The Retired Hero is an Extra

It was evening, and Jash was lying on his bed, gazing at the ceiling with a thoughtful look.

He seemed deep in thought as his expressions changed from a smile to a frown, then to a scowl, and back to a smile in the blink of an eye.

It was as if he were grappling with a whirlwind of conflicting emotions.

Feeling restless, he shook his legs and changed positions randomly, unable to calm down.

Finally, he heaved out a long sigh before getting up, stretching a bit and entering the training room he had long ignored.

Without hesitation, he took off his clothes, exposing his bare body without fear of any hidden cameras or the sort.

Well, there was no way the Academy would have them as any technology outside of the host system would be discovered within moments.

And if some pervert did sneak them inside, one could only shiver at what would happen whence they were found.

Either way, no such events occurred, and even if they did, Jash was sure no one would dare trade his photos.

Being a noble did come with many hidden perks that only jealous idiots would disparage to feel better, as they couldn't rise to the pedestal with their limited capabilities.

"Seriously, am I going to do this?" Jash asked himself, now clad in the gym attire his mother bought for him.

The room was made up of solid ground with no tiling or designs for it to be a uniform room.

Jash stood at the center of it, taking in deep breaths as he closed his eyes, his hands by his sides, completely unarmed.

"Phew..."

Standing like that for a whole minute, he suddenly put his right leg forward and placed his hands as if ready to unsheathe a sword.

His movements were quite natural yet had a hint of unnaturalness that he frowned before returning to his initial position.

What he did next was simple, performing the same movement with more natural fluidity in his movements, as if in one flow.

Yet it was not that easy as he was doing it without a sword, and doing it with a sword would just become a bit easier and harder at the same time.

Although its weight might help him feel its presence, it would delay his movements, if only a little, making his current body movements a waste of time.

At least that was what anyone other than him would define it as.

But it was Jash who was doing something idiotic before giving, beads of sweat forming on his face from concentration.

"One step closer, one step farther," he muttered strange words as he opened his eyes and went further into the training room.

A brief nostalgic smile played on his lips as the words resonated with him, evoking a memory buried deep within.

"Not now," he shook his head and entered the next room from inside the training room, known as the mana room or breakthrough room.

More accurate terms surely existed but it wasn't like Jash had an inkling for names.

He couldn't care less about such useless details, despite being a sucker for details—mostly...

Entering the room, the stark difference was clear as the ground was fully covered in gray tiles with a white one in the center of the room.

"My body has recovered," he muttered, clenching his fists and sitting at the center of the room.

He wanted to break through to Mid E-Rank long ago, but he held back due to the instability from breaking through quite fast.

Yet that wasn't his real reason, it was because he didn't want to hold back anymore.

E-Rank was more or less the first stage of the proper foundation and if he didn't use the best mana circulation methods, then what use was knowing them.

It didn't matter at the F-Rank because it wasn't that major of a roadblock, just the initiator and the gaps could be filled at E-Rank.

But if he continued to reach Late E-Rank, just for the sake of it with inferior techniques, his heart wouldn't be able to take it.

Originally, he would've done that yesterday, but he gave his body the day as a buffer just to be on the safer side of things.

He waited to break through inside the Academy because he could use anything and it would be related to his family.

'I won't be questioned by my family as they will think I found it in the Academy,' Jash mused with a smile.

It was a really strange situation as both sides would end up misunderstanding the origin of the technique but that was for the best.

"I've wasted enough time at Early E-Rank," Jash muttered, aware that he needed to become stronger faster to actually change his destiny.

He went and sat around the center and crossed his legs, sitting in a meditation pose.

After a while, the mana around the room started to gather around Jash as he circulated the mana inside him.

His core was being overworked as it had to spin at high speeds, ejecting mana and also absorbing it back.

Yet the mana core also had to refine the mana, making it purer and denser.

But Jash wasn't satisfied with just this much, he used the meridians to make tiny "nodes" to hold more mana in certain places.

First was near the mana core, the heart itself as it was the major organ and also to decrease the burden on his core.

Next was the spleen, located left to his stomach in his abdomen region and then it was lungs, followed by kidneys and the liver.

By this time, he was covered in sweat and the pain from forcefully pushing excess mana in those five regions was immense.

If he didn't have crazy levels of mana control and widened meridians, he would've long damaged his mana veins or the meridians.

Of course, the most important fact was knowing the body's anatomy, the knowledge from his past life.

If not for knowing how to execute its even more advanced version, Jash would've long failed at the first stage, bursting his heart and dying.

'Can't no more,' he thought with gritted teeth, biting his lip to keep himself from giving up due to the intense pain.

That's why it was next to impossible to replicate it as even he had to give up at just five nodes or areas with higher mana control.

"Haa... Haa..."

Jash panted a bit as he clenched his fist and scrunched his eyes, sweat dripped down his face, with his eyes moist.

It seemed just creating 5 of those nodes took a great toll on him and he also noticed that he was barely teetering on the brink of E-Rank.

"Shit!"

He cursed as he punched the ground in exasperation and drank a mana recovery potion that he prepared in advance.

'I can't make 7 of them like this,' he thought, a frown marring his face as he recalled the mana circulation technique.

It was the final version that needed two more nodes, but he wanted to create them at the moment to get better results.

Even in his past life, he had only sprung up the idea of 7 of them randomly and tried it, but it resulted in good results.

"7 and 9 both are auspicious numbers in many cultures, so there's no way I shouldn't go for them."

That was his line of thought which led him to improve the technique... or was that all?

He couldn't quite recall it exactly.