First Training Session

(Gym really feels good. I also have a date tomorrow. Wish me luck! Also put a tribute to Chadwick Boseman in this chapter.)

Following that traumatizing experience, Lars led me through what I presumed to be the basement of the academy in silence. These halls were unlike those of the above ground floors. Rather than shiny and bright marble, the walls and floors were lined with cracked stone bricks. It looked quite ominous but I guess this makes sense for a basement. The walls were lined with lanterns that gave off a warm light. It really added to the creepy theme this basement had going on.

We stopped at a pair of doors that appeared to be made of heavy metal. Lars merely waved his hand and they parted, sliding into the walls. "Inside, now."

Without replying, I quickly entered the room. The inside of the room was actually quite large. The floor was lined with the same cracked stone bricks as the hallway. In addition, there were various floating lights all around the room, providing a dim light to the room. In the corner were several weapons racks that held a whole assortment of weapons.

Lars entered and the doors slid shut behind him. A blur quickly came out of his navel. It formed into a feline creature that was all black. It was barely visible in the dimly lit room. "This is my companion, Bose. He is a black panther. His elements are darkness and lightning. Take your kludde out. They will be training together for now."

I nodded and Okami formed from my navel. The panther, Bose, flicked its head in a direction and Okami followed him. "What now?"

Lars held his hand behind his back, analyzing me closely. "What the fuck have they given me? No combat experience, no instinct, no strength, pathetic stamina… what the hell CAN you do?"

I stood there with a blank expression. Lars was reminding me of a drill sergeant from one of those old military movies.

Lars' yelling snapped me out of my nostalgia episode. "I asked you a question, shitstain."

I nodded. "Yes, sir. I have an affinity with all six elements."

Lars just rolled his eyes. "What use is an affinity if you can't even use the elements properly. At least that bitch Janna gave you a solid foundation. I estimate she taught you for just a few months."

I tilted my head in curiosity. "How did you know?"

Lars choked out a laugh. "HA! I can tell because you reek of inexperience with hints of expert in there. No one teaches like that aside from Janna. I do have to say that it has never failed her in the past."

I nodded. "So what-"

Lars cut me off. "We shall start with physical exercises since your constitution is pathetic. On missions, you will often find yourself in places where your magic will fail you. Thus, you must have a strong body to fall back on. I noticed that you use knives so I will focus your exercises on increasing dexterity and strength."

He shot arcs of lighting at the stone, creating two lines about twenty yards apart. "Let's start with suicides. If you have no stamina, you can't do any real strength training. Keep going until you can't go anymore, and then we'll move on." He then stomped on the ground and a short pillar of stone shot up. He proceeded to sit down on it. "Well… go on."

I nodded and moved to one of the lines. Thus, hell came to Aetheria. I was honestly impressed with my stamina. It must have something to do with my abnormally large mana pool. I was able to do suicides for ten minutes straight before collapsing to the floor which is pretty impressive for a 12 year old.

The training lasted three hours. With short periods of rest in between, we did a lot of stretching, running, and basic strength training exercises. The only thing Lars was impressed with was my recovery speed, so there was something at least. Unfortunately, this allowed him to push me even harder. I doubted I'd be able to get out of bed in the morning.

Lars stood over me as I laid on my back, gasping for air. "You did okay today. Make sure you do plenty of meditation when you get back to your room. Also, wake up early tomorrow to meditate and stretch or you won't be able to move. We will only be meeting once a week so I suggest you get yourself some weights and a sparring partner. Your two teammates from MMA should work. Stick to hand to hand combat for now. We won't start with blade training for at least two months. Am I clear?"

I barely managed to nod. "Yes, sir."

Lars nodded. "Good. Now get the fuck up and walk back to your room."

I grunted in displeasure as I forced my sore body to move, lifting myself back to my feet. I didn't even reply to or look at him as I trudged out of the room. Okami merged with me as I left.

After torturously dragging my feet for about thirty minutes, I made it back to my room. There was a film of dried sweat covering my entire body so I walked straight into the bathroom. "Okami, I'm gonna take a shower. Go and find something in the fridge if you're hungry."

Okami jumped out of me and then slowly walked out of the bathroom. He only grunted in reply. Bose must have pushed him pretty hard. Fortunately, canines don't sweat so he didn't stink like I did.

