Chapter 19 – Core Formation?

It was without a doubt to Max that the Optio was just thinking up new ways to have them work out and drain them of all stamina and strength. Creatively creating new creations had to be his most looked forward to moment only preceded by the joy the man felt when he saw them groan and ache in pain from exhaustion.

Max had never felt every portion of his body begging for salvation before.

He looked around at his little crew and found them in equal states of bemoaning their soreness. Arnie was laid out on his back and staring up at the sky wondering what he had done to deserve this punishment. Caleb was attempting to keep his cool by meditating, but he couldn’t hide the intense shaking his limbs participated in together.

The rest of the recruits were in similar states.

Optio Ignacious looked on from his elevated position with a wide smile. Senior Casius was watching from a distance as well, studying them and looking for something, but Max wasn’t quite sure what it was. The rest of the legionaries gave them long looks that he couldn’t decipher and then went about their daily routines.

Somehow, the Optio had mixed squatting with pushups and jumping. All three in one without pausing.

It was sadism and cruelty.

Whoever made these exercises deserved to be on the execution block for their crimes against humanity.

“Rest up. We have a new type of sprinting that is going to be introduced today after you eat your fill,” said Optio Ignacious. He turned and left. The surrounding legionaries stepped closer to the recruits and waited for them to gather themselves.

None of them were foolish enough to complain. Any sound of dissent or protest meant more running than what they already had to do.

Senior Casius’s words had been clear to him and everyone else that had been close enough to hear his words. “…Optio Ignacious loves nothing more than running. Woke up late? The entire barrack will run. Woke up early? Run. Don’t like how you looked at him? Run. Moved to slow? Run…”

Max felt the day pass quickly and had netted him less than before.

A full day of working out…

+1 vitality

+1 dexterity

It was likely only going to get worse as they continued to work out. It didn’t matter though the day was almost over.

They had gone from the packed dirt where they learned the Gathering Mana skill, back to working out with the Optio under the eye of the Record Keeper, then to the Chow Hall, where he and his crew had seconds, and lastly they were guided to an inclined hill behind their barracks. They did not stop going up and down in full-on sprints until they were sprawled on the ground.

He could feel his Skill Shard doing its job and helping his recovery, yet, not even that could distract him from the fact that the sun was setting and soon enough he would get some alone time not filled with what amounted to torture. There he could practice with gathering mana and trying to figure out what he was doing and how he was meant to do it with the Ledger.

Even as exhausted as he was, he couldn’t help but feel excited.

It took another half hour of being herded to the well for water and then back into the barrack before he finally found the opportunity he was looking for. Everyone was dead asleep and all the lanterns and braziers were dead. Not even Joel and his posse had enough energy to bully or attempt to lord over anyone.

Arnie was busy snoring beside him face first into his pillow and without his blanket.

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Max chuckled and laid back on his bed, closing his eyes. He searched for that feeling and experience he had gone through with Captain Hector. It took some time before he caught the edges of something around him in the air–

Mana Gathering Skill Active!

Level and attributes affect how well you gather mana!

Continue to level your skill and boost your necessary attributes to become better!

He took a shuddering breath and felt the very first wisp he had ever touched upon his lonesome in the air as it drifted toward him. The second his skill activated and he mentally grabbed it the world brightened and the mana around him became more apparent. Max didn’t need to open his eyes to know exactly where the one he touched was or the fact that there were many more around him, he just didn’t understand what he was supposed to do to gather them properly other than to latch onto one.

Max guided it to his waiting palm. It landed there and warmth spread through his hands very similar to Captain Hector’s wisps, but not as intense. It dissolved a moment later and entered into his Mana channels.

The differences were stark already.

This wisp didn’t have coherence or intelligent guidance to where it was supposed to go. Hector had moved his through the main and largest mana channels without purpose during the entire moment until they locked into his sternum in the darkness.