Chapter 10: Close Call
"So how should I go about this then? This is a different world after all."
Bruno was already looking very impatient with his job, but those words put him over the edge.
"Are you so old you forgot how to clean yourself? I don't give a shit how you go about it, just wash yourself off and use your mana to train. I've got better things to do so stop wasting my time here."
You got it boss; I would do exactly what I wanted. I stepped forward towards the water and then looked back towards Bruno.
"I don't know how it is in your world, but in mine, people didn't just watch other's get undressed for a bath."
"Fucking hell, who would want to see your wrinkled ass body anyway?"
Even with his rage, he turned away to give me a little privacy. A smile started to creep onto my face. I quickly undressed and then made sure to hide my dagger and the arm with my previous injury with my body the best that I could. Keeping my secrets angled away from Bruno, I waded through the pools until I reached the spot that I saw earlier. Looking back at Bruno, I could see that he was only partially keeping track of me, so the time was right.
I ducked under the waterfall and quickly crouched down to slice the bottom of my foot. I couldn't afford to waste any time, so I didn't even hesitate at injuring myself once again. With blood starting to pour out of my foot, I let the dagger fall in the water and stood back up making sure to keep my bandaged arm angled away and partially in the waterfall. The blood from my foot was quickly swept away with the current, but if somebody was close enough, they could probably still notice it. Therefore, I needed to make sure I was still somewhat visible so Bruno would have no reason to approach.
From across the room, Bruno yelled out.
"Oi, I'm not here to watch you clean yourself. Start using up your mana now."
I knew that I needed a bit more time before I started feeling the effects of blood loss, so I called back.
"It's kind of hard to do that right now. I need some time to focus on the mana."
"Don't you try and pull anything old man. There is no such thing as needing time to influence mana. If you can do it, you can do it, and that's that."
"Well still, I'm new to this and you are distracting me with this conversation. If you would just shut up for a little bit then I could concentrate."
At about this time I noticed that I should have been feeling blood loss, but despite more and more blood leaving my body, it wasn't appearing. I began to panic at the thought that my recent improvement might mean that I needed to spill even more blood before getting the same effects. I needed to stall for more time, but luckily Bruno was starting to get mad.
"You piece of shit. The last person who told me to shut up ended up in multiple pieces and I'm starting to think I should do the same to you."
"You already basically killed me once, I don't think it will have the same effect for the second time."
Soon, I began to feel a bit cold even though I was in the warm water, so I knew it was only a matter of time.
"I see that you are going to need a lot of discipline training after we are done with this. Rejoice, for I, Commander Bruno, will personally work a worthless peasant like you into the ground. But if you don't start training your body with mana in the next five seconds, then I am going to take my sword and cut off your head."
There was nothing more I could do other than hope that five seconds were enough. I closed my eyes and focused on the emerging feeling of blood loss in my body while Bruno counted down from across the room. Each passing second felt like an eternity to me as I waited for that same feeling I had the other time.
My body began to shake while Bruno unsheathed his sword. The count was getting lower and he got into a stance that would let him rush across the room. Soon he reached one, when I finally felt like I was on the verge of unconsciousness just like before. Almost immediately I started willing the mana in my body into that feeling.
For a second it seemed like Bruno was going to charge forward, but it seemed like he noticed at the last moment that my mana was being used up. He sheathed his sword once again, but still looked incredibly unhappy.
"You piece of shit, just you wait. I'll show you what it means to mess with me and waste my time. At least now you can never become a true mage. Your dreams of getting anywhere with magic are over and your nightmare has just begun."
With that, he left the area.
Finally free from his gaze, I breathed a sigh of relief as I was free to use up the rest of my mana. Once more I could feel a burning sensation passing through my veins with each beat of my heart. It was very strange to feel like your whole circulatory system was burning up while also feeling incredibly cold. Many moments passed until finally, all of my mana was used up.
I slumped down into the pool as exhaustion and an overwhelming weakness settled into my body. I felt light headed and my thoughts were pretty muddled, but eventually I noticed that my foot was still bleeding. With a sinking feeling in my chest, I grabbed the dagger and tried to make my way back across the room.
"Shit. I don't want to die like this."
I stumbled multiple times and was almost swept away by the once seemingly gentle current on more than one occasion. Yet, I grit my teeth and persevered until I eventually collapsed on the ground where I left my clothes previously. It was hard to get my body to do anything, but I somehow found the will to tear off another piece of cloth and wrap it tightly around my foot. When that was done, I could only lay down and pray that everything would be alright.
Very slowly, some strength began to return to my body. This speed of recovery alone was a miracle and it was likely due to my strengthened blood. This training method was definitely very dangerous but at least it came with the benefit of quicker recoveries.
Eventually, I stood back up and looked towards the various pools of the bath. There was a long streak of reddish pink water that showed the path that I took to get back to my clothes. My heart sunk once again thinking that anybody that happened to come here anytime soon would be able to discover my secret. But I was helpless to do anything to change that. The current would eventually wash all of the blood away, so I just had to hope that nobody would see it in the meantime.
I looked around a bit and noticed a different room that had towels and my promised change of clothes. Bruno might have left me being unreasonably mad, but he still followed the order that Rorick gave him. Even if he was an unreasonably angry man, he was definitely a soldier.
I grabbed a towel and realized that it was a very crude material. Not at all like the luxury towels that were available back home. Regardless though it would do its job. I quickly cleaned up and then changed into the new clothes. My new setup was exactly what I would have imagined a medieval peasant to look like, baggy brown and white clothes all made out of cotton.
I stuck what I could fit of my old clothes in my new pockets to use as bandages for later while leaving some room for the dagger, then walked back out into the bath area. My blood was even more spread out and hard to notice now, but I still shook my head in disappointment.
"I got lucky this time. Next time might spell my doom."
I couldn't be careless with this type of thing anymore. I needed to be smarter and anticipate more potential threats. As I watched my blood slowly dilute itself and wash away, I steeled my resolve to be even more careful in the future.
I turned around to leave the baths while lost in thoughts on potential threats. However, when I started making my way back to the training grounds, I was blocked by three other trainees. I looked at them with confusion in my eyes, but they just smiled.
"Bruno said that you need special training. Don't worry, we will make sure you improve greatly."
I sighed to myself. Bruno was definitely a man of his word.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone