Morgan arrived at the divine grove feeling oddly energetic, normally she needed to get warmed up before exercising but she felt like she could push mountains. Feeling suspicious, she checked her status effects menu in her character screen.
Status effects
Competence: training proficiency leveling up, temporary potential multiplied. Remaining time: 2 hours 56 minutes
Vitality: Endurance up, energy limit and regeneration up, fatigue lessened.
Remaining time: 2 hours and 56 minutes
Morgan's eyes widened, usually a competence potion would go for around 100 gold and vitality potions for 45 gold each. Though they usually last a while longer. As far as she remembered, she didn't drink any potions and there was no reason for anyone to secretly feed her any.
Not wanting to waste any time while under the buffs, she immediately got set on training. She changed into her sports bra and sweatpants and packed everything away into her inventory. Shen then infused her fists with mana and punched holes in one of the thicker trees in the nearby forest. After pushing them over she smoothed out the logs out and cut it into four equal segments. She then took out a long rope from one of the bags in her inventory and looped them through holes she put in the logs with her spear. She twirled the rope a few times and tied it around her waist with a bit of slack so it was a bit more comfortable and snug. The rope slightly dug into her skin but she like feeling it directly and it didn't actually hurt her anyways.
Once she made sure the rope was secure she started walking, it started off slow but sped up as she picked up momentum. Each of the logs weighed around the average adult male, and she had 4 of them tied to her waist. Her body was tilted forward almost at a 45 degree angle as she strained all the strength on her body into her legs. This would have been a breeze if she used mana to strengthen her legs but right now she was purely using her body.
She couldn't afford to stop or slow down at any point, her body was already aching and her calves felt like they would snap at any moment. If she were to stop now, all the soreness would come rushing in like a tsunami. So for now all she was worried about was placing one foot before another and dragging the four dense logs behind her.
At least the competence effects were already kicking in, she saw messages like "Endurance proficiency increased" and "Strength proficiency increased". Normally it would take over 4 laps of intense exercise for the messages to appear but she was barely midway through her first lap. Although her body was incredibly sore she didn't feel tired whatsoever, energy course through her veins as she powered through step after step.
Hours passed, Morgan almost fell over when the effects suddenly dissipated, leaving her with a normal insanely tired and sore body. She continued walking forward while shortened the length of her steps slowly until her momentum came to a halt. She untied the rope around her waste and sighed as the weight of the four logs fell away. A wave of nausea hit her, she felt like she ran cross country by sprinting the entire way through. She stumbled a bit and dropped head first into the lake.
The cold water shocked her mind, but her sore limbs were numb to the coolness. There weren't any people around so Morgan ignored the fact that her clothing clung tightly against her skin. The divine energy in the air and the natural healing factor of her body worked in combination to heal her strained muscles and relieve her of the excess lactic acid.
Eventually she felt sober and comfortable enough to climb out of the river and dry off her clothes. She started stretching when her stomach loudly protested, she then remembered the other burritos Elizabeth packed for her. They were still slightly warm, luckily they were tightly packed so her pack wasn't dripping with juices.
She sat in a nearby shade under a dense cover of leaves, then she unwrapped one of the burritos and bit into it. It wasn't as crispy as it was in the morning but it was just as good tasting. The crispy roast spuds, smooth and silky eggs, incredible mixture of the minced boar meat and diced minotaur meat all comingled in her mouth and create an absolutely decadent flavor. Suddenly messages appeared before her face, "Buffs Competence and Vitality continued, time left: 4 hours"
Unless she was hallucinating, that meant that the burrito was what gave her the status effects. Suddenly she understands why Elizabeth's little restaurant must be kept a secret, she could make food which gave buffs. Potions and elixirs were incredibly difficult to brew, selling them for 100 gold each was already considered quite fair. The materials and the equipment needed to properly brew up potions and elixirs were in the thousands, not to mention the education and skills needed. Making snacks and meals out of unique monster meat and products was not a new thing, but they at usually lasted only 15 minutes at most half an hour. Elizabeth's burrito not only lasted more than an hour, but up to 4 hours at that. This obviously pointed towards some kind of unique skill which Elizabeth had, and that was incredibly valuable. If the assassin guild caught wind of this, she would be in incredible danger.
Morgan felt oddly happy, the fact that Elizabeth just gave her something this valuable meant that she was a part of the small group of people she trusted. Hopefully they get closer in the future.
The message only appeared when she finished the first burrito, this meant she had another 4 hours after this one to train. It was around 10, which would make it around 6 when the effects ran out, with some error for time to relax and eat the other burrito.
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Morgan felt a burst of motivation, it wouldn't take as long to get her stats up now. Not wanting to waste the effects of the meal, she immediate wrapped the rope around her waist and started moving. Her body was no longer sore and now that she knew where the energy came from, she was comfortable pushing herself to her very limit.
Hours passed slowly and painfully, Morgan could no longer even keep her eyes open the entire time. Every time she opened her eyes, the nearby torch light burned her cornea and she felt like keeling over and vomiting what was left of her lunch. Half way through her 6th hour, she felt her calves suddenly tense and pop. She almost toppled over as a searing pain rocketed up her legs, however she continued pushing ahead. A pulled muscle was nothing to worry about when in proximity with the dense divine energy. The fact that she could still walk meant that they weren't completely torn, she would just have to push through and let it heal.
