Chapter 2

While I was trying to gather my thoughts, people already started moving.

“Hey, where is everyone going?”  I was wondering because maybe some people already had a plan.

“We’re just going to go and explore a bit.  We should check out the city and choose what we want to do from there.”  Someone who was passing by me was kind enough to explain.

It was a good idea. I was actually going to stick around and talk to the others to get their opinion on things, but it looks like they’re all rushing out and leaving.  I guess I should probably head out and explore the city right away.  No point in staying in this hall if people aren’t going to stick around. 

Outside, the city seems to be really busy with most of the inhabitants looking like they have some place to be.  There are also a lot of people around staring at us.  I guess our clothes are strange compared to the stuff that they are wearing.  One way to describe it would be Middle Ages clothing, except a thousand times nicer.  And people tend to be armored.  All of this attention is kind of uncomfortable.  I feel like yelling out, “Take a picture!  It’ll last longer!” but I’m not sure they know what that is…

“Hey, why don’t you take a picture?  It’ll last longer!”  Haha, some girl just broke down and said it.  Good times. 

In any case, I think this would be a good time to find a training center, or something that will teach the basics of fighting.  I need to prepare myself for the worst that this world has to offer. 

It turns out that there is a place called the Aura Association.  Apparently, Aura is something like Ki or Chi, and it is used to strengthen the body.  I’m going to head over to see if I have any talent in that area.  If I do, I’ll definitely have a chance to survive longer.  But honestly, I just want to be able to use Aura.  That’d be totally awesome.  Who hasn’t dreamed of being like a character from Dragonball Z?

So I headed to the Aura Association first.  It turns out that just about everyone had the exact same idea that I did.  There were about a thousand of other Earthlings that appeared in front of the building, waiting in line.  A bunch of people dressed in armor came out.  There must have been about a hundred of them.  One guy who was wearing more extravagant armor than the rest came out in front and said,

“Welcome Outworlders, to the Aura Association.  Here, we teach people to harness the Aura that they have within.  It’s a long and arduous path, but the rewards are incalculable.”  Oh jeez.  It looks like the head knight or whatever is going to go on a rant.

“What is Aura?  That is just a term to explain a much more complicated process.  Essentially, Aura is the ability to harness your life and soul.  It may be strange for you to believe, but modern society on Arecia has developed by harnessing life, and changing it to different forms of energy.  All of you have the possibility to do so as well.  If you can’t do it yet, eventually, when you have accumulated enough Essence, you should be able to eventually use your Aura at that time.

               Your ability to use Aura can be determined from two main factors.  Your intelligence, and the strength of your body.  Intelligence is your ability to understand the surrounding world, and how you react to it.  It is your ability to think outside of the box.  The more intelligent you are, the more likely you will be able to learn to use your Aura, and use it effectively and efficiently.  If you aren’t a quick thinker, or unable to concentrate well, you won’t be able to use your Aura when you need to. 

Your body’s condition is even more important.  Weak people aren’t able to use Aura.  Their body isn’t able to produce it.  It doesn’t matter how smart you are if your body can’t make Aura.  That’s why when people kill enough monsters and absorb enough essence, they can use Aura, because their bodies have been strengthened.  Even if you don’t learn it today, you will eventually be able to do it, so I wouldn’t worry.

Well, I’m starting to ramble more than necessary.  Those of you who are accepted immediately will learn much more information about Aura, and its uses.  And those of you who don’t make the cut…well, you don’t really need to know right now anyways.  I’m sure you’ll come across whatever information you need through other sources.  Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough room at the academy to teach all of you at once.  You guys will be tested and those that make the cut, can learn now.  Those that don’t pass should come back in a month or two, when you’ve absorbed some essence.  If you wish to be tested, please make groups of ten.”

People started gathering into groups of 10.  I quickly joined a random group that looked like it was going to be tested soon.  Everyone seems to be really excited about the prospect of learning Aura.  I wonder what this test is like.  I bet this’ll be something stupid like “concentrate on the energy within you, and throw a punch” or something like that.

