「Ellin: This is stupid, I’m taking this ring…」

Before I could react, Ellin had already slid the pain-inducing ring off.

「Allen: No! I must enchammmrm.」

My complaint died down in my throat as I lied down on the cold ground. The apathy quickly swallowed up all my energy.

I was betrayed.

Et tu, Ellin?

「Ellin: You’re not doing anything before I get you the medication.」

I grumbled in return.

Namrick sighed and loaded me back again on his shoulders.

「Namrick: Everyone’s staring at us…」

Namrick and I were the first to reach the training grounds. Ellin had taken a detour to get some Viridian leaves while Grastel had gone to the Guild to meet up with Yusdrolir.

The place was just outside the city walls, as big as a football field with training dummies, archery targets, and various stuff sprawled on the grass and bare ground.

It had a shoddy self-managed look, but then I’m not sure what I was expecting. There were about twenty grownups plus half a dozen kids playing around with wooden swords.

My friend unloaded me on a wooden bench and started training with other sword guys.

Why am I here? Watching others fight while vegetating on a bench wasn’t my idea of fun.

It took a good half an hour before Ellin arrived, followed later by Grastel and the dwarf.

「Yusdrolir: Good morning everyone!」

Yusdrolir eyed me.

「Yusdrolir: So you got done in by your own magic, huh?」

He looked amused.

「Allen: Hgrmpmrr.」

I said, thinking about shrugging my shoulders but making no movement.

「Yusdrolir: Magicians.」

He said, shaking his head while smiling under his beard.

That's rich coming from an alcoholic dwarf.

I was focusing all my efforts on sipping the bitter-and-sour decoction that Ellin had prepared on the spot, thanks to heat magic.

Grastel strutted around after hitting three targets in one strike. I was certain he was subconsciously using magic to make them fly on the correct path.

I was about to wonder about the differences in learning the passive and active use of mana, but it was too much of a bother. Instead, I slowly degenerated from a sitting position to sprawled on the bench, while watching my friends go on about their activities.

Namrick was sparring with Yusdrolir. Despite the small stature, the dwarf was keeping up without a sweat.

Ellin was peering into the distance as if expecting someone.

And someone came. A boy with blond hair I had never seen before. He waved in our direction and approached, a smile stamped on his face.

Ellin beamed, returning the greeting.

「Ellin: You came!」

「Boy: Hi!」

He noticed me, widening his eyes.

「Boy: Skullcrusher!」

My brow twitched.

「Allen: Mmrhfrr.」

He frowned.

「Boy: Huh, what’s wrong with him? Why is he all slumped down on that bench? Hangover?」

He asked Ellin, after having given me a puzzled glance.

「Ellin: Ignore him. He’s paying for his stupidity.」

I’m right here, you know?

The boy shot puzzled looks between me and my friends then shrugged and walked closer, whispering conspiratorially to my ear.

「Boy: It’s me, Edward!」

I frowned. Edward? I may be bad at remembering people, but I was pretty sure this guy didn’t look anything like the brown haired kid I had in mind. Although, the voice was vaguely familiar.

「Edward: ... I’m using an illusion ring.」

Ah, I see. Magic.

「Allen: Hmm.」

He could’ve said he was a prince or a god descended on earth, I would’ve reacted with the same enthusiasm.

「Edward: My name is Redan. Pleased to meet you!」

He said out loud, making a show of shaking my limp hand.

Is he still in danger? Is this necessary? I was trying to vegetate and human interaction was preventing me from reaching this important goal.

Namrick coughed to catch Edward’s attention, who turned to face him.

「Namrick: About last time… Sorry, I overdid a little.」

He said, scratching his head.

「Redan: No, it was my fault… I overestimated my skills.」

Both guys looked at the ground in an awkward silence.

Ellin was the only one with a satisfied look. I’m missing some kind of context here. Thinking about it was too big an effort, though.

I gritted my teeth. Damn it, Ellin, give me that blasted pain ring already.

The guys began training against each other while I remained stuck on the bench.

It took a while, but the decoction started having an effect. I moved my mouth, emitting sensible sounds.

「Allen: Hey.」

I could talk. Ellin glanced at me and smiled.

「Ellin: Hey guys, Allen is talking again!」

Yeah, what a great achievement.

I ignored the faces of fake amazement.

「Allen: Ellin, ring.」

She frowned.

「Ellin: Even if you’re a battle rager I don’t think it’s healthy to let your body experience constant pain.」

I presented my open palm impatiently.

「Allen: Enchantment, adjust pain level.」

She stared at me for a few moments then she sighed.

「Ellin: Fine… here’s the ring. I still don’t see how you plan to do that since the magic inside is not yours, though.」

I closed my hand around the ring, extending my consciousness inside.

It was true, I wouldn’t be able to alter the original incantations since their mana signature was different. They would resist my touch and degrade if I attempted to do so forcefully.

But I had 【Proxy Magic】.

「Allen: Magic.」

I explained. Ellin stared at me with a blank face.

I just needed to link my own layer above the original enchantments with a filament of signatureless mana. I did so.

I added a small construct to adjust the pain levels to my liking, nothing special. The ring had very little magic potential, so there wasn’t much I could do even if I wanted. It had to be made of iron.

Done!

I opened my eyes and put the ring on. I had a quick spasm just before I adjusted the pain to a reasonable level.

「Ellin: Are you okay?」

I raised a hand to stop her, then I stood up and walked a few steps.

「Grastel: Look! He can walk again!」

Grastel was mocking me, I narrowed my eyes at him.

「Allen: Shut up, Grastel.」

He grinned. Every second was like being pierced by thousands of needles but I wasn’t getting constant spasms or homicidal urges. Only a faint need to punch people.

I was reminded of all the times I was forced to destroy the office phone because the client was being aggravatingly dumb. A completely reasonable and relatable occurrence.

This is good. I can be functional with this.

「Allen: I’m good.」

「Ellin: You aren’t good. That can’t possibly be healthy… You heard what Master Edelrac said, you need rest and no emotion magic.」

「Allen: Not planning to use it.」

「Namrick: Want to spar with us?」

Namrick asked expectantly.

「Ellin: He should be resting…」

Ellin’s complaint went unheeded.

「Allen: Sure.」

「Redan: I want to match blade with Allen!」

I grunted in reply.

Let’s see how the rich brat can handle himself after the military training.

Quest added (Play with the kids)

We both got our wooden swords and started the duel. The constant pain was making me more suicidal so I threw myself against the opponent without hesitation.

Edward smiled and swatted his sword around like a pro. Right, he’s a blasted swordsman.

I “sacrificed” an arm to stop the sword blow and hit him hard with my shoulder, we landed on the ground with my sword pressing on his neck. His look of surprise was satisfying.

Did you really think I would stop after you hit me?! HA!

He frowned.

「Redan: But I got you first…」

「Allen: You got arm. I got head. Dead.」

「Redan: Right…」

We stood back up.

「Allen: Again.」

This time he was more guarded, swinging his sword and moving around as not to give me an opening to charge in, all I could do was parry and avoid the strikes. His swords skills were way superior to mine.

So fucking annoying.

I cast 【Burn】 around his hand.

「Redan: Ahh!」

He let the sword go and I punched him in the guts, grinning triumphantly. Edward doubled down and knelt on the grass, struggling to catch his breath.

「Ellin: Ed- Redan!」

Edward waved her away and stood back up, looking at me angrily.

「Edward: Y-You cheated!」

Grastel and Namrick looked amused by the show.

「Allen: Should’ve used 【Hardening】.」

I stated, he could’ve withstood the blow.

「Namrick: Swordsmen use 【Battle Spirit】 to strengthen their attacks and defenses.」

Namrick interjected, to which I rolled my eyes.

「Allen: 【Hardening】. Magic.」

「Namrick: 【Battle Spirit】. Vod.」

I pointed my sword at Namrick.

「Allen: I challenge you!」

I yelled. He smiled, accepting the challenge and readied himself in position. The next moment he shot towards me. Before I could react his sword’s tip was pressed at my chest, where the heart was supposed to be. He grinned.

Unlike before, he was now making use of his full speed. He wanted to show off.

I narrowed my eyes.

「Allen: Again.」

He got me again, this time his wooden sword stopping at my neck.

「Allen: Again.」

This time I managed to parry a blow. The moment he moved his sword back to take another swing, I put all my mana in speed and strength. Let’s see how you deal with this.

I slammed myself against him, grabbing his sword arm. We ended up rolling on the ground. Namrick seemed to be enjoying this.

He let the sword go and attempted to perform a lock. I too had learned some hand-to-hand combat so I tried to do the same. The result was an embarrassing tangled mess.

It was time for psychological warfare.

「Allen: Magic.」

「Namrick: Vod!」

While he shouted stubbornly I got both legs free. Namrick was stronger, but… I adjusted the pain ring back to maximum.