Morgan's body ached and her joins screamed at every movement. Her speed had decreased significantly and every push forward increased her fatigue as much as a her first two laps. She felt the very last bits of energy squeeze out of her system as she fell face first into the dirt.
'I'm gonna feel this tomorrow, this is going to suck'
She thought to herself as she rolled on her back to slowly untie the rope around her waist. Her lungs burned, it felt like she was breathing through a thick miasma. She laid there with her eyes close for a few minutes while her heart thumped against her chest, ringing in her ears.
After a while, she picked herself up and packed up all the rope. She simply pushed the logs to a side to use the training session. She walked to the lake and washed off the dirt on her skin, the last thing she wanted to do was clog up Elizabeth's shower. Glancing around, she saw the effects of her training. All the way around the lake were four lines of tilled dirt, it looked like someone was going to do some farming in the region. Morgan chuckled to herself when she compared herself to cows pulling farming ploughs. She turned around and left the forest for Elizabeth's place.
The bell rang as the door slowly opened, Elizabeth sat up straight and wiped a bit of drool from her face. She looked a bit embarrassed as her brain also woke up.
"Sorry I feel asleep waiting for you. Go get yourself cleaned up, tonight's dinner is a little more simple."
Morgan smiled as she walked towards the stairwell door, walking in and seeing Elizabeth asleep like that gave her a feeling of a happy domesticated life. Something she wouldn't mind properly experiencing in the future. She peeled off her clothes and placed them in the wash, the warm water rolled down her back and washed all the residual dirt and sweat from her skin. She glanced at reflection from the mirror across from the shower. Her long legs were lean and muscular like a sprinter but nothing like muscle builders. The same could be said about her shoulder and arms, all covered in tough lean muscle. Her biceps bulged as she roughly scrubbed her short hair, it just passing her eyes and covering her ears as water dripped down. Although she wasn't exactly well endowed, she was still quite proud of her body. Slightly red welts were all across her stomach and lower back from the rope, it drew attention to her well toned abs.
Before she wasted more water gawking at herself, she cleaned herself off and put on a loose short sleeved flannel top and jeans. Morgan walked down the stairs and into the restaurant, Elizabeth placed two plates, copper cups and small containers on the table. She looked up and smiled
"I didn't do much, your stomach probably needs a bit to rest. Come here and sit down with me" Morgan pulled out a chair and sat across from Elizabeth, now that she was closer she could see what was being served. On the two plates were some kind of chicken Caesar salad. There was some sort of fruit yoghurt in the small containers. She didn't really know what was in the cup, it looked slightly cloudy white and was garnished with a sprig of rosemary and a wedge of lime. Whatever it was, it looked incredibly refreshing.
Though only knowing each other for a couple days, they were quickly warming up to each other's company. The two women enjoyed their meals while having a small light hearted chat. Morgan bit into a piece of the grilled chicken, it was incredibly juicy. Flavors of garlic and herbs spread through her mouth.
"I finished Nathan's sword today, I should be free to finish building the upper floor soon"
Elizabeth casually brought up
"Oh nice! I caught a glimpse of the blade before, it didn't look like a material I've seen before. What is it?"
"Oh it's an alloy made by powdered mithril crystals with compounded mana steel. Most weapons on the market are made from iron and steel reinforced with some other ores and enchantments. People don't really work with crazy alloys mostly since it takes a long time to forge and the rebound from hammering hurts like crazy. I'm lucky as I could simply use my telekinesis to hammer and form the blade without feeling any of the rebound. I only really use my hands when something precise and accurate is required. It is still a very slow and tedious process though."
"Wow, I'm starting to understand more and more why Nathan and the others are monopolizing you. Whoever marries you in the future is going to be the luckiest person in Afterlife"
Elizabeth's face heated up, turning a rosy red shade. To hide her embarrassment she took a sip from her mug. Morgan followed suit, taking a small sip from the copper mug. A fresh and well carbonated ginger beer filled her mouth. First a nice sweetness followed by an addicting spicy punch. Small bits of crushed ice fell into her mouth as well. She placed the mug back on the table, the condensation from the ice created a ring of water.
"Anyways." Elizabeth coughed a bit "It's great being able to talk to someone like this again, the others are busy most of the time. I only get visited every few days here and there. I'm glad you're here with me"
She smiled, now it was Morgan's turn to slightly blush. The two continued to finish their meal while chatting about the things they were doing recently.
"You're taking tomorrow easy right? Your body needs to take time to heal up a bit. Maybe you can help me a bit with the construction."
"Oh yeah of course, what do you need me to do?"
"I can pretty easily handle most of the labor work up stairs, I just need you to help with the smaller things like plumbing and electricity since I won't be able to handle those with my telekinesis."
"Alright, I did a little internship at an engineering firm when I was in Highschool but I probably forgot most things now. You might need to remind me with a bit of things."
The two finished the rest of the food and emptied out the yoghurt cups. Elizabeth only ate a bit of hers and gave it to Morgan, who accepted it simply because free food is free food. They cleaned up the dishes and went upstairs to end the day.