“Hey everyone, I’ll be testing you all on your ability,” said the arrogant looking man that came up to their group.  “I’ll keep this simple for all of you guys.  Basically, I want you to try to feel the energy within and try to pull on it to cover your entire body.  Those of you that can do that much without further instruction probably have a lot of talent for Aura and will be allowed to start learning right away at our association.  Others will be allowed at a later time when they have absorbed more essence.  Everyone can start now.”

I know that’s what I was expecting, but that’s just messed up.  Of course it would be something like that.  Why couldn’t it be more like Harry Potter with wands and just saying some magic words?  How the heck am I supposed to feel the energy within?  I guess I’ll try to feel it the best I can.  I closed my eyes and tried to feel the energy within.  I think maybe I feel something, and I tried to do something with it, but nothing happened.  Well, who knows if I was even feeling the right thing in the first place?

I opened my eyes, and I was really surprised.  It looks like the only one in my group that didn’t have an Aura armor was me.  Looks like I don’t have any talent when it comes to Aura.  These guys must be either crazy smart or really talented.  Dammit!  They’ll all looking at me with pity right now. 

“Hey, better luck next time…”

“Dude, that’s sucks man”

“Better luck next time bro.”

“Looks like you’re the only one incapable of doing it.”  The instructor looked at me as if I wasn’t worth his time or effort.

Wow, those comments hurt.  They all gave their condolences, but they didn’t offer any advice to help me out either.  Douchebags. 

“Those of you that figured it out on your own have talent with Aura, and deserve to be here,” the arrogant man stated with an appraising eye.  “Those of you that didn’t pass, can come back later.  Hopefully, you should be able to learn something or another at that time.”  That last part was obviously directed at me.  He was trying to be subtle, but he was failing, and obviously enjoying my discomfort.  Once again, this guy was a douchebag.  I’m going to have to knock him down a peg or two someday.

After the Aura fiasco, as I decided to call it, I left without saying anything to check out the Warrior’s Training Hall.  There were a lot of people that were heading in that direction too after failing to pass the Aura exam.  I am in a hostile world with creatures that want me dead, on this world, and in a year, my own.  This was a good time to try to learn how to fight.  Survival comes first.  Plus, learning how to kick a certain someone’s ass felt like a good idea.

The training hall was enormous.  I swear, when I went inside, I was gaping at the sight of hundreds of people hitting wooden dummies and sparring against each other.  It was an amazing sight.  It looks like many people are getting ready to fight.

I walked up to the nearest person who looked like he might be an instructor, and ask him:

“Hi, I would like to receive training here.  Could you please tell me what I am supposed to do?”

“Nothing really.”  The solder looked weary.  It was apparent that he had answered this question multiple times.  “Just start hitting a dummy or find someone to spar with.  If it looks like you have talent, someone might even decide to train you.  We have many different specialists in among our people, many of which know techniques that are far greater than anything that you or I can do.  For example, I use the Fallen Butterfly Sword Techniques, which are more effective than just having basic sword techniques.  If any of the trainers think that you have talent, they might teach you their technique.”  He looked me over quickly, and then muttered, “I wouldn’t count on it though…You seem really weak.”

I couldn’t really say anything to that, because I know I am weak.  If I wasn’t, I probably wouldn’t have come here.  Anyways, I went up to a wooden dummy, grabbed a wooden sword, and I began striking at it repeatedly.  After about ten minutes or so, I was heavily out of breath and panting hard.  I was feeling pretty proud of going this long.  I’ve always been a bit weaker than other people. 

“Hey kid, I think you should give up for now.”  I jumped at the voice.  At some point, the soldier had snuck up on me.  He was looking at me with pity. 

“What?  Come on!  I can do this!”  I was beginning to get indignant.  I had already been rejected from the Aura Association and now the Training Hall was going to kick me out too.  There was no way I was going to let that happen.

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“Look kid, I was watching you.  There’s no way you can handle training here at the moment.  When people first start training here, they can usually continue to strike the scarecrow for about 30 minutes before they get exhausted like you did.  I’m not saying that you shouldn’t come back or that it’s hopeless, I’m saying that you should go and train yourself first before you come back here.”

