Chapter 11: Discipline Training
My following days were brutal to say the least. Almost every waking moment I was forced into fighting one of the three people that Bruno sent to teach me a lesson. They never really forced me into a situation of breathing hard, probably because they were still a little worried about another heart attack, but they had no issues with beating my body.
My only break from the constant beating was when I was having a meal or when I was training in secret at night. My training also took a certain toll on my body though. Every time I would have to lose unreasonable amounts of blood up until the point that I felt like I could pass out and die in minutes before I would start using up the mana that I stored over the day.
To make matters worse, after each successful training session, I would have to lose more blood the next time to get the same effect. I even noticed that my wounds were starting to close too fast and I would have to recut myself to reach the required blood loss.
Then, after my training I would be out cold for the entire night and would still have a faint weak feeling until I could get breakfast to replenish my supply of mana. It didn't help either that my body was constantly aching both from the injuries and from having to sleep on the ground every day.
The whole situation was complete hell, but despite the horrible conditions that I was placed in, I could feel my body getting stronger with each passing day. I'm sure others assumed that my muscles were getting stronger and thus harder to injure, yet I knew that it was actually that my blood was helping improve my recovery. Although not intentional, it definitely helped further prove to them that I was doing what they wanted with my mana.
After a week passed of following that same difficult routine, Bruno showed himself once more. At this point, the increase in recovery speed was making my routine much more bearable, so the sight of him had me worried that it was only about to get much worse. Yet, when he came to talk, his words surprised me.
"We are planning to go on a practical training mission tomorrow, so your discipline training will stop for now. Just know there are much more intense versions of that training if you wish to continue being uncooperative."
He looked me over a bit and perhaps because of the small number of bruises on my body he seemed a bit surprised.
"I see that you were actually able to train your body over the week. At least you aren't as useless as some of the recruits that buckle and become worthless during punishments. Take the rest of today to rest or train by yourself. Any questions?"
I guess after knowing that I was beaten this entire week, his anger completely disappeared.
"How hard will this practical training be? I still can't say that I'm all that strong, especially compared to the others."
"Let's just say that the training will be as hard or as easy as you want it to be. We are fairly strict on how much people must train here in the castle, but out there it is more of the case that you decide how strong you want to become. After all, it's much too hard to force a coward to be a vanguard. Instead, the coward shall just remain in his most useful position of being fodder or a meat shield. So, I guess you should ask yourself, are you content with being fodder in the fights to come?"
I sighed knowing that this type of training would be one of the worst possible for me. It is always extremely hard knowing just how much effort would be acceptable in any given circumstance. I would also have to be very careful in hiding any peculiarities of my body. I would have to be prepared to do anything.
"No, I'm not fine with that. I guess you would even use one of your potential heroes as a throw away force then?"
Bruno gave a smile.
"You better believe it. If one of the summoned heroes turned out to be useless in a fight, then that would mean that one of the others is the real hero."
This situation kept getting worse. I would have to perform well enough so that I wasn't deemed useless while also keeping my unique mana training a secret. That probably meant that I should avoid getting cut at all costs, lest somebody notice how quickly my wounds heal.
I was starting to get lost in my thoughts until Bruno spoke once more.
"Anyway, I suppose this training might prove to be exceptionally hard for you. We will even have healers on standby so you won't even have to worry about your body giving out. I'm really looking forward to see what kind of a performance an old dog like you can give."
Shit. I almost felt like Bruno could see through everything and was intentionally setting me up to fail. Each of the cards that I could play to help situations develop in a favorable way for me were being taken away. I hated the idea of leaving things up to chance especially after I resolved myself to stop that kind of thing.
Saying all that he came to say, Bruno laughed and walked away while looking a bit proud. Maybe he wasn't actively angry anymore, but it looked like he held a grudge.
Eventually, it was time for lunch and I at least had the idea to try and get more information out of Alex.
I grabbed my tray of food and began walking over to where Alex and Greg usually eat. They actually had a spot at a table, but I guess that comes with the advantage of being young and sociable. Eventually, I arrived in front of him.
"Excuse me Alex. Do you mind if we talk for a little bit?"
Alex seemed ready to agree, but before he could another person spoke out.
"Look who it is everybody, the old dog that hobbles around everywhere and always stays in the corner. I had you pegged as a mockery to every soldier here, but who would have expected that you would keep your head high even after a week of being beaten. In honor of your ability to accept being beaten down like some punching bag how about you sit at our table for today only?"
I didn't realize getting punished could bring out some sort of respect in the other trainees. Not that I would have sought out punishment had I known. Yet, his request put me in a bit of a bind. I was trying to fish for information out of Alex and I'm sure that would only become harder if more people were involved.
Regardless though, I didn't think I was in any position to decline his offer so I gave my thanks before taking a seat by Alex.
The whole situation overwhelmed me a bit, so it took a bit too long for me to form my question causing the atmosphere at the table to turn a bit awkward. However, I guess to salvage the situation the other trainee spoke once again.
"Well get on with it then. Either introduce yourself or ask Alex your question and leave."
Straight to the point I see. At least I would know fairly quickly if I did something to cross the line with this guy.
"My name is Ron and it's like this. I just spoke with Bruno…"
"It's Commander Bruno to someone like you. No wonder you were put through punishment training so early on."
He cut me off, but I decided to not let that anger me.
"I just spoke with Commander Bruno just a bit ago and he told me that the practical training you talked about before would be happening tomorrow. I just wanted to see if you had a better idea on how good at fighting, we should be. I might be an old man that has never really fought in his life, but I don't want to be seen as completely useless."
On the other side of Alex, Greg let out a whistle.
"Believe me, you are seen as completely useless."
That caused most people around to start laughing, but at least Alex was giving my concerns some thought. I could definitely see why he was able to make friends with the other trainees so quickly.
"Hmm, I'm not quite sure what level we should be at. Every one of the summoned people has gotten access to mana at this point and have started their own training. Yet, it hasn't been very long so I'm sure they wouldn't expect much. What do you think Sam?"
Apparently, the guy who let me sit at the table was named Sam.
"Well, typically new recruits are required to help kill at least one initial stage monster on their first training. If you guys are heroes and are supposed to be better than normal, you would have to either kill two or a monster at a higher level. As for the old man, I think it would be a miracle if he could simply keep up with the group let alone fight anything, but maybe they will have different expectations."
He asked me to introduce myself, but wouldn't even use my name. I guess the old man reference was here to stay.
"Well, there you have it. I'm not sure if that will help, but that is about all of the information that I could get right now anyway."
"No, that is plenty thanks Alex."
With that, I stood up and said my goodbyes to the group. They may have been alright with me at the table, but I knew that I wasn't a part of their group. Forcing my way in would only result in more hatred coming my way.
I went back to my corner to eat while deep in thought on what was to come.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone