16 Limits

As soon as they started training, Kayden understood why Ryan quickly disappeared from them. The trainer was a wolf in sheep's clothing, no matter how many times Kayden fell he kept ordering him to continue the exercises and so far it was just push-ups and stuff like that.

After a few minutes, Kayden was no longer feeling any muscle in his body. Coach told him he would heal any injury he had, so it was up to Kayden to give 101% of himself. "The boy has already passed 10 minutes, I don't think he makes it to 15, want to bet?" Conversations like this started around Kayden; he was too busy to even pay attention.

Ryan knew Kayden from afar and knew the boy was determined. When it was his turn, he reached 25 minutes. Level doesn't matter much, the trainer has enough experience to exhaust all ranks to the same extent.

"I'll bet you 1 silver he goes past 30 minutes." That amount was all he had saved in the last 2 years, so it was a good thing Kayden lasted.

Thus began a wave of betting, the majority being against Kayden. Veterans knew that the average lasted less than 15 minutes the first time, but with time most managed to reach the value of 1 hour.

As the minutes ticked by, when it reached 20 minutes, Kayden's body wasn't able to stand on its own anymore, only his mind was doing the work. By that time, some had already lost money and Ryan looked anxious. He was biting all his fingernails.

By the time 25 minutes had passed, Kayden was doing squats. His arms were already unable to move. Every second was torture. He thought about giving up now, but the coach said a sentence that made his resolve burn like dry wood.

"Break your limits or break yourself, there are no alternatives boy." It seemed silly, but it made Kayden think.

"Am I giving it my all? Or all my body can handle?" With those thoughts, the minutes passed again.

For every 60 seconds, someone cast a curse. Few crazy people bet that the boy would go beyond 25 minutes and those who bet more than 15 only did so because they saw the boy with Ryan.

In the 30 minutes, even maintaining consciousness was proving difficult for Kayden. At one point, while doing a jumping jack, he simply passed out on his feet, but as if his mind refused to give up, his body continued to do the jumping jacks for a few more seconds before toppling forward.

Seeing Kayden lean forward, the trainer rushed to catch the boy. Once he confirmed that he was unconscious, the man muttered something and a ball of water appeared and trapped Kayden. It always shocked people. A man who was a knight was capable of using magic, let alone healing magic. Few know, but the trainer was a mage and only converted his way long after solidifying himself as a healer. It's like they say, the bones of the trade are hard to forget.

While some wondered how the boy trained so far to have such a good result, the coach was assessing his condition. Unlike other people, he knew that Kayden didn't have a high level of training, it was obvious from his physique.

"Three tendons torn, two ligaments torn, and almost every major muscle injured," he exclaimed in surprise. He hadn't expected the boy to go this far just for some random training.

When Ryan heard the coach's exclamation, he stopped counting the incredible money he had won and ran to see his friend. He wasn't a mage specializing in healing, so he had no way of telling Kayden's condition. He looked fine, but Ryan knew the damage was internal.

"Can you heal him smoothly? The old man will kill me if he finds out I crippled Kayden on his first day." At that moment, Ryan felt guilty for betting on his friend.

"Don't worry, I've seen worse," it seemed to be a compliment to itself, but healer mages were famous for being able to regrow even a lost arm.

They spent a few minutes talking until Kayden started showing signs that he would wake up. His body squirmed a little and then he opened his eyes. He was in mild momentary confusion after being knocked unconscious, but he quickly remembered where he was.

First of all, he began to check his body and noticed that there was no pain. He clearly remembered feeling pain that was not muscular. He looked brand new.

"What happened? How is my body okay again?" He quickly voiced his doubts to the man beside him. The coach laughed as if this situation had happened thousands of times before. Still laughing, he explained to Kayden:

"Even though I'm a knight, I have a strong command of healing magic, but you still need to eat after being healed. I just speed up the work your body would naturally do over time." As he said this, the man passed some cereal bars to Kayden.

Kayden was impressed yet again that day. It was a day full of surprises. He witnessed healing magic for the first time and it was firsthand. But that popped an idea into his mind. Doesn't training and healing endlessly mean endless progress? He expressed this doubt aloud.

"Not necessarily, there comes a point where your body reaches the limit of what can be achieved naturally without mana. From that point, onwards, this method has no value anymore." Shaking his head, the man thought about how amazing it would be to have no limits to improve and depend only on his will and physical effort. Sweet illusion.

After eating the bars, Kayden noticed an embarrassed Ryan beside him.

"Ryan?" Kayden didn't know what had caused this in his friend.

"It's nothing, Kayden. Let's say I owe you an ice cream, okay? Don't tell the old man anything about what happened here, please." Ryan was no fool, he knew that if the old man found out he would beat them both up. Kayden readily agreed, he was no fool either.

"Coach, can we go again? Until I reach that limit you said?" Kayden finally found something where effort alone could bring progress.

The man scratched his head not knowing what to do. Normally, after people go through this torture... I mean training, they tended to never try again. After some thought, he decided to see how far Kayden would take it.

"We can do this twice a day at the most. More than that, your body will take some wear and tear that I won't be able to heal. Meet me here after school every day starting today, okay?" That was the best solution he could find.

Cheerfully, Kayden said with twinkling eyes, "Count on you to help me through this journey, thank you." While expressing his gratitude, he bowed slightly to show respect and, with a goofy smile, asked, "Can we do it again today then?"

Thus, Kayden's first day is in the second rank.

One month later

It took about a month for Kayden to be able to perform his first spell. He decided to start with something basic. He attempted to light small flames at the tips of his fingers.

In the same clearing, as usual, Kayden could be seen with Heimer. While one was lying in what looked like a hammock slung between two trees, the other was working hard like a lunatic to light his fingers on fire. Depending on the point of view, it was lunatic stuff.