Chapter 3
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I looked back at the woman who looked genuinely happy, I hope the stare came out as a “I hate your guts” or something close but it probably isn’t as she just kept smiling.
“I’m sorry I think there's been a mistake, I refuse to accept that I passed and wish to be re-evaluated by cause of malfunction.” The woman gave an extremely confused look towards me before sighing.
“I’m sorry sir but I don’t think there's ever been a malfunction in history of using these besides when they physically break and no longer display scores.
“Just redo it.” I was not going to budge on this, I really didn’t want to go to this stupid academy…
“Sir… fine but only once.” She muttered loud enough for me to hear with a slight blush. I smiled and thanked her as she got a new device and began tapping at it, after a minute I was told to release my magical power yet again. This time with a new effort.
Don’t be strong, don’t be strong. If you're strong I swear i’ll wring your neck, even if you don’t have one I will.
Honestly these thoughts are pathetic but they’re necessary as without them I don’t feel satisfied. After a couple seconds the lady eyes widened at the score.
“Sir, i'm extremely sorry for doubting you.. Apparently there was a mistake with the device and I apologize. Here take a look!”
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Magic Type
Affinity rating
Fire
40
Earth
95
Water
3
Wind
50
Holy
10
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“What the fuck”. With that I took a long sigh and trudged over to the academy sign up without another word.
“Congratulation, please fill out the form with careful consideration based on your stats and not just personal opinion.” The woman was cheerful and it bothered me. Regardless i took the papers over to where my dad was sitting, he looked up as I started to get close.
“You have papers but look annoyed, I don’t know what to make of it son. Please explain.” My dad looked kind of concerned, I don’t think he understands my feelings very well unlike mom.
I sigh before speaking. “This system is stupid. I got a score of 80 in earth magic right? So i wouldn’t believe it and demanded they redo it with a different device. Anyway they did and when I got it back it somehow went up to a 95. This legit forces me to become something I don’t want to be. And don’t even get me started on the 40 in fire, I REFUSE to be a backline caster.”
As i ranted my dad looked at me in surprise when i mentioned the 95, then started to laugh at the fire affinity. “Don’t worry son, since you have a 95 you’re basically insured whatever you want as long as you fight. This means you simply have to try hard for 5 or so years then can relax just as you want, sound good?” Maybe he actually does understand my feelings a little more than I expected but still, 5 years is pretty long when i'm not doing what I like. And I like doing what I like, not fighting for others.
Regardless I don’t want to be here any longer than needed so i’ll just fill this out and go... It was actually pretty straightforward which made things easier.
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Magic Academy Form
Name:
Highest Affinity:
Secondary affinity:
Prefered affinity:
Goal while in the academy:
Future plan for a job:
Comments/demands:
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I quickly filled it out and looked it over
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Magic Academy Form
Name: Sayn Hull
Highest Affinity: Earth ? 95
Secondary affinity: Wind ? 50
Prefered affinity: I don’t care
Goal while in the academy: None
Future plan for a job: Professional Cloud watcher
Comments/demands:
I simply want to do my time and get out. Yes I will think of this as a prison and will complain the entire time i'm here and not napping, maybe even when i’m napping.
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Seeing as a 95 is pretty high i'm sure they’ll accept me no matter what I say, and if they don’t that's also good for me. Regardless when i handed the paper back to the receptionist she frowned but as she also knew my score she didn’t say anything. This confirmed my initial thought of being able to say whatever I please.
This meant I could go back home and rest for a bit as the cart ride is to uncomfortable. After hearing of my 95 in earth affinity my mother went pretty pale but my brother started to go crazy about how cool I am. I zoned him out after he said something about being a stoneman and apologized to my mother who simply shook it off. This led to a rather quiet ride home from my mother but a loud one from my brother. It seems the entire neighborhood will know about this thanks to him…
2 weeks have past since then and a party was currently being held at someone's house in my honor or something. This meant their was a giant cake so I wasn’t about to complain but quickly got bored as well as annoyed after eating 3 slices. I took a fourth and slipped out of the barn which it was being held in. I looked around for a sort of hill to lay on and eventually found a small one barely big enough for my body. Currently I stood at around 5ft 10, taller than i was in my previous life at this age meaning I would probably end around 6ft 4 to 6ft 7. As i pondered over how my body has changed I also notices I was a lot better looking , mostly due to the Taylor lautner face and more muscular body due to training everyday. It was close to Sunset now and the clouds had a red, orange and yellow color to them making it more enjoyable to look at. Sadly something seemed to be blocking my view though…
“Hey, my names Rissa. Whatchadoin sayn?”
A girl that also seemed to be 14 stood in front of my view, sure she was attractive and all but I was in the middle of something, like at least stand next to me so i can continue…
“I’m currently extremely busy and have little to no time for you, please book an appointment with my secretary, also known as my little brother. Thanks in advance.” With that i finished the last of my cake in one bite and closed my eyes and laid down completely, allowing me to see the clouds again.
“Fuwah, secretary? hahaha! You’re pretty funny, I like you. Let’s be friends, ok sayn?” She didn’t take this in the way I wanted. I sighed and closed my eyes, sadly i got another response I didn’t want, she sat down next to me.
“Here i’ve brought you some cake, want it?” Damn, my only weakness, fucking cake. Let it be known the all powerful sayn can be swayed by a single slice of cake..
Regardless of my own pessimism I sat up and took the cake and immediately started eating. Guess I’ll have to take a run later to burn this off, a worthy trade off If I may say so.
“So you never answered my question earlier…” She started up again while I took another bite of cake.
“Escaping a hell worse than you can imagine. Running and yelling children.” At this I shuddered a little to make it more dramatic. In which she started to laugh again.
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“Fair enough, haha, so I, well like everyone else in the neighborhood, heard you got an 85 in earth affinity, that's pretty high…” This made me slightly upset.
“I wish it was 85, it’s at fucking 95. Do you know how many people are going to bother me because of this? Actually to put it into perspective I’ve already been bothered more than 100% of the previous amount. Oh yeah congrats you’re the first. Not only this but jealous nobles will also come and be annoying because i'm better than them. Classic.”
She actually stayed silent throughout my rant, and at the end I took a big bite of cake finishing it.
“Well thanks for the cake, I need to go burn off all the food I just ate, see ya later.” I immediately took off with a sprint and before she could say anything I was out of range. After sprinting for close to 300 Feet I slowed down into a jog. I eventually found another hill and laid down again.
Sadly, I had missed most of the sunset with that but I could still see some of the nice colors, this time with a hint of pink. He didn’t meet anyone else until his mother shouted that it was time to leave.
The next day after breakfast his mother asks to talk to him about something important.
“So before you go to the academy I want to know what you would like to do afterwards, for example fighting or simply anything you want.” Luckily I didn’t even have to think as I knew exactly what I wanted the moment I graduated.
“I want to live quietly, comfortably and do whatever I want with my time.” With this his mother looked a little happier than earlier.
“Ok, I want to give you some advice, whether you take it is up to you of course. First of all stay away from the nobles, nobody can get a quiet life if they’re involved. Their families simply have too much influence. So unless you have power to rival the head don’t do anything rash.”
“What do you mean by rival the head? Is that important?” My mother smiled a little at this question.
“If you can beat the head of a noble family you take his title of nobility and wealth, of course the heads of nobility are all extremely strong, usually the top of the country as they’re invested into with magic school from a young age and have spells that are passed down from each generation. They aren’t unique or anything they just don’t let others know of them.”
With that I nodded. “Hey mom, did you by any chance mean that I should become strong enough to take the title and our family can become nobility?” With This question she smiled and patted my head.
“Do as you wish, sayn” She stood up shortly after and left the kitchen. I walked back to my room and thought again about my future. Does becoming nobility make my life easier? Then I have to deal with all the issues they have.. Such as being wed, from all the stories i’ve ready i straight up lose the privilege of choice. It’s all “for the family” this and that and honestly I just wanna look at clouds. Not worth it, well maybe if i marry a noble's daughter I can gain some of the wealth and live comfortably without doing any of the work, perfect plan!
Well that would still be pretty far away, don’t need to think that far, actually i’ll just go with the flow for now. I think that's more my style of doing things anyway.
I was woken up by my dad saying that the carriage to pick me up would be here in 15 minutes and that I should get ready to go. I grabbed my pack of clothes as that's really all i need with my toiletries such as toothbrush, now that i think about it this world is pretty advanced in hygiene related issues. With the help of magic cleanliness and sanitation is extremely quick and doesn’t take much effort so nobody actually minds doing it here.
However that’s besides the point as i can hear the horses coming close to my house by now. I say bye to my family and that i’ll see them whenever the school sets me free. This got a smile from my brother and father and frown from my mother. I quickly climbed into the carriage and was ready to go.
Sadly when I got in there was something i’d rather not see be here.
“How’s it goin’ Sayn? been a while.” Rissa, the cloud blocker, was also in my carriage.
“Why are you here? Getting a free ride to the academy?” I said this without looking towards her as I sat down on the seat in front of her.
“Hmm so your parents didn’t tell you? We split the price as were both going to the same place to save some money, well seeing as you're not the talkative type, at least the nice one, just treat it as if you were alone.” She said that and I actually smiled, however I was going to make use of this right away as i laid down in an attempt to fall asleep.
