"Hahaha, good one, Marcos," Elliot teased. He didn't believe anyone could achieve such high scores on their mana sense test.
"But I'm telling the truth… you know what, forget it. You don't have to believe me," Marcos suddenly declared. He had decided to use reverse psychology, hoping they would at least be suspicious of his words.
But it turned out quite the opposite.
"Haha, you don't need to lie to us, Marcos. Even if your mana sense is terrible, we won't make fun of you," Charly explained to Marcos.
Marcos simply nodded. He was too tired from today's tests to bother refuting Charly and Elliot's words.
"It might even be a good thing. Wouldn't it be bad if everyone knew all about my strengths? In novels, the protagonist never reveals their true talent to the world, as it could lead to envy and fear of their potential."
Marcos was imagining all the dangers that could exist in his new life, completely forgetting that he was having a conversation with his companions. The atmosphere was somewhat uncomfortable, as everyone fell silent.
Marcos realized he had left the conversation hanging and tried to pick up where he had left off.
"Cough, cough, um… Are you curious about what my gift does?" he asked the others, feeling a bit awkward.
The funniest part was that Marcos ended up contradicting himself. Just a moment ago, he talked about not being able to tell others about his abilities, but now he was asking his companions if they "wanted to know about his gift," which was the most important and unique thing a person could possess.
Returning to the topic, Charly and Elliot nodded when they heard Marcos's question. Aaron remained silent because he had previously opposed revealing his own gift. Wouldn't it be amusing if he also openly expressed curiosity about Marcos's gift, even though he had adamantly refused just a moment ago?
But silently, Aaron turned his head in a specific way to listen more closely to Marcos.
Marcos explained his gift in detail, describing how he possessed three attributes and how he could apply them to small objects.
Charly, Elliot, and Aaron were amazed by Marcos's gift. They shared their personal opinions on how versatile it was. Even Charly and Elliot asked Marcos (except Aaron, who thought it would be inappropriate) if he could demonstrate it.
Charly placed a plate on the table and kindly asked Marcos to cast one of his "enchantments" on it. Marcos, somewhat excited, agreed to the proposal.
Feeling eager, Marcos chose which attribute to use. Finally, he settled on "Hardening."
He raised his arm, opened his palm, and pointed it at the plate on the table. A faint white light appeared over his hand as he focused on the attribute he wanted to select.
One thing Marcos realized a bit late was that, to use his gift, he first had to choose one of his attributes. This was somewhat complicated because he needed to concentrate. After selecting the corresponding attribute, he could easily cast it on an inanimate object. However, the object had to be small; otherwise, his gift wouldn't work. It couldn't "encompass" a large object.
It was like a cloth—it could wrap around a knife without much trouble. But if that same "cloth" tried to encircle a house, it simply wouldn't work due to the size difference. The same applied to Marcos's gift.
The plate looked the same; nothing had changed. Charly, with confidence, grabbed the glass plate and threw it to the ground. A regular glass plate would have shattered from that fall, as the barracks' floor was made of stone. Surprisingly, though, the plate remained unbroken.
Everyone watched in astonishment as the plate still remained intact. Too bad Marcos's gift wasn't very strong at the moment, because upon closer inspection of the glass plate, they found a small crack.
"Wow! It's quite impressive that the glass plate didn't break," declared Elliot sarcastically. In reality, he was quite disappointed with the result.
Marcos was also somewhat angry, feeling as if he'd been deceived.
"Shouldn't the plate have remained unscathed?" Marcos wondered. If a simple glass plate couldn't survive such a low fall, what would happen in real combat? Would his weapon break easily? Or worse, his armor?
Initially, Marcos believed he possessed a very powerful gift, but after testing its abilities, he felt quite let down. He had hoped that he could enchant, for example, a sword and make it unbreakable with his "Hardening" enchantment. Unfortunately, reality was different.
Charly and the others noticed this and tried to console Marcos, assuring him that no gift was useless. Thanks to their encouragement, Marcos's mood improved.
After bathing (obviously not all together), Marcos, Charly, and Elliot changed into fresh clothes and started playing cards.
Everyone was hungry, but luckily, their dinner arrived on time. A man in a white uniform (like everyone else working there) pushed a service cart filled with nutritious food.
There were four identical plates with meat and vegetables. Marcos salivated at the sight of all the food; he was famished from exhaustion. Fortunately, the camp administrators were considerate, providing their new recruits with nutritious meals to help them grow and recover faster.
After the man placed the food on the table, he began explaining some rules. They had to go to bed after eating and wake up early in the morning.
He also informed them that they needed to wear sportswear because they would start rigorous physical training the next day. They would choose their primary weapons and begin training with them.
Following the training, they would head to the cafeteria for lunch and then attend study classes where various concepts would be explained.
With that, the man didn't interrupt them further. Marcos and his companions quickly sat down to enjoy their first dinner together.
After dinner, they took their plates to the sink and went to bed. Marcos was excited but also nervous about what awaited him tomorrow.
Marcos and his companions got up and brushed their teeth at the sink. And in case you're wondering where Marcos got the toothbrush, it was simply in his personal drawer next to his bed. Everyone had a personal drawer. The camp administrators had likely stocked them with everything they needed.
From there, Marcos also obtained sportswear. He was dressed in a black T-shirt and blue joggers. He looked pretty good, although his short stature and malnutrition didn't help much.
Marcos and his companions left the barracks and headed straight to the training field. Along the way, Marcos saw other recruits heading there too, many of them looking groggy—it was quite early in the morning.
Upon arriving at the training camp, Marcos saw Lucio again. Lucio observed everyone with a serious expression, analyzing them and watching their movements. When Lucio's gaze met Marcos's emerald green eyes, his cheeks turned rosy. He looked away and began counting to see if all the recruits had arrived.
Once all the recruits were present, Lucio gathered their attention. Clearing his throat, he addressed them:
"From now on, we'll subject you to intense training so that your bodies become stronger and you don't perish prematurely in battle." Lucio scanned their faces, noting emotions ranging from enthusiasm to drowsiness and nervousness.
"I know some of you are tired, and changing habits won't be easy, but we're doing this for your own good. Now, let's begin!" Lucio suddenly exclaimed, then ordered:
"Run 10 laps around the field!" Without exception, everyone followed Lucio's command and started running.
But if the first exercise sounded crazy (it takes approximately 6 minutes to complete a single lap around the field—imagine how large it is…), everything else was even more grueling!
They did squats, sit-ups, push-ups, and five other exercises, with only a 1-minute break between each exercise. They performed 50 repetitions of each exercise in four sets. And if that quantity seems small to you, well, it's not!
Most of them, like Marcos, hadn't exercised much in their lives. Suddenly, subjecting them to a large number of exercises with high repetitions left them utterly exhausted!
And that's exactly what happened: when they finished the exercises, 99% of the recruits collapsed to the ground, completely drained. The remaining 1%, barely standing, included Sylvia, the silver-haired girl.
Marcos's entire body ached—muscles and bones alike. He struggled to breathe; the exercise had pushed him to the extreme like never before. Sweat covered him from head to toe, and he smelled of exertion.
His small, fragile body could barely endure it.
"Did I go too far?" Lucio wondered uneasily to himself.