The Forgotten One

Ch3: Far from Home

The Tank was quiet and the tensions were high because there was a new comer to the Tank and a silent power struggle. It was because Victor was able to content with power houses like #20 and #5's speed not many people wanted to mess with him. It also made the strongest look weak so others had the guts to step up to them. Their nights were uneventful as everyone kept to themselves. Victor who usually slept until the sun came up was not used to his new sleep schedule in the association. The seniors woke them up early in the morning to prepare for their training exercises. Victor helped #40 wake up #39 as they moved to the training grounds. Thier training grounds was an underground forest biome which must have been man made. Victor was amazed at what they did to simulate a forest. The rad haired captain lined them up an ran with them as they started by run laps around the room. Victor was not running at full power but he was lapping the group. He got so bored that he he chose to explore the room between laps.  He came across the safety measures, chained wolf beasts. Victor was able to out run them back to the tracks. "Stay on the track, #41 otherwise you will become a snack." The red haired lady said as she kept running. After running for what felt like a minute to Victor, an eternity to the others and actually one hour, they were told to stop. #40 was down on the floor by the time they gave the stop command while #39 who was still on her feet was wobbling. Victor had barely started sweating, he had barely covered one tenth of the territory with their speed and time. "You... running... so... so fast." #40 said as he raised his head before sending it back down. Victor put a hand on his chest to heal him. Well it was not healing, it was supplementing energy with mana, speeding up recovery so the body could recover. Victor could perfectly match his mana to other people and give them mana. Like a battery for mana. "You, you really should not do that." #39 was trying to act tough as Victor healed her too. She swatted his hand as soon as she felt better. "You... you can't be overtaking the senior like that! It is because of you that our running was doubled. You also can't just be using magic in the open. It makes people jealous and nervous." The others were glaring at Victor as he healed his friends. "I am not trying to heal you it is just something that happens." Victor explains that he can only heal people he has a special bond to and has gotten to know. That is why he is always friendly and tries to get to know people. "Looks like we hit the Jackpot." #39 said as she gritted her teeth and walked to the next exercise. #39 was not angry or upset, she was scared, she was aware that if a person was too strong to be attacked directly. Their enemies attacked those who were close to the strong person. She would need to be the one to teach Victor the ways of the Tank before her or #41 was made into examples.
Victor watched as #1 lead them in their warm ups. Victor was surprised how much he struggled to do the warm ups. He trained his strength, endurance and mana as he grew up but not his dexterity. He had also realised just how much stronger he was without Paragon's aura weakening him as the captain took him aside to test his strength. He managed to do the rest of the training exercises despite his struggles. When ever he did an exercise too easily the seniors increase the difficulty for him and the others. Everyone had over exerted themselves by the time it came to combat training. Victor was still as lively as ever although frustrated with himself.  The man with Scars on his face personally handled Victor's training. He had taken Victor to the corner of the combat room an pulled a wooden sword off the wall. "Who are you?" Scarface asked as he circled Victor. "My name is Victor." "Wrong, you are number 41." Scarface said as he readied the training swords he had taken. The others were paired with training partner but they could not help sneak glances as the new comer spared with the Tank captain. "Anyone caught watching the captain will be punished with push ups." The red haired agent said as she watched the captain spar. "No body cares who you were out there. In here you are number 41." Victor frowned at the man. "I care, my name is Victor." The captain chuckled before smacking him in the stomach with the flat of the sword. The first attack seemed to have less of an impact than he thought. This would take more effort than the captain thought it would need. "Who are you?" Scarface asked Victor as he readied for another attack. Victor backed away before answering. "My... my name is Victor." Victor was not able to dodge the attack and that scared him. Unlike #5 the captain was just suddenly in his face. Unlike #20, there was no wind up and unlike #5 his attacks were . The captain shook his head as he swung the sword at Victor's body. It connected and knocked him into the wall. The captain frowned as he was barely able to hurt Victor. "Just how much mana do I have to output?" The captain said as he got excited. Victor was beating one hundred more times. Each hit harder than the last until the captain ran out of mana. One thing was certain though, the captain ran out of strength before he got Victor to call himself #41. "We will continue where we left off tomorrow." The captain said as he dismissed Victor and left the room. Victor who had several broken bones, fractured limbs and swells all over struggled to his feet as he had to move to the tank. He groan and moan as he mutter to himself. "I am Victor." He had learn one thing from this fight. He was not invincible or immortal. If he was not careful he could be killed. He just chanted his name over and over again until he reached the Tank. His wounds were already healing but something the captain's mana in his body was making the healing process slower and more painful. No body was around to help him as they were all sent back to the tank after training. 
Victor had returned to the Tank in time for meal time. Everyone smiled as he walked in all beat up and limping. #39 and #40 came up to check if he was all right. He held his hand out to them, "I am fine. It is not as bad as it seems." Victor said as he straightened his posture and corrected his walk. "What did I miss?" Victor asked them as he focused on healing with his mana. "You almost missed your first meal time." #40 said as he lined up whiled #39 was still attending to Victor. "You little..." #39  said as she went to line up. Before they got their trays and plate, a senior agent handed them their meal tokens. When it came to Victor's turn, everyone was surprised when Victor got eight. "He was the best performer in the training today. The captain enjoyed the 'training'. He wants you at best condition for the next, 'training' session." The senior agent felt sorry for Victor as he collected his tokens. Victor ate a lot, after all his care taker was a fully grown dragon and the chief of a village of warriors. Victor knew the importance of food for a growing warrior so he gave half of his food tokens to #40 and #39.  "We can't take this, you were were nearly beaten to death today. You deserve them for yourself." #40 said to Victor as he returned his share. "And look at him now, he is healing and will be back to normal in no time." She said as she scarfed down what was on her plate and went for seconds. "I was taught not to look a give horse in the mouth." #39 said as she rushed to the buffet for another fully loaded plate. #40 made sure it was okay with Victor before he followed #39 to the line up. Victor nodded as he watched his friends get food. A boy with a lean build walked up to Victor. "I am #8, just a word of advice from someone with experience here. Ditch those two." He said as he leaned on the wall were Victor ate. "You know, those two will keep you down #41. Seem to be a strong one, If you get a higher number and a better crowd, you are certain to get out of the Tank in a month, two months tops." He said to Victor as he like he was not talking to him. "The two of them, they have been here since before I am many say they are the oldest Tank members. Their rank remains the same no matter how many new people show up. Take my advice boss, they are dead weight to you." The boy said before walking away. #39 quickly returned as she saw that. "That was #8... What did he want?" She asked with worry in her voice. "He told me... it was nothing important. You two are my friends so lets eat together, sleep together, laugh together, and cry together." Victor said as #40 came back to their eating spot and the bruises on his face healed up.