"Huh, you sure are late." Nick heard Katrina say.
Nick turned his head to look at her. "Uh, I'm not sure I ever left..."
"What do you mean?" Katrina asked, a confused look on her face as she cocked her head to the side.
"I mean exactly what I said... I never woke up in my home world. I think I actually got some sleep..." Nick tried to sound calm when explaining his predicament, but in reality he was extremely worried he would never be able to go back.
"Huh... That's strange. I don't know what could possibly be causing that. I might be able to think of a reason given a few minutes, however."
"I've thought of two reasons. I may either be in a coma or dead. Those are the only two reasons I could think of that would explain why I could actually sleep here."
"Could be, but I would say a coma is more likely. I'm not sure you would still come here if you died. It's possible, but less likely than you just being in a coma. It does raise the question of what would happen if you died here, though." Katrina looked lost in thought.
"Well, let's hope we never find out..." Nick let out a nervous laugh.
"Yes, of course. It is my job to keep you in good health, after all."
"As long as you don't try to kill me for science..."
"Don't be absurd, you wouldn't even have a way to tell us the results."
I sure hope that is not the only reason she's not trying to kill me... "Yeah, but for all I know I could be dead in my world and this could be like my second chance at life. I don't plan to waste that second chance."
"Well, since you are here, why don't we fix you up? We could just let you heal naturally but I imagine that would not be that much fun." Katrina took a look at the large blood spot on the bandage. "Well, the bleeding doesn't seem to be too bad, but it is best to not move when you still have a hole in your abdomen."
"Solid advice." Nick said sarcastically. "After we take care of that maybe we can take care of my other injuries." Nick had noticed that once the shock of still being in this world wore off that he had a lot of pain in his ribs, jaw, and nose still.
"Ah, yes, I had noticed those yesterday. They aren't too serious, a couple of cracked ribs, a broken jaw, a few chipped teeth, and a broken nose. Speaking of which..." Katrina reached out and placed one thumb on each side of his nose, and with one jerking motion managed to set it.
Nick heard a cracking noise as he felt pain shoot through his nose. "Ouch..."
"I will take care of those injuries once your stab wound is mostly healed. Now, lay still and don't talk much. I need to concentrate, otherwise it will take a bit longer."
Nick decided to shut up and let her do her job. It took a bit longer than two hours to fix the stab wound to a point where it was stable, at the moment it was just a scab. After that she moved on to his other injuries, placing her hands on his chest to work on the cracked ribs. "Why did you put your hands over the stab wound by the way? Until now you have just placed your hands on my chest to heal me."
"This is targeted healing, up until now I have more or less been healing full body injuries or injuries involving large portions of your body. This way I can focus more of the magic on one specific spot and speed up the healing process."
"Ah, I see." Nick watched as she healed his ribs.
"Hey, Katrina, is Nick here?" Nick recognized that voice anywhere, it was Kane. Nick was extremely late for training.
"Ah, yes, he is. I forgot that he had training with you at eight."
Kane walked towards Nick's bed as the bloody bandages and the now closed wound came into view. "The hell happened?" Kane had a look of confused concern on his face, a look that Nick had never seen from him before. In fact, it was a face he had not seen more than maybe one or two people make his entire life.
"I was stabbed in my home world. The guy I got into a fight with ambushed me. They beat the crap out of me until I was able to fight back, that's when I got stabbed. I passed out and ended up here." Nick sighed deeply. "The only problem is, it seems I'm not able to go back yet. I think it is possible I could currently be in a coma or even be dead."
Kane seemed surprised at the news, it took him a minute to regain his usual composure. "I am going to spend a lot more time training you in hand to hand combat skills. I can't have my pupil getting roughed up all the time. It is a matter of pride." Kane seemed to be mad, Nick had never seen the man show so much emotion before.
Normally Nick would object to extra training, but this recent incident had showed him just how much of an amateur he was. He probably would have been completely helpless without the aid of his magic. It was embarrassing and shameful that he had to essentially cheat to be on the same level as them. "Yeah, I was able to injure a couple of them, however. I learned how to use my shock magic."
That seemed to surprise Kane. "Really? Well, it is good that you were at least able to fight back a little bit. Even though it is quite obvious you lost the fight. Do you know what kind of damage you caused?"
"Not really, I think I messed up one guy's arm pretty bad, the other guy I hit in the stomach so it is hard to say what kind of injuries I caused."
"Alright, your shock magic trainer should be glad you at least have an idea of how to use it. Our usual training session will only go half as long, the next half you will go elsewhere to train with the person who will now be your shock magic instructor. He should also be able to teach you other things if you make a good impression and want to learn them."
"Well, what kind of person is he? It would be good to know if I want to make a good first impression."
"Hmm, well it is actually kind of hard to make a bad first impression with him. Rolfe is a pretty carefree and jolly guy. As long as you aren't a dick, you shouldn't have any problems getting on his good side." Kane sighed. "I'll wait here until you are healed up, but it doesn't seem like I will have much time with you today."
Rolfe, huh? "Alright."
Katrina interrupted. "I should be able to heal him enough within the hour to get him up and running. Everything else can be left to nature. I could heal that stab wound the rest of the way if you want, or you could let it heal naturally if you want a scar. I know some guy prefer to have scars for some reason."
Nick thought about it for a second, there were a couple reasons to keep the scar and a couple reasons not to. "I think I will keep the scar. The scar isn't exactly a symbol of pride, but it should give me motivation. If I ever start to lose motivation I can just look at the scar and remember why I need to get stronger. Getting stabbed sucked, I definitely don't want it to happen again."
"Very well, it is your body after all. Now stay still and shut up."
Nick stayed quiet for the next hour as Katrina healed up his damaged bones. "Alright, your teeth and ribs are healed completely, but your nose and jaw will be sore for another week or so as they heal. You can come back later if you want me to quickly fix those. Your stab wound has no chance of opening up again, so you should be able to do whatever you need to do without worry."
"Can't you just do it right now?"
"I would rather not, I am exhausted. Come back later and I can finish up."
"Alright." Nick slowly stood up, he could feel a dull pain in his jaw and nose. "We should stop by my room, bloody pajamas probably wouldn't make a great impression." Kane nodded, standing up to follow Nick to his room. Once Nick got to his room he quickly changed his clothes to what he usually wore for his training and put his bloody pajamas into his laundry basket.
"Alright, we should be able to squeeze in an hour or so of training before we go see Rolfe." Nick nodded and followed Kane to the training room for a quick training session. Once the clock hit 11:30 Kane decided it was time to go meet Rolfe. This would be the usual time his new training routine would end, the next four hours would be devoted to Rolfe's training. Nick couldn't help but wonder what Rolfe would be like, although Kane had already given him an idea.
It was a twenty minute walk to the room he and Rolfe would be using to train, but Nick could make it there in five minutes if he ran. Kane knocked on the door before walking in anyway, more as a warning rather than asking for permission. As Nick entered he didn't see anyone, he looked around for a second before the double doors on the far side of the room opened. "Welcome!"
The man, who Nick assumed was his new trainer, seemed to be a bit over six feet tall. He was completely bald with no facial hair, his eyes were a dark brown, and he wore a thin leather cuirass. "You must be Nick! My name is Rolfe, I shall be leading you down the path of shock magic." Rolfe held his hand out for a hand shake.
Nick gave Rolfe a firm handshake, Rolfe laughed in satisfaction. "I like you already. Kane, will you be staying to watch?"
"No, I was just showing him the way here. I will get out of your hair, or lack thereof." Kane said with a smirk, it was rare for Kane to make a joke. Nick had seen many sides of Kane he was recently unaware of.
Rolfe also laughed. "Alright, I will make sure to get your pupil back to you in one piece."
"Ah, don't feel shy. Any damage you do can be reversed as long as you don't kill him." This was a dangerous train of thought, Nick did not approve.
"I wouldn't want to make extra work for the medical staff, I will go easy on him for now." Nick let out a sigh of relief at the man's words. Kane left the room without another word.
"So, I assume you already know how to channel your shock magic, correct?"
"Ah, yes, for the most part." Nick nodded.
"Alright, demonstrate." Rolfe motioned towards one of the multiple punching bags in the room. "Don't hold back, use every last bit of mana in one strike."
Nick nodded, walking over to the punching bag. This was the first time he would be using shock magic while still in his right mind. He could remember the feeling from when he used it, he was sure he could duplicate it. Nick took a deep breath, focusing on his core and building up his mana. As he swung his fist he released all of his mana in an explosive wave the second his skin impacted the punching bag.
Nick could feel himself become light headed from lack of mana as a loud booming noise echoed throughout the room. Sand was pouring out of the bag, there was a rip on the opposite side of it. Rolfe whistled. "Wow, that is a lot of power for someone so new to magic, you got some talent. Most can't even manage half that at your age."
Nick was also surprised that he could generate this kind of force. He expected that it would do a lot more than a normal punch, but he had not expected to do that much damage. "You need to learn to control that explosive power, if you let too much of it out on the wrong target you could kill or seriously injure someone. Lucky for you, I can coat myself in enough mana to completely absorb any damage you do. You can practice your control on me as I give you pointers."
