Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Borrowed Time

The next morning, a servant woke me up and told me to meet the heroes in the courtyard as combat and magic training will begin immediately. I quickly get dressed in the clothes given to me, and rush out to the royal castles training grounds.

Before me I see a group of three different individuals and the harem standing around, probably waiting for me. The first of the three strangers is a stern looking knight with graying hair, his most defining features being his strong gaze and well-kept handlebar mustache.

Next to the knight, leaning on a staff, an old man with a grey beard down to his waist and eyes filled with wisdom observes the four heroes before him.

The final person was a young looking woman with long green hair, her skin was a white as snow and her features elegant and beautiful, the only thing abnormal about her were her elongated ears, ending in a point.

“Sorry, my room was quite far from the training grounds.” I give an earnest apology for my truancy, and the three strangers and the harem all give an understanding nod. “Now that the witness is here we can begin,” the knight speaks up, “I am Knight Commander Alex Ironhand, this is the Great Sage Geras, and this is Lady Valas of the Elven Kingdom.”

The old man nods and the woman curtseys. “We have been requested by the King to tutor you young heroes so that you will be ready to fight Nazrax when he returns. Before we begin, Geras has provided a means to read your auras so that we may better know your levels of mana.”

Putting aside my excitement that apparently elves also exist in this world, I am extremely excited to learn our mana levels.

Geras brought out a blue orb, and Knight Commander Alex began to explain mana to us; “Everyone has mana, but a select few have enough to use the various types of magic. Most people either can only use a few first tier martial styles to increase their physical strength, speed and endurance or cast a few first tier combat and utility spells.

Others use their meager mana to form contracts with a lesser spirit, the spirit then fights with them and provides mana for various abilities related to its element. Spirits are picky however, and even if someone had the necessary amount of mana to form a contract with one, that person man not attract any spirits to contract with.

Truly gifted and well trained individuals with large amounts of mana can cast higher tier magic, channel more into their bodies to increase their fighting capabilities, and even attract and form multiple contracts with spirits.”

Alex stops, and Geras begins to speak; “There are six tiers of Arcane magic, six tiers of marital techniques, and seven types of spirits. Some people are only able to use one of the three types of magic, while others can use two. Exceptional people can sometimes use all three. The four heroes of legend not only could use multiple types, but they could reach the sixth tier in all magic types they could use. They were truly awe inspiring, and I am sure the current heros will reach that level with time.”

Geras continues after smiling at the four heroes, “Do not think just because a spell or martial magic technique is a higher tier that it is automatically stronger. Spells and Martial techniques all get stronger the more mana and practice you put into them. In fact, one of the most famous mages in the southern empire almost exclusively uses a low level wind spell that he has perfected into a extremely deadly attack.”

Hiro speaks up when Geras finishes, “Sensei, why do spirits not have tiers?”

Lady Valas answers him, “Spirits come in lesser, greater, high, and lord varieties. Furthermore, there are seven types of spirits: Light, Dark, Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and Nature. The type of spirit you can acquire depends on your mana and what spirit is attracted to you. It is very rare, but a person with an exceptional amount of mana who manages to attract one could contract with a High Elemental Spirit.

High elemental spirits are extremely powerful, they can easily fight people capable of using sixth tier magic, and the abilities they grant their contractors are on the level of fifth or sixth tier arcane spells and martial styles. The Elemental Lords have never contracted with a person, as the amount of mana that would be required is something only a god could have, and they would have to want to choose to contract with that person as well.

It's even possible to contract with multiple spirits if you have the mana to sustain them, though it would be impossible for even talented individuals with high amounts of mana to do so with multiple greater or high spirits.”

Hiro cocks his head, “Why is that?”

Lady Valas chuckles as she explains further, “The mana to sustain a spirit has to come from the person contracting it, while the spirit can easily make up for this amount with its own mana when using arcane or martial magic, it means that your personal mana is greatly reduced. Since that is the case, contracting with another spirit of great power is impossible.”

