THEOS

Luke stripped down to his undergarments, and took a deep breath before uncorking the vial.

Doubt clearly plastered on his face, he stuffed his cheeks full of the blue liquid within, instinctually swishing it around his mouth. Immediately, even without swallowing, a surge of cool healing energy traveled through his body. Aches and pains that he didn’t even realize he had, fading into the background as the Warrior-tier medicine did its work.

It tastes fruity.

A drop of sizzling water splattered against the bare skin of his foot, making him frown at the uncomfortable heat. He inched forward preparing to leap, peering into the frothy depths of the water.

If I can kill people, I can do this too. Don't be a little bitch. He told himself, as he prepared to leap.

Then glancing at the expectant stare that Clite was leveling him with, and the murky figures of those already in the water, he strode forward and jumped into the boiling pool. Regretting his decision as soon as his feet left the cold tiled floor of the room.

Pain, angry and full of rage, assaulted him. From the tips of his toes, to his eyes, and the ends of his scalp, everything burned. Everything was agony. Only the soothing energy from the potion, roused to action, kept him sane. Warring against the blistering heat of the water, the energy from the potion radiated throughout him in cool waves. Repairing the damage done to his skin nearly as soon as it happened.

Aetherial Mana entered his body in droves, thick and viscous it mixed with his own like dye in spreading through water, before being whisked away, and strengthening his flesh. If he wasn’t in so much pain, Luke would have been fascinated with how vigorously his body processed the resource. With his mana unlocked, he had observed the process in the past.

It was slow.

Only some of the mana would soak into his body’s tissues, and after a while the Seed would whisk whatever remained away, where it accumulated into Stat Points. A process that typically took hours. Now, every cell in his body hungered for the mysterious substance. Ravenously devouring every speck of it within him, nearly as soon as it entered. The mana saturated not only his skin, but went deeper. Burrowing all the way into his bones and organs. While his outsides took the brunt of the damage, the heat from the water seemed to seep into his bones and organs with ruthless precision.

This water isn’t normal. Luke realized. Trying his best to detach himself from the pain, and only succeeding for moments at a time.

Still, it wasn’t fast enough. There was mana coming in, more than he had ever felt before, but it wasn’t enough. He would be cooked alive before he strengthened enough to withstand the heat.

The cool healing energy of the potion in his mouth began to fade, but stubbornly Luke held on. Intent on dragging it out for as long as he could. Since he was doing this, he was going to extract the most benefit out of the process as he was able to. To Luke, anything less than his best was undeserving of the suffering he endured thus far.

As the last embers of healing energy faded from his mouth, and the pain he was in surged, fast becoming unbearable, he was forced to swallow the potion in his mouth. He sagged in relief as the energy from the potion surged within him, and fought back the heat of the water and repaired the damage it had done to his body. Once again reminding him how effective the medicine was.

He didn’t know how long he was like that, but soon after even the redoubled energy of the potion began to fade, and as his lungs began to crave for oxygen, he realized it was time. Pushing off against the floor of the pool, he sprang out of the water onto the cold ground. Landing on the cool tiled floor with a wet smack and flopped around in pain, like a fish out of water.

His skin cherry red and steaming, his eyes locked on the potions that Clite had left for them. Streching his hands forward he crawled toward the vials. Leaving thin trails of blood along the ground as his skin softened in the water, teared open.

Grabbing one, he fumbled around with the cap, and drank it as fast as he could. Rolling onto his back in relief and staring into the sky, his chest heaving as his lungs captured fresh oxygen-rich air.

Fucking hell.

A few seconds later, another trainee emerged from the water. Unlike Luke, he landed on his feet and walked gingerly toward the potions, casually picking up a vial before chugging it down. Watching Luke from the corner of his eye as he did.

“It gets easier. You did better than I did the first time.” He said after a moment.

“Yeah.” Luke panted. Still in too much pain to muster anything other than a single syllable. More than a little jealous at how well he seemed to be handling the pain.

“Alright. Get up.” He stretched down, grabbed Luke's hand, and pulled him to his feet. “The potions heal the burns perfectly, but the pain lingers the more you think about it. It helps to just walk it off. What your feeling now is all in your head.”

Luke nodded numbly, collecting his clothes off the ground and got dressed. His mind blank, emptier than he could ever remember it being.

Barely paying attention to the others crawling out of the pool, he spotted a bench along the wall, and stumbled towards it.

I can’t believe that I just did that. I can’t believe that I’m okay. He lifted his hand, and turned it over. Not a single sign of what he had gone through marred his body.

“Fuck. How often do you do that?” He asked, thumping his head against the wall as he looked at the rest of them.

“Once every four days, and we alternate between the hot and the cold. The cold one isn’t as bad.” Jax answered him, scrubbing the water out from behind his ears.

“Mhm.” Luke grunted in response. Idly opening his status.

This better have been worth it.

Status | Skills | Quests | Inventory

Name: Lukas King

Tier: Mortal

Mana: 6408

Rate: 15% per hour

Strength: 109 > 116

Agility: 239 > 240

Constitution: 112 > 144

Arcana: 84 > 89

Stat Points: 1

Bloodline: Locked. Conditions not met. (1/10 000)

Charges: 7/10

HIs eyebrows lifted up in surprise.

