After falling face-first onto the cold, hard floor, Rain was surprised that neither he nor the floor showed any signs of being broken.

  Still gazing at the annoying smirk his teacher held, Rain held his aching nose and spoke:

  “I’m guessing that was a test?”

  “Sure was.”

  Taking the staff of his throat, Dawson offered him a hand. Groaning, Rain gladly accepted and stood up, fixing up his clothes.

  “For someone without any real combat training, that wasn’t too bad. Smart decision to follow the path of your flames, but as you can see, this world can be quite unfairly matched.”

  There was no other way to see things; this lesson made that clear for Rain. Even if your strategy is solid, one can’t easily overcome the difference in strength. If it had been any other trainee, even someone considered strong like Lance, his flames would have at least had an effect, prolonging the fight. But in front of a mountain like Dawson, it didn’t matter.

  “I’m surprised, for someone who has had only two weeks of training, you handle your Reflection well. No wonder Officer Trant spoke highly of you.”

  “Thank you, teacher. It feels…natural, somewhat.”

  Nodding his head, Dawson turned his back and started gathering some training equipment.

  “That’s called talent. Even though we all receive our Reflection, it doesn’t mean everyone is proficient in theirs. Even so, being able to intuitively handle mana like you is farther from common. Which is why I took the liberty of reassigning you.”

  “Reassigning? From where?”

  Rain had a bad feeling about this. The shivers crawling down his spine made that clear to him.

  “As of now, I removed you from Officer Trant’s mana training. His course is far too simple, meant only to guide trainees on how to handle mana and the basic usage of their Reflection for survival. You, on the other hand, are proficient enough. So, I will take over by mainly focusing on your martial training, including some usage of your fire in a real combat scenario.”

  It felt like a lump was stuck in Rain’s throat. This meant that he would train the entire morning and early afternoon with Lieutenant Dawson. The Man known as the Berserker.

  ‘I’m so screwed…’

  “Uhm…So this means we are having more of these real combat tests?”

  Dawson turned his head to Rain, carrying a perplexed look on his face.

  “Of course…How else are you going to learn? But I’ll be nice and try not to break too many bones…Although we do have a good healer in case that happens.”

  ‘Did he just say ‘too many’ bones?’

  In reality, Rain was not completely surprised; someone like his teacher had reached a high status through training like this. So, even though it will be miserable, the rewards from it will greatly help him in his fight for survival.

  Moving towards the centre of the room, where Dawson had laid out various weapons, weights, and other training equipment, Rain's eyes wandered to the far end of the room, to where he had shot his bolts of fire to illuminate the hall. To his surprise, two smudges of blackened stone stuck out from the otherwise gray stone surface.

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  ‘At least it did something.’

  Rain was quite happy with himself; Dawson’s praise reinforced his belief in himself, and his visibly increasing proficiency would surely be a great boon to him.

  Noticing his pupil’s locked eyes, Dawson interjected:

  “If you’re worried about the walls, don’t be. I merely didn’t turn on the protection shields to surprise you. Still, these stones are mixed with materials from the Mirror; they are quite durable. Even to fire.”

  While Rain didn’t really think about the logistics of his Reflection in a closed environment like this basement, it did reassure him that he could go all out in training. More so, his fire bolts weren’t really meant to inflict damage as much as they were meant to illuminate the dark room. So seeing any sort of trace of them on the wall showed that even his weak attacks could be painful if not deadly towards the right target.

  “Alright, Rain, pick up your weapon and show me what you’ve got.”

  Shrugging off his thoughts, Rain walked towards the wall stacked with different weaponry and picked the spear leaning against the wall. Though there was a small difference between these weapons and the ones he was used to.

  “Uh, Teacher? These are sharp.”

  “Yes.”

  Rain simply stood quiet, unmoving, and gazing into the dark eyes of his teacher. Seconds passed in silence until Rain silently nodded his head multiple times in crushed defeat.

  “Right, right…that…seems about right.”

  ‘I forgot he is a maniac, well, I’ll trust my vision that I won’t die here.’

  Picking up a long two-handed sword, Dawson placed himself a small distance away from Rain, holding his long sword diagonally in a defensive form.

  “Alright, come at me with all you’ve got. Don’t worry about hurting me.”

  Taking a deep breath with a heavy sigh, Rain held his spear as he had learned and charged towards his masochistic teacher.

  Time went by rather fast, and by now, Rain had already lost count of how many times he had felt the cold embrace of the stone floor. Luckily for him, his training was over for the day. Using his spear as a slight crutch, he walked toward the stack of equipment, leaving his weapon to rest for the day.

  Looking over his body, he did not feel good. Combat training in the first weeks was already tough on him; that was mainly because his body hadn’t adapted to the harsh physical exercise needed yet. So by now, his burning muscles weren’t much of a problem anymore. Now, training consisted of true pain. Being from the slums, Rain had seen his fair share of violent fights, even having slightly participated in some; however, being cut by a sword was an entirely new experience for him.

  On each of his arms, legs, and his torso were now two bandages. They weren’t deep wounds; however, that didn’t mean it was painless.

  Seeing his student look over his own body, Dawson, who was finishing the cleanup, spoke up:

  “I do apologize for this, Rain. Trust me, I don’t do it for some weird fetish or unnecessary punishment. The truth of the matter is: You will get hurt. Out of everyone entering the Mirror, only around twenty percent survive, and I can assure you all of them had to fight for their lives and did not come out unscathed. You need to learn to fight, while also enduring injuries of your own. To think straight, even under amounts of unbearable pain.”

  Closing his fist, Rain looked up.

  “I understand. The Mirror is ruthless and unforgiving. I need to get used to pain if I am to overcome my vision.”

  Giving him an acknowledging look, Dawson walked toward him, patting his shoulder.

  “You will. You’ve got talent. Who knows, maybe you will be the one to discover the Mirror’s mysteries.”

  Chuckling, the duo went their separate ways, with Rain now heading toward his first survival and world knowledge course. On his way there, Rain couldn’t help but wonder about his teacher's last words.

  ‘Uncover the mysteries of the Mirror…’

  It was true that the Mirror was still a mystery even to the most accomplished researchers. A true point of origin, or reason it appeared, has not been found as of yet. Because of this, new theories were relatively common, with each one being more far-fetched than the ones before.

  The only consensus reached was that someone, or something, has to be responsible for its appearance. After all, an entire alternate world can not apparate out of thin air.

  Rain’s curiosity has always been his best and worst quality. It was one of the reasons he chose the ancient inscriptions course. To, if he found a ruin, hopefully uncover some of the Mirror’s history.

  For now, his eyes were set on survival. Arriving at a wide concrete building, he noticed two familiar faces talking, three even if you count the massive brown wolf.

  “Yo! Rain! Come here. Look at the size of this wolf!”

  Indeed, Elys had met Aerin.