27 New Magus Training

James sat atop a meditation mat in his room. His eyes were closed as he concentrated on absorbing mana. 'I am a peak 2nd grade knight and a 1st grade magus. Once I absorb enough mana into my magic-core, then I can carve a 2nd spell matrix. Then I can leave the academy! I need to explore the world and grow stronger. Mm. Yes. That is definitely the reason I'm leaving. Master is completely unrelated… Ah, I'm getting distracted again… clear my mind. Focus on absorbing the mana. Empty my thoughts… I wonder if cucumbers taste good on pizza? Probably not… but someone put pineapple on pizza and that worked out? Gah! I'm distracted again!'

Nearly a week passed as he stayed in closed-door meditation. He only took breaks for food and water! Finally, after a week of hard work, he made almost no progress!

"Damnit! How the fuck do people meditate all week?! It's boring! Nothing happens! My thoughts wonder!" He ground his teeth as a crazy look appeared in his eyes. "I'm going to have to ask master for help!"

As James headed up the mountain, he couldn't help but question himself. 'Have I truly become a masochist? Why else would I seek my master out a mere week after the torment ended? Maybe I should hire a therapist…'

He reached his masters castle and was led into the throne room. His master sat there with a bored look as he leaned on one hand. "Finally here huh? I figured you'd give up sooner."

"What do you mean by give up?"

"Don't play dumb. I know you made no progress in your meditation. The only reason I had you enter closed-door meditation was for you to realize how difficult it is."

"Eh?!" his eyes widened in shock. "Master! What should I do then?! Every time I try to meditate I just get distracted by stupid thoughts."

"Mm." Skeleton nodded. "It is as I expected. How can a stupid person meditate? Obviously your head would be full of stupid thoughts!"

James knelt on the ground and stared as his master with watery eyes, "Master! You have to help me! There must be another way to train as a magus, right?!"

"Okay, okay." Skeleton waved his hand. "I'm not good at meditation either. There are indeed other ways to train the magic-core. In fact, there are three different methods to train the magic-core."

"Three?!" He stood up excitedly. "What are they master?"

Skeleton held out his hand with one finger lifted up. "The first is meditation. You already know this one." He lifted up a 2nd finger. "The second is the method I use. Dual cultivation. I perform it with all 100 of my loyal maids."

"Dual cultivation…?" he questioned.

"Right. In short, we have sex. During the climax our mana resonates with each other and the magic-cores naturally begin absorbing more mana from our surroundings. It's also important to pay attention to…"

James listened with wide eyes as his master explained all the peculiarities of dual cultivation. Much of the information went in one ear and out the other as he struggled to avoid picturing his master together with the maids. The explanation was so detailed that he thought he had returned to health class on Earth. 'My father never even gave me the birds and the bees talk… to think I'd hear it from master…'

"Anyways…" Skeleton continued. "This method isn't very feasible for you. To my understanding you have no girlfriends. I should have taken your friend Virgil as my disciple. He'd be perfect for this method. A pity he doesn't have the dark element." He held up a third finger. "The third method is murder. When a dire-beast, magic-beast, knight, or magus dies, they release a large amount of mana into the atmosphere. The magic-core will naturally attempt to absorb as much of this mana as possible."

"Hmm…" James lowered his head in thought. "Master! I can't just go around killing people! I'm not allowed to leave the academy either! What am I supposed to do?!"

"Hahahaha! Worry not! I, your esteemed master, have already taken care of it. Let's go!" Skeleton grabbed him and flew out of the castle. They flew for nearly ten minutes before reaching a large warehouse. They entered inside.

The warehouse was dark and gloomy. The stone floor was uneven with many cracks and some broken rocks protruding upwards. James looked around, barely able to see a thing. "Master? What are we doing here?"

"Hehehe, you'll see." He laughed. He closed the door behind them and the already dark warehouse became even darker. "I've completely sealed this place. There is no way to escape even if you want to. Hand over Snekky to me. I don't want your pet helping you."

James handed over the snake with a questioning look in his eyes. Then a loud thudding sound rang out. A garage door on the other end of the warehouse opened. A large pig walked inside, and the door slammed shut behind it. It glared at him with red eyes and snorted. It charged at him!

"Gahh!" He dodged away from the pig. It was at least twice as big as him. 'I see. Master must want me to kill dire-beasts to train!' He shot shadow threads from his arms to bind the pig's legs, but most of them snapped! The pig ran at him again. He hurriedly covered his katar gauntlets in a dark aura and released all six blades. He dodged the pig while leaving six small wounds on its side. The pig snorted and charged again. The wounds continued to accumulate on the pig as James dodged each strike. 'The wounds are too shallow! I need to do something different!' He combined the shadow threads into a big lasso and tossed it at the pig. He missed several times before succeeding. Then he charged forward and combined the three blades on each katar into one. He shoved the large katar blades into the pig's eyes! Blood burst out and covered him as the pig collapsed to the ground.

"Huff! Huff!" James breathed heavily. He felt a small amount of mana leaving the pig and entering his body. He hurriedly directed it to his mana-core. "Master!" He yelled with excitement. "This is awesome! Can't I train as a knight like this too?"

