Lucas couldn’t even tell how many swings of his sword he did at this point. He lost count around the five hundredth one. Still, he somehow could not manifest that one Skill he has been taught. He memorised everything, the posture, the technique, the visualization of the Skill’s effect… and yet, the execution still eluded him.

The past couple weeks had been a real pain for him. From dawn till dusk, with only short breaks for sustenance, he was constantly in the courtyard of the cathedral, training under either Tserkit or Oderstan, the oldest among the three “cultist-mages” they met at the magic appraisal tower on their first day here, the same one who tried to help Edward manifest his magic power. The latter assisted the Hero in magic-related training, like memorisation of new formulas, mana training and, recently, even multi-casting, which was the other thing Lucas just couldn’t wrap his head around and figure out. The former trainer was now sitting on a bench with a displeased look as he watched his student fail time after time to perform that one Skill.

-Enough. You look like you’re about to pass out. Here.

Unceremoniously, the old captain tossed a water flask towards Lucas. He caught it and almost immediately drank all of its contents. The sun has been merciless today and Lucas has been standing here and training non-stop for a few hours already. Despite the foul smell and horrid, leathery taste the lukewarm water had, it still felt like a godsend to him. If only the Skill he had acquired from the gods was something like higher temperature tolerance or non-smelly sweat. Those felt like much more useful perks than simply increased muscles. You can just train those, but breaking your body’s basic limitations is a whole different matter.

Dropping the sword to the ground, the young Hero sat down on the grass, stretching his legs. He felt exhausted and his arms stiffened a little but he wasn’t hurting. The rough training and godly blessings greatly boosted his strength and endurance. Even his muscles grew in size or two. So, all in all, it all seemed worth it to him in the end.

Looking at the sapphire-blue sky, with barely any cloud on it, he wondered how his other fellow Heroes were doing. He couldn’t communicate with any of them and according to Tserkit, it would still be at least a few more weeks before he’s ready to take on the challenges the world outside has in store for him. As such, meeting them in person is probably impossible for at least a few more months.

With the corner of his eyes, he picked up Alleya walking into the courtyard. She was wearing her usual religious attire, almost as if she didn’t have, or wasn’t allowed to wear, any other clothing. Lucas still didn’t like how revealing it was, especially since the girl was often trying to use that fact to gain favour with him. He didn’t know if that was all just a play to get him to do his bidding or if the girl was actually into him but neither did he care about it. He simply kept repeating in his head that she was at least five years too young for him and kept looking away. This always made their conversations quite awkward for both of them. Because of that, he wasn’t particularly thrilled when the High Priestess started walking through the courtyard, directly towards him.

-I see you’re training hard as always, Sir Lucas.

-Just trying my best. Do you need something from me, your holiness?

-Just a moment of your time. You asked me to let you know if any new information about your fellow Heroes reaches me.

-Oh, did you learn anything new?

Hearing this, Lucas instinctively looked towards the girl. Seeing her smile, however, satisfied she managed to finally make him focus on her, he quickly looked down at the grass. Alleya frowned, clearly angry at him, but continued speaking with a heavy sigh:

-Indeed. It seems that your younger colleague, Sir Kira, has become quite adept at fire magic. His patron mentions that, while he finds him quite a bit too impulsive, he appreciates how excited for battle that young Hero is. He supposingly has already started venturing out to fight some local monsters.

-That sounds like Kira alright. He has always been a little hot-headed and tended to jump into action without a good plan too.

The girl nodded and started shifting uncomfortably from one leg to another. It was clear that whatever she was about to say, she was debating if she wanted to share that with Lucas or not. Finally, she took a deep breath and started speaking:

-There is also an update regarding that… magicless… Hero.

-Edward? How is he?

Lucas, hearing it related to his friend, immediately jumped on his feet, now towering over the younger girl. She took a step back, startled a little, and clearly displeased with how excited Lucas seemed to be to hear about his friend.

-His patron decided to do something similar to what you suggested we do on the Night of the Summoning. That… em… Edward, was he? He was presented as our representative assigned to assist the Frontier expansion. Of course, he is still treated as a Hero internally. That old king thought of it himself and that guy seemed to agree to it too. It also helps us a little, so there is no clash of interests. We officially agreed to proceed with this as the official explanation.

-That’s good then. Do you know how he’s doing?

-No. But along with the reports from that old king, there was a letter addressed to you.

The girl extended a piece of paper towards Lucas. Her face was twisted in displeasure, as if she almost hated herself for giving this to him. The Hero did not pay her any mind, though, grabbing the piece of paper and quickly unfolding it. His eyes lit up after seeing it was from Edward and his whole attention shifted to reading it.

“Hey there, Lucas. I hope this letter finds you well, if at all. It was some time since I last held a pen, so excuse my terrible handwriting. Hell, when was the last time I even wrote a letter like this? Hah, I don’t even remember the last time I wrote a proper email to anyone. Must have been a couple of years at least.

Anyway, how are things on your end? Found fame and glory yet? Or are they still shaping you into a perfect icon for their petty state? And have you heard anything regarding the other students? It’s impossible for me to contact them, so I’m hoping you can bring me some good news regarding them.

Myself, I’m doing pretty well. I’ve been well received and I seem to be on good terms with everyone here. No glorious adventures for me just yet, though. So far I’m stuck training the local troops. They’re even worse than you lot were on your first day, if you can imagine. It’s slow and tiring but I’m managing so far.

