Of course, he was incredibly wealthy, from what he could understand, but fobbing his kid off on a nanny or another person was not an option either. If he was going to be having kids, it was going to be when he could be a good father and make sure they had a good mother as well. It was only wise, to be honest, and he had no problem waiting.
Shortly after, Joe felt the mana field disturb slightly, the mana around Kilniara swirling away from her in a vortex which allowed Joe to notice the ambient mana being pulled into whatever she was doing. It was obvious that she was just emitting her mana in a rush upwards and away from him, and Joe smiled as he turned to his own training as well, her diligence motivating him.
Joe lost himself in his mana training once again until the other two woke up and they soon headed out into the courtyard to continue both their skills training as well as developing their body. The healer arrived slightly late, apologizing and promising to be quite a bit earlier as he healed Joe and Garnedell as promised before standing to the side and simply watching. They all ignored the healer easily enough and everyone did well with their skills training, seeming to find meaning in the work, but when he turned to training without stamina, the other three groaned, although they still did put in the work. The only one that proved a bit unenjoyable to work with was Zilnek who tended to be very expressive of his dislike of the effort. While he never verbally complained, Zilnek still grimaced, frowned, and in general displayed anger as he went through the exercise.
Joe never really said anything about it, ignoring it and taking the effort as a positive example of his ethic but Joe did find himself becoming less and less pleased with Zilnek’s attitude. The other two would moan like any would when they learned they had to perform grievous exercise. Even Joe groaned a bit when he bottomed out his stamina and began straining his actual physical resources instead of the system supported sources. Despite that, Garnedell and Kilniara both struggled through the exercises with effort and groans of pain but never seemed to express any anger or upset, always putting their effort into the work. Zilnek, however, continually complained and while he never did so to Joe’s face, he continually caught looks of anger and rebellious disdain which made teaching Zilnek a horrible experience. It was a struggle for Joe to maintain impartiality with the three as he was finding himself less and less motivated to put any effort into Zilnek especially as he appeared to be unwilling and even unhappy with Joe’s efforts. Despite that, Joe tried to maintain impartiality and continued the training, now struggling with making sure he trained Zilnek equally to the other two.
They finished their work, Joe heading to breakfast feeling refreshed, his muscles well used while the other three seemed to groan painfully as they waddled into the breakfast looking triple their age, although Garnedell was quite a bit less sore, Joe not pushing him as much as he had to last through the day with his current situation while the Acokzau would receive the healer’s healing. They did so, and the healer sat, deciding to take another meal with them. Joe welcomed him and ate, enjoying the meal while the other three ate ravenously. While they were eating, Chulnan, the healer, looked at Joe thoughtfully before questioning him.
“Why do you make them train past their limits, eccentric?”
“Limits?”
“Their strength… stamina?”
“When you start feeling tired and are no longer able to continue?”
“Yes!”
“Hmm. It is very healthy if you do so, as well as best if you wish to grow in strength and ability.”
Chulnan thought for a moment before continuing, “Then, you trained this way?”
“I’ve trained this way my whole life. I’m training this way now, with all of you.”
Zilnek moaned although he’d been completely healed, “Our master is insane and has no problem practicing without stamina.”
Chulnan glanced around at all of them, raising an eyebrow before looking at Joe, “Truly?”
Joe nodded, “Of course.”
“You empty your stamina?”
“Yes. And health and mana.”
The healer stared at him, then looked at the others and they nodded with a painful look.
Chulnan looked back at Joe, “Why?”
Joe nodded and continued, “The health, stamina and mana in your status is not your own. It is what is offered you from the system… ah… the status. This is why you do not feel tired when you are using these until it is empty. Then you feel tired. But normally, if you were to use your own stamina, you will slowly grow more and more tired as you use more of your stamina until you are exhausted and cannot even move.”
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“But that is what we feel when the stamina is empty!”
“Yes. Because your body is very weak.”
“It is weak?”
“Very. With strength and stamina, you are able to work quite easily for quite long without exhaustion. It seems the system does similarly, but it is not your body, but a gift from the system.”
“So working as you do, it will grow you?”
Joe shook his head, “No. But it will increase our personal strength and endurance.”
Chulnan narrowed, “How?”
“Hmm… it’s hard to explain, but for an easy example, the muscles in our body rip and tear as they are used, especially beyond their measure, either in power or in endurance. When done so, the body repairs them to be stronger than they were before.”
* * *
“This can be a difficult teaching, but to show an example of our body’s growth, the body’s muscles become worn and damaged if pushed beyond strength or endurance. This damage is repaired by natural bodily functions and increases them in strength and power.”
