This time, however, he began to feel a creeping emptiness that echoed the feeling of exhaustion. It wasn’t exhaustion at all, in any sense of the word, but the closest description he could give was a combination of extreme thirst or hunger with exhaustion. He couldn’t explain it. He continued emitting, pressing against the feeling further and further until his emissions were pitiable streams of alternating squirts from the three locations he was emitting from. As he clenched harder and harder, putting forth more effort, the streams would burst forth before dying out again, and each successive clench of effort released less and less. When he was finally done, he felt so exhausted and tired that he collapsed in the bed. Physically, he was a bit tired from using the full body clench, but his exhaustion was of a different level that he couldn’t understand.

He didn’t return to his point manipulation, as he wanted to explore what was currently happening, although he did try the point manipulation for a few moments, comparing the two types of exhaustion then comparing them to physical exhaustion and found them separate but all three seemed to be categorically identical as exhaustion. He could think of no better word for it. Physical exhaustion feels… almost the same as this. It’s all… some kind of exhaustion.

He panted for a few moments before smiling, nodding slightly. Tough… but… got something from it… just don’t know what it was… the feeling of mana and points seems… a bit different. Not sure what’s going on, so… But… definitely not the same, so… But … the way Garnedell was describing things, doesn’t seem like mana is really, useful? He talks about points, and yeah… but… all mana does is… catch points? Really? What’s going on with the core thing? That’s… mana, so? Hmm… Joe growled, frustrated by the apparent differences and added it to the list of questions to ask Garnedell.

So… gonna have to get up soon… Joe tried to motivate himself, but this exhaustion had him flat on his back and he relished it, enjoying the moment and allowed himself to just be. Without any thing to do at the moment, waiting for his mana to recover and to recover whatever exhausted him while manipulating his points, he turned to his training regime plan for himself and the others, trying to figure out how he would train mana past the system. He knew what to do with stamina and even physical capabilities, both well within his expertise, but he really wasn’t sure what to do with gaining some form of mana endurance and strength, as it were.

Does that even apply? Can … does… is there an endurance for mana? It would make sense… gotta push out mana… and the system quantifies it, so … probably easiest way is just use it… over and over…. Gotta… assume there is some form of… strain? A mana sprain? Maybe?

His thoughts wandered wildly over the options and struggled to figure out anything meaningful for such a unique and esoteric aspect he’d never interacted with. He chewed on the ideas for a while before he looked back at his status, seeing that his mana pool had now stopped flashing at zero and seemed to be refilling at a much slower rate. Joe rubbed his chin in thought, watching his mana refill for a bit before he sighed and stretched a bit. It was an odd burn suffusing his body, similar but still different enough to be recognizable, but it still retained the normal feeling of comfort from working hard. Huh… mana… endurance then?

Wonder what that means about health, then? Think it works the same way, right? Already tested this before with Kilniara… just didn’t think it had anything with this, too. He began rethinking how he was going to train the other three as well as train himself if he was going to increase his personal reserves and stamina, although training ‘health’ seemed a very weird impossible non sequitur, it not being the same thing as the other two nor seeming to act in exactly the same way. He didn’t ponder it too long before letting it go and turned back to his stats.

He was now sweating profusely, but didn’t want to remain laying down and sat up and to slip quietly from the bed, not wanting to bother Kilniara. So… guess we’ll start the day… with a nice lukewarm hand towel wipe down… Joe sighed and turned, looking at the available hygiene station; a bowl of water left all night. Wash basin it is, then. Joe washed himself from the rooms wash basin quickly before leaving. He’d proved less than stealthy, and Kilniara had woken to watch him bathe. He’d turned to see her smiling up at him with smoky eyes, and he grinned back at her. She smiled, then slipped from the bed before coming over to kiss him then stepped away, speaking softly.

“I do not think I like base leaking salty water from their body.”

Joe smirked a bit at that, “Hmm… I could hug you until you liked it?”

Her undignified squawk wasn’t enough to wake the boys, and she quickly quieted while stepping back from him, “I… don’t think so…”

Joe smiled, “Well… you will be doing it yourself soon, so…”

She grimaced and shook her head, “I don’t think so.”

Joe chuckled, “Hmm… then let’s go out and train?”

Her mouth opened, worry coming to her before she grimaced and shook her head, slipping from the room to allow the others their space to wake.

The boys had begun stirring and she had to leave. Joe rested on the floor another ten or so minutes before calling the boys awake and then standing to wash himself. The boys grumbled as they woke, and Joe finally splashed them with a bit of water from the wash basin. Both boys reacted to the splash, Garnedell taking it well but Zilnek grimaced and seemed to have to hold himself back from lashing out. Joe had to rectify.

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“Ah, sorry Zilnek. I didn’t mean to anger you.”

Zilnek actually blushed, ducking his head with a frown, “Ah, sorry Joe.”

Joe shook his head, “No. I didn’t know it would bother you so much. Please accept my apology.”

Zilnek ended up nodding, but couldn’t or didn’t know how to accept it gracefully so Joe let it pass as he didn’t want to make it worse. Garnedell prepared easily enough, but Zilnek seemed struggle, busying himself with preparation he didn’t need but activities that kept him active and away from Joe. Joe gave him his privacy and moved everyone out to the courtyard.