Nick thought back to the times when he had used shock magic, for a second he had wished he had killed one of them. When he noticed what he was thinking he pushed the thoughts out of his mind. "Alright, I think I will need to sit down for a bit though. It will be about an hour before I get most of my mana back. You did tell me to use it all, after all."
Rolfe nodded. "Alright, then I'll tell you something that you probably didn't know about magic while we wait."
Nick raised an eyebrow, he knew quite a bit but he also knew there was still a lot he did not yet know. "Magic power is not always directly related to how much mana you put into an attack. In some cases two people can use the same amount of mana while one person's magic is twice as strong. Some talented people have extremely strong magic from the start, like you, and others can get stronger through training."
"Why is that?" Nick had been under the impression that everyone starts at the same level when it comes to magic.
"Some people have a stronger connection with their affinity. That connection strengthens the more you train and can also be naturally strong, or weak, in some. You may have natural talent and a strong connection to your affinity, but most who use shock magic have a much stronger connection with their affinity currently than you do, but they didn't when they started out."
"Interesting. I wonder if that decreases the likelihood of having a second affinity."
"There is no way to tell for sure, but the chances of you having a second affinity are already pretty low. Those who possess rare affinities like shock or electricity are unlikely to ever obtain a second affinity. Though, with enough training, a person with electricity magic can learn fire magic."
"That's unfair." Nick sighed and laid on his back. "I mean, it's really cool that I have a really rare form of magic, but having more would be a lot more fun."
Rolfe let out a hearty laugh. "Indeed, though I think you will find that shock magic is quite useful. Especially in battle."
Nick sat up once again. "That reminds me, I know it will probably sound like I have a death wish or something, but I was wondering if it was possible for me to register at the adventurers guild."
"Sure. Usually anyone under 18 has to have parental permission to register, but you are a special exception. Besides, I can give my recommendation too."
"Sweet, then-"
Rolfe cut Nick off. "But, I will only give my recommendation once I feel confident I have trained you to the point where you can handle yourself. I am sure Kane would also do the same."
"That could take a while..." Nick was feeling a bit discouraged at the fact that they would only recommend him when they felt he was ready, but he understood that decision. It would be suicide otherwise. "We better get started, then. I only have a little bit of mana back, but it should be fine for today, right?"
Rolfe nodded. "Then, let us begin."
The next four hours consisted of Nick hitting Rolfe with magic too many times to count as Rolfe gave him pointers on where to attack, how to attack, and different combination of attacks in order to get different effects. Rolfe also taught him a bit on how to control his power, which was pretty simple. Once Nick understood just how strong his magic was, it was easy to figure out just how much mana to use to get a desired effect. Nick was sweating and breathing hard at the end of the session, Rolfe seemed amused. "Well, that was not bad for the first class."
"Can I get that recommendation yet?" Nick asked, only half joking.
"Ha, no. I'm afraid we will have to have quite a few more classes first. And not just on shock magic, there is a lot more you need to learn before you can think about joining the adventurers guild. Unless you want to die, anyway."
"What else do I have to learn?"
"Ideally, before you join you should summon a familiar and learn hardening and dispel magic."
Nick could hardly believe what he just heard, he had many questions. But first... "Hold on, summon a familiar? Why didn't I heard about this sooner? That sounds awesome!" Nick was excited about the idea of summoning some kind of magical beast to assist him.
"Well, usually we wait until someone is pretty strong, just in case. Sometimes the being that is summoned disapproves of the summoner and attacks them. There have been a few times where a summoning has ended in several deaths when the summoner was ill prepared." Rolfe had a solemn look on his face.
"Ah. I would still like to try though, is there any kind of precaution we can take to prevent something like that?" Nick watched Rolfe let out a deep sigh.
"If you really want to summon a familiar that bad, I will run the idea by Kane. Me and him should be able to handle anything that you summon without much trouble, but we will also have to notify the castle guard and royal guard before we attempt a summoning. There is a good chance they will deny your request and you could have to wait a year or more until you are allowed to summon a familiar."
"I'll take the chance." Normally Nick liked to be cautious, but the idea of a familiar was just too cool to pass up just because there is a chance it could rampage and try to kill you. At least that was Nick's reason at the time.
"Alright, well, I will see what I can do. Right now you should go get some food and rest up. If it gets approved then tomorrow is going to be an... interesting day." Rolfe let out a anxious sigh as he left the room.
Nick may be stranded in this world right now, but at the moment that fact worked in his favor. He wouldn't have to wait that long to get the verdict on whether or not he would be able to summon a familiar.