Tasteless

As my eyes fluttered open, I was blinded by a bright white light. I sat up and realized that I was surrounded by it. Every where I looked, it was there flashing in my face.

Great, I’m here again.

Looking around, I noticed that he wasn’t here. So I continued to sit there, looking as clueless as ever. I felt like an abandoned dog waiting for it's owner to come back. It was kind of boring at first since there wasn't much to do in a void of light. Even though I was bored I decided to keep on waiting. Just a few minutes, shouldn't be too bad. 

An hour had passed by so I started to panic. Did I actually die this time? No way right?  These thoughts kept on circulating in my mind, but I knew panicking wasn’t going to do anything for me. So I got up and called out to him. Even though shouting might've been useless, it was something I could do. 

“Hey!” I shouted. “Uh, God dude, are you here?”

No answer. I knew I couldn’t give up right away so I just kept on calling out to him. I screamed as if I was a lost child looking for his parents. The more I screamed, the more stupid I felt. I wasn't making any progress, but this was the only thing to do. It wasn’t like I could just wander around and go looking for him. There’s no way I could navigate a place that’s just white light. 

I kept up my screaming until I ran out of breath. Screaming drained me way faster than I expected, like I’d just run a marathon. Out of breath, I collapsed onto the ground, face first, and accepted my fate.

Well, at least I had fun. Maybe I should’ve accepted defeat when I had the chance. Sorry mom and dad, for not keeping my promise of coming back. I pray that your next kid is strong enough to keep their promises.

“Greetings, child. May I ask what you're doing down there?”

Recognizing that voice, I sprung up. For the first time, I was excited to see this guy. Maybe I wasn’t dead after all.

“What took you so long?!”

“I apologize, there were some other issues I had to tend to first.”

“Oh right, you’re a God or whatever.” I wanted to berate him with complaints but I was just glad that I was alive. Still, something lingered in the back of my mind. “Now that you’re here, I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it my child?”

“Why the hell does everyone have a blessing but me?”

“You don’t have one?”

“You don’t even know!? Some God you are…”

“I apologize for not knowing but you shouldn’t take that attitude with me." his tone turned firm, "You do realize I’m a God right?”

That caught me off guard, I could’ve sworn he said that it was fine to be casual with him last time. At first I thought he was joking, but his silence said otherwise. The longer we sat in silence, the more I could feel the pressure of the situation. Not to mention, his words were stiff, too formal, and it felt like something had happened to make him flip the switch.

“Didn’t you say we were buddies or something last time?”

“Did I now?”

“Yeah? And you were joking around and stuff too. Don’t you remember?”

He didn’t answer. The silence made me a little nervous. Had something bad happened? Was he about to assign me some grand task? These questions kept on popping up in my head.

“D-did something happen?” I had to ask him this question. The silence was killing me, I couldn’t wait in suspense any longer. It felt like watching a movie with a huge cliffhanger, but this time the cliffhanger could mean a life or death situation for me.

“Nope!” he said in his energetic tone. “Scared ya didn’t I?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yup! You should’ve seen the look on your face. You were like ah and I’m over here like ahaha.”

My face scrunched in disgust. I wasn’t sure if it was just me but he seemed extra stupid today. Might've been that I wasn't in the mood for jokes after tanking an explosion. “Good to know you haven’t changed then. But what the hell was that? You made me really concerned!”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”

“Yeah, whatever. One of these days when something bad happens, I’m going to think you’re joking.”

“Then I should stop right?”

“Yeah, you should.”

“I indubitably won’t, oh foolish one.”

This fucking guy.

“So,” I said, “What do you want from me now? Don’t tell me it’s another check up.”

“I did that last time?” He tilted his head with my exaggerated gesture.

“Ha, ha, very funny.” I said with a flat tone. “Don’t act like you don’t remember now.”

“Yeah I do, a little. By chance, do you remember what I told you?”

“Something about not giving up and… Oh yeah! I forgot about this! You said you wanted to meet me soon or something!”

“Seeing you soon as in our next talk in here?”

“I’m not sure. You said hopefully at the end so it wouldn't make sense for it to be here. Since you know, you can talk to me any time. Wait a minute… Why are you acting like you don’t know what you said?”

“Damn, you caught me.”

“Another stupid joke, huh?”

“Possibly…”

“Whatever then. If that’s all you got then can you send me back.”

“One last thing, do you remember anything important I told you last time? Like something so important where it could change your perspective of the world.”

“No, nothing really comes to mind.”

“Are you suuuure?”

“If it was something that important then I would remember it.”

“Okay, just double checking. Alright, I’ll see ya then.”

“See you. And stop being so stupid, the way you’re acting right now is way worse than last time.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll dial it down just for you.”

“Thanks…”

Then my head suddenly pulsed, it felt like someone had slammed a hammer right on it. I immediately became light headed and my vision blurred. I wasn’t sure if I was fading back out or was just going to die. Then everything went black.

