Now before we go on with you casting it on me and the king's daughter, cast the same spell on yourself and me. Her eyes opened fully again. She clenched her teeth. "Fine."
"Good, now go on, then. I'll get you your staff, but if you try anything—" "I won't," she immediately answered. "Well… how can I know for sure?" "Don't worry, this cast is a spell-type cast, so I would have to say it out loud for it to work."
I nodded and went to get her staff. She grabbed it. "Go on," I said as I was still holding her arm while she held the staff.
"Spell casting. Connecting magic."
She said as many small blue shining orbs appeared, floating in the air. "I use this magic to connect myself and the one touching me. The spell of connection binds me to him through pain and death. The pain going into him will come to me as well… yet the pain for me won't reach him. After finishing the words
I felt something move into my chest, into my heart. I touched it with my other hand. The blue, shining orbs disappeared.
"Here you go," she said.
"Let's see," I said as I lifted my arm and bit it hard, leaving a mark. "Agh…" she reacted. I grabbed her arm, and she had the same mark as me. "Okay, good. Now."
I let go of her fully. "Alright, we shouldn't stay here any longer."
She nodded and aimed her staff at her fingers. "HEALING!"
Green shining orbs appeared, forming around her fingers. The broken fingers slowly healed. "Wow, magic really is useful," I said as I turned and walked out of the room, giving her my back.
"Yet… something's off." I thought as I walked through the hallway. "She isn't that dumb… there's no way I just defeated a so-called teacher of this capital that easily." I kept walking, my steps steady.
"Hmmm… now that I think about it… she probably wanted this to happen." A slight smile formed on my face. "She must hate the king… and she's just playing along."
"Heh… fine." I walked faster toward the cafeteria. "I'll let her believe she has the upper hand." I slightly tilted my head. "She wants my help… but not directly. More like… acting as the victim."
I headed into the cafeteria and grabbed some food. Draven and Zareth weren't there, so I assumed they had already gone back to their rooms to rest. The place was still somewhat crowded.
The food tasted surprisingly good. There were even some strange flavors I had never tasted before, but they were delicious. "Not bad…" I muttered as I continued eating.
After finishing, I headed back to my room to rest as well. The day had been long, and tomorrow would probably be even longer.
--
The next day, we went to the studying hall. This time, we had academic lessons. The atmosphere was quieter compared to the training hall.
They taught us about this world and the kinds of monsters that exist. Monsters are separated into color ranks, starting from the weakest.
Green rank — Droven. The weakest creatures, all of them green. That was the same creature that attacked us outside the capital.
Then comes the brown rank — Krynt. After that, white rank — Orvex. Yellow rank — Varnok.
Blue rank — Elites. Purple rank — Hunters. And finally—
Red rank — Ultharion. The strongest of all. Dragons, demons… and the Demon King.
After the academic lessons, we had a training session with Kaelor. As all the heroes entered the training hall, we saw him already waiting, surrounded by weight bags.
"Hello, heroes. Today we begin our physical training to strengthen your bodies." He grabbed one of the weight bags and lifted it.
He tied one to his back, then another, and then a third. After that, he dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups. "See, heroes? Just like that."
He stopped mid push-up and stood back up again. "Now it's your turn. For starters, just one bag. More than that would be too difficult for beginners—"
We all went to grab the weight bags. As I lifted one, I could tell it was around 30 kg. Some struggled immediately.
Many couldn't even lift it, let alone do push-ups with it. Zareth, on the other hand, placed two on his back and started doing push-ups without much trouble. His breathing stayed steady.
Draven and many others—especially some of the girls—couldn't handle it, so they stuck to normal push-ups. Even then, some struggled.
I grabbed one weight bag and started doing push-ups with it. "It's not heavy… but I shouldn't reveal too much." I slowed my pace slightly.
I acted like I was struggling. I could feel Kaelor watching me closely. "He's still suspicious… but he doesn't know anything yet."
With that, we finished all our lessons for the day. We ate and returned to our rooms. The routine was already starting to form.
Slowly, the heroes were getting used to it. Though some still couldn't adapt. The pressure was clearly getting to them.
"They said we have a chance of defeating the Demon King… yet…" I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. "I expected something different."
"Powers… systems… something like in fiction…" I exhaled slowly. "But this… this is too real."
"Our progress is slow… way too slow." I closed my eyes for a moment. "We're in a 'game'… yet it doesn't feel like one at all."
"…Whatever. I turned to my side. "I need rest."
"After all…" I let out a quiet breath. "Tomorrow will be interesting…"