The Wish Game

New Training Regime

A month after I was allowed to continue my mentorship under Mineva, I was completely healed thanks to repeated healing spells and pain relief spells by Rita and Mira. I met Mineva near the gate of the mansion where we were staying.

“So, all setup?” I asked Mineva and she looked at me with 50% surprise and 50% concern. “Weren’t you supposed to be resting? The healer would be mad if she knows that you’re ditching your resting period.”

I gave an innocent smile, “She’ll not know about it unless you tell her.” She giggled, “Yeah. Anyways, does it hurt?” Her look changed to serious as she put the question. “Well, it mostly doesn’t. But…” I stopped and rotated my arms slowly, “My movement range has decreased.”

Mineva nodded in understanding and said, “So, let’s go.” She led me to a cart that was a little away from the mansion. We got in the cart and she told the cart driver to begin.

As soon as Mineva climbed the cart after talking to the driver, we began moving. The mood in the cart was quite serious as none of us spoke a word during the trip. After about an hour, the cart stopped and we hopped out.

The location was very familiar, in fact, I had been there the last time I went out of the mansion. “Why are we here?” I asked Mineva as we entered the stadium in which intra class competition was held.

Mineva smiled and looked at me, “I won’t push you today for physical training, so instead we’ll be taking a strategic analysis of the event. You studied the crystal I gave you right?” The day I had the conversation with the warden, Mineva gave me a video crystal that had every information on the fighting styles of everyone in the competition.

“Yes, I did,” I replied and she took me into the arena towards the cliff region. We went down a narrow strip and she stopped in between after a distance. I looked around and finally, the place clicked and I muttered slowly, “This is the place where I spawned.”

Mineva heard my mutter and replied, “Yes. Today we’ll analyze what better routes you could’ve taken. So, there are two ways here why did you take the one you had to?” I thought for a while and replied, “I had no clue. Plus, going up seemed better than below.”

“Well, you’re right about that. Its natural instinct to go on a safer side, but it can be used against you as those three did.” Mineva said. I nodded as the scenes from the battle flooded my mind. We walked the path till we reached the broad patch where the rocks rolled towards me.

“The three of them ambushed you here. Tell me about your thought processes.” Mineva asked and I thought for a while before replying, “Actually, I wasn’t thinking anything. As soon as I saw the rock, my body acted on its own and I ran in the opposite direction.”

“Even knowing that you were running in a greater threat?”

“No, I realized halfway that I took the wrong path.”

“So, that means you’re still unable to resist the fight-or-flight response.”

I scratched my head and nodded in the affirmative. Mineva gave a warm smile and went back down the track as I went trying to avoid the bolder. “I didn’t get this part though. How’d you disappear from here?” She asked me as we reached the point where the bolder fell off.

“I…” I felt embarrassed but still continued after getting a glare from Mineva, “I slipped and fell down.” I bent down and pointed to the tree and the cave-like depression where I was hiding. “Oh, that was quite lucky and impulsive.” She giggled.

“Now, for the serious part. You impaled one guy with a spear and left him there for dead but left the other two after immobilizing them. Why?” She asked me with a concerned look. “Actually, that’s a bit complicated. You see, the rules said that our weapons were jinxed so as not to let us kill anybody.”

“Yes you’re right, all weapons were jinxed so that any fatal wound would be healed but you found a way around. How?” She asked me and I replied, “Actually, I didn’t find the loophole.” She was surprised at the answer and I continued, “The guy impaled by the spear, actually he was the one. The ambush was set up to kill me.”

“Wait, how?” She asked and I continued, “I don’t know, except when I was in that cavern, I heard him say, ‘Anybody can die due to accident’. Most probably, that is by my analysis, they wanted to crush me under that bolder or wanted me to jump off the cliff to die.”

“Hmm…That’s kinda interesting, so you killed that guy by using the same logic.” She asked. “Yeah, he’d bleed to death if he pulled out the spear, or else his legs would give up and the spear would wreck his internals,” I said calmly, knowing that the guy had no chance of surviving, not without the help of his subordinates.

“Do you know the other two you killed in the competition?” She asked as we walked out of the cliff towards the river where I’d camped for a while. “No, any others that I met were only mildly injured or immobilized,” I responded after a while of pondering.

“No wonder you didn’t. Actually, those were the handiwork of your pets. You see after you were knocked down, many participants were attracted by the fire. And they were caught off-guard by the brute strength of your pets.” She said as we rest for a while and allowing my body to catch up.

“I seriously need to put in some more work. My stamina has been reduced after the competition.” I sighed as I got up, ready for the trek. The bed rest had already taken its toll on me and no way was continuing the doctor’s recommended additional bed rest.

“Why’d you take their weapons?” She asked me further and I responded, “I don’t know. I just took them without thinking anything, what to do with them.” We usually had long conversations and it was fun. Mineva and I had grown close in spite of my grudges and her perfectionist character.

“So this is where you first felt the scout right?” She asked me as we reached the river bordering the cliff and forest regions. “Yeah, I was taking some rest when I saw those bushes rumble.” I pointed to the bushes on the other river bank.

“So, how’d you react?”

“Not, very specifically. I bluffed having a long-range weapon, the bow, and tried looking here and there but couldn’t. So after a standoff, I ran into the forest.”

“That’s where you made an intentional mistake.”

“Intentional…”

“You see, till now all the wrong decisions you made were either due to instinct or lack of thinking time. But here you had both.”

“So what do you think I should’ve done?”

“Well, you should’ve gone to a terrain where you can see the scout. Like the desert. Or you could’ve headed back to the cliffs and laid a counter-ambush.”

I thought for a while and those ideas made sense, in the desert the scout’s footprints would be visible in the sand while in the cliffs, I could’ve stayed out of radar easily. “Guess, it never crossed my mind.” I smiled off.

“You came with first-hand intention to go into the forest, right?” She asked and this time her insight surprised me as well. Out of everything I did in the last four months since the selection, every decision was instinctive on my part.

Except, the terrain of my last stand. I knew in advance that I was going to be a priority target, so I chose the forest to be the terrain where I’ll hold the defensive ground and put the home-field advantage to use.

“Yes, that’s right. I was everyone’s priority target. So, I figured that forest would provide me a home ground advantage.” I said and Mineva deduced, “So, you were planning a decisive last stand against the others.”

“Yes, I was,” I responded as we went to the burnt hilltop of the forestland. The hill was completely disfigured and a stair-like way was there to go to the top. “What happened here?” I wondered but Mineva asked, “So, what happened here? Tell me in detail.”

“Well, I came here by jumping over the branches of the trees.” I tried to show her but there weren’t any trees left for that.

“Then?”

“Then…I heard something on the ground and went there to investigate when I was attacked by arrows.”

“I am pretty sure you weren’t able to figure out the one shooting you. Right?”

“Yeah, and then I climbed up the tree where that ice guy got me captured and his buddies threw fireballs on me. Rest you know…”

I said, the conversation was taking a huge toll on me and I slumped down in fatigue. We sat on a bolder as she began her part, “After you were knocked out, the monster formed a defensive line. They carried many weapons and engaged anyone who came near.”

I interrupted her and asked, “How did the other two die? Up to what happened till now, there is no mention.” Mineva nodded, “I was getting to that. The other two, one of them was a swordsman while the second one was a wizard. They ventured close to the monsters, may be out of curiosity or something else…”

She pointed to the ground and I immediately grasped what she was implying, “They were buried?” Mineva nodded and continued, “Alive…” The statement hurt me deeply and I looked at the land, my head getting heavier by the second and soon blackness fell over.

I woke up after a few splatters of water on my face. Mineva was sitting right next to me, little balls of water levitating over her fingers. She supported me into a sitting position and asked, “What’s wrong? I was hell worried that I might’ve pushed you to fatigue.”

I tried and remembered the last conversation between us. “No, I am just fine.” Mineva, however, said, “I don’t think the healer would agree. I was worried that if you didn’t wake here and I’d to take you to her, she would grill me till I am toast.”

She gave me some water to drink and after resting for a while, she took me back despite my pleas that I was alright. In the cart, we didn’t talk at all till we reached the mansion.

It was only afternoon and she took me straight to the healer to have me checked. The healer was totally mad at us, listening to our story. “Didn’t I tell you that your body has been weakened by the pain-relieving spells and you should be in bed for at least a month?”

She yelled at me while I sat on a chair whimpering, “Yes, you did.” She used her magic to check me out while redirecting the fire towards Mineva who stood at a side with her back supporting the wall.

“And aren’t you supposed to be her mentor? You shouldn’t have allowed her to go.” She said and Mineva sighed, “Yeah, I know. But I wasn’t aware that she was so much weakened.” She was lying; I was the one who pressurized her for the training.

But when I tried to disclose it, Mineva gave a long glance to make me silent. The healer called Rita and Mira and asked them to take me to my room. The duo took me but I asked them to stop outside to eavesdrop on them.

Rita and Mira weren’t very affirmative of it but later agreed to sneak in a transmission crystal in the room. Rita took me to the room while Mira snuck in the transmission crystal and I had the receiving crystal.

As Mira came back, I activated the receiving crystal. Mineva and the healer were still having the conversation,

“…So, she fainted after you told her that her monsters crushed two of them.”

“Yeah, I didn’t even get the chance to tell that they were just the unlucky ones. Unlucky as the rescuers reached them later than the other twenty.”

‘There were twenty others as well…’ My body went cold as I heard it but this time steeled myself, determined not to faint. The three of us: Rita, Mira, and I continued to overhear the conversation.

“It really was serious. Some of them are still here, trying to recover.”

“You’re right. But I can’t tell her all this, if she hears this she might pass out. And this time, it’ll be worse.”

“A strong will, but not a strong heart I guess.”

“No, I don’t think it’s like that. She hasn’t experienced anything so much gruesome. I think that’s the reason she fainted.”

“You seem…”

The transmission was cut at that moment and Mira said, “So, it has been discovered.” I sighed and grabbed myself as the conversation gave me creeps. I completely ignored the last segment and could feel myself getting colder as Mira draped a blanket on me.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to blame yourself for all that.” Rita said but I stood up from the chair. “No, I’ll become stronger. I won’t even let death defeat me.” I felt a strange sensation of warmth as I garnered the determination.

From next day, Mineva decided to give me some theoretical training. I insisted on-field training though, but she rejected my request saying “The healer grilled me enough yesterday only. So, you aren’t going to field training until she says you’re able to.”

“I am not any baby.” I puffed out and she giggled before continuing on the topic.

“So, why do you want to master Magic Resistance?”

“You do know that I was captured by that ice wizard guy.”

“You mean Paras!!!”

I was disgruntled by her address to the guy and said, “Yes, by Paras. And after that those fireballs came in. I wasn’t able to find him due to his stealth spell. So, I want to work on this weakness. Plus these scars will make me remember what this weakness cost me.” I said while looking in the mirror beside me to see the scars the magically enhanced arrows left on me.

Mineva gave me a meaningful glance and said, “All right. But because you’re not allowed for field training, so I’ll just help you here for the time being.” She began,

“Now tell me how do you visualize magic?”

“Visualize…”

“Yeah, like…anything.”

I thought for a while but failed to get a satisfactory answer. “I don’t know.” She sighed in disappointment and reworded the question, “When those magic fireballs were coming towards you and you were bound by the ice magic, what did the magic feel like.”

I scratched my head and began pacing about the room. After walking about for a full ten minutes, I came up with an answer, “The ice was like a snake, that swallowed me bit-by-bit. The fireballs were like lions attacking to devour me completely.”

Mineva gave an affirmative response with a smile and I continued, “I think magic is like a beast unleashed by its master to perform a certain task.” Mineva thought for a while and said, “Very well, that should work. So, if a beast is coming charging towards you and you have to defend yourself. What’ll you do?”

I thought for a while, “I’ll get out of its way.” Mineva was unimpressed and said, “Or?” “Or I’ll bring out a fiercer beast in front of it.” “Or…” I thought hard this time and said, “I’ll try to make myself an unimpressive target to the beast.”

Mineva got up and sighed, “Your answers aren’t bad, but they won’t help you in all scenarios.” I asked, “So, what should I do?” Mineva said, “You said that magic was like a beast unleashed by its master.” I nodded before she continued, “The master of a beast has to be imposing and threatening to the beast in order to tame it, right?”

I thought for a while, I remembered how my brothers faced difficulty in taming horses and they had to intimidate him to get him under control. “Yes, you’re right. My brothers intimidated a horse before taming it.”

“Correct, and just think what’ll happen if someone, even more, intimidating comes in front of the horse, like a lion?” Mineva asked and I replied, “He’ll discard my brother and run for its life.” She cheered and said, “That’s exactly what Magic resistance does. You’ll have to be the intimidating lion that’ll drive the fiercest of magic that is your beast away from you.”

I got that in theory but, “How do I implement it in combat?” Mineva had me sit on a chair and cast a weak spell on me. The spell sped towards me but dissipated at about an arms distance from me. “Magic Resistance is the culmination of magic and willpower.”

“You must cast a magical barrier around you and your will power…only your will power must hold it in place.” She explained the concept in detail. I, however, didn’t get any of that and didn’t try to hide the fact from her.

She stopped to think and said, “All right, during battle, when any spell is cast towards you, you’ll use some magic to create a barrier all around you and then hold it using willpower. This way you won’t be using magic to sustain that barrier and your willpower will make you the intimidating lion that’ll drive the beast away from you.”

I tried to grasp the concept but Mineva told me, “Take it easy. Don’t get so worked up. But there is something you must know before you make your final call. The magic resistance’s barrier is two-sided, if you have to cast a spell with the barrier in place, it must be a powerful spell to pierce the barrier first.”

“But I can momentarily remove the barrier to cast the spell and put it back on.” I asked her and she replied, “Yes, but you’ll need to master Magic Resistance to do it so quickly. But for now, take some rest; we’ll begin training in Magic Resistance, Magic Detection, Presence Concealment, and Magic Combat from tomorrow.”

I was under a strict directive to stay indoors and rest, the first venture outside failed miserably and by now all guards must’ve been alerted not to let me out. So, my training was set to be done indoors with Mira and Rita acting as damage controllers. Mineva said as she left me to take a rest for the night, “Don’t slack off, you only have six months to the nationals and three months to the second test.” I nodded in agreement as Mira brought me food and Mineva left.