The Dark Knight, the inventor of body enchantment, why does she think I will that technique like him when I can’t even use it normally. I must focus on absorbing magic and learning how to control it.

Before getting out of the room I tried meditating. I was in the same dark place but I felt that there was more magic inside me than it was two days ago. I touched the surface of the lake and I stirred some water around while looking at the waves. I knew that I was standing on something but I couldn’t see. I jumped in the water but nothing happened. I was just floating around. I tried focusing some magic on my right hand and then I saw the water enveloping my right hand. I was so scared that I actually fell completely in the lake. It felt like I was drowning and I couldn’t move. The feeling disappeared after a while and I realized I didn’t absorb any magic. After some thinking I decided to try absorbing as much magic as I can. This time then quantity of magic I absorbed was enough to empty the lake so I guess I absorbed all the magic I had. After I finished meditating I found myself gasping for air, it felt exactly like the time I tried using body enchantment then I checked to see if I had any black veins. Some of them appeared on my arms but the colour wasn’t that intense which means my body is getting used to absorbing magic.

When I went to the kitchen my parents had a serious look on their faces.

“Your mother and I have discussed something important. We are going to give you another haircut.”

“How is that important?”

“You look exactly like a girl and I thought that changing your hairstyle may do some good also a long hair will put you in a disadvantage in a fight. Pulling your hair or setting it aflame are common tactics in tournaments.”

“So that’s why you have short hair.”

“So that’s the important discussion we were supposed to have?”

“No, Kraft will train you using a method learnt in his tribe. Like you Kraft was part of a nomad tribe who specialized in testing a human’s physical limits.”

“Your mother said that healing magic didn’t work on you but I think the spell I will cast on you will work and if they don’t I have other methods.”

“What spells are you talking about?”

“Earth magic can be used to increase the mass of an object but it’s casting time is long compared to other debuff spell so it’s not used in battle.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard for you, after all the number of black veins is the sign that your body is adapting.”

“By the way kid, do you even know the names of the seasons in our language?”

“The what?”

“The four seasons. The time of ice, the time of bloom, the time of fire and the time of fall.”

“Ellen told me the abbreviated forms. I know that there are 12 months in a cycle or year, depending on what term you use and I know that there are 30 or 31 days in a month.”

“Well enough with this, let’s go outside and I will show you my training method.”

I went outside and Kraft came after a few seconds. He gave me a bracelet and told me to put it on. When I put the bracelet on my arm I could feel my magic disappearing and I started feeling weak. My scan showed me that the bracelet was using a person’s magic to make their body feel heavier. So it’s like cheating your muscles to think you are heavier than you actually are. Excluding the fact that I had major trouble standing up all was well.

“Now you are going run with me to the village and back.”

The fuck did you say? I can barely move and he wants me to go to the village and back. My complaining ended when I felt a slap on my back. If that’s his way of encouraging he’s wasting his time.

Despite what I said earlier here I am running and running out of breath while trying not to lose sight of Kraft who is making fun of me for being too slow. My house was farther from the village than I expected.

Somehow I reached the village and I’m on my way home. Kraft went ahead and my body adapted to the new weight faster than I thought. By the time I got home it was already evening and Ellen was waiting for me at the door. It’s a good thing that she was waiting for me because my legs gave out and I fell flat on the ground. I really thought that my body got accustomed to this training until I found myself sitting on the shore of the lake. The scan showed that the bracelet was not made to stop the magic from flowing, only to disperse some of it and my body used the remaining magic to keep me from passing out while I was running. It actually felt nice in here. The water was calm and my pain from running disappeared. The water I mentioned could be used to fill a cup, so I’m guessing that the magic in here was not enough to keep me going. I absorbed the little magic left and left my inner world. When I woke up I was already in bed. I expected as much, with both my stamina and magic gone I couldn’t do very much and so I went to sleep.

The next day my mother woke me up. She was going to give me a haircut.

“Looks like you didn’t have any time to meditate today.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I keep track on the black veins that appear on your body, if those veins disappeared now it will be too fast even for you.”

“So I’m going to meditate now.”

I closed my eyes and I found myself in my inner world. The volume of water increased more than before so I guess that using that bracelet was better than I thought. Just like yesterday I jumped in the lake and floated around while absorbing the magic. It seems that if I absorb it slowly it doesn’t hurt. I absorbed almost all the magic I had and then I woke up.

“So what now?”

“To me it looked like you just blinked, but judging by your veins you already finished absorbing magic.”

“I thought I was absent for 10 minutes or even more.”

“I’m not even going to try to act surprised anymore, what you used is called battle meditation. This technique is used when a magician is grave danger, by using magic to enter an instantaneous meditation state he or she could gain a little time to replenish their magic or come up with a new strategy. I was considered a gifted individual in the arts of meditation but I can’t use it for more than three minutes. I’m beginning to feel jealous you know.”

“I guess I am a special case after all.”

“I went to the imperial magic academy when I was 4 and I was the youngest person to finish it and Kraft became the most powerful warrior of his tribe when he was 10 so we are not that different from you.”

“I excel at learning.”

“From what I saw, you assimilate information faster than anybody I know and you are pretty much a demon with human skin, not even your internal organs work the way they are supposed to.”

After I got legitimately burned by Ellen she took a dagger and gave me a haircut. I ended up with a buzz cut. The hair looked fine but the girlish look was still there. If my body adapts to this world it must mean that women are more appreciated or it’s used to confuse my opponents, if I don’t look like some kind of bodybuilder people would think I’m weak.

That is to be seen when my body decides to show the genetic masculine traits I’m supposed to have.