"Soldiers, today's training will be about mana control. The trainers will assess the quality of your control and give you feedback to improve your control over mana."
'Damn.'
My stomach started to ache when I heard about today's training.
"The task is to create a ball of mana and keep it stable for as long as possible. Anyone with questions, please speak up."
I raised my hand immediately to ask the trainer.
"Sir, I don't have any mana."
When I said this, everyone looked at me in astonishment, and I even saw the trainer starting to get angry.
"Soldier, if you're trying to avoid training, the army is not the place for you."
"No, sir, I really don't have any mana. If you don't believe me, you can check for yourself."
"Alright, soldier, if you're not telling the truth, you'll be expelled immediately."
The trainer jumped off the platform and walked toward me, looking angry.
He placed his hand on my back and started to check. After a few minutes, he removed his hand and looked at me in confusion.
"You! How can a living being not have mana?"
The trainer started talking to himself, amazed at my condition, but the worst part was the other soldiers who began looking at me, astonished by the situation.
"Impossible! He doesn't have mana?"
"I've never heard of anything like this before."
I got various looks of pity, astonishment, and disdain.
I didn't care about that, but I wanted to know what would happen to me.
'Will they expel me? Probably.'
"Soldier, what's your name?"
"Caden Mort."
"Follow me to my office."
I followed Trainer Alex until we reached his office and went inside.
"Have a seat."
He asked me to sit and stood there, looking out the window, giving me his back.
"I will ask you a few questions, Soldier Kaden, and I want you to answer honestly."
"Yes, go ahead."
I answered calmly and asked him to continue.
"What is the reason you want to join the army?"
"There is someone I want to meet."
I answered directly to his question; this was my sole purpose for joining the army.
"Who is this person?"
Trainer Alex was surprised by my answer and responded with another question.
"The person I want to meet is the man with the seven stars."
I answered while looking into Trainer Alex's eyes, which seemed to be popping out of their sockets.
"Boy, do you know who you're talking about? It's impossible to meet this person unless you're a five-star commander, let alone become one. It's impossible for you to become even a one-star. Get rid of these foolish ideas and go home before you lose your life."
Trainer Alex spoke seriously, asking me to give up the only reason keeping me alive.
"I can't back down! But how about this, if I fail the final acceptance test, I won't apply again."
"Hah, boy, you don't know what you're getting into. Fine, you won't succeed anyway. Go out and continue the training."
I stayed in my place and looked at him a little embarrassed.
"What's the matter? Why don't you leave?"
Trainer Alex spoke, running out of patience.
"I don't have mana; how will I continue the training?"
"Go and do 500 push-ups then."
He seemed to realize why I hadn't left and calmed down a bit.
After I left, I headed to the training yard and watched the soldiers train.
'So this is mana, it's beautiful.'
It was the first time I had seen mana since coming to this world. The soldiers were sitting cross-legged with a glowing blue ball of mana in their hands.
Although it varied from soldier to soldier, for example, Lucas had a faint, very small blue ball in his hands, while Leon had a larger, more stable ball.
Ravenna had a giant ball the size of a human head, glowing brightly.
'She's very skilled compared to the others.'
But the most impressive person was definitely Leonardo.
He had a giant ball, ten times larger than Ravenna's.
The thing that distinguished it was its bright golden color instead of blue.
'This person is dangerous.'
The more I knew about Leonardo, the more cautious I became of him.
I went to a secluded place in the training yard and started my exercise.
Unlike running, I struggled a bit with this exercise because my body wasn't strong.
I finished the training in 20 minutes, but when I saw that the others hadn't finished yet, I continued exercising.
After four hours, almost everyone was done except for two people.
I was still doing push-ups while watching them.
'10012, 10013, 10014.'
I was counting while watching Ravenna and Leonardo, who didn't seem to be finishing anytime soon.
My arms couldn't continue, and I collapsed to the ground.
I began to regulate my breathing gradually, wiped the sweat from my forehead, and sat near the tree where I always sat.
Lucas, Leon, and Vincent stood beside me when they saw I was finished.
"Don't be sad, caden. Even though you don't have mana, I will defend you with all my strength."
"Haha, thank you."
Lucas stood in front of me, putting his hand on my shoulder, telling me this while wiping his tears.
"Who do you think will be the last person standing?"
Vincent spoke, folding his arms.
"I vote for Ravenna."
Lucas jumped from his place and looked towards Ravenna like a small admirer.
"I think Leonardo will win."
I spoke after Lucas and gave my opinion.
"Why do you think that?"
Vincent asked me this question, and I answered simply.
"My intuition tells me."
And after another two hours, it happened as I expected.
Ravenna's hands started to tremble, her face turned pale, and she stopped.
But that monster Leonardo didn't even have a drop of sweat on him. It seemed like he could do this forever.
When he saw that Ravenna was done, he stopped too.
But I saw that Ravenna didn't look well, so I went to her and asked.
"Are you okay?"
She didn't answer, so I put my hand on her shoulder to bring her back to consciousness, but she turned her head towards me quickly with a big smile on her face.
"That was exhausting. I thought I was going to die. That monster isn't even tired. It looks like I lost, haha."
She spoke while trying to regulate her breath due to exhaustion.
She took my extended hand, stood up, and dusted off her clothes.
"Even though this is my strong suit, I couldn't beat him."
Ravenna spoke with her head lowered in regret, clenching her fists tightly.
"Although you weren't the best, you were still very impressive to last that long."
I said, standing next to Ravenna.
"You don't always have to be the best. Being good enough is okay sometimes."