Chulnan considered this, then narrowed his eyes. He used inspect body, diving into the body of the apprentices and stared deep into the muscles of the apprentices, not daring to peer into the secrets of the eccentric and enrage him. As he sought out the muscles of the Acokzau, he saw nothing as the eccentric described, their muscles whole and hale. Maybe… because I healed them? He then turned his sight to the young base boy, diving into his muscles and searched, but noticed nothing of particular interest. Is… the eccentric lying? Or… Chulnan drove his inspect body skill even harder, delving deeper and small than he’d ever done so before, but still did not notice any meaningful examples of what the eccentric argued for. Chulnan frowned and twisted his skill slightly, adding the desire to see damage. If there is damage, I should see… His inspect body shifted with his desire and Chulnan struggled to hold in his shock as the major muscles of the base apprentice glowed a dull red. All other parts of the apprentice proved healthy, but the muscles were the pink of damage that he rarely considered meaningful. But there was damage.
Chulnan escaped from his inspection and fell into introspection, lost in his thought even as the apprentices and the master spoke with one another.
* * *
Joe allowed the healer to get lost in his thoughts, considering what Joe had said and turned to conversation with the other three. It turned to general humor and conversation before the healer returned, his thoughts deep and hidden from Joe so he waited politely until Chulnan began again.
“You have much more stamina?”
Joe paused at that, “System or personal?”
“There is a difference?”
“Very much so.”
“Then… system.”
Joe sighed, “I have no more system stamina than any other. All could gain the system stamina I have gained if they pushed to grow in the system.”
“So nothing unique?”
“I … don’t know, to be honest. But from what I can see, no.”
“Then personal stamina?”
Joe grinned, “I believe I have significantly more personal stamina than most I know. But… I have met very few people from this plane, so I do not know.”
Chulnan nodded at that, “Then… what is a good comparison, if I may know?”
Joe paused at that, thinking carefully but Garnedell leapt in with a proud smirk, “Master trains all day on personal stamina without the systems help.”
Chulnan’s eyebrows rose in shock, “All day… no system stamina?”
Joe’s grin subtly came out even as Joe struggled to cut his pride off at the knees but nodded, “Yeah… a bit.”
Kilniara seemed to beam at that while Garnedell straight up grinned in pride. Joe dropped his head to hide his own embarrassment but Chulnan had fallen silent again and the others continued in conversation for a time.
“You really don’t need rest, Joe,” Kilniara asked.
Joe looked at her and chuffed, “Nope. But… yeah…”
“And you are embarrassed of this?”
“Not so much embarrassed, but… not really wanting to show off,” Joe replied with a shrug.
Kilniara fell silent for a bit then turned to Joe, “Could I… explain some of this stamina … stuff to Gwenvair?”
Joe’s eyebrows jumped at that and he quickly nodded, “That… seems like a good idea. Sure. You can tell her anything if she wants to know.”
Kilniara nodded and turned back to her meal, but quickly spoke to him before she did so, “Thanks, Joe.”
Chulnan had returned his attention to them sometime during his conversation with Kilniara and interjected when she was done, “How… does one do this?”
Joe shrugged, “Pretty easy. If you want strength, do many strength exercises as hard as possible such that it tires you out quickly. Be careful. The first time will leave you quite sore, so it would be wise to spend several weeks to develop before doing this.
“For endurance, run or exercise as long as possible… so don’t do very heavy or difficult things. Do easy things you can do for a very long time. You will quickly grow your stamina. But, like developing your power, you should begin slowly or you will be very sore the first time.”
“How does this affect health?”
Joe grinned, “Spoken like a healer! It greatly increases your health. You will have less diseases and injuries.”
The healer sat back at that, “Huh. It seems strange. Harming your body makes you stronger.”
Joe nodded, “It may seem counterintuitive, but with this, yes.”
The conversation fell away after that, Chulnan retreating to his thoughts before quickly emptying his plate and offering a respectful and reserved thanks before heading out. Their breakfast was mainly done, so Joe had everyone finish before Garnedell called an end to the meal in excitement. Garnedell actually bounced in his seat as he called for all to head out while Kilniara simply chuckled. Zilnek stared at Joe, obviously thinking deeply, but Joe was unable to grasp any hint at what Zilnek was pondering so deeply about. Despite that, the three began turning the conversation to other directions while eating excitedly. The breakfast finished quickly after that and soon found all four heading out to the dungeon and the new day.
* * *