Geras steps up once again “I will now read your auras to determine your affinities and how much mana you possess.” He first steps up to Kamiko, urging her to place her palm on the orb, she does and it begins to shine like a brilliant blue miniature sun. “You young miss have an amazing amount of mana! Absolutely stunning! I have seen sixth tier mages with only half the mana you have. The blue coloration indicates that you are very suited to learn arcane magic.”

He then turns to Izumi, she places her hand on the orb and it begins to glow as brilliantly as when Kamiko touched, except in a mix of both red and green, Geras’s grin grows wider, “You have as much mana as your friend, and the red indicates you would excel at martial magic. The green tells us that it's highly likely you could form a contract with a spirit as well.”

Next, Akane touches the orb, and it glows brightly as a swirling mix of red and blue. “You hero’s do not disappoint in the slightest, Akane you are suitable to learn both Arcane and Martial magic.. You also have an incredible amount of mana like your friends.”

The Harem girls all have wide smiles after hearing how special they are; thankfully they can’t see me rolling my eyes. As if their egos needed another boost, let’s see what Hiro has gotten, I bet he has an affinity with arcane, martial and spirits; and more mana than everyone so far. His protagonist cheat powers must be tremendous.

Hiro did not disappoint. As he touched the orb, it began to give off enough light to blind everyone assembled, the orb was a beautiful mix of green, red and blue all swirling in a fascinating pattern.

After a few moments of rubbing our eyes, the old man began to tear up, as if he saw the glory of a god. “Young Hero, you have nearly twice the mana of your friends, and you are suitable to learn arcane, and martial magic, you also have a very high chance of contracting with a strong spirit!. Please allow me to teach you, I will never find a better student!”

Commander Ironhand and Lady Valas both look pleased as well once they heard the harems abilities. As the three of them continue to gush over the four that have been observed, I attempt to get the attention of Geras.

I ask, “Hey, what about me?” The Sage looks confused for a moment, “You are the Witness, you have the power of recollection.” My brow furrows, “Right I heard that, what about my mana and suitable techniques for me to learn?”

The old man’s eyes widen with surprise: “You don’t know? The Witness has no mana; it’s the consequence of having near immortality.”

“What do you mean no mana? How am I supposed to fight- WAIT WHAT?”

Hiro’s Harem looks at the sage as well, just as shocked as I am. Geras smiles as he answers, “You have a phylactery inside your body, this crystal constantly contains and suplements your life force, making you heal at an incredible fast rate and you cannot die as long as the phylactery is intact. Because of your near immortality, the spirits strip your soul of mana. As the Witness, you must write about the hero's exploits, they do not need to worry about protecting you since you are nearly impossible to kill. And when Nazrax is defeated, your phylactery will absorb his essence and shatter, killing him permanently, this time he will not have enough power to reincarnate and we will finally be truly victorious.”

The other two smile and nod while the sage explains this.

My mind is blank, trying to process what I just heard, “Just how hard is it to kill me?” the sage quickly answers, “So long as the phylactery that is your heart is unbroken, you can heal from any injury. More grievous wounds and full body destruction will take longer to heal, however the only way to shatter a phylactery is magic of the sixth tier, the flames of a truly ancient dragon, or a weapon that can kill immortals such as weapons the origional four hero's held.

Other methods may exist, but it must something as powerful as one of the mentioned methods.” My mind continues to race, “So in exchange for this power, I have no way of defending myself outside of swinging a weapon?”

The sage responds, “I’m afraid so, even most common soldiers can use a little magic, you will always be at a disadvantage when it comes to offense. Thankfully you have the heroes to deal with threats, just focus on writing their story.”

I feel a little angry at his words, “Don’t get me wrong, being nearly impossible to kill sounds pretty great, but having absolutely no magic fucking sucks.” The three instructors and the Harem all raise their eyebrows in surprise; my students have never heard me curse before.

“I get dragged into this world, and I don’t even get to use magic or fight? I just sit down and write about the heroes great adventures? Hoping that the monsters don’t pay attention to me so I am not attacked, and have to regenerate?”

