Breaking his word, Jaemeson only let Wayne catch his breath for only one minute more, then the Legionnaire dragged the younger man to his feet bodily.

“Don’t curse me too much, I’m actually helping you here. If you don’t keep moving your legs will lock up and sparring without being able to move faster than a hobble is literally signing up for a beating. Just walk a lap, then we’ll move on.”

Sputtering, Wayne choked back on what he really wanted to say, and eventually replied with, “Yessir.”

So he took off around the track once more, this time at a much more sedate pace. Wayne’s legs were sore enough that he had to focus on his steps at first, but by the first turn he had found his rhythm again and his thoughts started to wander.

At first he thought of the orphanage, and the people he had left behind there. Wayne knew he would never see them, again though, so he tried to focus on something else. So Wayne inevitably thought about the moment that true magic had entered his life, those few short days ago.

Wayne was back in Luminos’s realm, the golden light shining down on him. He could remember how it felt, irradiating his body and pressing against the edges of his soul. A ringing sounded distantly in his ears as the sky in his mind became more and more red.

Time seemed to slip away, and he found it easier and easier to imagine the details of the God’s Realm. The brilliant rays almost seemed real with his eyes closed, and he strolled around the track, basking in their radiance.

Eventually even his footfalls felt distant, like Wayne was operating his own body from elsewhere. At the same time, he was more aware of his muscles individually as they fired across his body. Gently, Wayne nudged his running form further away from the pathetic shamble it had started as.

Then he began to feel a strange heat from his core. At first it was a barely noticeable effect, but within seconds it had grown unbearable. Wayne stumbled, and fell over in a heap because he had been distracted. A text box overlaid his vision.

Luminos welcomes your subservience, and graces you with his power.

Statistics:-

+1 Speed

+1 Spirit

Wayne pushed himself to his hands and knees as he moved to stand up. Only now did he realize that he had barely managed to complete the lap. Jaemeson was looking at him with a slightly disapproving expression that seemed uncomfortable for the man to hold.

“How do you get used to the Statistic increases?” Wayne asked the Legionnaire as the message faded.

Suddenly, the man’s face was a lot more understanding, and he quickly explained the notifications for Wayne’s benefit.

“Ah, no one has explained that tidbit for you yet. Well first, speak the word 'display' with intention. That will give you a gauge for your total mana, but it’s not recommended for you to drop below 3 in 10 parts.”

Wayne gave it an attempt, and upon saying the word, the message he had just received filled his vision once more, with a smaller blue bar above it. Unfortunately, the second piece of advice was wasted on Wayne’s miniscule Spirit stat.

“Ah yes, that worked, but… what do I do now?”

“Simply say the word, ‘minimize’, and it should be reduced to your periphery. Having the display up will automatically reduce any incoming messages as well, so you aren’t completely blinded.”

“Ok, I can do that. Minimize.”

The message immediately shrunk by about five times and took up a new position on the left of his eyesight. It was also only partially opaque, making it much less intrusive for Wayne to work with. Interestingly, the blue bar had only lost about half its size and had retained its position at the top of his vision.

As he examined it, Wayne noticed the number ‘2’ in its center, labeled in a very similar but slightly darker tone of blue than the rest of the meter.

Wow. Two mana is pathetic.

Shaking his head, Wayne turned his attention away from the display and back to the Legionnaire who taught him to use it.

“Thank you for your help.”

Jaemeson just let out a brief chuckle and slightly sardonic smile.

“I appreciate you genuinely thanking me, at least before it would become insincere. Come on now, let’s introduce you to your sparring partners. The rest of the day will be over in a flash.”

As the man walked away, Wayne couldn’t help but sense an ominous undertone from his words.

* * * * *

As Wayne stood in front of the group of trainees his age, and tried to project confidence as best he could. It wasn’t a large bunch, but everyone that Wayne could see looked strong. At least, they looked significantly stronger than him and he was sure they were all talented Shapers unlike him.

Beyond that, a shocking number of the Hastas had rare Runic metal armor, a reward only found very occasionally in the Dungeons when enough Mana welled up, the art of forging such pieces lost to time. Only Noble houses and perhaps the most wealthy of merchants could ever dream of owning such prestigious armoring. Perhaps two out of every three trainees had a piece of armor from myths and legends.

It was an absurd display in most places, but these were the strongest scions of the Luminous Empire. The amount of shining wealth before Wayne’s eyes could bankrupt a Duchy, but no expense would be spared to enhance the strength of those before him, or to keep them alive.

