Hello everyone hope everyone likes this next chapter. Thank you to for reading and also those who are following.

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Waking up early the next day, I continued my training of changing my mana orb into all the affinities. Before heading to breakfast I was able to bring it down to half a minute.

I was also able to keep the ring on and move pretty well even without half of my magic. I could run but I would need to have used magic on myself to do it. Alex was thinking of not wearing the ring but because he saw me doing it he also followed and did the same.

He was able to move fine but if he tripped or fell down he would need my help to lift him up. Before we even got to class he already fell down twice.

The other students laughed at him for falling down on flat ground but I just glared at them and they went on their way.

Again, I ignored class and did my own training in hiding and was able to only get down to twenty seconds before lunch started.

We ate lunch with Sasha and the boy told her the he wouldn’t believe it and said that we should meet him this Saturday when we’re all free. Even though we lived in school, we were given days off on the weekends. We told her that we’ll meet with him and we ended our lunch and Alex and I went to our class.

We wanted to get there early so that we would be able to get used to our body’s movements before the fights.

Alex and I were walking around, making sure that we could use our bodies. Of course, I stopped the flow of mana into my body as magic wasn’t allowed. I gently increased the weight and it wasn’t as bad as before. I couldn’t run but I was pretty sure that I was the only one, aside from Alex and maybe Nathaniel that could walk. Even then I would probably be the only one who could fight.

Before long, everyone was here and all twenty of us were going to fight each other so that we can go to class tomorrow.

Ralph came and he said, “Know that you all are strong, if you lose just come to me and I’ll make sure that you can continue your studies with another teacher. You all just had the luck to have me as your summoning teacher but I am not the only one, I’m just the harshest.”

“We will begin the fight,” he said, brining out a piece of paper, “Everyone stand to the side, when I call your name come to where I am and you will begin fighting.”

“Jared and Victor! Come up! You guys are first,” he shouted.

Up came a tall black haired, brown skin, black eyed boy that looked solidly built and a black haired, fair skin, blue eyed boy that looked scrawny with his robes on. All in all it looked like a very uneven match.

The two boys went in front of Ralph and stared at each other. They looked like they were able to walk without trouble.

“Begin!” he shouted.

The tall kid swung his right arm going for a punch while the scrawny one curled up on the ground which surprised the tall kid. He wasn’t able to stop and so he fell down on the ground while the scrawny kid kicked him when he stood back up.

“Stop, Jared wins. Victor you lose, next time try not to use full power,” he said lifting the kid named Victor up.

It was very anticlimactic and boring but it showed that we could win this through ingenuity and not just through power. The fact that we had to wear these rings that doubled our weight and that most of us only had at least three hours of practice with it meant that we were all pretty much fighting without being used to our own bodies.

It seemed like this class was to teach us about other ways of winning than just through power. And with that thought I discovered that these lessons had other meanings than just increasing our strengths.

The first day was a stamina test, to see if we could run for as long as it was possible. I’m not able to confirm it but judging from that paper that I found, on the first day the scales were probably scattered on the way up the mountain. There must have also been some markings on those scales to differentiate them from each other so that he can figure out who went the farthest.

The second day was the same as the first day only we knew how far up we had to run and we had to run with burdens. That was probably our strength test, to see if we were able to carry twice our own weight while running… or crawling.

Today is probably a test of our ingenuity. Ralph probably is teaching us how to fight if we were unable to use any magic and we are very fatigued and weak.

As I was thinking that it was finally Alex’s turn which was the ninth match. Nathaniel is standing there looking at me looking very pleased with himself.

Seems I’m fighting him after Alex, I thought.

Before Alex went to fight, I stopped him and said, “Don’t just fight, try to win by coming up with something.”

“Huh?” he asked.

“This is a test to see if we are creative. Show him something that the opponent will not expect.”

“What are you doing over there? Alex it’s your turn!” shouted Ralph.

