Sol wanted to start his attempts at using magic with the simplest thing he could. If he couldn’t even move his magic within his own body, then he could only dream of moving it outside of his body.

He started by trying to move the mana within his hand. He found it to be far easier than he expected, but it also came with a fair bit of discomfort. He had expected it, so he wasn't about to start complaining about it.

He practiced his control by shifting the magic in his hand between each finger. Every one of his fingers already had mana within them, but he could move it all to one finger so one in particular was filled with mana while the others were completely empty. One interesting thing he noticed was that whatever finger the mana was in felt a little bit stronger than it normally was. It wasn't a big difference, but it was definitely noticeable.

After getting comfortable with it, he tried to move the mana into the palm of his hand. It worked just as he expected it to, though it was a little harder. He did this over and over, slowly working his way down his arm. When he finally got to his shoulder, he had to stop because his entire arm was starting to get intense pins and needles across it. When he released his control over his mana, it flooded back through his arm and settled to be perfectly distributed across the limb. Unfortunately, the discomfort did not leave, and his arm was now a little sore.

He repeated the entire process on his other arm. It went a little faster, but it still took some time. When he was done and had allowed his mana to even out again, both of his arms were sore. He was beginning to see why it was recommended for new cultivators to take a day or two before trying to use their magic.

Of course, it was just a recommendation. Now that he had a half decent grasp of how to control the magic in both hands, he wanted to try something he had been thinking about the entire time.

He pressed his palms together, his fingers each lined up with their twin on the other hand. He moved his mana in his left hand to push into his right hand. He had to push for a while to get the magic to leave his hand, and push even longer to get it into the other hand. When he had finished, he tried pushing it back into the hand it came from.

When he finished that and looked at his hands, the entry and exit points of the mana were red. Next, he tried moving magic from his left hand to his right and from right to left at the same time. After a few tries, that too had been done.

From there, he got a little experimental. He tried pulling two threads of mana and tying them in the space between his palms. It was a simple knot, but it worked. This time when he released his grip, the knot of mana did not disappear and even out. He tried pulling his hands apart to get a look at it, but found that they were stuck together as if held by an adhesive.

“Uh oh.” Sol muttered as he tried harder to pull his hands apart. No matter how hard he pulled, they were stuck together. He tried untying it, but much like a real knot found that it was too tight to easily do. He figured it given a bit of time he could figure it-

“Well if it isn’t the subject of my favorite story!” He heard Morrison say.

Sol quickly put his hands in his lap, though it definitely looked awkward given his inability to separate them.

“Favorite story?” Sol asked, trying to both keep the conversation going and keeping the attention off of his hands. He knew he would get an ear full from Morrison if he found out he had tried using his magic without resting first.

“Of course.” The camp's head healer replied. “When I tell the patients of a man who was so close to death, yet recovered and trained hard enough to surpass what most would consider to be the standard level of health in just a few months, they find it quite inspiring. I even have one lad who is planning on joining the training group tomorrow on their run around the walls.”

“That's good to hear. I have seen too many patients just give up these past few months.”

“Yeah, well I have to.” Morrison said, shrugging. “Pretty unfortunate, but expecting people who have been nearly killed to go and put their body and mind under the stress of training like you did isn't very reasonable.”

“Well it wasn’t really that bad. I’m sure others could definitely do it.” Sol said.

“I have seen you in my tent for training related injuries than I can count. Don’t even get me started on the dozen bruises you get every day. Seriously, when are you going to land a hit on that training partner of yours and send her to my tent?”

“I actually managed to score a hit on her earlier today during sparring.” Sol said, grinning with a bit of pride. “Though, I don’t imagine it was enough to send her to the healers, just a hit on her back.”

“Well isn’t that something! Now you just need to get to work cultivating. I remember you were putting that off too.”

“Yeah, I will have to get on that.” Sol responded. He had thought about telling Morrison that he already had, but then he might put two and two together and realize why his hands were stuck.

“You can always come to me for some tips during my off hours. I am a half decent cultivator myself. Life and water affinities make for great healing.” Morrison said, seeming also prideful.

