Nick yawned as he walked back to his room, he had just gotten done with his training for the day. As of today it has been two weeks since he was stabbed and not much has changed. Every now and then he would summon his familiar and every day he would go to his training. Rolfe was expanding his training to also focus on some neutral magic, but Nick didn't have a hard time with magic. He felt once he learned how to use it all he had to do was practice which he could do on his own.

Nick had taken relatively easily to all of the training he was receiving, both Rolfe and Kane were having trouble actually keeping up with Nick's fast learning. Kane was having a much easier time than Rolfe, since Nick had a natural talent when it came to magic there was no longer much Rolfe could do besides make up lessons on the spot. Kane could always come up with something new to teach Nick but it was obvious that he was not expecting so much growth so fast. Kane and Rolfe kept throwing around the word 'talent' but Nick didn't see himself as talented. It all came relatively natural to him, though he was still a beginner in many aspects of combat.

With each day that passed Nick was getting even less patient, he had been stuck in this castle for too long. He had settled into a routine, but his routine was boring. He had enough of routine when he was paralyzed. Nothing was stopping him from walking out of the castle in search of adventure besides the fact that he knew nothing about this world and the castle guard would probably instantly be sent out to search. To the government of this world, or kingdom, Nick was their most valuable resource even if he couldn't go back to his world at the moment.

When Nick had first started to learn magic he thought his days of boredom were behind him, but even if you can use magic being stuck inside of a castle all the time was not fun. He was in this amazing fantasy world yet his life had become mundane once again. Maybe I should talk to Rolfe and Kane about joining the adventurers guild again. If nothing else I can do low risk jobs. Nick sighed as he approached his door.

Well, I guess the more I train the faster I can get out of here... I haven't done any weight training for a while, I should hit the gym. Nick turned and began to walk to the nearest gym, he had not even touched a weight since he had been stabbed. He has been doing combat and magic training every day, they were exhausting in their own way but if he didn't work out he would just become weaker. Getting weaker would set back his goal of actually getting out of the castle.

It was a long walk to the gym, but Nick walked around the castle so much he hardly even noticed when it took a while to walk somewhere. As Nick entered the gym he looked around, he didn't see the usual people he saw before he got a trainer, it was a different time of day so it was a different crowd. There were a few groups of guys chattering as they lifted weights or just stood around, but one person stood out to him. There was girl attacking a punching bag like it had insulted her mother. Nick could tell she was no amateur from what training he had, she would kick his ass in a fist fight if he didn't use magic.

The girl had shoulder length brown hair and blood red eyes, she also wore a tank top and shorts. Nick watched her as he studied her moves, he had not really seen anyone fight at a higher level than him. It was interesting to see just how skilled she was compared to him. She was so absorbed in her training that it took her a several minutes to see Nick watching. She didn't say anything, she just gave Nick a suspicious look and went back to her workout. Nick noticed that he had been staring at her for around five minutes before she noticed him, he decided to focus on his own workout instead of paying such close attention to hers.

Nick found his eyes drifting towards her often during his workout, the more he watched her the more he learned. Granted, he wouldn't learn much from watching her beat up on a stationary target. She had caught Nick glancing at her a couple times which made Nick avert his eyes in embarrassment at being caught. After what must have been his tenth time being caught staring she stopped hitting the bag and began to walk over to Nick. Crap...

"Do you have a problem or something?" She asked as she approached Nick.

"Ah, no. Sorry..."

"It's super creepy to look over here and see your eyes glued to me, so can you cut it out?"

"Sorry... It was just interesting." When he said this she contorted her face in disgust.

"Are you some kind of pervert or something? Surely you can go gawk at women somewhere else."

"Oh, that's not what I meant..."

"Then what the hell did you mean?" She seemed to be exasperated.

"I have been getting some training in hand to hand combat, but I have never seen the moves you were using before. You are also clearly a lot more experienced than me so it was interesting to see how you moved."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Whatever dude, just stop staring at me before I give you an up close demonstration."

"I said sorry..." Nick's face was a bright red, it was embarrassing to be confronted like this in front of everyone else in the gym. All the men in the room were trying not to laugh at the scene as they talked to each other in their own groups.

After thirty minutes of exercising the woman left, which relieved Nick even though it meant that he would no longer get to watch her train. She used a couple moves that Nick thought would be fun to randomly use on Kane. He thought it was amusing to do something that Kane didn't expect, a couple of times Nick had improvised which always threw Kane for a loop. Although every time he did it Kane would just show him how simple it was to counter that improvised move. However, Kane did say that unexpected moves were a good way to throw an opponent off for a cheap hit.

After a much needed workout Nick made his way to his room and read until going to bed. He had read a lot during these two weeks, a lot about the history of the world and a little about magic. He had even found a couple of books talking about demons, but there was not much accurate information on them or the underworld that they came from. He didn't learn anything that he hadn't already figured out from his talks with Azara. Although, she did refuse to talk about a lot of things.

The next day Nick did his usual routine but also went to the medical ward to get healed quickly before his training. He was a couple minutes late to his training, but Kane didn't make a big deal out of it like he used to. The training was a lot of the same, unfortunately Nick wasn't able to use a lot of what he had seen the girl doing while he was sparring with Kane. A lot of what she had been doing required being able to actually hit your target. After the three hours and thirty minutes of training Nick sat down to catch his breath.

"What got into you today? You seem awfully motivated." Kane was putting away the punching bag as he always did after training, though Nick was unsure why when he would just have to take it out again the next day.

"I just really want to get out of this damn castle. Don't get me wrong, it's cool and all, but I want to see the adventurers guild and go on quests and meet interesting people." Nick smiled as he thought about the adventures he could possibly have once he had enough training to actually join the adventurers guild.

