Two whole days came and went with Lucas making no real progress towards finding his mana. Despite spending hours of both days meditating and trying to feel that mysterious magic that Fay had mentioned, Lucas felt like he was no closer than when he’d started. And as much as he tried to not let it get to him, his frustration was becoming more and more evident with each hour that passed.

  His days hadn’t been entirely consumed by meditation, though. Fay and Magnus had also ran him through some physical drills as well along with his attempts at finding his mana.

  The first day after his affinity test, Magnus asked him what his best record had been for certain exercises, such as push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and more. Whenever he told the man whatever the number had been, Fay would write it down and Magnus would put him to work. They had Lucas run through each exercise, comparing his old baseline with his new ones. The trek to Helstrum had already told Lucas that he could run far longer than he’d been able to before, but the other exercises showed that magic had helped his body across the board.

  Whereas before, he’d been able to do thirty-five push-ups back in high school, he blew past that number with magic assisting him. Lucas had gotten all the way to sixty before he’d even started to feel the burn and got to seventy-five before stopping. And he managed similar numbers with all of the other tests. Seeing so much of an improvement was a shocker for Lucas, but Fay made it clear that he could still improve himself even more.

  “With magic helping you, your body is stronger, faster, and more durable than any normal human,” She’d explained. “Some people even learn how to channel their mana to empower their body even further. It isn’t as effective as Strength or Speed magic, but it can help. But because it’s your body and the magic is reinforcing it, you can still work out, exercise, and get even better.”

  He'd felt stronger and better than he ever had in his entire life, even after a good hour of exercising and pushing his limits, Lucas still felt like he had a bit more energy to spare. But that also made him wonder just how strong some people could be in a world full of magic.

  The first and second days of training had been dedicated to giving Lucas time to try and find his mana and testing some of his physical limits. But when the third morning came around, Magnus made it clear that it was time for something new. He still wanted Lucas to meditate and find his mana, but the physical training would shift to include weapons training as well.

  Like Fay had predicted, Magnus wanted to run Lucas through a variety of weapons to see which he showed a level of promise in. And from there, the man planned to teach Lucas what he could. If he hadn’t already learned about Magnus’ past as a hunter for the guild, he would’ve been even more shocked when he learned that Fay’s father was skilled with more than a dozen different types of weapons.

  Once breakfast was finished, Magnus brought Lucas and Fay out to the backyard. Lissa, meanwhile, was apparently working in the family’s shop for the day. But she had still wished Lucas luck while also leaving an ominous message.

  “Try to take it easy on him, dear.”

  Now Lucas wouldn’t say that he was scared, exactly, but the grin on Magnus’ face hadn’t been a kind one.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “So, Fay mentioned that you know how to use a bow and arrow. Good, that means we can focus on that first, since you know how to use it. Once I see what we’re working with, I can try to find someone to teach you a bit more about it. Bows have never really been my style, but I can teach you about melee combat.”

  As the man explained things, a shaft of metal grew within his grasp. It promptly formed into a simple staff, before shifting from one form to another, including a polearm, a hammer, a spear, a knife, and various types of swords. Eventually, Magnus returned the metal to the form of a simple spear and leaned against it. It was an impressive display, but after knowing Magnus’ past, Lucas was sure the man could do so much more.

  “I dabbled,” Lucas replied as he tried to hide a grin.

  “Luckily, since we sell all sorts of gear in our shop, we already have a few bows and plenty of arrows on hand,” He explained, handing over a good-looking wooden recurve bow.

  Lucas took the bow from Magnus, running his hands over the smooth, polished wood and plucking the string a few times. He’d used a bow just like the one Magnus had grabbed plenty in the past before his uncle had gifted him one of his own. It was a familiar weight and feeling in his hands.

  “The targets are all set up, dad!”

  Fay’s sudden arrival was followed by a small gust of wind from her using her magic to move far faster than normal. She wasn’t creating afterimages like the Flash or anything like that, but she moved fast enough to stir up some wind that ruffled Lucas’ hair.

  The targets that she’d set up were a group of five target dummies, almost like scarecrows covered in sacks with targets painted on their bodies. They were all spaced out on the other side of the large yard, giving Lucas five different distances to target.

  “Thanks, Fay. Now, I want you to take some test shots at those targets. I need to see how good you are before I go asking around for someone that might be able to teach you more,” Magnus explained as he handed over a quiver full of arrows.

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  “Just hit the targets?” Lucas asked as a grin slowly spread across his lips. “I think I can do that.”

  He slung the quiver across his back with practiced ease, feeling more at home than he had for the last few days. He was taken back for a few moments to the times when his father would help set up targets for Lucas to practice against when he’d been in high school.

  Drawing the first arrow from the quiver, he nocked it without issue and angled his body towards the closest target. He took a slow, deep breath as he drew the arrow back, his eyes locked onto the center of the target. Lucas held his breath for a moment before letting go, exhaling slowly and releasing the arrow in his grasp.

