I was sleeping deeply and sweetly until someone started shaking me.

  "Greg! Greg, get up!"

  "What do you want, Alphus?" I grumbled, cracking one eye open.

  "What, did you already forget about the run?" Alphus stood there fully decked out in his athletic gear. "You almost slept through it!"

  I yawned. Just picture a ghost of me in your head and run with that. I'm tired.

  "Are you a cheater or something?! If I run with a ghost, I'm just lying to myself! That's not fair!"

  At that exact moment, my heart practically exploded with irritation. Idiot. I sat up sharply. "Alright, fine, let's go."

  We stepped out onto the Academy's running track. Alphus began to warm up, carefully going through a stretching routine. I went through the motions just for show, mostly just watching the birds.

  We started. For the first three hundred meters, I kept pace with him. It was agonizingly slow, like a brisk walk. Then I sped up slightly. After a kilometer, Alphus began to noticeably fall behind.

  I turned my head and started shouting: "I don't see any fury in your eyes! Where is your competitive spirit?! You look like you're strolling out for morning milk, not running for your life!"

  I was yelling and laughing at the same time. My words seemed to strike a nerve. He gritted his teeth and pulled level with me again. It was obvious how hard he was struggling.

  I kept talking, maintaining the pace: "To defeat a rival, you have to overtake him! Keep your distance so he can always see you! Then, when the enemy tries to pass you, you don't let him! The most important thing is to steal his hope! You have to show him that you are a shadow he will never outrun! And for that to work, you have to train!"

  He was breathing heavily.

  "R-right there... look!" I yelled, pointing at a sparrow flying over the field. "A bird! Let's race it! You don't always have to compete against a human!"

  I accelerated. Alphus, bewildered but fueled by pure adrenaline, chased after me, gasping for air. We "raced" the unfortunate sparrow. The little bird flew another hundred meters, got tired, and landed in a tree.

  I started cheering triumphantly: "WOOHOO! SEE THAT?! I'M THE WINNER! The bird gave up! It got tired! It stopped! It admitted defeat!"

  Alphus tried to say something, but he physically couldn't.

  After two kilometers, his pace began to drop drastically.

  "That's it!" he wheezed, clutching his side. "I can't! I've never run this far without stopping! I need to stop!"

  I slowed down to a walk beside him.

  "If you stop now, everything was for nothing," I said, my voice turning cold as ice. "All this running. All this effort. What is the point of pushing yourself so hard if you're just going to quit when there's literally one kilometer left?"

  I bumped his shoulder. "In the worst-case scenario, you can slow your pace, or turn around and walk in the other direction. But under no circumstances do you stand still!" I pointed ahead. "Come on, Alphus! Last hundred meters! A sprint to the finish!"

  I took off, running very fast. Alphus ran with everything he had left, but he was clearly falling far behind. I was just running slightly faster than him, setting a benchmark for where he needed to be.

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  When he crossed the finish line, he collapsed to his knees. He immediately checked the large Academy clock. 12 minutes. He grabbed his water bottle and chugged greedily.

  I smiled. "See? Faster than you thought."

  I didn't wait for him to catch his breath. I just turned around and walked away, leaving him alone on the track.

  Walking into class the next day, I saw Alphus. He looked incredibly happy. At lunch, he practically flew over to me.

  "Greg!" he exhaled. "Can we run again?"

  "Sure," I said. "But you're buying lunch. Make sure I'm full."

  He laughed. He clearly had no idea how much that was going to cost him.

  Then Alphus started inviting the girls to join the morning run.

  I muttered: "What? Why?"

  Alexia, Anna, and Lianel all agreed.

  Yeah, I thought. They are going to smear Alphus across the pavement. Whatever. His funeral.

  After classes, I went to the gym. I saw Anna. She walked briskly toward me, looking pleased.

  "I thought you weren't going to show up," she said.

  "I keep my word," I nodded.

