A bruised and dirtied figure could be seen nearly limping through the streets. Evening had begun and this man was one of many as he walked through the crowded streets. Tired workers strolled on home while others made last-minute stops to closing stores or drinking habits drawing them to taverns.

‘Uhhhh,’ Leon ached.

He pushed onwards through the busy city. ‘I told her I’d be here today, but I didn’t think I’d get my ass beat this badly beforehand.’ Leon rubbed his shoulder in an attempt to soothe its aching. Dragging his feet, he played the memories of the combat lesson on repeat in his mind.

Silvermoor had loosened up after his conversation with that woman. The lesson on how to hold his wakizashi was very useful. Besides the fact that it was important to know how to do it in the first place, it made the process much less painful. Leon tired slower when holding the blade and to his surprise, he was able to focus better as he wasn’t getting distracted by the awkwardness of holding the handle or the pain on his wrists as it weighed.

Leon underwent a few more duels with Silvermoor afterward. They all ended in him losing, but at least he didn’t get another head slam into the dirt. Silvermoor would come at him with the same approach every time, only changing it when Leon successfully blocked or predicted his attack. Leon wasn’t sure if he had gotten better at defending or just preemptively blocking a repetitive attack. He did, however, gain a point in his endurance which thoroughly surprised him.

Leon didn’t sense any change when he received the stat point. It had increased his maximum stamina but didn’t restore any stamina upon its gain which slightly disappointed him. ‘Would have been nice…’ he internally complained.

This was the first change to the status window he’d seen since he’d been thrown into this world. It was good food for thought as he continued through the streets. ‘So, endurance is basically confirmed to influence my stamina and I gain any type of cheat replenish when I gain stat points.’ Every step he took made him wish it had… not to mention that he had done something reckless at the end of his training session.

-----------------

Leon sat on the dirt, exhaustion embellishing his being. His arms extended behind him, propping up his body. He stared up into space as he viewed his status window.

Status

Name: Leon Knight

Race: Lesser Human (0)

Class: Support (0)

Profession: ---

Vitality: 23/70

Mana: 110/110

Stamina: 15/60

Stats

Strength: 4

Agility: 8 (1)

Endurance: 6

Constitution: 7 (1)

Perception: 8

Intelligence: 11 (2)

Wisdom: 7 (2)

Charisma: 1

Skills

[Mend (Inferior)] [Disarray (Inferior)] [Adept Tongue (Rare)] [Identify (Inferior)]

‘Huh, I’m surprised I’m not dead yet,’ noting his low vitality and stamina. If Silvermoor hadn’t gone easier towards the end, he was certain he would have been lying there with a broken rib. The session had ended, with Leon and Silvermoor being one of the last ones there. Sir Garett hadn’t gotten to them, which was regrettable to Leon. Oddly enough, he couldn’t quite explain it but Leon felt that their instructor purposely avoided his duo. There were many occasions where he neared the two of them but went on to another group. Leon couldn’t tell if this was true or if he felt like the world was against him as he kept getting knocked on his ass with the bare minimum of explanations from his partner.

Leon heaved deep breaths as they took a break from their last spar. Silvermoor glared at the man, standing in perfect condition with hardly a sweat broken. The messy-haired baby-katana-wielding man relished in the minutes of relaxation.

Silvermoor grew tired of waiting and decided to leave. To Leon’s surprise, he didn’t seem annoyed by his exhaustion. If anything, he appeared somewhat satisfied. It might’ve been in his head but that’s what Leon thought. Silvermoor’s face didn’t express it but he also didn’t give off any murderous feelings or auras, so Leon took that as a good thing and looked at it optimistically.

Now alone, Leon surveyed the area. His friend, Nick, had already left while only a couple of sparring duos were still outside. Leon gave them little mind and glanced back to his status window. There was one resource he hadn’t touched.

His mana.

Riding the wave of accomplishment from surviving the combat lesson, Leon attempted to keep his winning streak going. ‘The [Mend] skill would be pretty helpful right now.’ With what he knew about skills and mana, he was confident he could make something happen. ‘Plus, it’s a healing skill. It probably won’t kill me if I mess up.’

With determination in his eyes, contrasting his almost mutilated body and clothing, he attempted to heal himself. He knew he needed to because he wasn’t confident that he could make it to Kassandra’s mana lesson in one piece with how he was then. Leon guessed that it was only a few hours until the sunset and although they never set up a specific time, he didn’t want to keep her waiting. ‘And… I sorta, wanna, kinda, brag about learning this skill on my own.’

Leon looked to his shoulder that had taken quite the beating and hovered his hand over it. Leon wasn’t sure how this would work but he had a few things to go off of. His [Identify] activated when he thought of it or of something related to it with a certain amount of focus and attention. Alongside this, Leon had spent a lot of time fiddling with the engravings he had as he transformed them into various parcels.

‘So… theoretically, if I simulate the feeling that I got when pouring mana into the engraving while thinking of the skill [Mend]…’

Soon enough, his hand began to give off a pristine green shade glow. He smiled at the visible reaction. The glow of mana spread from his hand and enveloped his shoulder. Minutes went by before Leon had even realized it. The mana gave off a soothing sensation that nearly put Leon to sleep, with the help of his already fatigued body doing most of the work.

