The following loop came and Gaus went to a private training facility called La Magia.
It was a two-story, stone building with a lawn full of broken swords and spears. It looked more like a torture ground than a training facility. The words 'La Magia' were written boldly on the entrance, and below it was: we specialize in the four schools of magic.
"Schools of magic, huh?"
Gaus walked to the counter, ignoring the surrounding five fireballs that decorated the walls as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"You're welcome, mister. How can we help you today?" One of the attendants, a young woman in her thirties, asked him, smiling.
"I want to hire," Gaus said, looking at her purely brown hair and eyes.
She flinched. "Mister....?"
"Lake."
"Mr. Lake. What do you want to hire?"
"A personal trainer. I was told you offer such services, am I in the wrong place?"
"No, we do offer such services, but... our prices though affordable can be a bit on the upper side. The lowest is one thousand per hour, can you afford it?"
Gaus frowned. He turned to his left to take in the image of the nearest fireball. How could such a massive abomination float harmlessly like a toy? It wasn't real, he knew it wasn't. After all, a fire burned people, no bloody idiot would decorate their homes with it.
"Why else would I be here?" Gaus said, not taking his eyes off the fireball.
"Alright." She turned to the two people behind her. "Arna, you're up. Come and take care of this man."
And that was how Gaus met doctor Arna.
After he paid a deposit of one thousand ayrids, he found himself alone with her in one of the many rooms in the establishment. Truth be told, Gaus wasn't impressed. Arna was young (fourteen, probably younger), clumsy, and with dirty brown hair like her boss.
"What magic can you teach me?" He asked, putting unnecessary emphasis on the word 'magic'.
"What do you want to learn?" She asked, ignoring his ridicule.
"I want to learn magic from the beginning."
She stared at him for several seconds before she nodded and pushed the black case to the edge of the table. The case was there on the table when they entered the room.
"Let's start from the beginning. How many schools of magic do you know?"
"Four: spirits, runology and enchantment, swordsmanship, and ancestral bloodlines."
She nodded. "Expatiate."
Gaus cleared his throat and explained. He had read all about it in the library.
"If your magiwatch doesn't come with a skill the slot will be empty. Every mage will have one chance to fill their slot with one school, depending on affinity.
"School of spirit deals with supernatural beings called spirits. It teaches how to enslave these beings and use their natural abilities. It's a general belief that spirits originated from the five major elements - fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind. Each spirit is born with the ability to control one element. If you were to enslave them then you will also have the same ability.
"The second school is runology and enchantment. This deals with the Runic Tongue of the old world. They translate skill formulas, enchant weapons, and create magical artifacts from nothing. It's the second-largest school after spirits.
"Next is the school of swordsmanship - the third largest. All swordsmen belong to this group. They teach not only the magical arts of sword fighting but also how to fight with other weapons like spears, shields, and projectiles as well. Most tanks belong here.
"Ancestral bloodlines is the smallest school in terms of both practitioners and popularity. It includes houses that can pass special traits from generation to generation. Yes, they aren't many compared to other practitioners but they are united and that's how they established a school that teaches magic."
Arna nodded. "I see. But you didn't talk about contracts. Which school will you put them in?"
"Spirit, of course," Gaus answered proudly. He had only seen these things once but his memory was photographic thanks to the save library.
Arna shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She tapped the table with her fragile index finger for several seconds before she sighed. "I know you've studied well before coming here and I have no intention of taking you back to the basics, but this whole classification is out of date. The modern age doesn't classify magic like that. I mean, what's the use if everything just depends on affinity? Take for example Contracts. Here a mage reaches level 100 and they could now share their skill with other mages. Not just spirit skills, any skill that reaches level 100 can be shared with others to some extent, so how will you categorize that? Nowadays, we prefer to just put everything into two classes: magiwatch mages otherwise called pacifists, and non-magiwatch mages otherwise called blazers. Pacifists are born with skill in their magiwatch, unlike blazers who get it through a contract or by joining one of the four schools. Simple and easy, right?"
"...right." Every time he talked to one of the inhabitants he was reminded he was a foreigner. "My time is going, can we start the actual lesson?"
She tapped her watch and smiled. "We have to justify taking your money, don't we? Your training will start by testing your affinity, shall we?" Her tone was getting deeper like she was transforming from a girl to a woman. "Your hands, please?"
"My hands?"
"Yes, your hands. Hold them out."
He did as he was told.
"Alright. What do you see?" She turned the black case around and showed him the inside.
Gaus squinted and moved closer. "It looks empty to me."
"Yes, exactly. It's empty before the magic is activated. It's a second-generation affinity tester. I will now activate it." She pressed a button and just like that the room went dark. So dark he couldn't see his palm.
Arna chanted something in an unknown tongue for a few seconds before she grabbed his outstretched hands.
"What?"
"Relax," she said.
The room lit up and the source of the light was a snowball that had appeared out of nowhere in the black case.