The guard sighed, and if it was possible, he had even more pity on his face.  “Look, I don’t know how to break this to you, but you are weak, even for a novice Outworlder.  I mean, look at you.  You look to be 60 pounds overweight and look like you have never done any sort of physical activity whatsoever.  You need some serious basic training that this hall can’t provide at the moment.”

Oh crap.  I knew it was bad, but not that bad!  “Sir, what am I supposed to do now?  I thought I would be able to do my part to help protect this world and my own.  At the very least, I don’t want to become a burden to everyone else!  Are you saying that I won’t be able to fight in any of the upcoming battles or even protect myself?”  I was more frustrated than I realized.

“…Let me see what I can do.  Wait here, until I come back.  Maybe I can find someone that can help.  I don’t make any promises though.  If anyone asks you to leave, tell them Alec Harper told you to wait here.”  The soldier looked at me with a thoughtful look on his face.

“I’m Krishna Khanna.  It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Alec left and I decided to continue striking the scarecrow.  My strikes were extremely weak because I was tired, but I persisted anyways because there was nothing better to do.  Also, I was afraid of losing my spot and I didn’t want anyone to kick me out before Alec got back.  After all, he was doing me a favor right now, not the other way around.  I don’t want to make him look bad.

After about an hour, I was about to pass out from my intense workout (it was intense for me, okay???).  It was at that time when Alec came back with an elderly looking man. 

“Wow, I didn’t expect that you would keep training.  That’s some good determination there.  Here, eat this.  It should help you regain a bit of your energy.”

Alec handed me a small box that had a few pieces of barbecue chicken.  Or at least it tasted like chicken.  I have no idea what it really was.  Still, I was grateful, and I started to feel a bit better.

“Thank you very much sir.  This meal helped out a ton.  I think I was going to faint from hunger.”

“Don’t mention it.  I probably should have told you to just wait quietly to prevent complete exhaustion.  Anyways, let me introduce you to this man.  His name is Valdus Titanile.  He’s a famous artificer of sorts, who just luckily happened to be in the area.  I told him about your problem, and he believes that he may have a solution for you.  Anyways, I’ll let him take over from here.” 

Alec seemed to be really pleased with himself.  Not only was he able to find someone to help, he found someone who happened to be someone extremely famous and highly likely to succeed in helping me.

“I have a relative understanding of your problem Mr. Johnson.”  Valdus requested in a refined manner.   “I came along because I was bored of waiting for a friend here, but this should be somewhat interesting.”  Valdus was staring at me as if I was an interesting puzzle.  I was starting to feel like I was a freak that people would come by to see. It was a bit unnerving.

“Do you think you can help him?” Alec tried to ask nonchalantly.

“Hmmm…”

“If you could help me, I would really appreciate it.  I would like to get stronger!”  I added my two cents as Valdus was thinking. 

“I know you do.  That’s why I’m thinking about helping you.  If you weren’t training when I got here and didn’t ask me yourself, I wasn’t going to help you at all.  I have no desire to help people get stronger if they don’t want to get stronger themselves,” Valdus stated in a very serious voice.

Wow, I’m really glad I decided to train instead of sitting around.  Well, it’s definitely true that I want to get a lot stronger, and well, you know, not die.

“Mr. Johnson, I will help you if you sign a soul contract with me to do something for me in the future.  It can be anything I ask for, and you can’t refuse.  In exchange for that, I can help you to attain power beyond your wildest dreams.  Do you agree to this?”   Valdus looked completely serious.  I know whatever help he could give me would help me get stronger, but I wasn’t sure about the cost.  Such an open ended request seemed like a bad idea.

Soul Contract:  An Unknown Future Request from Valdus Titanile

Valdus has the solution to your problem.  In exchange for his help, you must promise to do a request of his, no matter what it is.  That request cannot be refused. 

Rewards:  A method to increase your strength.

Failure:  If you refuse the request, you will be permanently drained of all your strength and abilities, and be returned to Earth weaker than you were before.

Accept/Decline

“It depends on what the favor is.”  I looked him straight in the eye.  “I don’t want to do anything that goes against my principles.  I don’t know you well enough to do anything you ask.  For all I know, your request could be something I would refuse to do, like kill all of my friends or random people I don’t know.  You might ask me to capture some slaves for you to experiment on.  Maybe even ask me to help you start a war.  Heck, you could ask me to be your lover, for all I know. 

