Chapter 5: Glimpses of Mana
Soon I was left alone once again. I starting imagining if this would be a recurring theme. Was I destined to just continually get hurt and then spend days alone while recovering? I suppose my journey to another world was truly unpredictable.
This time though, I thought that I was in an advantageous position at least. There was no more insane headache to deal with, just a sort of weakness that covered my entire body. It was probably the side effect of healing magic. On top of that, I had a very vivid example of magic being used and what magic does to my own body. With this new knowledge, I thought I was getting much closer to discovering how to use magic myself.
My days of rest passed by in a flash and before I knew it my caring commander was once again standing in front of me with that disappointed look of his.
"You are the first person I've ever trained straight into the grave. I guess that's what happens when you try and work with a stubborn old dog."
"Thanks commander. It's my honor really."
"Right. Well, let's start over, shall we? I Commander Bruno, general of his majesty's army have been assigned the task of making a worthless old dog such as yourself into a soldier. But I'm in a bit of a situation here. Turns out if I try and make your worthless old body go on a relaxed jog, your old heart will give out and you will die."
"Does that mean that healing magic wasn't able to cure my heart entirely?"
"Who asked you to speak?"
He glared at me for a second before sighing. I really didn't want to talk with him either, but I felt it was worth getting chewed out if I could get some more information.
"Yes, you will just die if you run like you did before. His majesty decided that you weren't worth having our grand priest heal you so we will just have to take things one step at a time."
"Wait I'm just going to die but you want to train me anyways?"
"You're really getting on my nerves with all of the fucking questions. Just shut up and listen. As long as we have you slowly train and introduce mana into your body, your constitution will slowly improve. It's a real pain in the ass and if you ask me, I'm not paid enough for this, but at least this way we can improve your worthless heart enough for real training."
It seems Bruno really wanted to stick with the tough drill instructor routine. But his words sparked some inspiration when it came to using magic. If he is saying that I can use mana to improve my body, would I also use this mana to create magic? I would have to try it out after I begin my new training regime.
"Well, that's about all you need to know. You should've had enough rest at this point so let's go. Just try not to get yourself killed this time alright? It's such a waste of time carrying you to a doctor."
At his beckoning, I stood up, but immediately felt an aching pain in my back. The beds here really weren't up to standard and I dreaded just how bad my back would get. With that I left the medical room and went with him until we finally arrived at a training area. Although, he seemed pretty annoyed that I was kind of hunched over as I walked.
"Why are you walking like that? You actually do look like my grandma now."
"Sorry, my back is really sore right now. I can't really help it."
He just shook his head and we continued to walk. As soon as we arrived, I was blown away by the fantasy nature of everything around me.
There were multiple groups of knights in armor all swinging their swords in unison and groups of archers shooting at targets down range. However, there were also groups of people that had strange looking artifacts doing what I could only describe as magic. One man pointed a staff forward and launched a fireball that exploded his target in the distance. Another wore a cape and then lifted up into the air with a burst of wind.
Various fantasy abilities were all played out by people in the training grounds, but it seemed like every one of them were using some sort of artifact to achieve their magic. I found this strange because for Rorick and that person that healed me, I don't think either of them used an artifact.
I decided to test my luck and ask Bruno about this while we walked through the training grounds.
"Hey, why are all of these people using an artifact to create magic? Wasn't Rorick able to do it on his own?"
"You think I'm here to answer your stupid ass questions?"
Yeah, figures he wouldn't tell me anything.
Eventually we entered a building that had a bunch of tables and a long counter on one side reminding me of some sort of cafeteria. There was also a man sitting behind that counter in a very relaxed position. Seeing the man, Bruno shook his head and then walked up to him.
"Oi Castus. No wonder the food tastes so bad here, the chef just lazes about all day."
"Been a long time Bruno, I see that you are still the same grouchy old man that you always were."
"You better believe it. Hey do you still have some spirit beast meat ready to serve?"
"Yeah, I have some leftovers from lunch, but what does it matter to you? You've only eaten your fancy meals up in the castle ever since you got promoted."
"It's not for me. Believe me when I say that I would never want to go back to eating your trashy meals ever again. It's for this worthless old dog here."
Bruno gestured towards me and that Castus fellow narrowed his eyes as he looked me up and down.
"Worthless old dog huh? Why they got you taking care of somebody like that?"
"Turns out this worthless old dog is one of our potential heroes. Can you believe that? As if the other's weren't already a joke."
They both seemed to get a good laugh out of badmouthing the heroes, but this was my first time hearing that the others didn't seem to be very strong either. Maybe this whole summoning thing was a fluke in the first place.
"Shit, first we have to train two prim and proper princesses and now even an old man? I don't get what those magicians are even doing anymore."
"You and me both Castus. But that's not even the worst of it. At least we can actually train those kids even if they do complain every step of the way. But this old man here fell down and almost died after running for a few minutes. And now look at him, he's all hunched over looking like he could die at any second."
"Well, I can see why you call him a worthless old dog then. What are you going to do though? All of the orders from the top keep saying how important it is to train up these new heroes."
"That's just the thing. He isn't strong enough to do much of anything, but his majesty wants to see all of the heroes trained up and used in battle so the only way is to slowly introduce mana into his body and see if that's enough for him to start training. That's why I need the spirit beast food."
"Well Bruno, I do not pity you. They've got the great general of the army down here spoon feeding a dying old man in hopes that he can survive a couple of more years. I'll go grab that food then."
It seems they didn't want my input at any point during the conversation, but I was still able to gain quite a bit. Whether it be the situation of the other summoned people or what they plan to do with us, I now had a much better understanding.
Eventually, Castus came back with a plate of food and Bruno gestured me towards it. I grabbed it and then followed Bruno towards a table nearby. As I started to eat, he had more instructions for me.
"After you eat all of that food, go ahead and start walking around the training grounds. It would be best if you could exercise, but I'm afraid you would just collapse again. I have no hopes that this will actually happen, but if you feel a strange energy after eating try and guide that towards your heart if it starts hurting. Regardless, it will probably take a week or two before you have enough mana in your body so that we can start training for real. Until then, just grab a meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then find someplace to rest for night. Any Questions?"
"Is there someplace in particular that I'm supposed to sleep?"
"There is a barracks on the other side of the training ground, but if that is full, just find some corner or place on the ground. I doubt anybody would be willing to give up their bed for an old man like you."
I was starting to think Bruno's ruthless attitude might be shared by the people under him as well.
"Well, that's all there is to it. I'll check on you off and on, but for the most part we have to just wait until you can actually train."
With that he stood up and left after acknowledging Castus one more time. I was left alone with the plate of food that I had to agree, tasted like trash. I couldn't help but shake my head. It seemed like my conditions just kept on getting worse ever since I came to this world.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone