“Welcome to the training grounds! Isn’t it magnificent?”
“Yeah, it is.”
I was standing inside a huge black room, with large pipes lining the walls and black soil covering the ground.
Beside me stood Pallock, a proud smile etched on his face as he looked around the big empty room we were in.
“This room is perfect for what I wanna do with you.” He said.
“And what’s that?”
“Exercise, of course.”
I stared at him, bewildered.
“Exercise?”
“Exercise.”
“What do you mean, exercise? I thought we were going to train?”
He chuckled lightly and looked at me as if I was stupid.
“Exercise is training, Alric. How else would you get strong?”
“By training magic! I thought you guys were gonna help me unblock my meridians! Isn’t that what Darian meant by training?”
“Haha! Of course we’re gonna try to fix your meridians, we need your potential to shine. But how are you gonna be powerful without a good physical foundation? Look at you! You’re sticks and bones!”
I looked down at myself. I wouldn’t call myself scrawny, but I was most definitely lacking much-needed muscle.
I sighed.
“Ok, fine, I guess that makes sense.”
“Haha, I knew you would get it. Now, twenty laps around the room, start!”
“Huh? Start, now?”
“Yes, go, go, go!”
————
I fell to the floor, gasping for air. After the laps, Pallock had me do push-ups, squats, and then more laps, without any breaks in between.
My muscles felt like they were hot coals that would not cool down, and my vision swam, making the world look as if it were underwater.
“C'mon, c’mon, get up. It wasn’t that bad.” Pallock said from above me.
‘It was that bad.’
I struggled to get up to one knee.
“Haha, look at you! Now you realize how much you needed that, huh? But I’m surprised, you were struggling far more than I thought you would. Weren’t you in the army not too long ago?”
I slowly got back up to my feet and faced Pallock.
“Yeah, I was. But they never made us go through any strenuous exercise, just some small runs once in a while to keep us in shape. What they really cared about was magic. After all, why would it matter how fast you could run if the enemy could just shoot a fireball at you at forty kilometers an hour?”
“Haha, I guess that makes a bit of sense. But still, you shouldn’t neglect your physical prowess, it’s more important than you might think.”
“How so?”
“It’s best to leave it to personal experience to teach you the hard lesson. Now, you were asking about magic training earlier, right? I’ve got just the guy for you! Here, let me introduce you to our magic theory professor, Elias Holloway!”
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“Greetings.” A voice said from behind me.
I spun around.
Before me stood a man of average height, with a very not average-sized white beard, seeing as it reached the floor. His eyes were emerald green, and shined brightly, in an unnatural way. He wore red robes with black stripes, and he was frowning ever so slightly as if he had had a not-so-pleasant day.
‘When and how did he get here? I didn’t hear him coming at all!’
“I see you’re surprised, and that is to be expected! Elias here is a wind mage, so he can manipulate the air in the area and make all sounds that he makes nullified. Pretty amazing huh?”
Elias’s frown deepened.
“Pallock, I would ask you to please refrain from your antics whilst being within my presence. It is quite disturbing. I would also hope that you have not already disillusioned the new recruit. You are a mentor, not a jumping monkey.”
“Haha, sure Ellie, will do! Now, I have to get going, so good luck you two, learn a lot!”
With that, Pallock left the building, leaving the two of us alone.
‘Pallock sure loves to laugh.’
“I hate it when that man calls me “Ellie”. His mockery makes me feel ill.”
I turned to look at Elias, noticing that his frown had deepened even further, and I began to feel a bit of regret for being left alone with this guy.
‘I sure hope he isn’t an extremely strict teacher.’
————
He was an extremely strict teacher.
He first quizzed me to see what my level was in magic theory, and I guess my level was not very high based on his ever-deepening frown.
He then decided to teach me a bit of “the basics” as he called them, which mostly flew over my head.
One thing did catch my attention though.
“-as is well known, it is impossible to have more than one type of magic, that is why-“
“Wait, I have a question.”
He sighed.
“Yes? What is it that you don’t understand?”
“You said each person can only have one type of magic. Why?”
He sighed again.
“Such a foolish question. No one can have more than one type of magic, because only one type of magic can be absorbed into your body.”
“And why is that?”
He fixed me with a glare. This guy really didn’t like questions, it seems.
“Because you’re born with it. Genetics. Your DNA decides at birth what type of magic it lets into your body, and it never lets in more than one. It’s impossible. Think about it for a second. If you had ice mana and fire mana within your body, they wouldn’t be able to mix, and you would explode. It’s essentially a biological safety feature, do you understand?”
“Yes, I think I get it.”
“Good. Now, continuing onto what I was saying before…”
————
“Did you learn a lot from your magic theory lesson?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“What? But you were so excited for it earlier, I was sure it was just your cup of tea.”
“I don’t drink tea.”
“Huh, good to know.”
I was walking with Pallock back to the main tower to meet up with Cedrick.
The magic theory lesson had taken around two hours, and I had comprehended maybe two minutes’ worth of it.
“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m not surprised. That guy sure is a tough nut. I mean, back in our younger days-“
“I have a question.”
“Ask away.”
“Where do you get the money to build and manage this place? I mean, it’s huge. You have more towers than I can count, and tons of space. There is no way you guys just made all of this with manpower alone.”
He chuckled.
“You’re right on point. Let’s just say that a few high ranking nobles of the empire don’t exactly agree with everything the emperor does. We find them, this goes to that, and here we are! Though, I will remind you, this operation wasn’t exactly a one night thing.”
“I see…”
“Oh, and I’ll tell you now so I won't forget. We’re not gonna pay you here unless you complete missions with us. In that way, were are sort of like a guild. Though we are also giving you a free house on the surface and free food down here. Far more generous than any guild. The only thing we demand of you in return is secrecy. If someone finds out about where our base is, it won’t be pretty.”
I nodded.
“I understand. I won’t tell a soul.”
We reached the main tower, and at its entrance stood Cedrick, an impassive expression on his face.
“Good. Now, Cedrick here is going to escort you back to the surface. Make sure to use this as an opportunity to get to know him better. Bye!”
We watched as Pallock strode into the main tower and closed the doors behind him.
A moment of silence passed.
“Follow me.” Cedrick said, and then began to walk away.
I hurried to match his pace, and then we walked for a few minutes in silence, no one uttering a word.
‘Well, this sure is awkward.’
“We’re here.” Cedrick said, pointing at a door in the wall.
“Just go through that door and click the up button. You’ll manage from there.”
I looked at the door, and recognized it as the same one that I had walked through to enter the base.
“Umm, thanks Cedrick. See you later?”
“Yes, see you.”
He stayed in place, watching me as I walked to the door and turned the handle.
“Alric?”
I turned to face him.
“Yes?”
“A word of advice. Don’t relax, and don’t treat this as a joke. Be on your toes.”
I nodded.
“Alright. Thanks for the advice. See you around.”
I walked through the door and entered the room. In the center of the room stood a pedestal, and on the pedestal was a large red button with the word “up” etched onto it.
‘I see. So that’s what he meant by “up button”. This must be a magic elevator that leads up to the Red House. Alright, here goes nothing.’
I pressed my hand onto the button, and the world flew up.