I would rather work harder to achieve my goals than obtain your help.  I know it can be done.  I improved a little in the time it took for Alec to get you.  Anyways, I apologize, but I can’t accept such an ambiguous request.  I’m sorry for wasting your time.”  I declined his contract.

“KRISHNA!!!!!  HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO TITANILE LIKE THAT!  EVEN AFTER HE OFFERED A WAY TO HELP YOU?  APOLOZIGE TO HIM AND BEG FOR FORGIVENESS!!!”  Alec’s entire face was contorted in rage.  During my little speech, his face had expressed surprise at my initial response, shock at my vulgar examples, and then eventually anger and fear.  Anger at my rude behavior, and fear for the consequences.

People close by looked at us in surprise and annoyance and then returned back to their own activities.  There were so many people overcrowded in the training hall, each making their own noise from practicing, that most people barely noticed anything at all.  I was grateful for that.

“Hahahahahahahaha!  That was great!!!”  Valdus started laughing his ass off.  “That is the funniest way anyone has ever said no to me.  Hahahaahahahaha!!!  Johnson, I like you!  Alright!  I’ll help you out!”

We both kind of stared at him like he’d gone crazy.

“Errr, hey Mr. Harper…did I break him or something?” I wasn’t expecting laughter or even help after I said all of those things.

“Umm, I’m not sure…”  Alec looked just as surprised as I did.

We continued to watch him laugh until he finally calmed down and regained his composure.

“Look, here’s the deal.  If you had actually accepted my offer, I would have been extremely disappointed with you.  It would mean that you’re just someone who craves power, and doesn’t care for the consequences of your actions.  I wouldn’t have helped you if you did, and I would have made sure you didn’t survive long here.”  Valdus was smiling now, looking at me with some respect.

“But if I accepted, you would have been bound by the contract, right?”  I was confused at his response.

“True, but I didn’t specify the method to help you, did I?  Just because a certain method could work, doesn’t mean it’s good or effective.  I would have given you a method that was inefficient, painful, and unlikely to succeed.  Also, if by chance you were able to make that method work, I would have made a request that would have led you to certain death, or your refusal, which would lead to your death anyways.”  Valdus winked at me.  If I was power hungry, I would have been completely outmaneuvered.

“That’s really impressive.  I didn’t realize that your offer had so many traps.”  I was impressed.  It’s been a while since I’ve been completely outmaneuvered like that.

“Remember, just because someone made an offer that looks good, doesn’t mean it really is.  The opposite is also true.  The people here can easily take advantage of you if you aren’t careful.  You are already much more wise and impressive than your peers.  Most of them would have jumped at my offer.  I can almost taste the lust for power oozing off of them.  Unlike them, it seems like you have some control over yourself.  Alright Mr. Johnson, I’ll offer you a new deal.  You do me a reasonable favor in the future, and I’ll help you out now.  What do you think?”

A new window appeared.

Soul Contract:  An Unknown Future Favor for Valdus Titanile

Valdus has offered you the best solution to your problem.  In exchange for his help, you must promise to do a reasonable favor for him in the future.  As it is a favor, it can be refused, however, you will still owe Valdus. 

Accept/Decline

Wow, this is a much better deal than the last one.  I accepted straight away.

“Thanks, I accept your new deal!”

“That’s good!  Okay, first I need a bit of your blood.”  Before I could even react, Valdus had grabbed my hand and made a small cut on my palm.

“OUCH!  That hurts!!!!  Why the hell did you do that???”  This guy is crazy!

“Sorry, I need your blood for this.”

He took a ring out of his pocket and put it in my palm.  For a second, nothing happened.  Then, all of a sudden, the ring seemed to suck up all of the blood and then released a burst of bright white light that blinded us momentarily.  People started staring at us.

“There, this ring has been temporarily been personalized to you.  I’ve been carrying this ring for a long time, because no one wants it.  It isn’t particularly useful to most people here.  I call it the Weakling’s Gravity Ring.  It is a unique piece of equipment that is only useful for the weakest people.  It’s a piece of training equipment that provides continuous gravity to a person.  It’s like constant resistance training.  The resistance starts at the lowest possible setting and then slowly increases as you get used it to a certain point.  It’s useless to most of the people here, but to someone as weak as you, it’s a godsend that can help improve your physical fitness levels to the normal levels.