“Right. We’re going to be doing something else today. Something very different. I don’t know if people do it on this plane or not, but it is vital to being strong, so I want to teach you.”

The other three nodded, all seemingly excited by it. Joe smiled and shook his head.

“You shouldn’t be too excited. You’re probably going to not enjoy this. It’s painful and difficult, but very important. But, we’re going to do this one at a time. I need a volunteer, then I’ll explain what is happening.”

Garnedell smiled and stepped forward just a second before Kilniara and smiled in triumphant when he realized he’d beaten her. Kilniara grimaced a bit but then laughed good naturedly.

“I’m not sure you going to be happy after this, Garendell,” Joe added with humor.

Garnedell shrugged, “I’m ready. I’m not worried.”

Joe smiled, a bit of an evil grin forming, “You should be!”

Garnedell smiled back but said nothing and just shrugged.

“OK. Then please show me your status.”

Garnedell quickly opened his status then looked up at Joe expectantly.

Joe smirked, “Right. Now the hard part. Please do... hmm… go into horse stance and never stop.”

The three didn’t respond to that and Garnedell quickly dropped into the energy draining stance without much thought. Joe watched Garnedell’s stamina begin dropping rapidly and noticed that Garnedell proved unconcerned and physically unaffected, his stance virtually perfect and likewise unaffected. When his stamina reached the single digits, Joe quickly warned him.

“You will suddenly feel sore and … I’m not sure what, but don’t stop. Keep going and don’t stop. You will feel more and sorer; more … not good, but don’t stop until you literally can’t do it anymore and collapse. But keep going as long as you can. And… four, three, two, one. Now!”

As soon as his stamina hit zero, Garnedell suddenly moaned and almost immediately collapsed, his whole bodily trembling. Garnedell fought it but fear quickly arose on his face.

“What… What’s…” Garnedell panted a few times before continuing rapidly, “What’s happening! It hurts!”

Joe smiled and nodded, “Yup. Good. Keep going. Don’t worry. Everything is fine. Nothing is hurting you and nothing is wrong. You’re not feeling good, but that is the feeling of your body exercising.”

Garnedell looked up at Joe with a bit of fear in his eyes but Joe nodded and smiled and Garnedell took it as reassurance before smiling in return. However, the smile quickly changed to a rictus growl and Garnedell began grunting.

“Good. Good! Fight it. Growl, scream, roar. Reject the exhaustion and the pain. Keep going as long as you can. Good. Good. Go!”

Joe’s pride grew as he Garnedell fought through the pain and fear until he finally collapsed, exhausted. When he fell, Garnedell began panting and the release brought a smile to his face as he gasped through it all. Joe smiled, then began laughing as he watched his reaction.

“You did … really well. Have you done this training before? Besides with me?”

Garnedell quickly shook his head, “No. That… what was that? I know you push us now, but… I’ve never felt or … I’ve … What was that?”

Joe smiled, “This is your natural ability. Your body’s strength. What you felt before was not you or your ability. It was the status… system… giving you ability that is not yours. You are not truly using your skills or abilities. You are using the system.”

Garnedell stared up at him in confusion, uncertain and Joe smiled down at him. He glanced at Garendell’s status and saw the flashing red zero for his stamina waited a few more moments before asking Garnedell how he felt as he wanted to make sure that he’d rested enough and was able to stand again.

“How are you feeling, now?”

Garnedell’s panting had slowed and he blinked, falling into introspection before sitting up carefully, “I… feel better. I’m feeling… weird. I don’t know…”

“You’re feeling tired. This is what tired feels like.”

“Tired?”

Joe nodded, “This is tiredness from using your body too much too harshly in a short time. If you train for some time, it will recover very fast. Don’t worry. But, you should not do this too much. It will… harm you if you do it too quickly. You must come into this slowly.”

Garnedell nodded and stood up quickly, even easily, but did wobble a bit as his exhausted legs proved unstable, the horse stance placing almost all stress on the legs. Garnedell looked up at Joe in fear and Joe just smiled to easy his worry, although his mind raced.

“Don’t worry. Your legs are wiped out. They will recover, and they will be even stronger later. You will probably be sore today… maybe even tomorrow. But the day after, they will completely recover and they will be stronger than before. Do this for six months to a year, and you will rapidly improve. Even just a month or two, if you are diligent.” He… got up well enough… I thought that would be all he could do? Don’t want to push him too much, but he stood him easily enough…

Garnedell was able to stand, even walking around the courtyard with ease, but frowned and groaned a bit the whole time, “Yeah, but this sucks!”

Huh… maybe it’s not as bad as I thought? It’s more the pain that’s got him, but he moves easily enough… almost like … Joe stilled his thoughts and returned his focus to Garnedell.

Joe laughed, “Yup. This is what I did every day… from when I was a child!”

Garnedell looked at him in shock, fear and amazement warring for prominence, “Every day?”

“Yup. It is why I am so strong!”

Garnedell looked at him before grimacing with passion, eager to continue, but even as he settled back into the horse stance a second time, Joe’s grin grew and he began to chuckle.