Arna furrowed her brows as she released him and closed the case. Once closed, the room returned to normal and the snowball disappeared.
"How did it go?"
"I'm sorry but..."
Gaus frowned.
"You've no affinity at all. Even after I enhance your channeling ability, the only change was a .5% increase in spirit affinity. Others are zero."
"What?"
She sighed. "It's hard to believe but true. These testers are never wrong. Put your right hand on the box if you want to see it."
Gaus put his hand and a blue panel appeared.
Spirits 0.5%
Ancestral bloodlines 0%
Swordsmanship 0%
Runology and enchantment 0%
But he did have a magiwatch skill, didn't that count?
"It isn't as if we can't help you at all, mister Lake. If you can pay, we can train your physique," she said.
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"I want to learn all types of magic, that's why I'm here. What does it have to do with my physique?" Gaus snapped.
"All types of magic?" Arna said with wide eyes.
"Yes."
"Young people are presumptuous. You said it yourself, you have only one slot to pick a specialty. How can you learn all magic?" She asked.
Gaus couldn't tell her he could copy skills, but that was exactly what he intended to do. His only problem would be the requirements that would no doubt prevent him from getting some valuable skills.
"Young people?" Gaus complained. "How old are you? Fourteen? Thirteen?"
She shrugged with a nonchalant smile. "I'm actually much older than I look, but we aren't here to talk about my age, are we?" She grabbed his right hand and pressed her palm against his. "Mr. Lake, I think you should train your physique. None of your attributes is over nine if my assessment is right."
Gaus pulled his hand away. "Arna, right?"
She nodded. "Thank you for the lesson. I'll think about it for now."
Gaus left La Magia and went to three other centers, each time retesting his affinity, asking the same questions, and getting the same answers in return.
"You can't learn any magic with zero affinity. It's impossible. Better focus on your physique."
After wasting the whole day, he would later realize it wasn't just him, pacifists naturally had zero affinity in the four schools of magic because these schools were meant for blazers - people who didn't have a magiwatch skill. Nonetheless, his newfound interest in training renewed his interest in life.
When Gaus returned to the hotel room, it was fifty minutes past two o'clock in the morning. At 3 am, his vision went blank and he fell unconscious.
***
Magiwatch has saved 24-hours.
When his vision returned, he found himself in the same alley. It was Tuesday again.
Later in the evening, he went back to La Magia and when Arna offered to teach him how to enhance his physique, he accepted.
"Follow me." She led him into a larger but empty room. "It's a bit expensive. You see, we have to pay the marines for using the air from the dungeon."
"How much?" Gaus asked with genuine concern. It was always about money.
"One thousand per hour." She said.
He sighed softly. The hotel accommodation and food would take three kilos leaving seven. He would pay Arna one thousand five hundred per hour and now one thousand per hour for using this so-called special room.
"One hour then," he said.
Arna nodded. She walked to the far end of the room, cleaned the floor with her handkerchief, and turned to look at him with a toothy grin. "Your training begins as soon as my butt hits the floor."
"What? How?"
She sat. "It has begun. The rules are simple: just walk to any wall and touch it. The nearest wall isn't up to five steps. Blink if you want to give up."
Gaus frowned. He may be weak but even a baby could take five steps. "You think I can't take five steps to the wall?"
"You can take three steps, maybe four but I think five is too much," she said.
Challenge accepted. He jumped to the nearest wall, or he thought he did but something happened and he was stopped midair, floating against his will.
It had happened so fast he couldn't even react. He jumped with the intent of reaching the nearest wall, and suddenly he couldn't move midair. There was no obvious restraint but he just couldn't move.
Is it an invisible enemy?
"I... can't.. breathe...."
As if floating him against his will wasn't enough of a tragedy, he started gasping for air.
"What? No, you should be able to breathe, after all this is just level 1. You can do it, try harder. Give it your all, mister Lake." She cheered him up but it felt like a mock.
"Keep on trying, you are almost there."
Gaus blinked. The woman understood his gesture and snapped her fingers. The pressure disappeared and he fell to the floor.
"Training your body to move against resistance is the best way to improve your physique. We use condensed air from the dungeon to increase the resistance in this room and train our clients to move and fight against it. You'll receive some benefits if you continue," she explained.
"That was just level 1?" He asked.
Arna nodded. "There are ten levels and this is the first."
Gaus dusted his robe and stood up. "I want to try again."
"That's what I want to hear." She gave him thumbs-up, nodding encouragingly. "Are you ready?"
Gaus nodded.
She snapped her fingers and the pressure returned. Now that he knew where the resistance came from, he didn't jump, instead, he tried to move against it by dragging his feet and pushing forward. It worked.
+1 strength
+1 constitution
+1 speed
"Good. Very good. You are doing it right, but you've to put more energy into your legs. Once they improved, your speed will double and your constitution will rise." She snapped her fingers to relieve the pressure.
Plus one to all, huh?
"Hey, what will happen if I repeat what I just did? Will they increase again?" Gaus asked.