“Will do.” Sol said, before nodding towards his cabin. “I need to get some rest, so I think I’ll be turning in for the night now.”

“Alright. It was nice talking with you. But first…” Morrison quickly grabbed Sol's wrist and stared intensely at his hands “Got to fix this.”

Before Sol could say anything, his wrist started to tingle as Morrisons magic entered his body, swiftly making its way to his hand and cutting the knot of mana. The mana snapped back like a rubber band, making him wince a bit at the pain.

Sol looked at the man, a bit sheepish. “So you did notice?”

“Of course I noticed. Any good cultivator can see the magic within a weaker cultivator.” Morrison said.

“Then why did you say earlier that I need to start cultivating soon?”

“Because it was obvious you were trying to hide it, and I wanted to give you hope that you weren’t about to get lectured for the millionth time about proper recovery and recuperation.”

“Damn. Anyways I really ought to be getting to bed now. Gotta rest and get ready for tomorrow's training.”

He stood up to go inside, but the hand of the healer pushed him back down into his seat. “Don’t think you are getting away from this, and don’t think for a second that you are training tomorrow.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Fine, let's just get this over with.” Sol responded, sitting back down defeated and slouching in his seat.

The healer spent the next half hour lecturing Sol on the importance of proper recovery, safe training, and staying within your limits. While what he was saying made sense to Sol, most of it seemed like it wasn't as necessary as the man was saying. For instance, he really saw no reason to “stay within your limits” at all. If he stayed there, how would he ever grow?

He didn't end up going to training or cultivating at all the next day, instead spending the day resting and playing a few hands of poker with the guards. He would have played more, but the guards saw it fit to order him drinks every time he won a big hand. His weakened stomach and liver had little chance of surviving that gauntlet of mead and spirits, so he politely declined them and left the circle of gamblers.

Mina came to visit him after the training for the day was over, and Sol was more than glad to talk to somebody after a day of just sitting around.

“Instructor Frane is pissed you didn't show up today.” Mina said, sitting down in his cabin across the small table he had.

“Yeah, I figured he would be.” Sol responded, shrugging. “Did he take it out on you?”

“He tried to.” She chuckled “Paired me in a one versus two against another one of the groups. Let's just say it wasn't as much of a punishment as he had been hoping for.”

“Did you at least leave them able to walk afterwards?” Sol joked.

“Oh don’t be so dramatic, I’m not that violent of a training partner.” She glared.

“Debatable.”

“Maybe tomorrow I can unfold my wings a bit and be a bit tougher on you.”

“A kind sparring partner such as yourself would never do such a thing.”

“Damn straight.” She said, crossing her arms. “You would be lucky to not get a more intense workout tomorrow. Frane is going to be singling you out tomorrow.”

“I can only hope he doesn’t.” Sol sighed. “Do you know when that trainee tournament is going to be? I remember him mentioning that a bit ago.”

“Oh yeah!” Mina said, her expression suddenly becoming a beaming smile. “That’s in just a bit over two months. I'm ridiculously excited about that. Honestly I think I have a shot at reaching the final two, if not winning the whole thing.”

“That's a lot of confidence coming from the girl who has spent the last few months beating up a burn victim and recovering patient.”

“You recovered from that a long time ago.” She said, rolling her eyes. “You weren’t even burned that bad, just got a little crispy.”

“Yeah, just a bit overcooked.” He replied, playing along with the joke. He rubbed a burn scar on his neck at the same time he said this. Mina winced when she saw that.

“Too far?” She winced, looking a little apologetic.

“Not at all. But in all seriousness, are you really expecting to make it so far into the bracket?”

“I am.” She said simply. “I don’t think you will do too bad yourself, especially with how you will have been cultivating for a couple months by the time it starts. Maybe you will even have a few tricks up your sleeve to catch your opponents by surprise.”

Sol nodded along. “Oh I am sure I will have a few tricks, but I am not sure about how well I will place. I only landed a hit on you for the first time just yesterday. I don’t know if I can fight somebody well enough to win quite yet.”