「Allen: GRAAAAH!」

I stood up suddenly and launched Namrick into the air using the last of my mana.

「Namrick: Whoaa!」

I immediately slumped down on the grass not even bothering to see his landing.

No mana, no pain. No pain, no gain.

「Allen: Grass. Comfy.」

I muttered.

Grastel was laughing in the background, clapping his hands.

Namrick approached me with a smile on his face. I had managed to smear him in the dirt.

「Namrick: That was fun… but I don’t think it would be very practical during battle.」

He crossed his arms.

「Namrick: You could use some sword training to better defend yourself.」

He said, nodding to himself.

I let Namrick enjoy his moment of superiority. In a real battle, I would use all the dirty tricks. Besides, I wasn’t even at my best right now.

「Edward: You guys are crazy…」

Edward said with a bemused expression.

「Yusdrolir: Gahahah! Ya see, craziness it’s a common trait in our line of work, Redan.」

The dwarf slapped Edward’s back sending him tumbling three steps ahead.

「Edward: Gaah!」

Namrick extended his hand to help me back up. I grasped it, got up, and walked back to the bench.

The pain ring was working, but using pain to fuel my rage came at the cost of getting physically tired sooner.

I was done.

Quest completed (Play with the kids) +10 EXP

I sure showed them. I thought, smiling to myself.

But Edward was not done with me. He sat next to me and began telling me of his time in the military. Evidently, he had misread my attempts at being a dick as deep and meaningful life lessons, so now a mistaken sense of comradeship was prompting him to share his experiences.

I was defenseless against the verbal attack.

In the end, I skipped the classes and only attended Grohm’s private lesson.

I ended up breaking his switch right in half since he abused it in a misled attempt to increase my attention. I thought I was safe then, but then I found out he had a whole drawer full of them.

I spent the rest of the day resting on my bed, practicing nothing except to control my aura.

Ironically, the apathy that prevented me from focusing on anything, was helping me reaching the unfocused state of mind Violet had talked about.

Hehe, just as planned. I blatantly lied to myself.

I lost myself in the mindless exercise of tightening and relaxing my aura.

Somewhere along the way, I fell asleep.

“No! I said ‘browser’. B-R-O-W-S-E-R.” I repeated again, strangling the cordless phone with all my might. “It’s what you’re using to navigate the website. Can you please tell me which one you’re using? It’s written there, in the title bar.”

“Title bar… ?” The senile voice said. The phone started making creaking sounds under my crushing grip.

“Top… left…” I was running out of patience. Why did I have to deal with this pleb that couldn’t even understand the fucking basics?

“Internet… Explorer?” He replied, unbearably slow.

I knew it! I tried biting off the phone screen to no avail. I put the phone back to my ear.

“The first thing I said… our new webmail does NOT support your version of the browser. There’s even a pop-up when you enter, warning you and suggesting what to do.”

“Pop up? What is that?” The aggravating voice made another dumb question that could be answered by a three seconds search on G*ogle.

“It doesn’t matter, just download C*rome or F*refox,” I said, the last bits of patience slipping from my fingers like fine sand.

“Download? Creme fair fox?”

My face went blank.

Calm down, Allen. Just take a deep breath. I took a quivering breath.

“Just… type one of them on the search bar, the one with the URL,” I said, slowly and clearly.

“You-are-well? I don’t get it… I just want to read my emai–”

*CRUNK!*

I stared silently at the broken cordless phone in my hand. I had slammed it hard against the edge of the table in a moment of pure unadulterated seething rage.

I didn’t insult the client. I adhered to the protocol. I reassured myself.

“Whoa, what did that phone do to you?” Asked Richard from the cubicle on my right.

“One hour and a half… to explain how to send a fucking email,” I said, grinding the phone corpse on the table to savor its demise.

“I see… It had it coming then. Accounting will make you pay for that, though.” He said with a shrug, before sitting back in front of his screen. No doubt he was about to message everyone to tell them about how I had just destroyed the shitty phone.

It had an anonying ringtone anyway.

“I can’t speak to normies… the language barrier is too wide,” I muttered to myself.

It wasn’t even my job.

I tossed the broken scraps into the trash.

I can’t go on like this, I need…

A thought crossed my mind and I opened the email client. I scrolled down the incoming emails from the “Employee’s benefit” group.

Yes… That one.

Meditation and Positivity course: find your inner peace and improve your work performance.

I’m desperate enough to try.

I sent an email to confirm my subscription.