I get angrier and angrier as I think about my present situation, “Do you realize how much dying probably hurts? I can’t imagine it, and I probably will die a lot. These shits,” I point to the harem, “will grow complacent knowing that I can’t die, and won’t try to defend me at all. It would be a waste of time, why save the Witness from a painful death when we could kill the monster while it’s distracted.”

Hiro steps up, and looks me in the eye, “Sensei, you're out of line, we are all in this together and we have to help these people. We can return once that Nazrax guy has been defeated.” What he says makes sense, but the idiot has missed one key point.

“Hiro, do you not realize the implication of what Geras said?” Hiro looks confused as he thinks about my question, after a moment of thought he shrugs when he can’t figure it out. “When you guys defeat Nazrax, even if everyone survives and we succeed, I have to die. My phylactery shattering to kill him means I never get to return home even if there is a method. I’m on borrowed time, you kids get to learn magic and have heroic adventures. I only get to watch and record your story while you become stronger so you can speed up my fucking death.”

Hiro and his harem pale at my words, the knight has a grim look, Lady Valas looks at me with pity, and Geras nods and state's “Witness, please do not be angry, we cannot defeat Nazrax without your sacrifice.”

I shout at him, “To hell with you! You and your kingdom can kiss my ass! You kidnap me from my world and force me to follow and write about your precious heroes exploits then expect me to sacrifice my life? I get to die while Hiro has a nice adventure with his cheerleaders.”

Akane shouts at me, “Sensei ENOUGH!”

I glare at her, “You four idiots didn’t get summoned to be a sacrifice for a bunch of people you don’t even know, at least you might get to return home alive!”

“DON’T SHOUT AT AKANE LIKE THAT!” Hiro’s face contorts in anger, Izumi is calm as ever, and Kamiko looks terrified.

“I WILL SPEAK AS I PLEASE, CONSIDERING THAT I’M GOING TO DIE FOR YOU SHITHEADS AND THIS WORLD”

A loud crack is heard, as Hiro’s fist, coated in a blue light, collides with my face. I feel my skull shatter from his blow. ‘How is he so strong?’ I think, but I start to choke on blood as I collapse on my back, my face in ruins from his punch.

I hear a couple of screams, but they sound distant. Hiro stands above me, his face pale as he looks at my mangled skull. I can feel death grasping at me, my lower body twitching, death throes from having my skull shattered and the pieces forced into my frontal lobe.

There is a lot of pain, but it feels dull. As my consciousness begins to fade, my head begins to glow and crackle. Red lightning surges throughout my wounds. Bone reassembles, my nose sets, the wounded parts of my brain regenerate. After only a few moments, I gasp as my face heals.

Coughing up a little blood, I stand and glare at Hiro. He falls under my gaze, landing on his rear, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. The girls, Commander Alex, and Lady Valas all wear a similar expression. Only the Great Sage Geras remains calm, as if he expected this outcome.

“Hiro, did you just try to kill me?” I speak between clenched teeth.

“S-s-sensei, I di-didn’t m-mean…” Hiro stutters in terror at my death and regeneration.

“YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!” I grab his scrawny neck and start to squeeze, lost in my rage. Maybe I’m going a bit too far, but in my defense, the little bastard almost accidentally murdered me. In fact he would have successfully done so if I wasn’t cursed with immortality.

As I throttle him, I hear the others begging me to stop, and strong arms attempt to pry me off, someone shouts “OH HOLY SAINTS, HE'S KILLING THE HERO!”

Despite the attempts to pry me off, I still cling to his damn neck. I really do want to kill this guy. Suddenly I see a flash of metal and lose feeling in my lower arms.

I try to resist the arms pulling me off Hiro, but I cannot hang onto him due to my forearms separating from my elbows, someone had hacked off my forearms. I shout in pain, staring in shock at my stumps. As I pass out from the pain and loss of blood, I feel myself being dragged from the training grounds.
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