Unedited Chapter before rewrite
Yang Ce quickly sensed the Mana within him, soon followed by the Mana in the immediate surroundings. Although he could not truly see the Mana, he envisioned it as blue particles floating everywhere, similar to air.
Yang Ce was no stranger to the concept of Mana or other magical energies. Still, he did not know how the fictional energy differed from the Mana in this world.
Despite worrying about the possible dangers, Yang Ce decided to at least attempt to control Mana. He held out his hand and envisioned the Mana gathering on it. At first, it seemed fruitless, but as he tried over and over again, the Mana finally moved.
Before long, a tiny amount had gathered into a sphere on his hand. Yang Ce felt proud and excited, but he felt as if something was missing from the ball of Mana.
Yang Ce began to think.
If Mana is the pure form of energy, then is there another form? A more physical form? Just how many forms are there?
He knew that the hero of 4 elements, Mark, would logically be able to control the 4 elements. In that case, what element did he control? Could only elements be controlled?
Yang Ce shook his head and it cleared. He was the hero of Yang. If there was one thing that he could control, it would be Yang. The only issue was how to envision that, and even more importantly, how to make it come into existence.
After many many failed attempts, Yang Ce gave up and fell asleep, nearly completely exhausted.
The next day, he was awoken by the sound of a bell. It seemed to penetrate through the walls and ring directly into his mind. It only rang for a brief second, but Yang Ce was completely awake.
He got dressed and stepped outside of his room. In the common room, a group of servants waited for the 13 heroes to leave their rooms.
The 13 heroes were all led to the dining room and ate a peaceful breakfast with the royal family and the three kings.
Yang Ce saw that it seemed like the crown prince and the princess of the sword kingdom wanted to speak, but they did not dare to do so in the presence of the three kings of the human race, even if their father was one of them.
After breakfast, the 13 heroes were led to the same training field as before.
"The basic training of the heroes will begin today. Forgive me in advance. In the first third of the training period, the physical body will be trained. The next third will consist of training the mind. Finally, the final third will be used to train Mana. Any questions?" The king of the sword kingdom asked.
Neither Yang Ce nor the other members of the 13 heroes had any questions.
A servant of the king arrived at the training field with a large carriage. The king stepped inside and exited with thirteen dumbbells in his arms.
He dropped them on the ground before speaking. "Heroes, come grab one."
Yang Ce walked up with the other heroes and easily picked up one of the dumbbells. It was surprisingly light. It weighed at most 3 pounds.
"These are expensive training tools made of a certain magic metal. When Mana is added to it, it becomes heavier and heavier. There is an upper limit, but none of you will achieve it for a long time." The king said.
He walked up to one of the heroes, the hero of life, and put his hand on the dumbbell while the hero of life held it.
At first, the hero of life, Daisy, was able to hold it easily. In just a few seconds, she was struggling to even keep it in her grasp. Soon after, the king let go and moved to another hero, the hero of justice.
He continued on until he reached Yang Ce. Yang Ce barely lasted a few seconds before he could barely hold on as well. He had never trained and was not physically adept.
Among the 13 heroes, the only ones that held out noticeably longer were the hero of strength, Shu Wen, the hero of the sword, Yao Lin, and the hero of storm, Zeus.
The king brought more and more body building equipment from the carriage, testing them individually on the heroes every time.
After the equipment was adjusted, the horrifying workout began. After 3 hours, each of the 13 heroes were laying on the ground panting and unable to properly move.
That included the strong hero of strength, the arrogant hero of sound, and the anti-social hero of transformation.
They could only look at the sky and breath as the king began talking.
"Next is the training of the mind. Luckily for you all, a side effect of the first part is faster physical regeneration." The king said, gaining everyone's attention.
"As long as you can begin meditating and bringing Mana into your body, you will feel yourself recover." He said.
Yang Ce quickly began to strugglingly move his body in order to get into the meditating position. It took him nearly a minute of struggling to get up. He was the first one to get up, though the others soon followed.
All besides the spiritual hero.
"Hah! I told you he would do it. Give me my platinum coin." The Buddhist king laughed.
The lightning king just tossed a platinum coin at the buddhist king and ignored him.
This caused Yang Ce to look over at the spiritual hero. He was still laying on the ground with his eyes closed.
The spiritual hero opened his eyes and looked at the heroes staring at him in confusion.
"Who said that I need to get in a position to meditate?" He smiled before closing his eyes.
Yang Ce just shook his head and looked away. Each one of the heroes was more talented than the last.
As he drew Mana into his body, he indeed felt himself recovering faster. After an hour, the heroes were fully recovered and the king spoke up.
"That is the first part of training the mind. Simple isn't it?" The king said.
"Now for the second part. We cannot directly help you, as I have said, so you will simply be attacked. Buddhist King." The king said as he stepped away.