Chapter 67 -- As soon as possible
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
"Enter!"
"Zane!, I knew you'd come" Old man smiled upon seeing Zane open the door.
"Morning old man, i decided to take your offer and start the training" Zane sat down in front of Old man, who surprisingly was sitting in the exact same spot as the previous day.
"What made you change your mind?" Old man inquired. Zane had left yesterday saying he was leaning towards declining the offer.
That was because he wanted to concentrate on his job and he didn't want to wait a whole month to become a Mage. With only two mana cores left, it wouldn't take long for Zane and Chris to raise the money required.
"I had a talk with someone who convinced me to accept" Zane answered with a smile.
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The previous night:
'Alex are you there?' Zane thought.
<<I'm always here Zane>>
'What do you think about the training, should i accept?' Zane asked.
Old man refused to tell Zane the specifics of the special training, and Zane still hadn't accepted yet. He asked for a day to think about it.
Old man said the way to pass his test was to beat John in hand to hand combat. That showed Old man's trust in his own training. If the training could make a mortal have a chance of beating a mage, it was extraordinary.
Although John wouldn't use his mana, his body was still far stronger than a mortal. However Zane's body was also far stronger than a mortal due to the Body Cultivation.
<<I really think you should>> Alex answered.
'Why?'
<<First of all, you have nothing to lose. If this training doesn't work, it means won't beat John, which fight in the tournament>> Alex said.
Zane nodded in agreement. The only downside of this training was that he would have to fight in a tournament, which he didn't want to do.
<<However if this training is successful, you will be able to fight a Mage as mortal. How many mortals or Mages can say they could do the same?>>
<<Now if you can beat a mage as mortal, imagine what will do Mage yourself?>>
"I might be able to beat a rank two mage as a rank one Mage" Zane unconsciously muttered in realization.
The more powerful he is before the breakthrough, the more powerful he will be after the breakthrough. Becoming the most powerful mortal will naturally make him the most powerful Mage one day.
<<Let's not forget one other thing>>
<Name : Zane>
<Exst realm : None>
<Body 1 : Lvl>
<Mana 84 257 :>
'You mean the body thing?, it wasn't there before' Zane observed.
<<Yah i put it recently, You started Body Cultivation Zane, and your body is still on the first level>>
<<However you already have far superior strength to other mortals. So your chance of beating John is higher, so potential.>>
<<Who knows maybe you will even find a way to raise body's level without workouts>> Alex said.
Zane thought about Alex's words and agreed with all of them. Zane had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Even if he failed the test after training, he would have learnt something. Also, since this was physical combat training, it would put his body's strength to good use.
Zane's strength had been practically useless so far, the only time he was thankful for it was when he fought the bandits and when he killed that twin during John's fight.
Without his superior strength, he wouldn't have been able to pull the bow to generate enough force to pierce the head of a Mage.
'Thanks' Zane said to Alex.
<<For what?>>
'Convincing me to take the training' Zane answered.
<<Don't mention it, you would have come to the same conclusion sooner or later anyway>>
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That was why Zane decided to take Old man's training. Granted it might cause some problems at work but Zane would cross that bridge when he gets to it.
"Old man i have a question" Zane said. Old man nodded as a sign for Zane to ask his question.
"The other man who tried to invite me here said I shouldn't tell anyone, and John also didn't want to talk about this training in front of my friend. Is this training a secret perhaps?"
"It's not a secret persè but it's best if no one knows about it" Old man revealed.
"Why?" Zane asked.
Old man smiled wryly at Zane, with the amount of questions Zane asks per day, the old man came to the conclusion that Zane was a person who needed to always know everything.
"Is the competition not allowed by the city or something?" Zane asked before the old man could answer his first question.
"Yes the competition isn't allowed, however we made a deal with the Captain of the city guards. The deal was that we can hold our tournament as long as it's discreet. So the guards turn a blind eye to our stuff but they will start getting involved if too many people know about it" Old man said.
Even though Old man was a High Mage, he still had to follow the City rules.
"You said 'we', so that means there are others?" Zane asked.
"Of course there are others, you didn't think you were the only one going to compete in the tournament did you?" Old man chuckled.
"There are 9 other High Mages who are also training their own participants as we speak" Old man said.
"Why?" Zane asked
"Why what?"
"Why are you having his tournament in the first place?" Zane was really curious about this matter. After all there should be more important things for High Mages to do other than training mortals.... right?.
"Because we are bored" Old man said nonchalantly.
"Really?" Zane raised an eyebrow.
"All of us have given up on the path to power Zane, we are just waiting for our time to be up then we die." Old man said with sad smile.
Zane nodded, he wanted to ask what made them decide to give up on Cultivation but stopped himself when he saw the expression on the old man's face.
He seemed to be thinking deeply, most probably about his life. His very long life.
"Old man there might be some problems with my training" Zane snapped the old man out of his stupor.
"You mean about your job right" Old man said, slightly surprising Zane. He didn't remember telling Old man about that.
"How did you--"
"John told me" Old man knew Zane's question and answered before he could finish asking.
"We will be training when you aren't on mission's, however because of that you will have to train harder. Who knows, you might be called to do a week long mission any time. It would be a shame if you fail the test because you didn't get time to train" Old man said.
Zane nodded. If it came to it, he would even train all night. He had to find a way to balance work and training as both were important to him.
"So when are you going to start?" Old man asked.
"As soon as you are ready" Zane instantly replied. The sooner he started the training, the better.
"Good, follow me" Old man stood up and proceeded to leave the room. Zane was surprised that the old man would start training him that soon but he was excited to grow stronger.