Okay, that’s not bad. At all. That’s like… forty-five, no forty-six points. Improvements across the board. With a whole thirty-two points in constitution, and that's with just minutes in the water.

His eyes drifted toward the pool, a strange glimmer in his eyes.

It really hurt. But, if this is the reward, and for what– three minutes of pain? It might actually be worth it. Killing things with my sword is obviously better, but this is nothing to scoff at. Outside of a situation where I can find a weak horde of monsters to fight, this is much more efficient.

It may have gone even better if I had more points in Arcana.

“Hey new guy?” Someone snapped their finger in front of his face.

“Yeah?” Luke looked at the person who had lifted him up.

“You good? You’ve been staring off into space for a minute.”

“I’m good. That was just something else.”

He grinned in response.

“I’m Rex.”

“Luke.”

“I know. Clite told us, remember?”

“Yeah. I guess I’m still sorting myself out.” Luke combed wet hair out of his face with his hand as he leant back. “It's not as bad as I thought it would be. The rush of mana and the potion, they gave me something to focus on.”

“Yeah we know. After your fourth or fifth time you don’t even notice the pain.”

“Really?” Luke looked at him oddly.

“No.” He deadpanned. “If anything, it gets worse the more you do it. But you feel it don’t you? A weeks worth of progress in minutes. The pain is a small price to pay.”

Luke smiled in response. “That’s what I thought too, it just sounded too good to be true. How else are we going to train? Is everything as extreme as this?”

“You have your manasink right?”

Luke nodded.

“That’s a big one. We spend a few hours every day filling it with mana. I guess we’re supposed to keep it up all the time, but it's easy to forget about and the headaches never get better. We spar a lot. Once in a while they’ll take us out somewhere and we kill a monster or two. There's the obstacle course too. What else…?”

“You're forgetting the beatings.” Jax chipped in.

The what?

“I said spars.” He cocked his head to the side.

“You can’t seriously think that getting your ass handed to you by a warrior is a spar.”

“With how shitty you are at sparring, I’m not surprised you think that way.” Rex grinned at him.

The curtains suddenly lifted, and the girls walked back into the room. Covered head to toe in thick woolen towels over their robes, and shivering with their arms crossed over their chests. Clite loomed behind them, as they gathered in front of the pool.

Staring at him with disapproval clear in her eyes.

He stared back at her with confusion.

Rex leaned in and whispered, “She doesn’t like it when we sit in front of her.”

“What?” Luke whispered back.

What kind of bullshit rule is that, I just took a dip in boiling water. I can sit.

She cleared her throat.

Suddenly Luke realized that everyone was staring at him.

This is bull. He grumbled internally. And what did she do to them, to make them so obedient.

Cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, Luke quickly climbed to his feet, and joined the rest of them.

Nodding in satisfaction, she led them out.

Like ducklings following after their mother, they followed after her, and not seeing what else to do, Luke did the same.

“Where are we going now?” He asked, his head swiveling between Rex and Jax.

Both of them shrugged their shoulders in response.

“Whatever she feels like, honestly. If Cyzicus was here, he’d probably take us to kill some monster or something, but I don’t think Elder Clite can use the teleportation altars.”

“Oh.” Luke shrugged as he followed after.

A moment later they re-entered the same courtyard that he had first been introduced to the other trainees in.

“I guess we’re sparring.” Jax grinned. “Rose. Me and you!” He pointed to a short blonde girl.

She huffed in response, her eyes traveling from person to person, before sighing. “Fine. It’s not like anyone else can keep up with me anyway.” She grumbled.

The others frowned at her, but didn’t say anything.

Are she and Jax the strongest here? Luke glanced between the two. Jax I can kind of understand, he’s bald, tall, built like a brick, and looks older, but she looks like a stiff wind will blow her over. Then again, none of the girls in the Society looked as strong as they actually were either.

“Rose will battle Luke.” Clite interjected.

“Him?” Rose and Jax said at the same time, skepticism practically written on their faces.

Luke scratched his cheek awkwardly. “Is that a problem?”

“Why don’t we start the new guy off with Rex?” Jax suggested. “Or even Theo?”

Rex kicked Jax in the shin, sending the bald teen to his knees. “Are you calling me weak?”

“Yes.” Jax grinned at him, climbing back to his feet. “Are you going to say that you aren’t?”

“Enough! Luke, Rose. Choose a weapon, and enter the ring.” Clite instructed.

“I don’t need one.” Rose said, walking confidently into the sand filled arena.

Luke followed after her, idly wondering which of his two swords he should use, before realizing that Clite probably wanted him to use one of the dull wooden ones hanging on the wall. Setting his own on the ground, he picked one at random, immediately noting its heft. The wooden sword weighed more than twice as much as either of his golden ones.

More magic, I guess. He thought to himself making his way into the arena. A large sandy pit, circled with a thick tawny rope.

Settling into the First Stance of the Sword, he eyed his opponent carefully. Who for her part, regarded him with casual disdain.

Why is she so confident? How is she even going to fight me without a weapon?

“Start!” Clite instructed.

The draw on his mana suddenly rocketed, and he leapt to his side. Narrowly managing to dodge a torrent of flame that erupted from her hands.

What the fuck.