“Did you really have to act so happy about it… damn” She said that while slightly pouting. Honestly I didn’t take much of a look at her before but she’s actually really good looking. Her black hair goes down to the middle of her back-ish, and it complements her brown eyes. The clothes are also well made and somewhat revealing around the chest so it gives a thorough idea of what she's working with there.
Regardless i ignored her comment as I didn’t want to be bothered as well as reveal to much about myself. I can’t be too friendly with females if I want a wife within nobility after all.
This carriage was actually pretty comfortable unlike the previous cart. It has a lot of padding and the wheels are made more to absorb the shock of bumps and cracks of the like so the shaking isn’t unbearable. I managed to sleep through most of the day before Rissa started to tap me.
“Oiii, were stopping at this small village for the night, you’re to meet back here at 7 tomorrow morning, got it?” She explained with a small smile on her face. “Did you wanna go grab something to eat? I’ve been here once before and know a pretty good sweets shop.”
The sound of her mentioning sweets got me to attention but I also really had to go train some more, actually maybe I can find someone here who know’s something about increasing agility.
“Sorry I’ve actually got something to do, maybe another time.” With that I jumped out of the cart and began to walk to nowhere in particular. I heard a slight muttering behind me but I ignored it nonetheless.
After some exploring I finally found something that could be useful. I currently stood in front of a building with a sign that read “Monster hunting and Gathering Requests”. From this I could assume that someone at least knew how to gain stats, whether they be strength or agility I could use either. I quickly walked in after preparing myself.
“Welcome to the shop, whatcha need?” A tall burly man with a beard stood behind a counter. Honestly the counter only went up to his waist and looked pretty silly but I needed information, not a fight.
“Hey, i was wondering if I could get some information, specifically around the limitations of agility and strength.” With that the man looked up from the paper he was reading and looked me up and down.
“You knew in town?” He asked in a colder voice than before.
“No sir I’m simply passing through on my way to the magic academy, I was just accepted 2 weeks ago.” With that he seemed more inclined to talk to me.
“Hmmm, what what’s your strongest affinity? And if your willing the affinity rate.”
“My best affinity is with earth followed by wind, ill tell you the rates after I learn something from you good sir.”
“You’ve got me curious kid, I won’t lie but my information isn’t that cheap, let's say that and 3 silver and i’ll teach you how to gain strength, I have higher numbers in that then agility if you couldn’t already tell.”
“Deal, i’ll pay you 1 third now, another third halfway through and the last at the end, sound good to you?”
“You’re smart kid, probably a good thing and that works for me. I'll take 1 silver and begin my explanation, after you but some into practice i'll give you some more information and then it’ll be done.” I quickly handed over a silver for him to continue. This was pretty expensive for me as the only money my parents gave me was 25 silver.
“Okay first of all try not to think of “strength” as how much your muscle can withstand. It is such a basic concept that it’s almost useless. Strength is more bringing out the hidden strength within your muscles. For example im fairly large but there's no way I could life 300 pounds with my bare arms correct? False with my increased strength I can lift about 400 Pounds, to put that into perspective I weigh around 250. Understand so far?” I nod at this and wait.
“To increase the hidden strength of muscles you simply need to be able to complete these 2 exercises, the first is fairly simple and usually only takes a week or 2 to accomplish but the second usually takes around a year to accomplish. Sadly I haven’t heard of a different way to maximize this. Of course simply lifting weights will increase your strength but that's solely muscle strength where this is real strength. I'll show you how to accomplish the first trial so to speak and after receiving the other silver will demonstrate and explain the second. Come outside with me.“
I followed him out of the shop and walked down a couple of feet, he stopped and picked up 2 rocks around the same size and tossed one towards me which i caught.
“You're going to crush this rock, without using magic with only one hand like so.” The man proceeded to squeeze the rock which then exploded sending pieces of it everyone and after opening his palm he dropped some dust onto the ground.
“The way you do this is fairly simple. You’re body has a ton of muscles and to do each action you use a lot of them at different times. For example when throwing a punch you’ll start with the shoulder followed by your bicep and tricep which leads into your forearm finally ending with the muscles in your wrist and hand.. These muscles may seem like they all tighten at the same time but in reality they all lead into one another. To truly increase your strength you want to complete each action while keeping each muscle tightened. While crushing the rock in your hand make sure to tighten the muscle in your all the areas of muscle I just mentioned other than your shoulder. Make sure to also…”
The man stopped talking mid sentence as a piece of rock hit him in the face. This piece of rock originated from my hand as it exploded when i crushed it.
“Oh sorry, I didn’t think it would fly so fast.” The rock hit his cheek and was now bleeding a little so i felt pretty bad as he wasn’t expecting it.