Waking up, my head was pounding. That was not a pleasant way to fade out of consciousness, definitely would have preferred how he did it last time. But maybe he wasn’t the cause of it, I did just have a life threatening injury. I think… Actually, I couldn’t remember how much damage that explosion did to me, all I knew is that it was powerful enough to take me out.

Wait, where am I?

I was laying on a bed in a wooden room. There were other beds surrounding me, each one of them was about twin sized and had a single blanket and pillow on them. Each side of the room had four beds which were evenly spaced out. That place must’ve been some kind of resting center or recovery room. Looking around, I noticed that the girl I fought was in the bed beside me.

Damn, did my punch do that much damage to her to send her here?

I wanted to ask her how the fight ended, but I couldn’t wake her. She seemed asleep, until a loud snore escaped, more like a piglet than a person. She shifted restlessly, and I realized she wasn’t as peaceful as I thought. Then came the stomping at the door. It flew open, and Gareth walked in.

“Good morning to you both!” he shouted.

“You know you don’t have to scream, right?” My head was still ringing after talking to that guy so I wasn’t in the mood to deal with loud noises. “Besides, I’m the only one who’s awa—”

She immediately sprung up and sat up straight, saluting Gareth. “Good morning sir!”

Wow, she locked in quick. Kinda impressive actually.

“Good to see you’re full of energy, Akiko.”

“Akiko?” I asked.

“Yeah, that is her name.” He turned over to Akiko and asked, “Don’t tell me you challenged this boy without introducing yourself.”

“Oh uhm, I was just too excited to challenge him so I forgot. And since I fell asleep, it slipped my mind.” She then turned to me and lightly bowed, “I’m so sorry about that. My name is Akiko, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yeah, likewise. Mine’s Yakusei.”

“Yakusei? That’s an odd name.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, “Thanks…”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. When I said odd I meant it in a good way. Like uh, unique, it’s uniquely good.”

“No, it’s fine. I know my name is weird, so you don’t have to do all that.”

“Oh okay.”

Gareth burst out in laughter, “Forgive her, she’s quite an awkward one. You know, growing up, she would have trouble making friends because she would always get so nervous and stumble upon her words. Sometimes she would give people backhanded compliments without even knowing. I remember one time, she called a fat kid a 'cute pig' as a compliment. So just know that she doesn't mean most of what she says.”

I chuckled, “Uh yeah. Okay.”

She turned to me with her face bright red and directed her attention back to Gareth. “Gareth! Don’t tell other people stuff like that about me.”

“Sorry, sorry. It was such a funny moment, I couldn’t help but tell others.”

"Who else have you told!?"

"Well I told some soldiers, generals, teachers, and many more I can't think of."

"Gareth!" she wined.

Seeing them interact, it was like a father and his daughter. It was oddly wholesome, who knew this ogre of a man could be this kind. Then again, he did help me train on the way here, so I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on him, even if he nearly killed me. Especially since he has such a high ranking. I wonder if I could get close to him to get any of his perks. Maybe a lifetime supply of fancy food. I hope their cuisine is similar to what we have back at home. I always wanted to try A5 wagyu. Just the thought of it made my mouth water. I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“Hey,” Akiko said, “staring off like that and chuckling to yourself is kind of creepy.”

I thought this girl was awkward. Maybe when she’s criticizing others, she’s not awkward.

“Oh sorry, I’m just hungry.”

“Since you’re hungry, I think now it’s a good time to give you these.” Gareth tossed us both a crystal shard.

“What is this?” I asked.

“That is how you’ll be able to buy yourself food. Think of it as your coin pouch, but within it are credits that will be used throughout the campus. With that, you can buy food, books, weapons, or whatever the campus sells.”

“So how do we get money into it?”

“Well, in your free time you can accept quests to gain more credits and you get some daily. What you get daily will just be enough to buy the cheaper food options from the cafeteria. Your parents could also send in money if you want to buy the other stuff too.”

“So you’re saying… the food here isn’t free?”

“In a way it is, but only the cheap options. I doubt anyone would eat that though, people around here call that peasant food.”

“Damn, this sucks. I though they would at least give us free food since they're sending us to our deaths and all.”

“I agree with you but this system motivates students to get stronger.”

“By doing some lousy quest?”

“Correct, but there is another way to gain credit.”

“Really? How?”

“You challenge another student to a Magical Duel. Before you fight in a Magical Duel, each student must put in an amount of credits, and the winner takes it all.”

“So you’re saying if I want to experience good and delicious food, then I must fight other people.”

“Exactly.”

Another reason to get stronger.

“Gareth,” Akiko said, “Then who won our duel. The winner should be awarded with some credits if that’s the case.”

“Well, the both of you didn’t put in any credits beforehand so no one would get any. Unless you want to put credits in now before I tell you the results.”

Akiko turned to me, “Are you okay with that?”

