After being unconscious for hours, the writer finally woke up. He looked in front of him and saw Yasolt tending a fire, cooking meat from the giant lizard.
"Huh, is that lizard meat?" The writer was still a bit hazy.
Yasolt looked up, turning the meat over the fire. "Yup, it's nearly done. Come over."
The writer was still sore, but he managed to get up and walk over. Yasolt handed him a skewer of barbecued lizard meat. The writer sniffed it, it mostly smelled fine, so he bit into it. The meat was tough as rubber, but after hours of unconsciousness, he was too hungry to question his meal.
As they ate, Yasolt turned to him. "So, you finally did it. How did it feel to use mana?" he asked with a cheeky, curious grin.
"Painful," the writer replied, thinking back. "But I also felt a rush, like I was flying. Painful but…relaxing."
"That's something, all right! Looks like you just needed a life-threatening situation to finally get it."
"Yeah, I guess. But now that I know the feeling, I want to experience it again." The writer looked at Yasolt. "And you're going to teach me."
"Me? Teach you?" Yasolt looked uncertain. "I learn fast, but I was never much good at teaching anyone."
"True," the writer admitted, "but all we've got is time. So, why don't you become a better teacher by teaching me?"
Yasolt thought it over and finally grinned. "Fine, then! You want to start right now?"
"No," the writer said. "My body's still sore. Tomorrow, we'll get out of here. Then we can start training." He settled back down to sleep. "And you're on watch tonight. Don't fall asleep."
Yasolt was a bit disappointed but still excited about the idea of teaching.
As Lucian reached the end of the page, he was pulled back to reality. He closed the diary, feeling both mesmerized and excited by the story. For a moment, he imagined himself on such an adventure. Then he thought, 'Could I have defeated that giant lizard?' He paused, then confidently said, "Hell yeah, no question."
But a glance at the clock reminded him it was nearly three in the morning, so he went to bed.
A week passed. During that time, Lucian's days were filled with training and reading in the library. He even started giving Tetsu some pointers on channeling mana. He wasn't quick to learn, but he knew the basics and understood my guidance pretty well. But something else happened too one night, when I opened the diary to continue reading, I found only blank pages.
"WHAT?!?" Lucian was shocked, flipping through the rest of the diary. Nothing just one line on the final page.
"The ending might be abrupt, but remember, those who dwell on the future are dreamers, those who linger in the past are reminiscers but those curious about both are seekers of wisdom."
Lucian stared at the words, thinking, 'This is definitely Gideon's writing, First, he gives me a random person's diary, hooks me on the story, then leaves me on a cliffhanger. What the hell? But what can I do? He's not even here for me to complain to. Still, I got a pretty good experience out of it. I wonder what happened to the two of them…and who was the writer?'
The thought lingered, and then a new idea hit him. 'What if I find out more about this Yasolt? He seemed like a noble from the way he was written in the diary. I might not know much about him now, but…let's leave it to fate.'
A month passed, and Lucian focused on physical training, understanding that to unleash the full potential of his magic, he needed a strong, resilient body. His training routine?
"ONE HUNDRED PUSH-UPS, ONE HUNDRED SIT-UPS, ONE HUNDRED SQUATS, AND A TEN-KILOMETER RUN EVERY DAY!"
Lucian kept shouting as he ran through the forest.