During day five of training.
"Heack! Heack!"
Everyone was wheezing for air while forcing themselves to take another step forward through the pine forest with weights holding them down.
But with such heavy body weights, injuries were bound to come in sooner or later. And that was exactly what happened.
As Mike was the one with the biggest body, he, unfortunately, lost his balance while stepping over a small boulder and tripped with his trembling legs.
Initially, this wouldn't have been a problem. This should have been a minor problem, but it wasn't easy to regain footing while being pulled down by three hundred pounds and sleep-deprived for five days.
While staring at Mike stumbling back, they all heard a loud grunt when he made contact with the ground. Then, turning their heads towards Mile, they were met with an awful sight.
A sharp tree branch was sticking out of his right lower abdomen. A tree branch thick enough to cause everyone to worry, it was evident the branch had pierced organs.
They all knew that if they didn't do anything, Mike would be finished in a few minutes. But there was nothing anybody could do with what they had.
Aerie was the first to react and fall on her bottom while shrieking at the sight of Mike's wound.
Alex simply turned his head away. Levi, Issac, and Owen followed right after.
It was only May and Ellia that was able to look without becoming disgusted. Ellia glanced at her surroundings to see if there was anything worthwhile to treat Mike, but she found nothing.
May crouched down beside Mike and began slapping his face to keep him from losing consciousness.
"What the hell happened here?" James's voice suddenly appeared behind them.
Looking behind, Ellia saw him rushing over to Mike to check on his condition.
"Oof... that looks bad," James said, twisting his facial expression. He then turned Mike over slightly to cut off the branch impaling him, but he kept the piece inside to stop the bleeding.
James then placed his hand on Mike's shoulder and prepared to cast a teleportation spell., but before he could, James was quickly stopped by May.
"Wait! You can't do that!" May yelled while grabbing James's wrist. "That's going to kill him!"
"What do you mean? I'm taking him to the medical ward."
"But you're doing that by casting a spell!" May said. "If you were to cast a spell with a weakened person, then you would be lowering their vitality even more!"
"You think I don't know that." James glared. "We don't have much of an option."
"There's another option," May spoke while frantically searching the snowy floor; she found a twig and shoved it onto Mike's face.
"Here, bite onto it." May offered, then put the stick in his mouth. By now, Mike was rapidly taking in small breaths to lessen the pain in his body.
"What are you doing?" James asked May.
Surprisingly, May ignored James and grabbed ahold of the branch that was inside Mike. The slightest movement caused immense pain to Mike, so May was careful.
Tears formed in his eyes as veins popped up on his forehead from biting down too hard on the stick.
Before anyone else could say anything or do anything, May had already pulled the branch out of Mike.
A large hole was created in his body. The amount of warm red blood flowing out of his stomach was unbelievable.
"The fuck are you doing?" James yelled horrifiedly. Even Ellia had the same exact reaction as James.
But May ignored the screams behind her and began applying pressure to the open wound. Unexpedidtly a golden light glowed beneath May's palms.
"It's healing magic," Ruth spoke inside Ellia's mind. "It's a rare type of magic only accessible to few.
Ellia gazed down at Mike's wound, quickly closing as if the healing process was multiplied by a hundred times. In a few seconds, the bleeding had stopped, and the giant hole in his body vanished as if it was never there.
"Healing magic?" James mumbled while switching his gaze to May.
In response, May creaked her head away from James's star with nervousness.
"You know what this means, right?" James spoke.
"Yes... I know... fuck..." May muttered while biting down on her lower lip.
'Wait, what's going on?' Ellia questioned herself. 'Is James seriously going along with the no magic for a week rule or something...?'
"No, it's not that." Ruth corrected. "Healing magic is a prized ability in the battlefield that is lacking. If it is discovered that you're able to use healing magic, then you will be dispatched to a medical team."
'What's wrong with that?' Ellia asked as she found no problem becoming a medic. 'You would be listed as serving in an active war but also in the rear lines. So you would basically be able to reap the benefits without risking your life.'
"Well, the answers are easy. Some people just don't like being in the rear lines."
'Ah, I see. May is another child who would kill to see the betterment of the Empire.' Ellia thought to herself. 'But I don't think she understands that becoming a medic would help the Empire too.'
"I won't be saying anything," James said to the depressed May.
"Eh? What do you mean?" May asked while looking up at James.
"Just like I said. I won't be saying anything, but now you're responsible for all the injuries that happen in the squad."
James had basically made May into the squad's private healer. Inside of sending her off to the medics ward, James had decided to keep her.
"Of course!" May firmly nod her head with a smile. Anything to avoid working at the clinic!
"Good." James nodded. "But I have something to ask you. Since when did you start using healing magic."
It was probably just to find May's level of experience in healing.
"Ummm... when I was about six?" May answered, not knowing why the question was asked.
"Oh, an early bloomer." James nodded but then glanced back down at May with a glint in his eyes. "But if you know healing magic, then why hadn't you used it on the injured guy during the small test?"
Hearing his question, May realized why.
"He was simply not worth my mana," May spoke coldly. "I was keeping myself warm by casting a fire clock on myself. If I had healded him, then I would have died from the cold and mana sickness.
James closed his eyes and sighed. "I should give you a good smack in the face."
"Wha…?" Confusion was written all over May's face.
"Don't "wha" me. Just get stronger." James said. It was a hard and simple truth. If you had been more substantial, none of that would have happened."
May was silent. She seemed to be taking in James's words slowly.
Ellia also seemed to be considering James's words. 'Maybe if I were a bit stronger in my previous life, then maybe I wouldn't have easily died.' Ellia thought, not realizing she was one of the strongest back in her time.
"Easily died?" Ruth scoffed. "You were strong enough."
'But seeing how I died, I don't think so."
"Mana can't be cultivated like an apple tree, y'know," May said, puffing up her cheek in a bit of pout.
"That's why you're here, kid. To get stronger."
"Right..." May nodded.
"Alright then, get marching! We still have a long way to go!" James shouted but got no response from anyone, so he turned around just to see three corpuses scattered across the snowy floor.
Owen, Levi, and Alex were all limp on the ground, asleep without any care. On the other side, Aerie was staring at the ground while thinking deeply about what James had said.
"Wake up!" James yelled crazily.
"H-huh?!" Owen woke up with a jolt.
"When did you fall asleep?"
Open hearing their instructor's question, everyone scrambled behind James and began making an X with their arms. Not for James but for Owen to see.
If he were to answer, then it wouldn't be any different from admitting that he fell asleep."
"Uhhh, I don't know... I think it was when May began healing Mike?" Owen replied without a single clue what was going on despite the obvious signs.
"Sigh!" A big sigh sounded behind James.
"What? I wasn't the only one sleeping." Owen began blabbing.
"Alright, I'm doubling everyone's weights." James finally said, and with that, everyone felt their weights double.