  Father and daughter watched as the arrow swiftly crossed the distance, burying itself deep into the nearest target. Lucas’ aim had been true, and the arrow was buried almost halfway in the bullseye of the first target.

  He could have stopped there, but seeing the surprise on Magnus and Fay’s faces encouraged the teen to keep going. He immediately nocked his second arrow, aiming for the next target. Once more, he repeated his usual ritual. Aim, breathe, release. And once more, the arrow buried itself in the center of the target a moment later.

  The same thing happened for the third and fourth targets as well. The fifth target that was placed all the way on the opposite end of the Stella’s huge yard was the only one where Lucas’ shot didn’t land dead center. But even then, his aim still buried the arrow just the slightest bit outside the bullseye.

  When he looked over at the other two, Lucas burst out laughing. Fay was staring, wide eyed and slack jawed at the targets. Magnus, though less pronounced, was looking at Lucas with slightly more well hidden shock after the surprising display.

  “I may have competed in and even won a few national level archery competitions when I was in school,” Lucas explained between chuckles, a cheeky grin spread across his face. It wasn’t a talent that he got to show off very often, so he had greatly enjoyed the chance to prove just how good he was when it came to archery.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that you were this good?” Fay asked as she got up in Lucas’ face. It just made him laugh even harder.

  “Because you didn’t ask,” He cheekily replied.

  The blonde glared and pouted at Lucas while Magnus began to chuckle a bit as he watched the two teens.

  “Well, I can see that you don’t need much teaching when it comes to that. But don’t be content, Lucas,” He explained, his tone serious as he gestured to the targets. “Being accurate is good, but you also need to be fast. If you’re in a fight, a beast isn’t going to stop and give you a few seconds to aim at them. I don’t think you’ll need a teacher, but you should work on drawing and firing faster.”

  That humbled Lucas immediately. Magnus was right, if he’d tried to shoot one of the Direwolves the same way he’d shot at the targets, they would have gotten to him well before he would have been able to get off a single shot.

  “Now,” Magnus’s grin returned, looking just as ominous as it had been before. “Since we know you can use a bow, we need to figure out what sort of melee weapon you can use. You won’t always have the time or range to pull out that bow, after all.”

  He handed the metal staff he’d created over to Lucas, taking the bow in exchange and handing it off to Fay. The sympathetic look that the blonde was giving him didn’t give Lucas much confidence about what was going to happen next.

  “We’re going to work through a whole bunch of weapons to see what you feel the most comfortable with. I don’t expect you to be nearly as good at any of these as you were with the bow or arrow, just get a feel for them and see what feels the best in your hands,” He explained.

  Then, the ex-hunter created a staff of his own in his hands, spinning it around a few times before stabbing it into the ground.

  “So, you’re going to come at me with each weapon, and try to attack me. And I’ll defend myself in return and show off a bit of how to use each weapon.”

  And suddenly, the pitying looks he was getting from Fay and her mother made sense. Unfortunately, it was far too late to back down at that point.

  “And… Begin!”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “And you’re dead.”

  Lucas let out an explosive sigh as he glanced down, finding the tip of Magnus’ blade resting an inch from his throat. He thought that he’d been doing well, but the older man was always quick to prove that he was far more experienced than the teen was.

  It was well into the afternoon when Lucas’ brutal physical training under Magnus came to an end. By the end of it, Lucas was dirty, bruised, battered, and sore all over. He hadn’t managed to land a single blow against the older man, and it had taken many tries before they even found the weapon that suited Lucas best.

  “Seems like that’s the best one for you. You definitely look far more comfortable with it,” Magnus pointed out. He pulled back and smiled, the blade he’d been using melting and turning into a pole that he leaned against once more.

  “It feels better in my hand then all the rest,” Lucas agreed.

  They had managed to narrow things down to shortswords, and from there, Magnus would run through the many different types of blades that he knew of to see what Lucas worked best with. And all the while, he put the young man through the wringer. The bladed weapons were all made dull, of course, but that didn’t make the retaliatory blows hurt any less.

  Eventually, they landed on a double-edged, slightly leaf-shaped blade that Magnus called a xiphos. The whole thing from tip to handle was as long as Lucas’ arm. It wasn’t the most common of weapons, being a sword commonly used back in ancient Greece, but it was an effective weapon good for stabbing and cutting. But most importantly, it was similar enough to the swords that Magnus knew how to fight with, so he was confident that he could teach Lucas how to use it.

  “Take it easy, kid. We’ll start working on some swordplay tomorrow. Dinner should be ready in a few hours, so focus on your mana exercises until then,” Magnus suggested.

  With the physical training finally done for the day, Lucas was actually happy to get back to his mana exercises. Or at least, he was after taking a long, hot shower.

  And he really tried, focusing his full effort on trying to find his mana until Lissa called him in for dinner. He hadn’t even noticed the sun going down, not with how bright the world still seemed in the dark thanks to his night vision.

  But after a long day of training, some good food sounded amazing. So, for a short while, Lucas put his search for his mana on hold.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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