The distinctive armor pieces that weren’t Legion standard decorated most of the trainees, making those that didn’t possess some familial heirlooms more obvious. Not that they appeared any weaker. No, those that didn’t have any intricate armor instead they each wore a different colored armband and the same bold confidence that Wayne was trying to imitate as he stood in front of them.

It was obvious these were the chosen few, the prodigies that awakened other Affinities before they were shown Luminos’ light. Many of the famous heroes of the Empire had been such people, talents that would be seen only once a generation in their related element.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Standing beside Jaemeson as the Legionnaire introduced Wayne and what the group would be doing for the afternoon, the young man did his best to feel adequate.

It was hard.

Even worse was when everyone began splitting into partners for their practice duels. Jaemeson was pairing them up, pointing at two trainees at a time that would head to a different area and square off.

“Alright, remember everyone, today’s a Formation Shaping day. Let's start off with Homer and Amelia, Kiordan and Asmaina, Ivan with…”

Eventually, everyone else had been paired, and it was just Wayne and one other girl left. Of course, a yellow armband adorned her right bicep. Wayne readied himself for the bout and likely loss.

“Alright, the last pairing will end up being Jayna and Wayne. Don’t go too hard on him Jayna, our friend here needs to be able to last through as much of the afternoon as possible, you understand?”

Wayne was paired with a girl slightly shorter than him, with darker skin and trimmed black hair that had a streak of golden blonde through it. Thankfully, she didn’t have any Runic armor, although she did have a yellow bandana wrapped around her left arm.

After a moment, the girl just quickly snapped a salute, before settling into a more combat ready stance. Wayne’s response was a gulp. A few terse seconds passed as the pairings around the room took up their stances, each duo around ten strides apart. Wayne backed up a little to match them.

“So, how do we-” Just as Wayne tried to find out how the fight would start, Jayna began rushing at him.

Her Speed was ridiculous, as by the time Wayne could react, she had already blown past him and delivered a precise strike to his solar plexus. The air burst from his lungs at the impact, and he stumbled backwards.

Then, before he could even fall to the ground, a jolt passed through his back causing his muscles to lock up. Seconds of shocks passed as Wayne was unable to move, before the misery ended and he finally collapsed. Small wisps of smoke drifted from where the hair on his body had singed.

“Mmm, disappointing.”

When Wayne pushed himself to his feet, he was disappointed. He had never expected to beat the other trainees but… well, Wayne still felt a heat altogether different than the electricity flushing his cheeks. At least he figured out what the armband meant.

Jayna had already wandered off, but most of the other trainees were still sparring. It was hard for Wayne to take his eyes off the fights, different Affinities and Shapings being used to full effect in a way he had never seen before. Meeting people in the Empire with Affinities outside of Light and Fire was rare, so likely very few people outside of the Legion would ever end up seeing such a thing as the Lightning Affinity Jayna seemed to possess. In the seconds before new pairings were formed, Wayne marveled at the thought.

Then, he was nodding his head at his next opponent, a boy who was slightly shorter than him but with outrageously large pauldrons and greaves that made up the difference. He also had a very distinctive shade of light turquoise hair and an airy smile that seemed like an attempt to blunt any intimidation he may have exuded.

“Hello there! It’s quite pleasant to meet you!” The boy said with an overly cheerful voice.

Wayne felt his chest ache as he responded in a much more measured tone.

“It’s nice to meet you as well.”

“Yes, I’ve been looking forward to this encounter for sometime now.”

“Unfortunately, I’ve just been told I’m disappointing by my last opponent, so I may not live up to your expectations.” Wayne bantered back.

“Ah, I very rarely have those, so do not fret. And, pleasantries aside, I am truly sorry about my following actions.”

With that the boy started walking towards him, extending his left arm away from his body and summoning a Ray Blade. A Shaping that was synonymous with the organization that it was rumored to be the final hurdle for qualifying into the Legion’s ranks. Staring at the length of molten light the other boy wielded like a sword, Wayne was certain the only thing he could do was die.

The boy with turquoise hair calmly strode forwards. The air felt heavy, and his thoughts ran slow. He couldn’t see any chance at victory here, despite actually having time to react to this opponent. Wayne decided to die fighting back, and sprinted forwards.

He took two steps and froze, heat running down his neck. Heat from the Ray Blade barely held back from his uncovered throat.

“Do you yield?”

“I-I yield.”

“Good! I don’t like to hurt people unless they deserve it. I’m Makelian by the way!”

