CHAPTER 6: START OF TRAINING HELL.

Day 3, part 1.

Waking up in my soft bed, I lay still for a moment while staring up at the ceiling.

With its wooden beams, it is nothing like my previous concrete made apartment.

‘It really isn't just a long, strange dream, huh..’ I muse lazily as I look out the window and notice the sun is starting to climb; streaks of sunlight piercing the skies and hitting stray clouds up high.

Until it suddenly hits me that I am supposed to be at the training ground, like, NOW.

"Shit shit shit!!!" Sitting up in a hurry, I hurriedly wash off the worst of the dirt from myself before basically throwing myself on the bag of gear I received yesterday.

‘Damnit! The first day of training and I'm probably already late! Way to go me.’ I lament as I put my training gear on in a hurry; cloth underclothes and basic leather armor, complete with leather boots before rushing down the stairs.

Once downstairs I see that breakfast is well underway, and most people are already done and leaving.

Grabbing a tray and quickly grabbing a bit of some pie, a mug with water, cutlery and what looks like a ham and cheese sandwich, I rush to the same table I sat at yesterday.

Before I'm even sitting down, I have already started eating in a hurry.

Halfway through my delicious pie (some kind of meat pie), I hear someone clearing their throat pointedly.

Looking up reveals the same cold golden haired beauty from yesterday, glaring at me angrily.

Taking a quick swigg of water I ask: “What?” and continue before she even starts talking. “I'm in a hurry, I don't have time to argue with you right now.” I say and then continue eating in a hurry.

“Hey.” she says.

I ignore her in favour of my food.

“Hey! Listen to me!”

I can feel her anger build by the second, but I don't have time to deal with it now.

It only takes another few moments before her outrage and fury is so overflowing it's making my skin feel all prickly.

Even so I continue to ignore her and continue eating, even faster than before.

As I am about to finish my last piece of pie, I feel... something. And it's getting stronger by the moment.

Glancing up at her I notice that the golden beauty is mumbling something quietly to herself, a short staff with a soft blue ominous glow around it in her right hand.

Her right hand that's pointed directly at my face.

‘She's a mage huh…’ I muse as I grab my sandwich and take a quick swig of water before setting in a sprint for the door, all in under a second.

From behind me I hear her furious voice. “HEY! Stop! I'm not done with you, asshole!” looking back she looks absolutely livid while waving her staff menacingly at me.

“Sorry, no time!” I yell back and run like a madman, both to get to my destination on time, as well as to get away from the livid mage who is about to shoot me with freakin' magic. On second thought, mostly to get away from said furious mage.

Fortunately for me, there are still quite a few people around, even better, they are now in the way between us, so she can't throw magic at me, or she'll hit the other guests. '

At least, I sure hope she can't because otherwise...'

Thankfully, it seems she can't hit me without causing damage to the surroundings and I manage to get outside and blend into the growing crowds of people that are running to and fro in the plaza.

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After making my way to the training grounds in a mad rush, I apparently barely made it there on time.

Or well, almost.

Everyone was already neatly lined up and facing the instructor when I rushed into the training hall.

The instructor, the moustache Corporal named Kal from the other day, looked over at me and yelled at me to, well, let me paraphrase it: "Stop standing there like a nubb and get the hell in line already"; So that's what I did.

'I've got no idea what a nubb is, but I'm pretty sure it's not very flattering.'

Hurryingly falling into the closest opening in the line, I stand to the far left, at the front.

To my right is a very short red haired girl who is quite attractive with her lithe yet sturdy build and her lightly freckled face. She looks to be in her high teens.

Standing at about a head shorter than me, she is about 150 cm or so, give or take a few centimetres.

She gives me a quick, disapproving glance and faces forward again just as quickly.

‘Guess she is quite serious about this training.’

Looking behind me, a young male with raven hair and rather impressive amounts of muscles also gives me a quick but stern glance.

Getting the message, I also turn my attention forward and onto the instructor, corporal Kal.

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-------------×+

After a short introduction and a quick Q&A; a few intense hours of sword training ensued.

Mostly sword swings, in one way or another, but there is also sparring intertwined throughout the training. Real hardcore, full on breaking bones sparring.

What have I gotten myself into?!

-----------------×

When we are finally given leave for the day by corporal Kal, my body feels like it's made of lead; and that's not even the worst of it as I've been freakin' mauled by my "sparring" partners.

Sure, it may just be lunch time but when is the last time you tried like literally spartan training for hours on end? Shits exhausting, not to mention painful as shit.

As I prepare to leave to get something to eat, corporal Kal calls out to me. “Ray! Come here a moment.” he says and beckons me with a hand gesture.

Forcing my body to move, I stumble my way over to him, every step sending a jolt of pain through my overworked muscles and more than a little bruised body.

‘Is he going to punish me for almost being late?’ I ponder grimly as I approach him slowly.

“Yes? Sir?” I ask warily as I arrive next to him. Looking up at him, only now I notice that there is another person, previously hidden from view, behind him.

A closer look reveals what I believe to be a man wearing a long cloak, complete with a hood that is currently up and hides almost all of his features except eyes and nose from view. Which are blue and big and hawk-beak shaped respectively.

‘A... mage?’ I ponder to myself.

“Ah, Ray. Good work today. But we need to work on your stamina... if only that level of training leaves you as a wreck…” Kal says and shakes his head disapprovingly.

“We will work on that starting tomorrow.” he says as he writes something in his notepad which sends a shiver of fear down my spine.

Nodding a few times to himself, he continues: “But that is not what I called you for; this is Cole.” he says and waves towards the hooded man. “He will be your basic magic instructor for this summer, or so I've been told.”

Tuning towards Cole he nods at him and says “He's all yours.” and turns to walk away, only to turn back again as he quickly adds: “But do try to keep him in one piece, he'll need all of his bits for tomorrow's training as well.”

With those ominous words he walks away at a quick yet steady pace as I stare stupidly at the back of his quickly shrinking figure. ‘

‘He's just saying that to get back at me, right? ...Right??’

Tentatively turning to Cole, I give him a questioning look as I try to ascertain wether Kal is messing with me or if I'm genuinely in danger of losing limbs. 

Cole, however, doesn't do anything to either confirm or deny the statement but rather is observing me eerily quietly.

After a moment passes and my stomach growls.

Shaking his head while chuckling quietly, he says: “Let’s go to the guard mess hall and get you something to eat. I can explain some magic theory while you eat and then we can get into the real practise after you're done.” he says and starts walking away, not giving me even a glance to see if I am following or not.

Sighing, I hurry after him with as much speed as my sore and battered body can muster.

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After having finished lunch, a rather simple soup with rye bread and water; all the while listening to Cole lecturing me on magic theory, we are now outside the city.

We walked down and off the ramp leading up to the guardpost and continued off to the southwest for about half an hour.

Though admittedly, if I wasn't just about limping along, it would most likely only take half that time.

Finally we stop in a clearing in an open field, with sparse trees in a circle around us.

Looking around reveals a few critters scurrying around but little else.

Turning to Cole I give him a questioning look.

While I wasn't looking, Cole has gathered some twigs and sticks and starts building what I can only see as a campfire.

A minute later he nods to himself, turns and flatly looks at me and says: “Light it.” When I pick up two sticks and start moving towards the prepared campfire he sighs dramatically while shaking his head as if I'm the dumbest thing to walk this world. "With magic! Magic!.”

Dropping the sticks I straighten myself and make my way over to the unlit campfire; cheeks burning, as I think to myself: ‘Right, of course, magic lessons… Awkward.’

Kneeling beside the campfire I take a deep breath, and focus my will on summoning fire on my index finger.

Instantly a small white flame with some red streaks here and there appears dancing on my finger.

Out of the corner of my eyes I notice Cole flinching, but I am too focused on the flame dancing on my finger to spare any attention to other things or the flames will disappear.

Moving my hand towards the unlit campfire to complete my assigned task, I am stopped by Cole.

“Stop.” he says right before I touch the dry wood and continues as he stares at the flame at the tip of my finger. “Move the flame forward, not your hand.”

Nodding slowly, I draw back my hand and focus on the flame, and try to push it forwards.

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Half an hour or so of mental effort later, and not being able to budge the flame even a millimeter; I sigh and turn to Cole and ask for advice.

“Pushing doesn't seem to be working, so any helpful advice would be appreciated.”

Cole looks at me ponderously for a moment. “Perhaps you should try something other than pushing?” He says and gives me a carefully neutral smile.

