Adam walked on the empty street, Max by his side.
It was very early in the morning when Max woke him up by banging at his door. Now, after eating breakfast and clothing up, they marched down the streets. They headed to the west, towards the army quarters.
Max even had him go on foot, spouting some bullshit about waking up and warming up for a harsh day. The part about waking up was not feasible but he would manage, as Adam wasn't exactly awoken, he fell asleep while walking a few times already but nonetheless, he walked. But warming up? Who would believe such nonsense? Since when did mages need to warm up before casting spells?
"So, what is the status of your cat? Did it like Derek?"
"As long as he gives her food." Adam said absentmindedly.
"Adam, what is your progress on the technique? or did you try wind magic already?" Asked Max.
"Adam!?" Exclaimed Max, after a while of awkward silence.
"W-what?" It seemed that Adam entered a trance another time. His body still moved, but his mind was blank as if he was sleepwalking.
"Nothing." Max didn't have enough patience to try to engage in conversation with Adam in this state.
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The army camp was located in the west of the Capital, inside the forest.
To get there, a person had to walk for about fifteen minutes on a broad and well-maintained road, made from durable stone and with somewhat high lamps around it.
There were posts, small buildings that could house few watchmen and shelter them from unfavourable weather, stationed in sight of each other along the road. Inside each of the posts, few people stayed at all times. They were the reason why Ada and Max didn't need to be on guard while going through the forest. However, even if the guards weren't present, the forest around the capital was relatively safe, as the army wouldn't just let monsters reach the city without a fight.
The army quarters were a big camp, or rather a small town. It was walled, and palisade defended it from every direction. Inside, on the outer rim, tents were scattered, of varying sizes, where newbies and travelling troops lived. Deeper were wooden buildings, made to accommodate higher ranking staff and permanently staying soldiers.
In the centre of the camp, few stone buildings stood. To tell the truth, it should be described as one, big building. In the centre, was a tower, not a high one, but still towering above the forest. It housed the attending commander, his staff and their offices, and was a place where meetings were held.
In four cardinal directions around the tower, blocky buildings stood. The buildings merged with a wall, that connected them all. Making the central complex the most castle-looking thing in the surrounding areas. Even the king's castle was less castle-looking.
In western and eastern buildings, infirmaries were held. These two also were made to work as gateways into the central complex. All soldiers, with wounds and illnesses were forced to stay there, to be treated. Inside, teams of expert physicians worked together with priests of the goddess and even maybe a mage that had some healing abilities.
In the northern building, armoury was held. All kinds of weapons and armour were held there, from little daggers to maces and even war hammers. Clerks worked there to make sure that everything was in its place, and to distribute gear to the soldiers.
The southern building was a warehouse. It contained all the things needed to run a camp. In tandem with armoury, it was the most secure place in the complex. And it needed that protection. The camp serves a major role in defending the Capital, and the central complex is the last line of the camp's defence, without food and weapons, even the mightiest fortress would fall in a matter of days.
Another thing that contributed to the complex's defence, was its walls, or rather the thing they were made from. What differentiated these walls from those that were seen in the capital? They were solid, without a crack or a crevice, the stone was smooth and durable. How was it possible, you ask? The reason is simple, the complex was made by a mage. An earth mage had to spend a considerable amount of time to build this structure from the ground up, spending a ridiculous amount of mana along the way. because of that, walls were essentially one solid stone, instead of pieces put together like in traditional methods.
The walls around the capital would also be made that way if it was reasonable. But it wasn't the price such a structure would cost was ridiculous and it made many people lose their jobs. Also, the wall would be probably breached either way if a beast tide attacked the capital, so, it wasn't a profitable investment.
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As the boys entered the camp, the first thing they were greeted with was a check-up. After which, having recognised them as recruits, they were sent to examine their abilities.
Some captain led them to a training ground around which tents were erected.
"Do we really need to do this? We are mages, what difference does it make if we can run for an hour or a half?" Asked frustrated Adam. Frustrated, because Max's prediction about needing a warm-up was true.
"It does, what value holds a mage that can't even run away from the enemy?" Retorted Captain, whose name was Garry, with a question of his own.
"Ughhh.." Adam still wasn't convinced.