The glow faded, awakening the drowsy caster. An intense wave of lethargy overtook his mind. Leon forced open his status window through the negative effects.

Vitality: 35/70

Mana: 32/110

Stamina: 12/60

“What the fuck?” he accidentally let out loud.

Leon wanted to check to see if anyone had heard his sudden outburst, but his depleted self restricted him. ‘I got like 10 points of vitality back and lost nearly all of my mana,’ he complained, too lazy to find the exact number. ‘AND I LOST SOME STAMINA.’

The world was spinning for Leon as he attempted to comprehend this ludicrousness. He’d learned before that using too much mana fatigued his mind and made his body tense up a bit. With the lack of stamina on top, he felt like he was tied down by ropes. ‘Scratch that, someone tossed weighted shackles on me.’

His complaints were silenced within his mind as he lost the energy to do even that. Before he knew it, Leon was lying on the ground, staring up at the sky before his view darken.

An unknown amount of time passed before he reopened his eyes. Staring at the sun, Leon guessed that only an hour or two had passed. Propping himself up, he found the field empty. ‘No one helped me. I was literally unconscious.’

He found it strange that no one came to help him, but he moved on from his irritable mood as he noticed something. The shoulder he had used his skill on felt brand new now, albeit the rest of his body still felt like shit. Summoning his status window, he noticed that all three of his main resources: vitality, mana, and stamina, had each gained roughly 10 points.

Leon didn’t call his skill test a success, but it did help… sort of. He dwelled on the negatives and positives of his decision for a while before he remembered why he did it.

-----------------

Leon arrived at the castle gates and weakly went through the usual formalities. Once the guards verified that the disgruntled figure was Leon, they let him in. They did, however, eye the sheathed blade in his hand that he was currently using as a cane. His right side wasn’t doing as well as his left where he had healed his shoulder, so he utilized his weapon to its fullest potential.

Dragging his feet, Leon arrived at Kassandra’s study. Kassandra took quick note of his condition, recognizing the slightly exaggerated exhausted movements. Leon’s psychological drainage alongside the body tension that the lack of mana gave him heavily influenced his motions. A tired person would be sluggish while Leon looked as if he was moving in slow motion or even just like an elderly citizen.

He went to open his mouth to greet Kassandra but was met with only an understanding smile. With a wave over her necklace, she gestured toward Leon. Right before him was an old acquaintance. A mattress was sprawled out in front of him.

Glancing between Kassandra and the mattress, Leon hesitated momentarily before he flopped his body on the bed, twisting his body to land on his back. That was the fastest Leon had moved since he arrived, and it was immediately followed by a sigh of relaxation.

Leon laid on the bed for a while, listening to the tinks and clinks of glass and pens. Kassandra carried on working as the ‘brave warrior’ recuperated.

“Thanks,” Leon finally spoke.

Kassandra finished up writing a segment of her paper before looking at the man. Leon was staring up at the ceiling. She had no intentions of interrupting his healing process and moved on to another table.

“You looked like you needed it. First combat training was that rough?” she asked, with a partially joking tone towards the end.

“Mmm,” he replied.

Kassandra laughed at the half-assed reply. She could tell that it must have been a long day for him, especially with how awful he looked. It was much worse than she thought it’d be.

“Who was your partner?” she inquired.

Leon’s eyes flicked in her direction, wondering how she knew about that. Kassandra noticed his inquisitive gaze and shrugged it off.

“I asked ahead of time. Not to mention, Sir Garett is fond of this teaching method.” She said, rambling on about what she knew about the class.

Leon absorbed all of her words, taking them as soothing white noise to accompany the orchestra of agony that he felt every time he moved a muscle. Kassandra stopped her words short, observing Leon’s absentmindedness. Understanding of his situation, she resumed her work in relative silence.

He didn’t know how to explain it, but Leon felt at peace in the room. He was grateful for the atmosphere that Kassandra created, making him appreciate his stay there more. There were a lot of things that stressed and weighed down on his mind daily like his worries for his friends and family, but this place always brought the good aspects of this whole world integration to light. Most of his time in this new world was spent in this room and as messy as it was, Leon wouldn’t change it.

Once done relishing in the good vibes of the study, Leon took a deep breath in and out. ‘Besides getting my ass beat… I’m really enjoying this place. It’s already much better than my old life.’ Instantly feeling a tinge of guilt as he recalled the good times he spent with his little sister and Mrs. Nora. ‘Yeah. It wasn’t sunshine and rainbows… but I wouldn’t trade it away.’

Pulling himself back, Leon decided to answer her original question.

“Silvermoor.”

The sounds of work halted as Kassandra processed his answer. Her gaze felt upon his rugged body once more in analyzation. Her eyes widened upon seeing his scuffed-up weapon of choice beside him. She broke into a small smile that carried a hint of a menacing aura.

“Good luck,” was all she said.