"Now that will be it on today for the learning lesson, stand still and close your eyes, I have a present for you."
Cain narrowed his eyes, as he knew she had something up her sleeve, but decided to oblige.
Holding out his arms, and closing his eyes, he felt something tightly fashion around his wrist and ankles, as he felt pressure pushing them down.
Quickly opening his eyes, he could see two small bracelets were on both wrists, and another pair on his ankles.
Trying to take a step back in case she had other antics in stock, he quickly felt the weight as he struggled to move his leg back.
"Each bracelet is fifty pounds, you will be wearing this every day from now on, even when you sleep."
"But Soni- Ahk"
"You will address me as Master."
Cain struggled to lift his hand to rub his head as he whimperingly responded, "Yes, master."
Without having much focus on the new beginning of his hell, his mind will stay complacent on the recent information he received on ranks, his eyes tilting to the side as a sudden thought appeared.
Noticing his expressions, Sonia asked.
"Speak now, you won't have the strength to ask after."
With a slight hesitation, Cain asked. "You say that by getting a talent, one can connect to mana… Does that mean if I complete my trials, I can use mana?"
Sonia looked at Cain, seemingly as if she was also dwelling on the question.
"A good thought, as for an answer, I don't know. Your body is different, but that isn't something to think about right now; you should focus on surviving it first."
"Now, it's time to resume. I can't teach you anything until you have some strength, so we will start with the basics."
"100 push-ups."
"100 situps"
"100 crunches"
" Begin"
—-
Cain lay weakly in his bed, as every muscle ached with pain from the hell he went through. Once the training was over, he assumed he was free, until he realized he had to walk back home. This was the cherry on top that sent him over.
The training was something he thought was inhumane to give to a person, as for each training he completed, he was thrown into another.
He had worried about his body, as overdoing was led to damaging himself, but at the end of the training, he remembered what she had said.
"If you're worried about your body, don't be. I've been keeping a close eye on how your body is reacting to the training."
Almost as if she had a small light in her eyes, she explained.
"Your body really is different, Cain. You might not notice, but I've been injecting my mana into your body throughout the training. Your body had an initial rejection to it, but with enough force, I bypassed it. I've been keeping in detail on how fast your body naturally heals, all the way to how much oxygen is delivered and how many heartbeats you had in each training session."
"You have a weirdly high natural regeneration rate. I'm guessing that for every cut you had, it would heal at a normal pace, correct?"
Cain took a second to think about it before nodding.
"Mhm, your body was normal during the running, but as we continued, it started to heal, albeit faster. It seemed weird as I concluded that it was either dormant or needed to be trained. So I increased the training, and the healing improved alongside."
"You should note, Cain, the training today was not normal, as I made sure each part was pushed to the limits of what you could heal. So while I may have seemed like little progress, you actually made some ground today. If we continued each day at this pace, we just might be able to make up for all the years of training you missed out on."
Cain fell into a small depression as he remembered that last part.
"But I got stronger today."
Slowly sitting up, he summoned the book before looking at the trials again.
Trial 1: [Defeat 300 Beasts or Humans at expert ranked and 1 master ranked.]
Current progress: [Expert: 0/300] [Master: 0/1]
Trial 2: [Determine the power you were born with.]
Current progress: [0/1]
Time limit: [4 years]
Skipping the first trial, Cain's eyes reread the second one, and looked at the time limit.
"So I'll need to find my power before the Trials of Fate. But after hearing about connecting to mana by getting my talent, I would possess a power."
"Why? What the hell was I born with? Why does this one trial contradict my only hope?"
'Ahhrg.'
Feeling the weight of the bracelet, Cain covered his eyes with his hands as he tried to figure out what it was trying to tell him.
"Nothing makes sense. I don't have a single clue as to wha-."
Stopping himself, a sudden realization came.
"No. I have my first clue, I'm just blinded by frustration."
Sonia had literally given him his first clue.
"My body can heal faster. Trained to heal faster."
Cain had thought it was simply down to good genes, an offset he might have for not being able to use mana.
He was always told his body was different, but he didn't understand in what way. After the training, Sonia had even praised him for making good progress, even to as far that he might catch up.
Cain looked at another part of the book again that read.
[As one whose mind yearns to use mana, while its body looks down upon mana, you must find the harmony of your being and the power you were born with. Only then will your path be found.]
"Mhm, I still don't know what that means. Mana is the foundation of power, yet my body looks down on it? It almost seems like I'm missing some power that exists besides mana, or I need to fix my body. Or maybe both?"
Cain leaned back as he lay flat on his bed. His mind was in turmoil as to what he needed to do.
"I need to work with what I know. I'll first gather information as to what other potential types of powers there could be besides mana. While I could see that being a dead end, I'll start with what I know for sure. My body."
"The fact that it can be trained to heal faster. Is it simply because my power involves just being able to create a type of regeneration… But without mana, this is a long dead end."
Cain tried to thing are different ways how a higher natural healing could of any use, before a sudden thought appeared.
"Is my higher natural healing just a type of protection for the power I'm supposed to wield?"
As if the right path was found, the book gave a small bright glow as a new text had appeared.
Seeing the light, Cain quickly picked up the book from his lap to see what had happened as he saw.
Trial 2: [Determine the power you were born with.]
Current progress: [0/1] - 1%
With great shock, Cain stared motionless as a feeling of euphoria washed over him.
"I found it!"
But the feeling quickly faded as he realized, "Well, sorta found it, I guess…?"
"It seems like I still have a lot more to learn, but at least I on finally on the right track."
With progress finally gained, Cain decided it was finally time to determine his plan.
"It talked about how the trials were woven into each other. So as I strive to complete one trial, the other would be somewhat complete as well."
Thinking about the first trial, "I'm in no shape to fight an Expert rank beast, let alone if that's even possible for me… But I'll have to at least try. I'll spend some time first to get stronger as Sonia trains me, before I head into the forest. If I can discover more of my power, it just might give me the edge to kill one."
With a slight nod, Cain unsommed the book as he let the fatigue wash over him as he thought about the beast that lived in the Aldarien forest.
'Fatten up for me, I'll be there soon.'