In the next day,

Mack woke up, still feeling a bit dizzy, opened his eyes and stood up. Walked to the bathroom of the room, took a shower and cleaned himself, and when leaving the bathroom, he saw an old man waiting for him.

“Geez, you scared the shit out of me.”

Said Mack, caught unprepared for that bald head.

[Stop joking, today is the first day of your training, get dressed and we will leave]

“Ok Ok”

Said Mack, already grabbing his clothes by the side of the bed.

The girl had left a long time ago.

Seeing Mack dressed, with his backpack, and the two swords, the old opened the door..

“By the way…. How did you get in?”

Asked Mack, not sure how this old man entered his locked room.

He was sure he locked the door after the girl left.

[You still ask those kinds of questions? Kid, you need to stop thinking like a mortal from Earth. There is nothing impossible in this ‘new world’, Essence makes even miracles come true]

Said the old man, leaving the room.

Mack stood there thinking for a second and then followed Harlack.

But taking the elevator, instead of pressing the lobby button, the old man pressed the second floor button.

Mack wondered what this old man was doing. Did he forget which one was the correct floor?

Mack was about to touch the lobby button, but Harlack’s voice came.

[We are not going to leave the hotel for now]

Mack retracted his hand and waited to see what the old man was planning.

~ting~

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened, and Mack could peek through it that the entire floor was a huge training facility.

“What if I had chosen one of those poor inns made of woods?”

[Kid, do you really believe that a place like this would be empty all day? And the receptionist would do any kind of request you had just because you were a client?]

“Well, it’s strange indeed, but what those have to do with my question?”

Asked Mack, not sure why the old man said that.

[Kid, do you really believe that I’m so poor that I would rent a place to sleep? On a planet like this? One of the things I had to ‘do’ yesterday…. Was to buy this very same hotel]

Said the old man walking forward.

[By the time you came, I was already the new owner and had them informed about your arrival… You are too predictable. Of course you would choose a place that is like a hotel from Earth…]

“So that’s how you entered my room!!! It has nothing to do with Essence!”

Seeing he was caught in his lies, the old man quickly tried to change subject, but Mack remembered the girl ask ‘how many days he would stay’…..

“You played a piece on me! Whats wrong with you old man? Do you enjoy tricking people so much?”

Said Mack, First the Arcane, the lies, and now this, now Mack understood why the girl never asked for an advance payment…. 

‘I feel so stupid….. dammed old man!’

Hearing what Mack said, the old gave a few coughs amidst a smile and continued…

[….But I didn’t buy this place to fancy you. I did because of this…]

Said the old man, pointing to the machines that could be seen everywhere.

Mack followed the old man’s hand and could see several ‘puppets’ and all kinds of machines that he didn’t know what they were used for.

[This is the only place on this planet that has a training facility for Essence Users, instead of one for mages]

“Essence Users?”

Asked Mack, he never heard this ‘term’ from the old man before.

[You will know in time, but remember what I told you. There are several ways to advance on essence manipulation. The mage path is only one of many]

Hearing what the old man said, Mack’s gaze shifted to the puppets, and then to a few smaller rooms by the side of the floor.

“What are those rooms for?”

[Testing rooms, they are used when someone wants to practice a new ability or spell that may cause too much damage, or to practice something that others can’t see…]

“I see. This ability thing is what Essence Users do?”

[Yes, but enough of chit chat, lets start the training for once. This will be your daily routine from now on in the mornings. In the afternoon I will teach you, and you will be free to do whatever you like at nights, simple right?]

“I thought it was going to be a hellish training or something… it’s indeed simple.”

Said Mack, feeling that this was way too common for a ‘training’ coming from the old man.

[That’s because your body is already well developed, and you have a solid ‘foundation’ already. What you are missing is practice and we are going to hone the skills you already have and bring them to a new level with my experience]

“I dont know, I feel like I could improve way more than just hone my skills, for example, with serums…”

Said Mack, preparing the terrain to say what he was going to do today.

[And do you think I don’t know about the deal you made with the herbologist? Kid, No matter where I am I can read everything that goes on your mind…. Did you already forgot that?]

“So…. What do you think?”

Asked Mack, because he too feared that things could backfire, warlock blood was a sensitive topic.

[If things go well, you should keep doing it. If things go wrong, well, we will have to kill everyone in this town. I will not risk the plan for a few serums]

“I will keep that in mind”

Said Mack, seeing the old man too had the same line of thoughts.

With that said, the old moved to a puppet and pressed a button behind the puppet’s head. Mack followed him and saw the puppet eyes shine, and two small 0 showed on some kind of display inside the puppets’ eyes.

[Alright, this is a measure puppet for physical damage, hit him with the strongest punch or kick you have, just avoid the eyes and the back of the head, it’s the only parts that can break]

“Alright…”

Said Mack, coming close to hit the puppet.