"Let's start with running, as you already mentioned it. Run at full speed, until I tell you to stop, or you faint from overexertion. NOW!" Shouted the captain.
Max followed the order immediately, unlike Adam, who started running only after seeing his friend do the same. Running wasn't something Adam felt confident with, though, he also couldn't say that he couldn't run. He was an ever-novice hunter, so what Adam mostly did till he was 15, was stealthy walking through the bushes, hidden from his prey. He run a lot in life, like every other child, but unlike them, who probably wanted to become a swordsman and trained their stamina, Adam didn't do shit about his ability to run long distances.
And it was visible at the first glance. For the first five minutes, Adam was doing great, he even liked it. After ten minutes, Adam already felt some pain in his legs and started to slow down. After thirty minutes, exhaustion was written all over his face and sweat poured off him in rivers, his speed was but a fraction of what he began with.
Adam was delighted when the captain called him off after thirty-five minutes, seeing that Adam wouldn't go on much longer. Max, on the other hand, ran for another 20 minutes overshadowing Adam.
"Okay, your times aren't the best, but they are still not horrible. Seeing that young master Max is more proficient, and eager to train, he will be responsible for making young master Adam attend morning exercises, namely an hour-long run."
"Wha-" Adam tried to protest, but the captain interrupted him. "Next thing we will be testing is your mana capacity and regeneration speed. After which will come the last, combat test. Please release all your mana into the surroundings. Young master Max will go first, then young master Adam will follow suit."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Asked Max, he was confused because he never emptied his mana pool without casting spells, which would be stupid considering the high number of people in the area.
"Just release the mana, I was told it was like making a spell without a spell. Oh! Or pouring water on the ground instead of a cup!" Explained Garry.
Max followed his instructions. All the mana he released, spread into the surroundings. The mana density increased considerably, but on a scale only felt by mages and some high-rank warriors, for a normal person to feel it, it would need to be at least ten times denser.
"Ok, now you, young master Adam. Sit down and release everything." Captain turned in his direction.
Adam found himself a somewhat clean spot and sat down there. Then he loosened his hold on mana, making some of it escape his body and started to push it outwards.
He released mana for about the same time as Max, but the amount of liberated mana was clearly way bigger. Not big enough for normal people to feel, but even warriors could tell it was bigger than the one before.
Adam felt empty, as his body was vacant of mana. He felt as if someone robbed him of his strength, and he fell on his butt. As he looked around, he noticed that some soldiers looked at him in admiration, among them was Max and the captain. Both of them stared at him in bewilderment.
Seeing Max sitting on his butt and staring at him, Adam flashed him a mischievous smile, happy that he won, instead of the long-distance runner.
A while later, the captain stood up, feeling the density of mana in the air returned to normal and ordered. "You can start to actively collect mana, we only need to know a general situation of your mana regeneration speed."
Adam sat again, having stood up, and started to gather mana towards his heart. Max started to do the same, not wanting to fall behind.
Pain coursed through Adam's veins as he tried to hasten his regeneration speed, his blood vessels held on much longer. He stopped and thought about why would that be the case. Why would attracting more mana hurt him?
He looked in the direction of Max, whose mana clearly started to speed up, and his face showed no pain, no worries. If he could do that, how come Adam couldn't?
He tried again, this time spreading the regeneration equally on all parts of his body instead of guiding it only to his heart, the pain lessened, but it was still present. He tried to speed up the process, but it only brought him more pain.
He tried another time, now, accelerating only one part of his body. The pain increased.
Then, he stopped speeding up the mana regeneration completely and the pain disappeared. The mana still flowed towards him in huge amounts, filling him up at amazing speed.
It seemed that he couldn't hasten his regeneration without feeling pain, which meant he wasn't supposed to accumulate mana faster than it already was.
This reminded Adam about what he talked about with Max while travelling to the capital.
'Maybe to regenerate mana faster, I would have to create some kind of organ, similar to the core? Max told me that some animals have them, so why couldn't I?' Thought Adam, hungry for speed. Mana regeneration speed of course.
Adam waited a little under two hours, until his body was full of mana again, and signalized that to the captain.
The man nodded at him, satisfied with his recruit's result.
"Great time. We just have to wait for your friend to finish and we will go test your fighting capabilities. One versus one, of course, teamwork will come later." He told to the young mage.