The cheerful boy had walked forwards with his hand extended. However, Makelian had yet to remove the blazing beam from Wayne’s neck, adding a new dimension to the otherwise friendly exchange.

Wayne very carefully extended his arm in return, trying not to break eye contact during the exchange.

“I’m Wayne. Once again, it’s nice to meet you, Makelian.”

The other boy only took the lethal Shaping from Wayne’s throat when he had backed out of Wayne's range. Still, Makelian never let the Blade drop, the Ray only fading when Jaemeson called for new pairings once more.

Only then, did Wayne feel the blood flow back to his face, as his hands grasped absent mindedly where only seconds ago molten light had threatened to burn through. Unfortunately, his next partner didn’t seem interested in letting Wayne take the time to come to grips with his mortality. The boy with red hair who had been fighting earlier stood across from him, a sneer on his face.

“You there. Hurry it up, I’d like to get some practice in against real opponents so let’s get this over with quickly.”

“Uh, sure sorry about that. I’m Wayne.”

“I know who you are. Now stand still so that I don’t kill you by accident. Or better yet, feel free to walk into this, I might be able to pass it off as an accident that way.”

Then the boy was pounding towards him with a glowing red aura radiating from his fists. He was not as fast as Jayna by any means, but still almost faster than Wayne could avoid.

Throwing himself to the ground, Wayne felt the whoosh of something large and fast going overhead before springing back to his feet.

Turning his head to look back, Wayne barely saw the fist coming in, before it launched him from the floor. Landing in a heap, he trusted his instincts and rolled immediately. Wayne was immediately vindicated as the other boy’s boot came down in a viscous arc, glowing the same eerie red as his fists.

Again and again, Wayne twisted and pushed off of the floor to barely dodge the rain of kicks and stomps that came towards him. This desperate game of cat and miaran kept going for what felt like minutes to Wayne, but was probably only a few breaths. Endlessly, he dodged the thunderous blows.

Eventually though, he wasn’t quite quick enough, and a blow took him in the side. Wayne was blasted backwards into an uncontrolled roll across the training grounds.

His side ached and would surely be a mess of bruises by the time the day was finished, but Wayne couldn’t let the pain distract him. His opponent was already blitzing after Wayne once more, and he wasn’t confident in surviving another one of those hits.

So rolling to his feet, Wayne continued to desperately dodge the other boy’s attacks. Then a shout punched through the haze, and Wayne turned, distracted.

Then something smashed into the back of his head. Wayne’s last thought as the black faded in, was that the other boy's face looked remarkably similar to his own.

* * * * *

Almost an hour later, Wayne dragged himself from the training ground floor, his head pounding. Jaemeson leaned over him as Wayne sat up.

“Hey lad, how are you feeling?” The man said as he put his hand on Wayne’s shoulder.

Wayne barely managed the energy to look the Legionnaire in the eye.

“That bad aye?” Jaemeson replied with a chuckle. “I healed the head injury, but I couldn’t get the rest of the more minor things without overwhelming your body's mana. I’ll have someone send you to the healing pools to finish the job.”

The Praetor gave Wayne a hand to his feet, hoisting the younger man up bodily.

“That can wait until tomorrow morning though. For tonight, let's show you to your quarters and get you something to eat before you go to bed.”

Tossing him something small, Wayne gave his best to catch it. However, the stiff movements of his overly sore body only succeeded in almost causing him to fall, as the cube dropped to the ground.

Sheepishly, Wayne looked up at the Legionnaire.

“...Sorry, sir.”

The other man just responded with his classic soft smile and this time, handed Wayne another brownish cube.

“These are called rations. They expand over time in your stomach and are packed with enough nutrients and energy to replace an entire meal, but don’t eat them too often if you can avoid it. Can cause terrible indigestion, these can.”

Jaemeson waited a moment after that, as if waiting for a laugh.

Wayne sluggishly let out a single, “Huh…”

Jaemeson gave him a look of pure pity and rapidly finished what he was saying.

“Well anyways, they are useful for days when training is particularly… intensive, and you simply want to fall asleep immediately. Have that one, and I’ll show you to your quarters.”

Wayne barely paid attention to the hallways as he was led to a bed. A few twists and turns led to a staircase along the perimeter of the building. From there, Jaemeson led Wayne up three flights of stairs and down one more hallway before showing the younger man into a room.

Wayne didn’t take more than a passing glance at anything beyond the bed. As soon as his body was mostly horizontal, he was unconscious. Wayne did not dream that night.