Kaiser lay in his bed. It was comfortable. Way more than a bed should ever be.
'Who would ever want to out of this thing?'
However, after his initial excitement about the room and bed, he remembered everything that had happened. His mood dropped and he once again inspected his ring.
[ Sarah's Lost Weapon ]
Owner: Kaiser Fael
Rank: 10th star
Evolution(warped): 1/50
Skills: Insanity Breaker(passive)
Owner Buffs: Enhanced Learning
'I need to ask someone about ranks and weapon skills.'
He was tired from today and being in the bed made him even more so.
'Mother. Where are you?'
He slowly fell asleep after that.
--The Next Morning--
Kaiser woke up feeling better than before. He needed to start training today or at least he wanted to. He could barely move still and it would probably take another month to heal his organs completely.
Therefore, he did the next best thing. He turned to the bookshelf in his room. Whether someone intentionally put these books in there or the previous owner of the room left them, they were exactly what he needed.
There was: Introduction to Mana, Mana Meditation, and Physical Enhancement.
He knew he'd be here for a few days so why not study up so that he could progress faster in his lessons with Teacher?
Besides, he was curious about the things that had been hidden from him all his life.
It sucked, but Kaiser was ready.
His road to killing Leviathan was not easy, so how can being bedridden for a couple of weeks stop him?
He struggled to get out of bed and slowly walked to the bookshelf, his hurt foot not helping.
It didn't take him long to reach the bookshelf.
He stacked the three books and made his way to bed.
Someone had brought breakfast earlier, so he didn't have much to do besides go to the bathroom.
He sat down again and started with what he was most interested in. Introduction to Mana.
And so he read.
Chapter: 1 – Origin of Mana
Complete.
Chapter: 2 – What is Mana?
Complete.
This was all new information, so he was thrilled to learn it. Whenever he tried to recall the information, he could remember it easily too.
'Is this because of the enhanced learning buff my ring is giving me? I wasn't this smart before.'
That sounded right to him.
He ate lunch and continued reading.
Chapter: 4, Chapter: 5, and so on.
He read them all, only stopping to eat his food and go to the bathroom.
--Two Days Later--
"Gosh, I finally finished the first book. Why in the world are there so many chapters in this thing?" Kaiser said exasperated.
He enjoyed the first day of reading. It was new and fun and felt like he was a new person with all that information. The second day was fun just not as much. All of what he was reading had started to come together in the book. He could tell what was going to be in the next chapter by combining what he'd read before.
Kaiser himself didn't realize that though and had started to get a little bored.
"Well, onto the next one I suppose."
He opened the next book. Mana Meditation.
--Two Days Later--
The book shut, and Kaiser leaned back on his soft pillow. He was sleep-deprived, only getting the minimal amount of sleep needed for one's body.
"Who knew there were so many different techniques to gather this mana thing?"
He looked around the room, there were white particles in the air. The particles were floating around minding their own business.
"These techniques are so inefficient. Unfortunately, it's one of the only ways to increase my mana pool."
His eyes were strained from practicing the mana technique even though it had only been a minute since he started using it.
Who knew if he was even doing it right?
"There must be better techniques than that right? Yeah, there should be. I bet my teacher uses a much better one. I should ask him about it."
Mana Meditation is one of the ways to increase a user's mana pool.
He paused.
"Where even is my teacher? It's been a few days. Shouldn't he come to say something to me at least?"
Right on time, the old man entered the room and took a seat at the desk.
He looked at Kaiser and immediately understood his condition.
"As expected, you heal fast." He began.
"But not fast enough. Kaiser, I have something to propose."
This was the first time anyone had visited him in 4 days, but he was happy there was a proposition.
While he had the patience to read these books. It wasn't fast enough.
He needed to get stronger. Way stronger.
The old man continued, "I have something you can consume, and it will expedite your healing process and it might even boost your physical foundation, but the pain it will inflict is harsh."
Kaiser saw the opportunity.
This was what he needed. Something that can shortcut his training process for better results.
The pain was nothing after he killed his friend. Everything he suffered from would be atonement on his journey.
"I'll do it, Teacher."
"I expected that, so here's a tip. The pain grows after every second, but the benefits you gain will correlate to how long you can remain conscious. So, my young student. Suffer hell and bring out the best results."
The old man took out a glass jar with a pitch-black worm inside of it. No light could land on it.
After setting it in front of Kaiser he sat back down and waited. Now was the time to be there for him.
'Pain. I can do pain. I must do it, I simply must.'
He opened the jar and immediately flopped the dark worm down his mouth.
Nothing happened for the first few seconds and then he felt his abdomen and foot start to tingle. It started softly but transformed into a burning sensation. Sweat built up on his body.
'Okay, this is nothing I can do this.'
The burning slowly morphed into scorching pain.
Kaiser grit his teeth, resisting the pain's influence on him.
Then it felt like those two spots were incinerating.
Kaiser melted away, or at least that's what it felt like.
While he was experiencing hell, he did notice changes in his body.
'My organs and foot. They've recovered.'
And then, all the pain disappeared.
Kaiser was relieved.
"I thought the pain was going to be much worse than that," he said to the old man.
The old man smiled bitterly. "Kid, that was the easy stuff."
As he said that, an even greater pain spread all over Kaiser's body. Before it was just two spots, but now it was everything. Every part of him was incinerating.
His sweaty body started to sweat even more, pain filling his mind, drowning anything else.
"This. Will. Not. Stop. Me," he said through a pain-filled mouth.
After that he remained quiet, not making any noise at all. 15 minutes later he wanted to give up, the pain and heat wore his mind down, but he persisted. His body was incinerated for another 15 minutes before the pain receded.
He thought it was over and took a deep breath, but when he breathed out. He could see his breath.
'I'm cold?'
That was his only thought before his entire body froze up. He couldn't move and he felt the ice pierce his bones.
Any movements he tried to make were reduced to nothing.
After the heat phase, his body became more toned and dense. He held so much more power yet he couldn't move against this cold.
'I'm still not strong enough.'
He shivered and endured.
The cold intensified even further as time passed and his mind started slowing down. His thoughts became more sluggish.
Kaiser's eyes started closing shut.
He searched for motivation to continue trying and saw his family. Dead.
His body which was on the verge of freezing entirely started to melt, little by little.
Thoughts rushed out after being held back. His heart burned with determination.
His anger fueled the flames and resisted the icy effects.
The old man who had been watching nearby was happy about what transpired.