“H… How did you already do that… It took my teacher 3 weeks to do and took me 2. You did it first try? Nonono try another rock, it may have been a weak rock.” He threw a rock without any cracks in it this time and as i caught it I did the same thing and the rock exploded, however this time nothing hit him.
“Uhh I don’t know what to say kid, You're just a natural I guess, this next step took me a year and 2 months to complete, if you complete it in 1 day I will teach you a skill related to this without any payment.” he said this with a kind of defeated tone in his voice. He may have meant it as a sort of joke but i really wanted a skill.
“Deal.”
“Wha.. wait seriously you agreed? Well i guess you lose nothing out of it. Anyway follow me, i'll demonstrate and explain again.” I followed him out of the town into a forest. The trees were decently spread out and let in a lot of sunlight. Eventually we reached a rocky area with a giant rock wall.
“Alright you're going to have to punch a hole into this rock, the hole has to reach certain lengths though. First rule is the diameter of the impact must be twice the size of your first and the length must be twice the length of your arm, other than that just don’t use magic and you're good. Ill demonstrate and explain how to do it after.”
He walked up to the wall where I saw his muscles tighten this time and he swung forward into the wall. Rock exploded outwards and after the dust cleared a rigid hole about 3 feet deep and half a foot wide appeared.
“This works through the tightening of a lot of muscles at the same time. In the last test you only tightened 3 at the same time where this time it’ll be closer to 9. I won't use all their names but i'll show you where they are.” He continued to point at the front of his thigh, his abdomen, lower back, upper back, chest, shoulder, front and back of the arm, and finally the forearm.
Basically this is 3 times harder than the previous, come get me when you're ready to demonstrate.” He started to turn to walk away but i quickly called out to him.
“Could you stay for a bit? Preferably the first 5 attempts, if I don’t get it after then i'll come to get you.” He shrugged his shoulders at my request and sat on a log nearby.
I smiled as I approached a part of the wall which hasn’t been damaged. I took a deep breath and thought of using all 9 muscles at the same time. I got ready to punch and after a second though it. The impact was loud and rock flew out from where I punched, however it didn’t meet the requirement. It’s diameter was smaller then my arm and the length was maybe half. Regardless It didn’t hurt as much as i thought it would.
I took another deep breath and thought again, this time as the 9 muscles being 1 and the punch is releasing the built up tension. I let out the breath and brought my arm back, and swung it immediately. It was around the same volume but even more rock flew out from the impact. This time my hand fit in but only up to the end of my forearm.
Not knowing what else to change I remembered how the man did it, he took a deep breath, and punched… NO EXHALE, I need to imagine my breath firing through the punch almost like a cannon and the 9 connected muscular areas is the launching device, i mean he did always talk about where it starts and ends... Time to try it again. I took a deep breath while pulling my arm back and swung imagining i'm the gun to a bullet being fired. The rock came firing out of the hole and shook the wall itself. After the dust cleared a massive Hole appeared that was definitely a lot bigger than twice my arm width and length. I stood there looking shocked as the results were even bigger then the man's hole.
I turned to look and he was equally if not more surprised than I was. After some time for him to think he sighed.
“Alright kid you’re a goddamn genius and I would be honored to give you this skill, just remember the man who gave you this was none other than me, Mikel Hugor.”
With that he took out a small book that looked very delicate and worn out. “Read this, it details all the information you need for it. I’d also like to apologize for something… this doesn’t actually increase your strength but is training required to master this, In which I couldn’t”.
I looked down at the book and read the title. “Strength of the Colossus”.
“It’s fine, you gave me something better in return. Hey, can I read this in your shop? I don’t want to do it out in the open.”
“Sure thing, ah but before you mentioned telling me your affinity rates? I’m still curious, maybe even more now.”.
“Hmm, I do remember saying something similar… eh why not. Take a guess at my earth rate, ill give you 3 tries.” He seemed to enjoy the idea of a game.
“45!”
“Too low man.”
“Hmm, 60!”
“Damn still too low”
“Alright alright, 75”
“Eh, kinda’ close I guess, i'm at 95”. He actually stumbled back at this a little.
“Wha-- No way! Hahaha there's only ever been 2 Earth affinities higher than that in history! You know what kid let's get you started on that book right away. You may even manage to learn it by tomorrow because of your natural talent.”
“So this is a earth related skill?” This intrigued me a little.
“Ah, no it’s not. This doesn’t relate to an affinity. The book will explain it better than I will so just read and you’ll find out why.” With that I followed behind him while looking at the cover, not opening in case a page would be damaged.
After arriving at the shop I began to read the book in the back room.
With this, I had a night full of reading and practicing ahead of me.
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