"It's not as exciting as you think, I would have killed to be in your position when I was a kid..." Nick raised an eyebrow in curiosity, Kane never talked about his childhood.

"Yeah?"

"When I was around your age I joined the guild out of necessity, I needed the money to support my family. I couldn't bring in much because I was just a weak teenager. I would have done anything to have an easy life and live in a castle. I hope once you join the guild and do a few quests you will realize it's not glorious like you think. I have had many friends go on quests and come back in a coffin."

Nick winced, realizing for the first time something that probably seemed obvious to everyone but him. That adventuring in this world is seriously dangerous, it's not like a children's fantasy book where everything works out and nobody dies. However, Nick was willing to take the risk. "I realize it is dangerous, but I still want to at least give it a try."

"Very well, but before I can recommend you to the guild I need to train you in using a sword. We will start dedicating half of our training to sword combat now that you have the basics down for hand to hand combat." Nick smiled as Kane let out a sigh.

"Awesome! Now I just need to convince Rolfe to give me his recommendation as well."

'You shouldn't have much trouble, I hear you are extremely talented when it comes to picking up new types of magic. He is probably running out of things to teach you."

Nick laughed, he knew that Rolfe actually was running out of things to teach him. A lot of the time he spends with Rolfe is dedicated to practice that he could just do during his free time. He learned how to use dispel magic easily enough and at the moment they were focusing on hardening magic. Rolfe would bring in something like a branch and tell Nick to try to break it while at the same time trying to make it hard enough that it wouldn't break. He's gotten to the point where he can smack a glass rod against things without it cracking.

After ten minutes of rest Nick quickly made his way to the training room Rolfe used, but when he entered he noticed something was off. Rolfe was nowhere to be found, he was usually waiting for him. "Rolfe?" Nick called out.

"Nick! Can you please come to my office?" Nick heard a voice call out. He had been to Rolfe's office once before, it was a small room with a desk and a bookshelf but it was hardly an office. As Nick walked in he saw two people, Rolfe was sitting at his desk and a woman with snow white hair was sitting on the other side. "Nick, this is Lauren, she is the diviner."

Lauren turned to look at Nick and he could see that she was easily over eighty years old. Nick was surprised she was even still alive, she looked like a walking corpse. She had about as much muscle mass as Nick had when he had first been cured of his paralysis and she looked to be mostly blind in both eyes. "Ah, hello..."

"Come and sit, boy. I don't have much time."

'Yeah..." That looks to be true in more than one sense... Nick quickly made his way to the chair beside the woman. Without another word she held out her hands. Nick was not sure to do, he looked to Rolfe with a raised brow.

"My hands, boy. Grab them." The woman said with an annoyed tone.

"Ah." Nick lightly gripped her hands and the woman closed her eyes. After a few seconds she made a confused face and opened her eyes.

"Strange... Truly... I have never seen anything like it."

Rolfe and Nick gave each other curious glances. "What do you mean? What do you see?"

"I can see that he has more than one affinity, but... there is something else. Something... sinister. It is clouding my view, but I can make out that one of his affinities is healing."

Many different emotions were currently hitting Nick. Confusion, happiness, excitement, and worry all hit him at the same time. "How is that possible? Healing is uncommon. Most with shock magic usually don't have more than that, and the ones that do usually only have a common affinity... To have an uncommon affinity on top of shock magic... I have never heard of anyone else with this kind of luck." Rolfe was obviously confused.

"I have never seen anything like it..."

"What is that other thing you mentioned? Something else?" Nick asked, he was curious about what else she saw.

"It is hard to explain, it could possibly be because of this other world you come from." That explanation did not do much for Nick's curiosity.

"Can't you tell me anything else?"

"No... I'm sorry... I have to go." Lauren quickly stood up and ran to the door with a speed that Nick would not have thought possible of her. Something had seriously spooked her.

Nick and Rolfe sat there speechless, Rolfe eventually was the one that broke the silence. "Two affinities... Are you blessed by the gods or something?" Rolfe had a joking tone to his voice, but it also had a hint of suspicion.

"Healing... I guess I have a lot to learn..."Rolfe let out a short but genuine laugh and stood up, motioning to his door.

Nick was able to quickly grasp the basics of healing, he was able to use a little bit of healing magic on himself. Though the healing magic he could use was nowhere near the level of what Katrina had used. Before he knew it his 4 hours were over and he was dismissed. He had a lot to think about, he decided to get some food and head to the gym to clear his head. Much like a hot bath, exercising helped him clear his mind.

Once Nick entered the gym he saw the same girl that was there yesterday. She shot him a glance but otherwise paid Nick no mind as he began his own workout. Much like the day before he once again found himself watching her as she worked out, she had caught him and was beginning to become visibly annoyed as she put more power into her punches and kicks. Eventually she groaned and walked over to Nick. "Seriously?"

"I'm sorry... I-" Nick had barely started talking before being cut off.

"No, you are obviously not sorry because you keep watching me! I asked you nicely to stop!" She was furious. "Just stop coming here and staring at me like a creep!" She turned around and stormed out of the gym. All of the other guys in the room were speechless and quietly went back to their own workouts. Nick was humiliated.

When Nick made it back to his room he fell face first onto his bed, it had been a long and stressful day. Too much had happened, he was mentally drained. First he was told that he had more than one affinity and that he had something sinister inside of him and then he was yelled at in front of a bunch of other people. He quietly crawled into his bed, once his head hit his pillow he fell asleep. He hoped he would have a chance to apologize to the girl tomorrow.