“Go and good luck,” I said.

“I’ll win,” he said.

He went ahead and I took a look at his opponent. I didn’t catch his name but he looked tough to beat. He was muscular, not too much but he looked like he was a son of a bodybuilder. He had a boyish face with a mop of silver hair. His skin was bronze and he had blue eyes. It was tough looking at him as a five year old. He looked like a dwarf but he wasn’t stocky enough, and I’m sure that he is definitely human.

“Begin!” shouted Ralph when Alex got near enough.

Alex looked like he wasn’t ready and the opponent rushed him. Alex fell down without even doing anything and he fell down hard.

Alex’s opponent stood up and began punching Alex. Alex blocked with his hands and kicked him hard. His opponent was pushed back and Alex stood back up. His opponent was taking a lot of time to get up but Alex just stood there waiting.

Chivalry? I thought.

When the kid finally managed to stand back up, Alex kneed him in the stomach and he fell down once more. Alex was moving as if he wasn’t bothered by the extra weight.

“Alex wins,” said Ralph as he helped the other kid up and said something to him that I couldn’t hear.

Alex came back and said to me, “I don’t think if it’s a clever idea but wouldn’t being able to move around easily be clever too?”

“How so?”

“Because we wore the rings longer than everyone else.”

I thought about that and thought that it did make sense.

He plopped down on the ground and leaned up to a tree and I saw that he looked exhausted.

“Are you okay?” I asked concerned.

“I’m alright, its just making it look like that I could move like you is taking its toll.”

I nodded. He did wear it longer than most but he still wore it for a shorter time than I did.

When Ralph called my name and Nathaniel’s we both went up.

I watched Nathaniel and he looked like he could walk the same as I did.

Did he also wear the ring the whole time? I thought, if he did then this might be a problem.

I had full confidence in beating someone who wasn’t used to their new weight but against someone who did? I wasn’t that confident, luckily I had an idea of how to win.

We stood across from each other and he said, “I’m going to make you pay for what you did.”

“And what exactly did I do?” I asked feigning ignorance.

“You know what you did!”

“Alright enough, begin!” said Ralph.

Nathaniel ran up to me while preparing his right hand for a punch. I leaned towards his punch and punched him in the gut. That caused him to retch and pull back a little but then he kneed my in my chin with his right knee.

I fell backwards a little bit but was still able to stand up. That knee did not feel like it came from a five year old. It was probably all of the extra weight making our hits that much stronger. I had to make sure that he didn’t hit me a lot as I don’t know how much my body can take from this.

I forced myself to a run and feinted a punch to his head which caused him to block but then I kicked him in the gut instead. He was pushed backwards but he was still standing.

What is this guy made of? I thought.

His eyes showed hate and anger and he once again ran towards me. He raised his right hand for a punch and as I was about to block it he pulled it back and rammed into me.

A tackle!

He tackled me straight towards a tree that was right behind me and I felt crushed between his weight and the tree. I was trapped, he pinned me to the tree and began punching me. I blocked with my hands but I knew that if I didn’t do something I would lose.

When he was winding up for a punch a head-butted him and he was pushed back a little bit. I was freed if even a little bit and I dropped down to my knees and tackled him back.

I tackled him to another tree that was way behind him but unlike how he pinned me I distanced myself afterwards.

He stared at me for a second and he was even more angry. He started running towards me and right when he was about to get to me I started my plan. I dropped down to my knees and spun around sweeping him off his feet with my leg then I came up and punched him aiming for his nose. I stopped short of hitting him and I said, “You’ve lost, give up.”

“The winner is Zed,” said Ralph.

I changed my fist into a palm signaling that I was willing to help him get up but he ignored it and said, “I don’t need your help.”

He got up on his own and he walked away.

“Class hasn’t ended yet but those that won, you can go to your free time. The rest of you. You’re going to fight for the last spot for tomorrow so give it your all. We’ll start once Nathaniel has recovered a bit.”

