The following morning, two guests arrived at the Sky Squad headquarters. One was Warrior Jiro, and the other was Aaman, escorted personally by Commander Yarko. Yarko formally requested permission from both Warrior Jiro and Squad Leader Barsha to include Aaman—an operative hailing from military intelligence—in the upcoming joint training program.

Barsha knew Aaman well; he was her cousin. She immediately realized that Aji had orchestrated Aaman's inclusion, arranging for him to train directly alongside the Sky Squad under Warrior Jiro's tutelage.

Barsha had suspected Aji’s involvement, remembering their deployment to the Golden Crane Academy. Aaman had been assigned to work alongside her in hunting down the high-tier Mondu targets, Drakos and Nasura, whom the Sky Squad had been tracking.

After handing Aaman over to the squad, Commander Yarko took his leave, burdened by a packed schedule. He simply confirmed that Aaman had been granted official clearance to train with the Sky Squad, serving as a liaison bridging military intelligence and the elite vanguard.

Riding off on his mount, Commander Yarko offered a quiet smile. It was time for him to break through the bottleneck in his own swordsmanship. Having gained profound enlightenment from Aji's demonstration, he resolved to utilize every remaining moment to refine his cultivation and prepare his strength.

The grand war was on the horizon.

Warrior Jiro initiated the conditioning program immediately. The young operatives braced themselves for the "hellish training" Jiro had warned them about. Behind the scenes, Jiro had consulted with Aji, who had instructed the veteran master to focus primarily on tempering the squad's mental fortitude and spiritual resolve.

Aji had promised to bestow a special gift upon them in two months' time. To prove worthy of it, they had to survive Jiro's brutal regimen first.

As usual, Aji did not join the collective sessions. Warrior Jiro explained to the squad that Aji was undergoing specialized cultivation at the Dompai grounds under Jiro's personal supervision—focusing on stabilizing his internal concentration and perfecting his internal energy circles.

"Listen up, everyone!" Jiro boomed, addressing the assembled warriors. "Starting today, you will undergo extreme physical conditioning, followed immediately by meditative assimilation. This regimen is designed to expand your physical capacity while simultaneously refining your internal core."

Expanding physical capacity meant pushing their bodies through exhausting physical trials, assimilating the resulting fatigue through meditation, and sharpening their internal senses. They recognized the foundational principle; it mirrored the basic conditioning drills they had practiced since childhood to build their martial foundations.

Yet, could a mere two-month regimen truly elevate them to a realm far beyond their past limits? Their upcoming opponents were, after all, the terrifying dark army of Lord Demon Shura.

Still, the directive came directly from Warrior Jiro—a legendary master who had traveled across all five continents, defeating dark forces wherever he went. There was no finer mentor in the realm to guide their development.

From that day forward, their grueling training officially commenced. Jiro emphasized that they had only sixty days—a mere two months. He swore that by the end of this period, they would emerge as entirely reborn warriors, capable of going toe-to-toe with the dark army and transcending their former limits.

"My objective is to prepare you to face dark cultivators who have activated their full Demon Transformation," Jiro explained. "Therefore, this physical conditioning is essential to enlarge your physical vessel, enabling you to multiply your internal aura to a far higher realm."

The physical drills began immediately. Through these exercises, the squad quickly discovered Alicia's specialized utility. Jiro instructed Alicia to cast a spatial portal leading to an isolated forest at the outer edge of Prisma City.

Alicia conjured the gateway cleanly; nothing escaped Jiro's sharp eyes, and he had long recognized her aptitude for spatial magic. Stepping through the portal, the squad found themselves in a dense wilderness far removed from headquarters.

Waiting for them in a clearing were heavy iron carrying poles, accompanied by four metal buckets per person. Jiro instructed them to fill the buckets at a mountain spring and run to the summit carrying the load. Jiro himself would await them at the peak.

The Sky Squad members and Aaman sprinted up the mountain path. Upon reaching the mountain spring, they filled all four buckets with water. Balanced on iron poles across their shoulders, each warrior now carried four full buckets. The true trial, however, lay in the descent: they had to sprint down the rugged mountain path without spilling a single drop of water.

The drill demanded absolute concentration and physical balance. It was a exercise designed not merely to build raw strength, but to cultivate perfect kinetic control under extreme fatigue. Navigating the treacherous, rocky terrain on the descent proved brutal. Halfway down the mountain, most operatives had spilled half their water, and none maintained full buckets. Several even lost their footing and tumbled onto the rocks.

Monitoring the exercise from mid-air, Warrior Jiro called down coldly, announcing that anyone who stumbled or spilled water would be forced to return to the spring and restart from the beginning.

Nora tripped over a jagged rock, desperately trying to catch his balance on his trailing foot. He tumbled hard onto the dirt, sending his buckets crashing down.

SPLASH!

"Curse it all! This really is hellish training!" Nora groaned, picking himself up.

Nora's outburst echoed the feelings of the entire group. The task felt nearly impossible: sprinting down a steep mountain path by leaping from boulder to boulder while keeping four buckets of water completely still required extraordinary control. It was a grueling challenge that pushed their focus to the brink.

"If you complain about this," Jiro's voice boomed from above, "you will perish in a single strike the moment you encounter a member of the Five Gates! Bear that truth in mind!"

Gritting his teeth, Nora trekked back up the mountain to refill his buckets. He was far from alone; every member of the squad was subjected to the same relentless resets. By midday, after five continuous hours of mountain sprints, not a single operative had successfully completed the descent with four full buckets. They were thoroughly exhausted, their minds drained from maintaining continuous concentration.

"Very well!" Jiro called out, dropping to the ground. "Now we transition to meditative assimilation to absorb the physical gains from your exertion!"

Jiro instructed them to sit cross-legged in a wide circle. Pushing past their physical exhaustion, the young warriors closed their eyes, focusing inward to assimilate the latent energy generated by their exertion. In the darkness of their meditative focus, a tiny, glowing ember of light materialized within their cores.

That tiny ember represented the expanding inner circle of their cultivation. They focused on drawing that newly generated energy inward, fusing it directly with their core aura. Though the energy gained was microscopic, it was the direct yield of their rigorous physical labor.

Under their sustained concentration, the tiny embers grew brighter and larger, merging seamlessly into their internal energy reservoirs.

As the energy fully integrated into their vessels, a profound sense of tranquility washed over the Sky Squad.

That afternoon, a vital realization dawned upon them: no matter how severe the physical exhaustion, every drop of sweat expended during Jiro's training directly expanded their internal aura capacity. Satisfied with their progress, Warrior Jiro granted the squad and Aaman a break for lunch, noting that the afternoon conditioning sessions would resume shortly.

Jiro assured them that every passing day would systematically forge their bodies and internal cores, preparing them to stand against the ultimate threat facing the realm: Lord Demon Shura.

Reinvigorated with clear purpose, the young warriors stood ready to embrace whatever trials awaited them, bound by their sacred oath as the Sky Squad.