“I—” I tried to recall who went under first, but nothing came. I hated the idea of giving in without proof I’d won. Still, that felt wrong. She’d nearly accepted right away, wasn’t it fair I do the same? “I’m down.”

“So,” I turned to Gareth, “Who won?”

“The person who won is… the both of you.”

“What?” we said in unison.

“It was a tie. Both of you passed out at the same time.”

“So does this mean that we don’t get anything?” I asked.

“Normally yes, but you children sure did put on a show. I’ll reward the both of you, just this one time.”

He raised his crystal at ours and a hologram screened shot out of it. It looked oddly futuristic for a world like this, but cool nonetheless.

“How about I give you each five thousand credits.”

“Is that a lot?” I asked.

“It could buy you the top menu item for every day for two weeks.”

“And what is that?”

“Well one of them is top quality meat.’

“Does the meat have delicate, snowy-white veins of fat intricately laced through a deep, ruby-red canvas of beef?”

“I guess you can say that.”

Maybe dying in this world isn’t bad after all.

“Thank you sir!” I bowed at him. “I’ll be on my way to eat it now.” 

"That's the nicest I've seen you act towards me," Gareth said.

I sprang up and out of my bed and sprinted out.

“Wait!” Akiko screamed.

“Nice to meet you too Akiko, I’ll see you around.”

I sprinted all the way to the cafeteria, barely passing a few kids who must’ve thought I looked like an idiot. It probably looked like an impatient child during Christmas, but I didn’t care. This was something I’d dreamed about for years, and now I was finally living it. I even pushed mana into my legs to run faster. But when I burst inside, the cafeteria was completely empty.

Nice, I won’t have to wait in line.

“What would you like?”

“The prestigious meat please.”

“Of course, that would be 350 credits.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I dug into my pockets then realized something horrible.

I forgot the crystal back at the place.

“I forgot my—”

“Here,” Akiko called from behind. I turned around to see her bent over, hands on her knees, panting. “Y-you left your crystal.”

“Thank you so much. I owe ya one.”

After paying with the crystal, I happily skipped over to a seat. The meat was practically shining in front of me. It also came with a side of rice and a tiny cup of sauce. I doubt this delicious piece of heaven would need the sauce though. For some reason, I was kind of grateful that I was able to die at that bridge. It brought me to a wonderful world like this and allowed me to have this moment. Just as I picked up my chopsticks, Akiko set her plate across from mine and sat down.

“H-hey, do you mind if I eat with you?”

“I don’t mind, but you might not like what you’re about to see.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to destroy this.”

“Wait, if you like it so much then shouldn’t you savor every bite?”

“Good point, I’ll do that instead.”

I cut off small pieces and savor every bite. I even made sure to chew slowly to enjoy it more. All the videos I had watched in my previous life weren’t lying.

This is heaven.

When I finished the last bite, a wave of sadness hit me. Like a post-lunch depression.

I sighed, “PLD… this sucks.”

“PLD?” she asked.

“Post lunch depression…”

“If you really like it that much then you can have the rest of mine.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m still recovering so I don’t think I could eat much right now.” She held up her plate of wagyu at me.

I immediately grabbed her plate and started to dig in. 

"I'm surprised you can eat this much while recovering."

"Well," I said with a mouth full of food, "I'm basically back at full strength right now. So it feels fine to eat."

"No way, how'd you recover so fast?"

"I conditioned my body to be strong I guess so it just naturally recovers faster."

"That's interesting... Oh, and can I ask you one important question, since I gave you the rest my meal and all."

“Sure, ask anything.”

“How did you get so strong without a blessing?”

“Training… and a lot of it.”

“Could you be a bit more specific?”

“Yeah, just let me finish up on this real quick.”

When I finished, I told her how I used to train as a kid. Her eyes widened, she couldn’t believe I’d pushed myself like that, or managed so much without a blessing.

“C-could you train me too then?”

“I don’t know. Just keeping myself together is hard enough. I don’t think I could handle someone else on top of that.”

“What if I offered you something in return?”

“Like?”

“Uh… you can’t use any ascended elements right?”

“Basically yeah.”

“What if I teach you how to do it?”

“I don't—” 

"All of them," she cut me off. "I can teach you to learn how to use all of them."

I was hesitant to answer, teaching her would cut into my own training. At the same time, sparring together would push me too, maybe even more than solo drills. With her as a partner, beating Gareth suddenly felt within reach.

“Are you sure? This doesn't seem like a fair tradeoff for you.”

“Absolutely. I think we both can benefit from each other.”

That was my exact thought, maybe training together could push us both further. “Okay, then. I’m down for it.”

“Okay great, how about we train together every day after our classes.”

“Yeah that sounds great.”

Then I felt an overwhelming aura. It was him again, Vaeltharion. His aura froze us in place as he stood beside our table. He leaned down at us and said, “Don’t tell me you two are skipping class?”

He doesn’t sound too happy…