"Mm. You can. Anyways, good job. You finally killed our dinner. It took you a while though. It was just a 1st grade dire-beast."

"That thing was only 1st grade?!" He replied in shock. "What do you mean dinner? Wasn't this training?"

"Gahahahaha!!! Training!" Skeleton hunched over in laughter. "That's funny! How could a weak pig like this possibly be training? It was just for dinner before we get started." He stood up and put a serious face on. "Yale, you should know by now what my training is like."

James eyes shook in fear. His master began to butcher the pig. He used a match to start a fire and began split-roasting the pig. He roasted some smaller pieces of pork while the rest of it cooked. The two ate in silence while feeling the warmth of the fire.

"Mm. That was great!" Skeleton smiled. He waved his hand and stored the rest of the pig in his interdimensional ring. "I'll finish the rest later. Let's get started!"

A series of loud thudding sounds rang out again. The garage opened, and a man walked in. He wore a full suit of knight armor and wielded a large broad sword.

"Master… Who is this?"

"Nobody important. Just a death row prisoner." Skeleton smiled. "I promised him if he wins then he'll be free to go. I borrowed a whole bunch of them from Sea Salt city. Let loose and have fun!" He gave his disciple a big thumbs up.

The man with the broadsword charged at him. He lifted the sword high in the air at an angle and swung it towards him!

"Eek!" James rolled out of the way. "Master! I've never killed someone before! Isn't this too extreme?!"

"Nonsense! You killed me the day you forced me to get engaged to that metal woman! I've been dead inside ever since. Go kill him the same way you killed me!"

"Master!!!" He jumped back as the sword swung at him again. He shot shadow threads to bind the man, but the man easily cut them apart with the sword. The man lifted the sword high and swung straight down!

"Ugh!" James was forced to block with his katar gauntlets. He felt a large force pass through his aura and gauntlets into his arms. His body shook from the force and he took several steps back.

"Master! He's too strong! Not even the tournament contestants can compare to him. Is he a 3rd grade knight or something?!"

"Bwhahahahaha!!!" Skeleton laughed while pointing at the knight. "Him?! A 3rd grade knight?! He barely qualifies as a 1st grade knight!"

"What?!" He continued keeping his distance from the knight. Fortunately, the armor slowed down his movements, so James had a clear advantage in agility. "There's no way he's a 1st grade knight! He's stronger than all the contestants I faced!"

"You were fighting chicks that had never fought before. How can you compare them to a trained solider who has survived many battles?"

"Soldier?" He questioned. "What did he do to get on death row?"

"How the hell should I know? Do you think I care about such pointless things? Now pay attention. I won't help you even if he kills you."

"Ugh!" James continued to exchange blows with the knight. He tried combining shadow threads into a rope, but the knight easily cut that as well. He shot threads towards the surroundings and retracted them to move closer. He used all his strength to slash the armor, but it didn't even leave a scratch!

'What do I do? Nothing's working! I've already used every move I have!' Another sword flashed past him. It was hard to see in the dark room. He couldn't even see the sword until it got close. He hurriedly backed up and tripped over a rock sticking out of the broken ground! "Shit!" He rolled out of the way and heard a loud clang where he had just fallen. Sweat covered his forehead.

"Give up!" A deep voice rang from the armor. "I won't lose to an amateur. Accept your death with grace!"

'I've got it!' James eyes sparkled. He shot shadow threads towards the ceiling and pulled himself up. He stuck to the ceiling and began firing threads towards the knight's helmet. They were cut off by the sword as soon as they attached to the helmet, but he kept firing more threads! 'Now!' When he was sure he had enough attached, he yanked the threads before the man could cut them. The helmet flew into the air.

James pushed his legs against the ceiling. He released the threads and pushed himself downwards to increase speed. His katar blade flashed as it stabbed into the knight's head. A loud cracking sound rang out as blood poured out.

"Huff! Huff!" He breathed heavily as he looked at the dead man in front of him. The dead body slowly fell to the ground and the armor caused a loud crashing sound. He looked at his gauntlet covered in blood with a complicated look in his eyes.

Skeleton walked over and patted his shoulder, "How's the first kill feel? Everyone has different feelings during their first kill, but no one ever forgets it."

James stared at his hand a while longer before he sighed, "I don't feel anything… Completely indifferent I guess? If anything, I feel more guilty about not feeling guilty…"

"Mm." Skeleton nodded. "You didn't know the man and he tried to kill you. It could be you're just not phased much by these things. It's also possible you just prepared yourself well before killing him. Either way, the first kill is the hardest. It'll only get easier in the future."

"I see…" He stared at the dead body once more. 'It'll get easier for me to do this? Is that what I really want? It feels like Earth is getting farther and farther away from me…' He could feel the mana exiting the body and entering his magic-core. It felt the same as the pig he killed earlier, which somehow left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Let's go back. I'll take you here every day to train from now on. The opponents will all have the same opportunity as this man and I absolutely won't help you mid-fight. I'll increase the number of fights each day, so you best prepare yourself."

"Mm." He nodded. The duo left the warehouse and returned to their homes.