As I watched Claudia, she stood on the stage and prepared to conjure a small fireball, which was the extent she could manage at her level.
As I watched her, I endured the peppery sensation rousing in my eyes.
My eyes started to feel drier and itchy by the second.
Yet, I couldn't just blink nor look away.
This discomfort was the cross I, alone, had to carry.
My eyes burned from staring for too long as she prepared to cast her fireball then.
I couldn't afford to miss anything, not even one millisecond of the entire process.
Tiny vessels were visible in the white of my eyes as they slower got redder but still, I couldn't take my eyes away from her.
…Not until she was done.
'Fuck!'
I clenched my jaws and grimaced, enduring the uncomfortable sensation.
Soon she was done and I blinked.
I've never thought that blinking would be so relieving at this point.
Perhaps, it hurt because this event would be recorded as the first usage of [Jack of all Trades] to this current body of mine.
My mind had memories of me using my skill several times but my real body was doing so for the first time.
I subtly rubbed my eyes, soothing the pain.
"Are you okay, man?" Bright asked, having noticed how much I was rubbing my eyes for some seconds now.
I didn't answer.
After a few more seconds passed, I looked at him with my right eye moderately reddened and the left slightly flushed as I confidently smiled.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
Bright furrowed his brows.
Obviously, he didn't buy such a clumsy reply but he could not dispute it either, so he shrugged and faced forward.
"If you say so."
I covered my right eye with my hand and looked forward.
It wasn't over yet.
I wasn't sure if I still had enough visual tenacity in my eyes to see through the next process but I had to.
This opportunity of having various skills displayed before me was not something that easily came by.
I had to make the most out of it despite the cost.
'Now for Theo,' I said in my head as I slowly gasped from the just concluded strain I had to endure.
He gave the people around the sidelong glances to make sure no one was particularly fixated on me.
Then, I began to control my breathing, making it as natural as possible.
I didn't want any unnecessary distraction, especially not with Bright almost finding me out earlier.
"Theo Ferron," the instructor called the young man forward as Claudia made her way back to the line.
The handsome young man brushed his permed black hair with his right hand as he stepped closer to the Instructor.
Theo was certainly full of himself.
Maybe he believed himself to be the most handsome or something but whatever he was doing with his face and lips right now made me feel like trashing him.
Here I was, burning my eyes to watch him feel too good about himself.
Like the rest before him, he placed his hands on the Tablet after wasting some time.
The Tablet turned dark grey, signifying that he was moving to the next station.
After a short conversation with the Instructor, Theo stepped back for a demonstration of his ability and of course, I was watching from the crowd of Trainees.
Theo folded his hands into fists, clenching them a bit too hard as he gritted his teeth.
His facial expression was like that of someone about to force some stony hard shit out of his butthole, even I feared that he might wet his pants anytime from then.
A second later, a deep, glistening, dark grey, or more like a darker shade of silver, substance manifested around his wrists like a band.
From his wrists, the substance travelled both up and down at the same time, covering his entire hands and going up his forearms until they reached his shoulder and extended beyond it a little bit.
Immense struggle was evident on Theo's face as he struggled to get the substance much more beyond his shoulder but couldn't and eventually gave up.
"That's enough," the instructor halted the boy while recording his finding on his tablet.
He had noticed how much the trainee was straining himself and had to intervene.
Cough–! Cough–!
I immediately fell forward in shock as I started to cough, prompting Bright and Cassandra to swiftly come to my aid.
"Are you okay, Lux?" Cassandra asked in a worried tone.
My heart skipped several beats and my entire body felt a surge of painful impulses in an instant that caused me to lose my balance.
The strain of [Jack of all Trades] was a lot for my current body to bear.
Of course, I did eventually get used to it in the past but right now, it seems I have to make plans of doing that earlier in this lifetime.
I held Cassandra's hand that she placed on my shoulder and looked her in the eyes.
"Your eyes, Lux!" she blurted out in shock.
"...They are red."
"I'm fine," I said, shaking my head. "Don't worry. I'm just a bit sick with a severe headache."
"You are not okay, Luxane."
"I agree with Cassie, man," Bright added. "You don't look okay at all."
"I said I am fine," I established with a stern demeanour while managing to stand back up.
Bzzt–!
[You have acquired a new skill — Iron Body]
Yes!
I had done it.
I had registered a second skill for the day and that was good. But I had also reached my limit for the day.
Thanks to the stage I was at, I couldn't do more than two.
I remained still, trying to calm myself as Bright and Cassandra's words went through one ear and out of the other.
When they noticed that I wasn't paying attention to them anymore, they stopped and left me alone.
For Bright, I knew he'd give up but with Cassandra, I wasn't going to hear the end of it.
Her stopping right now didn't equate to the matter not being brought up just after we left this place.
…But nothing a CHOCO! brand of chocolate bar won't solve with her.
I just have to buy a basket of it and give her my sincere apology along with it and it's case closed from there.
I chuckled inwardly.