“You will be fine.” Mina said. “You have the best training partner in the entire outpost, remember?

Sol couldn’t keep a grin from forming when she said that. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

The very next day was just as bad as he had been expecting. The instructor of the training group made him do double the laps around the outpost and do higher weight on the weight training.

What he hadn't been expecting was that the strain on his body would be significantly less than he expected. He tired far slower than usual, and he could move the increased weights with roughly the same ease he could with the previous weight he had been using. If he had to make a rough estimate, his physical capabilities had increased by nearly a quarter. Of course, he still felt sick to his stomach from the mana poisoning, but he was able to suppress any rising bile throughout the day.

When the instructor noticed that Sol hadn’t been struggling as much as he had desired, he called him up to the front of the group before the closing sparring session.

“Today I will be demonstrating some of the more advanced countering tactics you can use against those who rely on their speed over strength.” The instructor said in his naturally booming voice to the crowd. “Sol here will be helping me demonstrate a few of these tactics.” He then turned to Sol. “Raise your swords and come at me.”

Sol looked confused for a moment at the man who was completely unarmed. He knew better than to hesitate or disobey his instructor, so he raised his wooden shorts swords and ran up to take a swipe at the man's side.

Instead of dodging to the side or moving to block as Sol had been expecting, the instructor took a quick step forward and grabbed the wrist of the arm Sol had swung the sword with.

“As you can see,” The instructor explained as he twisted the wrist enough to make Sol drop the shortsword. “You never want to get into a battle of speed or dexterity against those who are faster or more agile than you are. If you know that you have them beat in physical strength, drag them into a situation where you can use that to your advantage.”

Sol tried to pull his arm back, but the instructor had an iron grip on his wrist. He tried to hit the man's hand with his other sword, only for his other wrist to also be grabbed.

“Now, in just a brief time, I have gained the upper hand and now can use my far superior strength to easily win this fight.” The instructor said, pulling Sol in and flipping him over his shoulder.

Sol’s back hit the ground and the wind was knocked out of him. The instructor pinned him down with all his weight, and Sol was facing the group of trainees. He tapped the instructor's arm a few times to let him know he gave up, but the man’s grip did not loosen at all.

“Let go!” Sol hissed.

“From here, you have a multitude of options of what to do. If your goal is to simply kill your opponent, then you can choke them or attempt to snap their neck. If you merely wish to immobilize them, you can break their legs or get somebody else to tie them up. If you want to just rough them up a bit, you can always land a few punches to their sides.”

Sol hadn't expected things to go this far, and he thought the instructor was being a bit more harsh than necessary. Things went way far off script when he felt the first punch land against his side. He looked up and saw the concerned looks of the group surrounding them. Mina looked like she was about to jump in and break it up, but Sol was already seeing red.

Things had already gone way too far, and he wasn't about to let it go any farther. He held his breath through the next few punches, and tried recreating the feeling he had earlier when his muscles were filled with mana. He drew from the rest of his body to put it all into his arms.

His muscles seemed to bulge under his skin slightly, and the mix of magic and adrenaline worked to raise his strength. With a quick grunt, he broke the man's grip on one of his arms and sent his elbow into the man's face as hard as he could.

His elbow made direct contact with the power tripping instructor's mouth, and he felt something give from the sharp impact. He was immediately released and the instructor was holding his mouth, blood dripping between his fingers.

Sol looked back at the man who was glaring death at him, before walking and regrouping with the rest of the trainees. The instructor looked like he tried to say something, but the broken jaw he now had clearly prevented him from getting any meaningful words out.

Sol's arms burned from the mana movement, and he sighed, knowing that he once more would get an earful from Morrison. Speaking of the healer, it looked like he would be seeing the instructor soon as the injured man walked towards the healers tents.

Sol walked over again to the spot that he had been pinned, knowing that the training for the day was more than likely done with. He bent over after seeing something in the ground, and he smiled as he picked up the small white tooth flecked with drops of red blood from the ground. If he already knew that he wouldn’t be able to do much more today, he at least knew one relaxing activity he could spend the day doing as he waited for the inevitable summons to Morrisons office.