  We began our "sparring." For about an hour, I did nothing but defend, blocking her strikes while she constantly analyzed my movements, probing for a weak spot. She was fast and highly intelligent.

  "Stop," I said, raising my hand.

  Anna, exhausted and panting, looked surprised. "Did you finally get tired?"

  I laughed. "No. Just hungry, mostly."

  I began to channel magic. A sphere of water, then a sphere of earth.

  "So, here we go: four arms, two legs, and there you have it—a dummy." I sculpted a two-meter-tall mannequin out of clay and water. I began to infuse it with the combat techniques I knew, layering in the defensive arts that were considered "basic" at the Academy. Thirty minutes later, I was done. "There. A gift."

  Anna stared at the hulking clay golem. "Why do I need a dummy?" She poked it with her sword. "I thought it would be alive."

  I walked back to the dummy and lifted it up slightly. "Watch. You take your mana, pour it in, and charge it. Speed, strength—it all depends on how much mana you invest. Theoretically, you should have enough mana to run this."

  I pulled a smooth stone out of my pocket. "Just in case, here's a stone. Consider it a mini-battery." I poured my own mana into the stone. "This will last about twenty minutes. If you try to force more mana into the stone, it'll just shatter."

  I placed the stone into a designated slot in the dummy's chest. The mannequin creaked loudly and shifted into a combat-ready stance. I handed it a single practice sword.

  "Combat! Defense!" I commanded.

  The dummy dropped into a defensive guard. Anna attacked. The dummy began deflecting her strikes, its four clay arms moving with terrifying precision.

  I wanted to leave and find food, but then I remembered I hadn't been fed yet. I sat down on a bench and waited, practically dying of starvation.

  Fifteen minutes later, the dummy was visibly slowing down. It started missing blocks. Anna, seizing the opening, finally managed to run her sword straight through its torso.

  "Fortunately, it's just clay, no big deal," I muttered.

  Anna panicked: "Oh, Greg, I'm sorry! I broke it!"

  Suddenly, the dummy, completely ignoring the massive hole in its chest, delivered one final, devastating kick. BAM! The princess flew across the room and slammed into the wall. The dummy collapsed into a pile of dirt.

  "Battery's dead," I stated.

  The princess got up, dusting herself off.

  "Next time," I instructed her, "if you don't want to win immediately, give it four swords, or two swords and a shield. And hide the dummy. People will ask way too many questions about where you got this thing, even if it can't answer them." I stood up, feeling my stomach violently cramp. "NOW FEED ME ALREADY!"

  SCENE: A Rice Masterpiece, a Threat to Dishes, and a New Artifact

  "NOW FEED ME ALREADY!" I barked, jumping up from the bench. Hunger was rapidly outweighing all magical secrets and threats from ancient cycles.

  Anna smirked. "Let's go."

  We headed to her room. I was expecting to see a blazing oven and a mountain of meat, but instead, she pulled out some rice and started chopping vegetables.

  "Seriously?" I eyed the ingredients with deep suspicion. "I thought we were having something good. You decided to feed me rice porridge?"

  She smiled. "Patience, Greg."

  She pulled out some eggs and began mixing them into the rice. Once the rice was reasonably soft, she started grating cheese over the whole thing. The smell hit me. Oh, gods, that smells amazing! It was something entirely new and incredibly appetizing.

  She handed me a bowl. I devoured it instantly. Just inhaled it.

  "How did you come up with this deliciousness?" I asked, licking the spoon clean.

  She told me it was from a cookbook her relative had gifted her.

  "Oh, gods," I reached out my hand. "Give me that book!" Then I thought about it for a second and lowered my hand. "Actually, never mind. I'm too lazy to cook, and then I'd have to wash the dishes."

  Anna scooped me another portion. And it was absolutely perfect. I ate slowly this time, savoring every single bite.

  "I'll say it one more time," I said, pointing my spoon toward the door. "Hide the dummy. Make sure absolutely no one sees it."

  She nodded again, laughing at my sheer gluttony.