Alex and I walked back to our mansion, took a bath and continued our training.

As we were eating dinner, I asked Alex, “Can you teach me how to use a sword?”

“I can’t but there’s an instructor who’s going to come and teach me how to next week. I’ve studied with him before and he will gladly teach you too.”

I nodded, looking forward to learning how to use a sword next week.

Today’s lesson made me think of what would happen if I couldn’t use magic and I was very tired and wounded. I didn’t know if there was anything like martial arts in this world but by learning how to use a sword I would probably also learn how to fight without one.

After dinner, we continued training and I was able to reduce the mana shifting time to five seconds.

Elated, I told Malakir and he told me to do the same with two orbs. It was the hard, it was like learning how to play a piano. One hand does something while the other does another thing. Trying to manage the shifting sometimes ended with the magic almost going out of hand but Malakir stopped it just in time.

Alex still couldn’t feel the mana around him but he said that he felt something, he just wasn’t sure of what it was. I told him that it might have been the mana and told him to focus on it once he felt it again.

Alex stayed up till midnight like I did as he wanted to feel it once more but he wasn’t able to make much progress.

I, on the other hand, was able to progress a bit.

The shifting I was able to do with two orbs but it took me forty minutes to go through one set. Although if I concentrated only on the task it would’ve taken twenty minutes.

I was also able to improve the number of orbs that I can disperse at a time. I went from twenty five to thirty five. I asked Malakir why I was able to get an increase of ten instead of the five from yesterday and he said that it might have been because I no longer was using magic to move.

I completely forgot about it. I was moving normally but I still had the ring on, meaning that I was able to move easily even though I had twice my own weight. I was pleased about that fact and just continued with my training.

As I injected mana into myself I felt that I was able to inject a lot more than usual. Thinking that it had been a long time since I last saw it, I said, “Status.”

Status Name:Zed RigelRank:AcolyteAge:5Level:5Race:HumanGender:MaleTitles3rd Prince of Rigel KingdomHealth:375 / 375Health Regen:8 / SecMana:4000 / 4000Mana Regen:77 / SecStamina:525 / 525Stamina Regen:22 / SecStrength:25Agility:50Vitality:37.5Willpower:125Intelligence:175Wisdom:175Leadership:50Luck:15

My stats didn’t change at much than they used to but that might just be because of the ring. I took it off and saw my status again thinking that there might be some changes.

Status Name:Zed RigelRank:AcolyteAge:5Level:5Race:HumanGender:MaleTitles3rd Prince of Rigel KingdomHealth:750 / 750Health Regen:16 / SecMana:8000 / 8000Mana Regen:154 / SecStamina:1050 / 1050Stamina Regen:44 / SecStrength:50Agility:100Vitality:75Willpower:250Intelligence:350Wisdom:350Leadership:50Luck:15

I was dumbfounded, my stats were significantly higher. I couldn’t believe that I was really only level five with these stats. I told this to Malakir as Alex was already sleeping and he said, “Of course, I’m the one training you and your summoning teacher is good too. Try injecting mana into yourself and look at your stats.”

I did that and I really couldn’t believe my eyes.

Status Name:Zed RigelRank:AcolyteAge:5Level:5Race:HumanGender:MaleTitles3rd Prince of Rigel KingdomHealth:2250 / 2250Health Regen:22.4 / SecMana:0 / 8000Mana Regen:154 / SecStamina:6300 / 6300Stamina Regen:86.67 / SecStrength:210Agility:180Vitality:181.67Willpower:282Intelligence:350Wisdom:350Leadership:50Luck:15

All of my mana was gone but my physical stats had a humongous boost. If I calculate this right, I can make myself stronger while making sure that I can use magic. After playing around with it a little bit I was able to find the most balanced increase while keeping my mana to be more than half full.

I then went to sleep seeing as it was past midnight and needed to rest for the next day.

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