Scowling at him, I curse him in my mind. ‘No shit, Sherlock! Thanks for the help, Captain obvious!’ I yell at him in my mind.

Because, who knows how powerful he really is. And it would be really stupid idea to piss off powerful people when I am still weak and venerable. Actually, it's probably still a stupid idea, even if I manage to get strong.

Sighing and shaking my head, I  refocus my attention on the task: moving the flame dancing above my index finger. 

'Try something else than pushing, huh. Fine let's try something else then.'

As I ponder my options of moving the flame from my finger to the campfire, I am hit with an interesting idea.

Standing up I imagine a target circle around the unlit campfire and imagine the flame on my finger tip locking onto the target area.

Giving the flame a mental “shove”, the flame then zooms off towards the campfire. At a rather impressive speed too, I might add.

As the flame comes into contact with the wood, the wood instantly starts burning intensely with a white flame.

Only a few moments later the wood is all but spent and the only thing left is its ashes.

“Hoo… impressive.” Cole says as he inspects the remains ponderously. “Is fire the only element you can use?”

Slightly taken aback by the question I hesitate a moment. “I… don't know. I didn't even consider the possibility of other elements, until now.” I say while considering the possibilities.

Nodding a few times, Cole turns and points to the sky. Specifically a black rain cloud, which I hadn't noticed before.

Or perhaps it just wasn't there until just now…

“Try to use another element, other than fire.”

‘Did he just use magic to summon it?’ I ponder as I look over the fairly large rain cloud.

Shaking my head slightly, I refocus on my new task instead:  trying to use an element other than fire.

-------------÷

After a few minutes of the equivalent of flailing my mental arms to grasp air, only for it to slip out of my hands, something wet hits my forehead.

A moment later one more hits me. “Rain huh… great.” I mumble to myself.

Fighting to keep a sigh from slipping out, I instead focus on the rain.

‘Water. How does water feel? Wet. smooth. Flowing…’ Closing my eyes, I lose myself in the feelings of water.

------------------+×

After some unknown time had passed, I am brought out of my trance and notice that it has stopped raining. Or so I thought at first. Opening my eyes I'm shocked at what I see: The water drops are frozen in the air around me. But a little further away, 5 meters or so, it is still falling normally with a pitter patter.

“Huh… I guess I can control water too.” I say as I look over to Cole, who is about 2 meters away and stands frozen like a statue while looking at me.

“Cole?” I ask as he still hasn't reacted or moved. Actually, I don't think he has even blinked.

“Cole?” I try again, louder this time. For added impact I wave at him.

Nothing. No movement, no reaction.

‘Wait… it can't be? Am I not controlling water, but something else…?”

Looking over at Cole he still hasn't moved. Looking around, I still see no moment within the apparent sphere of influence. "I can't possibly stop time, right? Cause that would be a way OP skill to have..."

“Is it even possible?” I ponder aloud, only to answer my own question in the next moment. “Well I guess it is, as I am apparently already doing it… or something close to it, at least.” I say as I poke a water droplet that is frozen in the air. It moves, as if it was a solid.

‘Huh… That's strange…’ I muse as I examine the effects of my prodding.

Suddenly a feeling of exhaustion quickly creeps up on me, and it gets worse by the moment.

Panicking I try to cut off the source that is quickly draining me of energy.

Precious moments of struggle later; accompanied with a strange snap and a loud splash, the accumulated water suddenly falls down as one big deluge. Like getting 1ton of water suddenly dropped on you.

At the same time I feel lighter as a previously unnoticed weight is lifted from my shoulders.

Heaving a sigh of relief, I plop down on the now wet and muddy ground as my shaking feet fail to support me.

Showing a rare confused face, Cole sweeps his gaze over the surrounding quickly and then focuses on me.

“What happened? How did you…?” trailing off he leaves the rest unspoken as he walks up to me and inspects me.

“You show symptoms of severe mana shortage... What did you do? even the least talented of mages should have enough mana to do these simple exercises for at least an hour.” he says, seemingly talking to himself, rather than to me.

Taking in our surroundings, he quickly notices the abnormal amount of water in our immediate surrounding. Focusing all his attention on me, he narrows his eyes at me. "What did you do? Explain."

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END OF CHAPTER 6.