Chapter 74 -- Stay away 

Creak..

Upon hearing the door open, everyone glanced over, Bella walked out with her usual smile and waved to everyone before leaving the training area.

"He finally passed" Kieth mumbled. Just like everyone else, he didn't for once think that Zane would fail the pain challenge.

That wasn't because he thought Zane was special or anything, rather it was because he had never heard of someone failing the test.

The mages wouldn't let them go until they pass, even if it took weeks. So everyone pretty much had no choice but to pass the test.

What was surprising was the amount of time Zane took in there. Seven hours was too long, the longest anyone had ever stayed in the initiation room was four hours. Kieth himself had passed in only two.

A few seconds later, Zane walked out of the room. Everyone was slightly surprised to see him clad in clean white robes, that was when they noticed the ring on his finger and remembered he could heal.

Before Zane could even reach the others, a girl ran out to meet him. Surprisingly this girl was lying on the ground in pain not so long ago.

"Hey Zane, I think you dropped this" the girl said.

Zane snapped out of the thought of someone running up to him that fast and concentrated on the girl's hand.

There, he could see a long rectangular cloth.

"Is it mine?" Zane asked as he took it. He could see the cloth but obviously he couldn't recognize it, after all how many cloths were of that size and shape in the world.

One must remember that Zane couldn't see any color whatsoever. Pure mana was white, with different shades depending on its concentration. So to him, the world was literally black and white, with black dominating his view.

"Yes, you dropped it earlier" the girl said. 

"Thanks a lot, You already know my name" Zane smiled as he offered his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Charlotte" the girl replied as he shook Zane's hand.

'She's beautiful' Zane thought. He had been secretly blowing more mana to see Charlotte's face in HD.

<<Phew, I'm so relieved right now. I was starting to think you played for the other team>> Alex commented.

Zane ignored Alex's words "Are you okay, you look hurt" he noticed that she was standing awkwardly, when he took his eyes away from her face. He also noticed something else though. *wink*

"I'm fine i have healing tonics at home i will be okay in no time" Charlotte giggled.

Zane was confused as to why she would giggle at something like that.....and then he got lost in the sound of her laugh.

"AHEM!" Kieth cleared his throat.... very loudly.

"Go home and heal Charlotte" he said. Charlotte quickly took back her hand which was still involved in a handshake with Zane before saying goodbye to Zane and leaving.

The others also left after seeing Zane come out of the initiation room. They were interested in knowing more about him, however they needed to heal as soon as possible and come back for more beating...i mean training.

"Kieth right?" Zane said after he was left alone with Kieth. He was also injured and wanted to go home and heal but he was too curious about Zane's story.

"Yes I'm Kieth, it's a good thing the pain didn't erase your memories" Kieth joked.

"It was nothing at all" Zane scratched the back of his head, a habit he picked up in his second life.

"You set two new records you know" Kieth said.

"Ohh really, which ones are those?"

"Slowest time to pass initiation and worst fighter ever seen in teacher's training hall" Kieth said.

Zane was surprised that he had the slowest time in passing the initiation.

He was not that surprised on the worst fighter part though. He had gotten his confidence from the wrong place.

It was like when a kid playing catch in a backyard with his father manages to catch 10 throws in a row, then thinks he is now good enough to play in the big leagues as a professional baseball player.

"What happened though?, how are you that bad at fighting.?" Kieth asked.

Zane sighed as he thought of the best way to summarize his life.

"I left home one day then got robbed before arriving in the city, which caused me to live in the forest alone for three years." he said.

"Why did you stay in the forest?"

"I was trying to raise my power to better survive" Zane said, which was the absolute truth.

"And did you raise your power?" Kieth led Zane to a bench at the edge of the room.

"Yes, actually I discovered a whole new Cultivation path which raises my physical power to whole new levels" Is what Zane wanted to say.

"Not exactly, because I was alone, I only fought with wild animals" he said instead.

"So that's why you charged at me like a rabid bear back then" Kieth laughed, remembering Zane's stupidity a few hours ago.

Zane smiled but didn't answer.

"How are you so strong?" Zane and Kieth asked at the same time.

"You first" Zane said.

"I am actually not that strong. Here give me your hand" Kieth said.

Zane was confused but then saw that Kieth wanted to hold an arm wrestling competition with how his arm was positioned.

Zane also put his arm and unsurprisingly Zane won without feeling even a little resistance.

"How?" Zane asked. He had felt Kieth's strength before.

"That strength of mine you felt wasn't physical strength it was a fighting technique, but you will learn that yourself later anyway" Kieth explained.

Zane nodded and felt himself get more excited at the prospect of learning all those techniques.

"Now you, How are you so strong?"

"I was born this way, mother said my white hair has something to do with it" Zane blatantly lied with a chuckle.

Thinking of his mother, he was suddenly assaulted by extreme sadness. Zane knew he missed his mother but he didn't know it was this bad. It was like something was very wrong back home.

'I really need to visit mother and father soon' he thought.

"Well that's disappointing, but it's what i thought anyway" Kieth brought Zane out of his reverie.

"What's wrong?" he asked after seeing Zane's forlorn expression.

"Nothing, i just miss my family" Zane said.

Kieth was naturally a curious person just like Zane, however unlike Zane he knew when to ask and when to keep quiet.

After a few seconds of silence, Kieth asked "How do you see?" that was one of the burning questions he had for Zane.

"I am only partially blind, When something is less than two meters in front of my eyes I can see it's outline but not specifics."

"To me right now you look like every other man with your same body type. If it wasn't for voices, i wouldn't tell people of the same gender and body type apart" Zane half lied.

He felt like too many people knew about the fact that he can see mana so he came up with that half truth to tell anyone who asks from now on.

Hopefully no one he had told the truth would go around spreading it. Otherwise he's screwed.

Zane and Kieth talked for a few more hours before Zane decided to go home. They both walked out of the basement training area and out of the house.

"See you next week Zane" Kieth said as he walked away.

"See ya!" Zane waved.

"Hey I almost forgot!" Kieth shouted, prompting Zane to stop and look behind him, even if Kieth was too far for him to see.

"Stay away from my sister!"