"Every time you try, your physique will improve even if the figures don't change."
"So the figures don't always change?" He asked.
Arna nodded. "They don't always change?"
"Why?"
"Well, that's because it gets harder as you grow. But as I said, your physique will improve even if the numbers don't change."
Gaus thought about it. It made little sense. If the numbers were designed to determine the exact power of a physique then they should change whenever the physique change. Why would your physique improve and your attributes remain the same?
"I know what you are thinking," Arna cut him off. "That any improvement in physique should be determined by the numbers, right? Well, it is, in a way. But you see, every number carries a different weight. If you take them as percentages then the amount of training you need to reach one hundred percent of one number is different from the next number. Say, you need five minutes of training to climb from a constitution of 10 to 11, then it might take ten minutes of training to climb from 11 to 12. That's how it works, and that's why you may not gain the same benefits by repeating the same training. The target is to always strive and train harder. Do you want to try again?"
Gaus smiled. A hint of mischief on his face. Instead of subjecting himself to harsher training, he would just Rewind and repeat the same thing over and over again. Meanwhile getting the same benefits. In theory, this should work and Gaus should get +1 to all his attributes every time he Rewound and repeated the same training.
Let's put it to practice then.
Magiwatch has saved 15 seconds.
You've Rewound for 15 seconds, effectively erasing everything in the said period. Only you will remember.
----------------------------------------
One skill was detected.
•Skywalk
Rank: ordinary
Skywalking allows you to walk on air with the necessary physique. Press against air resistance to gain the necessary physique. Air is the most abundant of matter and it's now your opponent. To learn how to skywalk you must master the ten levels of air resistance.
Cost: 1MP per minute
Save the skill for 1 CP? Y/N?
He pressed yes. He didn't have to come back to the facility again when he could train himself at home. What a convenient skill.
"Are you ready?" Arna asked, ignorant of the Rewind.
Gaus nodded, and she snapped her fingers to return the pressure.
+1 strength
+1 constitution
+1 speed
He repeated the same thing over and over again, every time coming out with +1 to all his attributes. In the end, his speed, strength, and constitution were over 20, they should be. Huffing with excitement, he pressed the crown three times to see his physique.
Physique
Speed: 9
Constitution: 6
Strength: 8
Gaus blinked twice. He rubbed his eyes and read the blue panel again, hoping to see something different but it remained the same. His speed, constitution, and strength had only risen by 1. In other words, he had only retained the benefits of the last training, all the others were lost. So Rewind didn't save the gain in attributes from the previous Rewinds despite saving the memory of the event. But why? Could it be because the physique wasn't part of the Rewind so its progress didn't carry over? Gaus frowned. But it made sense: if Rewind could save bodily changes then any damage he received during a fight would also remain even after he had Rewound. But the downside was he couldn't use it to improve his physique. He could level up the Rewind and any skill saved in his skill book because those were part of the Rewind, unlike the physique and biodata. Now that he thought about it, the biodata wasn't part of the Rewind and that was why he couldn't save his money through the loops. Any negative reputation he got would also be lost as soon as the loop reset.
Sigh.
Enough training for one day. He went back to the hotel and slept.
***
Magiwatch has saved twenty-four hours.
It was Tuesday again. He checked his physique.
Physique
Speed: 8
Constitution: 5
Strength: 7
It was just as he thought. His physique had reverted to the baseline; even the gain that rose his speed to 9, constitution to 6, and strength to 8 was lost. In other words, whenever the loop restarted any gain in physique would be lost because the Rewind couldn't save bodily changes; only memory and skills.
He went back to La Magia. There must be something he could learn even if he couldn't carry his physique over to the next loop.
"You see," Gaus started. "I'm a bit different from your usual customers. I don't know if you can cater to me."
"Try me," Arna said.
He smiled, scratching his temples. "I want to learn magic that doesn't rise physique and I have no affinity for any of the schools. Am I in the right place?"
"Of course, you are. We specialize in all branches of alchemy: combat and non-combat. What do you want to learn?" She answered.
Gaus narrowed his eyes. That was it. Why didn't he think of it before?
"Alchemy?" He asked with raised brows. "It's an interesting topic, but are you sure it doesn't require any physique or leveling up?"
"It mostly doesn't. Which branch are you interested in? I would recommend combat because of your weak physique but the choice is yours."
Gaus walked to the window and stared into the distance, pretending to be thinking.
"I would also prefer the combat type. Although, I may change my mind in the future," he said.
And that was how his journey to becoming a battle alchemist began.
"Have you ever seen a battle alchemist fight?" She asked.
"No. But I would like to."
"That's good to hear because you must understand what you are getting yourself into. You would go to the arena and watch the tournament."
"And why would I do that?"
"Well, many battle alchemists are fighting in the tournament. Tyren Onis, Ikenga Bell, and John Dyta are the ones I want you to focus on. Take this," she gave him a notebook, "observe and write the details of how they fight, how they stand, and how they lose. Come back with the information to start your first lesson."