Miranda. He wore a neat suit with a bowtie, something Darius had made him wear often in order to groom him to be his successor.
However, Martin's natural personality was too similar to his mother's, making him a natural troublemaker of the highest degree. Solena had largely inherited Darius' personality while Martin had inherited Deia's. Miranda was sort of a mix, but mostly unique.
Darius laughed with amusement as he gazed at his lastborn once more. "Welcome to the family Martin, I hope you know what tasks you are to take up?"
Martin bowed respectfully. "Of course, Father. Leave it to me, I shall not let you down."
Darius nodded with a proud smile. "I place my utmost trust in you. Alright, you may leave."
Martin once again bowed to his father before dispersing to manage his new tasks. All those who wore HoloBraces were shocked to suddenly see an image of Martin pop up and introduce himself as the specific handler for all users connected to the Supreme Portal.
After they understood the change, Martin focused on each of their individual matters, leaving Miranda with nothing to do but take care of any issues Darius had.
As such, the father-daughter duo got back to work. She would help calculate and simulate many Order element passageways, while he would try the ones that both resonated with his Luck and that Miranda got the highest probability for.
If nothing came of it, they would eliminate it. If it progressed, they would mark the route and begin anew. Darius was prepared to spend a lot of time on this, so he wasn't peeved that the progress was slow.
As long as there was progress, he was satisfied. Just like that, he spent the entire night working until it was morning.
Then, he went down to lecture his apprentices on magical theory, then left them to continue the rest of their day according to the schedule he had laid out. Apart from the morning where he lectured them, he did not interact with them outside that.
This was a normal practice among mages, because they could not hold the hands of their apprentices 24/7 as they had their own things to do. How could they possibly sacrifice their own progress for someone else's?
The days passed just like that. One week in, the students no longer failed to do the stretches, able to contort their bodies perfectly in the way Gunner prompted them to.
After that, they were also able to perform the fitness exercises within the time period without completely dying. However, it did not mean that they had become perfect.
They still had much room for improvement, and things only got better by the end of the second week. Gunner had also given them a long-term assignment, which was to be able to perform all the fitness exercises without breaking a sweat within one hour instead of three.
As it stood they were able to do it within two hours, but it would leave them quite exhausted.
The main reason for their astonishing progress speed was naturally the Lunar Dew they took which strengthened their body and removed the negative effects of strenuous training, while boosting the positive effects.
Of course, the effects of the body training potion and the intellect boost potion should not be discounted. The former made their time with Gunner have twice the effect in the same period of time while the latter allowed them to soak in Darius's lectures like sponges.
Soon, they were even able to see some flaws in the nature of typical spells. Darius had made sure to present them with the average spell manuals of their basic elements, so they could cross-reference with what they had learned from his, as well as to see the flaws within.
This had proven extremely effective in furthering their magical knowledge and theory. Giving them a direct and precise point of comparison was able to assist them in the best way possible.
In the evenings, they would ardently train their spells. Darius did not allow them to overwork themselves by staying up longer to train, since that would be against the reason he had set the time for their sleep.
However, the kids ended up sleeping less because their Endurance rose greatly with every day thanks to Gunner's training. Not only that, since they finished the Branded Servant's lessons early, they had more of their afternoons free which they used to practice their spells like maniacs.
This kind of training greatly increased their magical control, their mana usage, their understanding of the layout and framework of their elements, and their proficiency with their Basic spell in question.
By the third week, the Apprentices had improved by leaps and bounds compared to before. However, they were still under pressure to master their basic spells as quickly as possible.
Eventually, the day came for them to show off their prowess to Darius, which was simultaneously the day of the auction as well.
Darius, Gunner, and Xela called the Apprentices to the main training room, where the five would be tested to see if they had passed their Master's first assignment.