 “This ring is amazing!  It’s like wearing weights while training!  And as I get stronger, it’ll even compensate for the change in strength!” I was really excited until a certain thought invaded my head.  “Wait, what’s the catch?”

“Ah, I didn’t think you would notice that so quickly…” Valdus looked a bit flustered, and to my amazement, he also looked slightly ashamed.  “Although this ring has an amazing effect, which would be very useful for training, it’s extremely uncomfortable and somewhat painful.  When your weight increases, it increases the weight of every part of your body proportionately, including areas like your organs and joints.  This ring makes it extremely difficult to do any activity.  The ring makes it so that it’s even really difficult to breathe, just stand around, or even lay down.  The effects of this ring are far more than most people can take for an extended period of time.”

“I’m weaker than most people!  I shouldn’t be able to handle it at all!”  I was really annoyed that I was given an item that no one can use.  In what world is this the best method?

“It’s because you’re so weak that it might work!” Although a second ago Valdus was embarrassed, now he had a look of confidence.  “You’re so weak, that the ring’s power should be a lot weaker as well.  It should be theoretically much easier for you to fully adapt to using the ring.  In other words, after a certain point, you probably wouldn’t even realize that you still had the ring on.”

I gave him a look of doubt.

“Okay, so maybe that theory is a long shot.  But either way, if you wear this ring every day, your body should get stronger on its own.  Eventually, you should be able to come back here and train with pride.  No one’s forcing you to use that ring forever!” Valdus was really trying to sell the idea to me.  It felt like he was pleading or however close he could come to pleading.

“Have you ever wore that ring?”

“…Yes.”

“And how did that go?”

“…Badly.  Even I took it off after 2 weeks.  But wearing the ring did make me somewhat stronger!  I couldn’t get used to it, but maybe you can.  Regardless, this is the best method by far for you to get stronger.”  Valdus seemed earnest so I felt like I should be too.

“Alright, well, I guess I’ll try.  If I quit before putting the ring on, I might as well give up on everything.”  I was resigned to using the ring.  At worst, I could stop wearing it and figure out a better training method myself.  Besides, I pretty much got the ring for free, so I shouldn’t complain that much.  Having really high expectations is stupid anyways.

“Excellent!”  Valdus was happy and looked at me with approval.  “One last thing.  You can only put it on once.  Once you take it off, it won’t work for you ever again, so when you take it off, be sure that’s exactly what you want.  Well, I am going to take my leave.  I hope you use that ring well!”

Oh great, a ring that can only be worn once.  I can’t take it off, even if I’m crazy tired and in pain, without it becoming worthless.  Well, it’s better than nothing. 

“Thanks for all of your help!  I really appreciate all of your help!  Let me know what you want in return for this whenever you can!”  I was somewhat thankful and not rude enough to deny him any credit.

Valdus said his farewell and left.  I remained behind with Alec.

“I can’t believe you talked to Sir Titalile like that!  You must have balls of steel…”  Alec was staring at me like I was crazy.

“…Hey Mr. Harper…What’s the likelihood that this rind will actually help me?”

“One hundred percent!”  Alec said with conviction, but then his face changed.  “Although I know it will help, Valdus Titanile likes to…downplay the negatives of something he makes.  It is likely that the pain and difficulties of using that ring are far worse than you have been lead to believe.  I would be careful.”

Damn.  There goes my confidence.  At least I’ll have a break from that ring every 24 hours, when I return to Earth!  No money or items come back with me!  HAHA suckers!  The contract with the gods are already working in my favor.  Nice!

“Anyways, it’s not worth your time taking up a spot that someone else could be using in the training hall.  Use the ring to train yourself first before you come back here.  Try putting it on!  I really want to see its effects!”  Alec was excited like a little kid.  I guess it’s because HE doesn’t have to put on the ring and suffer it’s pain.

So, I take the ring, put it on, and immediately wish I hadn’t.