The treatment in this noble house is the best I've ever had in my life. I don't have to cook for myself, I have a massive room that's all for me, and it's cleaned every day. Quite frankly, this really is a fantasy world. My thoughts were interrupted with a knock on the door.

"Come in," I said, wondering who it could be.

"Hey Mer, we're setting off now back to the capital. We'll come by sometimes to see how you're holding up. Don't die too soon!" he said with a grin, although I could see a hint of pain behind his front.

It makes perfect sense why he would be upset. I was given all of this because of something I was born with, yet he and Ravinia weren't allowed to stay since they had no need for this 'training', which I have yet to undergo.

"Yeah, I shouldn't kick the bucket too soon. Take care guys."

After breakfast, I threw on the gi that Glodsvir left with me, and walked down into the courtyard.

"You're early," said the little girl who was in my initial 'testing' room.

"And you are not who I'm supposed to be meeting. Are you?" I asked, wondering where the noble was.

"You catch on fast for a peasant! Sir. Glodsvir had some errands to run so I will be taking his place for today."

Personal training my ass.

"We'll start with basic muscular training." Huh?

"Wait, not magic, but weight lifting and stuff?" I asked, dumbfounded. Wasn't I supposed to be training my magical abilities? Man, that sounds weird when I say it.

"What do you think would happen if you got hit with a spell with this frail little body of yours? Or worse, you had to fight someone head-on?"

She brought up a good point. After coming through the portal, my figure completely changed. I can't believe it took me so long to realize such a thing, much less needing a mirror to notice it... I guess I was distracted by so many other things.

"Now that you've come to your realizations about how pitiful you are, you're going to need to crank out everything I've written down on this list for you." the girl replied, handing me a list.

Let's see here... 200 single-legged squats... 300 pushups... 10km run... 300 sit-ups... Fuck.

As I lay stretched across my bed after a cold shower, I came to a realization.

What the hell am I doing here? I shouldn't be here. I need to be back home, this isn't where I belonged. My mom.. she's probably waiting for me.

As a salty tear hit the bed, I thought to myself. I don't want to go back to that, that torture... Every day, ever since I was in school, the bullying never stopped. I could never understand why such a thing was necessary.

As the brilliant light of the sun overtook the darkness of night, I woke up, got dressed, and went down for breakfast. The past few days have felt like each one on repeat. Wake up, eat, train, eat, sleep, in essence.

"Today's training will be a little bit different brat!" the same girl, whose name is Ellie, shouted.

With a sigh of relief, I asked, "Finally something different?" The physical training, although proving to be effective and be helpful, seriously is damn exhausting.

"That's exactly right! However, you'll probably be out for a few days after this..." she whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Wait, what was that?"

"Nothing serious!"

No, that sounded pretty damn serious...

"We'll be focusing on extending your mana reserves for now."

So it's called mana here... interesting.

"Your mana core can grow the more you expend its reserves. So, simply shooting out all of your mana will boost it a generous amount. However, it gets harder to make it grow later on, although you should know this."

"Did you forgot I'm a little brat from the country? Haha.." My effort at a joke failed, disappointing myself.

"Now, point your palm up to the sky and channel everything you got! When you're ready, release it!" she shouted, sounding... excited?

That's a first.

Raising my palm towards the sky and holding my right arm with my left to keep it steady, I bent my right knee and shifted my left towards the back for more stability. Then, I focused on everything I had into this one-shot.

Gritting my teeth, I released it all.

What came out from my hand assured one of my questions from last night. Am I enjoying my time in this world? As I stared up at the sky practically splitting from the near weather-changing blast, I couldn't help but smile as I blanked out onto the ground.

The last words I heard were, "Hey kid, you're really something!"

"Fuck!" I shouted as I woke up. An excruciating pain that originated in my chest moved down into my right hand. No way... the dragon?