My hand is already starting to hurt, so I’ll stop it here. Let me know if you learn anything about the other Heroes, magic or Skills. And don’t skimp on your training, I’m still planning on winning that duel when we meet in person next time.

Stay strong there, friend. Edward.”

Lucas read it with a smile on his face. Finishing the letter, he folded the paper carefully and put it in his pocket. Then, out of nowhere, he let out a soft chuckle.

-So he’s already made a place for himself there. I should never have doubted him. Well, if he’s this confident, then I have to step my own game up too.

With renewed vigor and confidence, Lucas stood up. He dusted his pants and tunic off and picked his sword up. Alleya, who was still standing near, instinctively took a few steps back. Meanwhile Tserkit, who was dozing off on a bench the whole time Lucas was taking a break, now opened his eyes and returned to watching the young hero.

Lucas took a deep breath. He stood in a fairly relaxed stance, one Edward would definitely scold him over but one that just felt right to him. He held his massive two-handed sword in front of him, extended forward, with the tip pointing up. With the next exhale, he shifted his weight to the back leg and raised the sword up, now holding it over his head. With a quick, sharp breath, the young Hero brought the weapon down in a powerful swing. At the same time, the blade flashed with golden light, which remained materialised in the air behind the sword, slowly expanding until it suddenly shot forward with insane speed. The Skill was strong enough that it ripped a small trench in the ground, just a few feet in front of the, now absolutely terrified, High Priestess. For a few seconds after, small yellow electrical discharges could be seen jumping between lumps of dirt within it. Lucas found himself leaning forward, with almost all of his mass on his front leg. After the attack, he swiftly brought the sword back up, holding it up around waist level and directing the blade behind him, with the tip up into the air, ready to perform another strike. He found himself short on breath, however. His arms felt extremely heavy, more than they ever did in the past weeks. There was a weird tingly sensation going through his whole upper torso and his sight was a little fuzzy. A few deep breaths later, he started coming together, relaxing his muscles a little and allowing the sword’s tip to drop almost to the ground.

-By the Pantheon, you finally managed to do it! And that power…

Lucas slowly shifted his gaze towards Tserkit, who was not standing in front of the bench he was sitting on just a moment ago, his eyes wide open as he scratched his chin. Looking back at the trench he just dug out using his Skill, Lucas could fully understand his mentor’s reaction. Even he was finding it quite unbelievable. Before he could even properly start processing what had happened, the old soldier was already right next to him, looking closely.

-So, how are you feeling?

-I… like I didn’t sleep for a whole week… Every bit of my body aches.

-Understandable. That skill was powerful. You aren’t yet used to the mana flow inside of you and you unleashed all of it at once. With some more practice, you should be able to enhance your understanding of that Skill and tire yourself less as you use it.

Lucas relaxed his posture, bringing his sword up and resting it on his shoulder. He thought about what he just heard for a moment, using his free hand to scratch himself on the neck. The exhaustion he suddenly felt after unleashing that Skill started to hit him pretty hard, but he tried his best to remain aware.

-So, you’re saying that… I will have to keep training this Skill before I can use it properly? Wasn’t it supposed to just be, like, an idea in my head just ready for execution, with the same outcome whenever I desire it?

-You can use the Skill alright. But your body isn’t adapted to it yet, resulting in additional exhaustion. You will get used to it after a couple uses, though, so don’t worry about it. That’s just how it is for new Skills, no need to work yourself up over it.

-It suddenly doesn’t sound all that fun as it used to earlier. But I guess it still counts as a level up of sorts. Alright, so what do you suggest I do, then?

Tserkit looked like he didn’t understand the concept of “levelling up” but he knew better than to ask. It wasn’t the first time the young Hero spoke in phrases that didn’t make much sense to him. He learned that it is better to just ignore them and nod, as asking would likely result in an hour or longer lectures about topics he, or any other person in this realm for that matter, had no fundamental understanding of. However, hearing the enthusiasm in Lucas’s voice at the end put some extra optimism in him too.

-For now, simply practise the movements. You want them to be as precise as you can get them. Suppress the mana inside of you and you should be able to cancel the activation of the Skill, or at least lower its strength.

-Suppress the mana… Right, Oderstan taught me that some time ago, for when I tried to cast spells. Okay, let’s do this.

With extra energy and motivation, Lucas shifted his body to the position required to activate the Skill. This time, he didn’t have to do much. Instead, his body moved basically automatically once he thought of activating the Skill. He stayed conscious about his movements, though, as the final position was slightly different from the one Tserkit tried to teach him. It also didn’t seem particularly comfortable to him, given the odd position of his elbows but after moving them about for a while, the Hero realised he could actually adjust them to be more comfortable. Even after realigning his hands slightly, he felt like he could still activate the Skill with no problems. As such, after finding a position he felt more comfortable with, he remembered it and started suppressing his mana. He still wasn’t too good at it and ended up casting the Skill a few times, but the effect of it was greatly reduced compared to the first strike. Suppressing the magic power was still tiring, however, so each activation still resulted in excess fatigue but it wasn’t much compared to the exhaustion felt by unleashing the Skill at full power. By the evening, Lucas found himself once more without any strength, laying on the ground and staring at the passing clouds. He could tell things just got tougher in his training but he was happy about it. It meant he was making progress and was one step closer to being able to explore this new, fantastic world. And with that, he was also one step closer to meeting up with his peers. And, to him, getting closer to that goal was worth any difficulties and troubles he had to go through.