I barely managed to pull all of my clothing off before nearly tripping as I got into the shower. I turned the water on before sitting down on the floor of the shower to meditate. I ended up sitting on the floor of the shower, breathing slowly, for almost two hours.

When I opened my eyes and turned the water off, I felt like I had been reborn. I looked down at my body and it felt as if I could feel each and every cell begging and pleading for energy. I decided to go to the dining hall and get a massive meal.

About twenty minutes later, I was sitting by myself at a table. In front of me was quite the spread. Two porterhouse steaks, three grilled chicken thighs, and a huge bowl of steamed string beans. I was drooling just staring at it so I dug in. Somehow, I finished it all in just ten minutes. Fortunately I was full. I wouldn't even know how to react if I was still hungry after all of that.

Sadly, I wouldn't even get a moment of peace now that my stomach felt satisfied as I felt my consciousness being pulled at by my commlet. "Hello?"

A crazed voice responded. "I heard you have begun your training. Let's begin our second session and start working on some healing magic."

I moved my arm up to rest it on the table so I could cradle my forehead with my hand. As I expected my elbow to hit the table, it landed on nothing. Then, I found myself falling, ass first to the floor. "DUDE! WHAT THE FUCK! AT LEAST LET ME RETURN MY DISHES!"

Mason waved his hand flamboyantly. "Oh piss off. Come come, I have much to teach you, my pupil."

I angrily got up from the ground and followed Mason over to a comfortable set up of arm chairs surrounding a fireplace.

He gestured at one of the chairs. "Please, sit." He then proceeded to pour two cups of tea.

I sighed and sat down, accepting the cup of tea. "So why now, of all times? I'm exhausted."

Mason smiled as he plopped down in his chair like a child. "That is exactly why I have brought you here. You do realize that healing magic doesn't have to be casted on others, right?"

Upon hearing this, my eyes immediately widened. How did I not think of this before? This is game changing and it was so obvious too! I felt very stupid.

Mason nodded. "I can tell exactly what you're thinking. Now, I doubt you have actually taken a good look at how your body is doing after that workout. Have you?"

I shook my head. "All I was focused on was recovering and eating."

Mason sighed. "Much to learn, my pupil. When you do an intense workout or have a crazy battle, you might feel better afterwards when you get some energy back. However, this is totally wrong. It is actually the best time to heal and reinforce your body. Get in the habit of doing this and you'll double the speed at which you improve. Rather than being broken down in the slightest, your muscles will just continuously grow denser and larger. Go on, give it a try."

I laughed. "Maybe you could tell me what to do first? You haven't taught me any healing magic."

Mason nearly choked. "Can you control light mana?"

I nodded. "Of course. That's the only thing you assigned to me since we last met."

Mason smiled. "Then you can use healing magic. Spells are unnecessary if you can control the mana. Spells are merely tools for idiots to be able to control mana. If you can't visualize and feel the flow of mana, the spell casting will do it for you. Real mages can cast spells instantly via the direct control of mana. Now, go ahead and do it."

I nodded as I focused inwards. I decided to start small by focusing on my forearms. From the raw mana flowing through my right forearm, I extracted some light mana and evenly spread it around the muscles in that area.

As I did it, I was absolutely floored. Almost instantly, I felt the muscles in my forearm become rejuvenated and super relaxed. It was completely euphoric and my eyes were almost rolling back into my head.

Mason giggled. "Who needs drugs when you can use light magic? Hehehe."

I quickly shook myself out of the high. "Holy shit that is dangerous… I wanna do it again!" I immediately went big and spread the area of effect to my entire body. Almost immediately, it felt like I was receiving the most heavenly massage possible. Every nook and cranny of my body was being rejuvenated and energized. I felt as if I could repeat the training from earlier another ten times!

As I let the light mana dissipate, the euphoria went with it. The outcome was a slight improvement on top of the results from the training. It might seem weird that I was feeling results after only one day of training. However, bodies work differently in this world. Mana nurtures the body. It is a form of energy that strengthens and reinforces one's cells. It also allows for more rapid growth.

Mason smiled upon seeing the results. "Good. Now I want you to practice applying that same concept to minor wounds on others. Then we can move on to more intensive first aid. Off you go!"

Before I could even say anything, he snapped and I found myself sitting in my room. I clearly came back at a bad time as Okami and I were staring at each other awkwardly. He just happened to be in the middle of "cleaning" himself...