Chapter 45 The First Grade
Evernya accessed the pull-down menu on her suit computer to select the mana sealing feature, setting it to grade one. She laid back, fidgeting, waiting for the sealing to take effect. Within seconds, her strength sapped away and her senses dulled.
A minute later, Evernya’s mana grade dropped to grade one. She attempted to draw more mana into her veins but found she couldn’t access more than a weak trickle at a time through the thick filter encompassing her mana core.
So this is what a human feels like. I almost forgot how cut off human senses are. At least it isn’t too uncomfortable. It’s nothing like the mana suppression shackles, as it seems like the suit seals my mana at my mana core, unlike the shackles which put pressure on my veins.
“How do you feel?” Inquired Elizabeth, while standing over Evernya’s body, running scans to ensure the data they were receiving from the suit was accurate.
Evernya sat up to gauge how her body felt. “fine, my senses dulled quite a bit, maybe down to human levels and I feel much weaker, but I can still function fine. I don’t like losing access to my mana, but it isn’t uncomfortable.”
Elizabeth stepped away from Evernya’s body after she ensured her patient’s health before speaking. “The suit’s mana seal should be barely noticeable by design, unlike slave bands. The slave mana seal’s design punishes the victim for trying to access more mana than allowed with a rubber band-like effect. The more mana the wearer tries to access, the harsher the backlash they will experience. This seal is rigid with no give, positioned on your mana core to limit discomfort. Since your body has less mana to work with, the passive boosts weakened, hence your dulled senses and strength. Your current level of strength is as close to base as it can get. Appearance-wise, you look healthy, though you lost a bit of your glow, otherwise, your body is functioning at healthy levels.”
“Even with her mana sealed, she still retains the too-perfect look that people with the M blood type have,” Elizabeth grumbled under her breath.
Unfortunately for Elizabeth, even with her senses dulled, Evernya heard her. “Hey, Meira looks overly beautiful too! I don’t look too perfect! It’s just the way I look.”
Elizabeth blushed from being caught, causing her to stutter. “Sorry if you took offense. I meant you have almost no imperfections in your appearance. Similar to you, Elves naturally have an otherworldly beautiful appearance from the high mana content within their bodies. Typically elves are born with at least M- blood type, making their blood quite valuable but not on par with yours.”
“It’s ok I didn’t mean for you to take it seriously. I don’t have a problem with my appearance. Even you look amazing for your age. If it weren’t for some slight wrinkles, you would pass for a 20-year-old with model looks.” Evernya complimented, causing Elizabeth to blush again.
“Thank you. I try to take good care of myself. At my current pace, I’ll crack into the arisen stage within a few years, so I am a fair bit magical myself. If I weren’t such a high mana grade, I would look much older.” Elizabeth gushed, proud of her accomplishments.
People on earth would kill to look a half-century younger. Even with the significant flaws of this world, I bet most people from earth would love to live here. Evernya thought.
Meira took the lull in conversation as a sign to continue where they left off. “Let’s move on to your baseline physical tests now that we have confirmed you are fine with most of your mana sealed. Luckily, my home gym has everything we need.”
“Should I unseal my mana for this?” Evernya asked after climbing off her bed.
“No, keep the seal in place for these tests,” Meira replied while ushering Evernya toward the hall.
“Why? Isn’t it pointless for me to find out what I can do with my mana sealed? I can boost everything with my mana invalidating the results.” Evernya questioned as they walked down the hall.
This time it was Elizabeth who answered as she followed the demi-human duo down the hall. “Actually no, warrior magic boosts everything at a fixed rate. For example, at grade 4, you can boost your base capabilities by a maximum of 4 times. It is best to test someone’s base capabilities at grade 1 since grade one does nothing to enhance themselves. Base capabilities vary from person to person, but your warrior boost won’t. For this reason, warriors or people with similar magic are constantly working out not only to make their bodies better capable of handling the strain but also to boost their base capabilities. Even a small gain in base capabilities makes a big difference since only 1% more strength turns into 4% if fully boosted at grade 4.”
“So I’ll be spending a lot of time working out then.” Commented Evernya.
“If you want to improve your capabilities as a warrior, yes. You are in a unique position. The flexibility of fighting long-range or up close will give a significant advantage.” Replied Elizabeth.
“I don’t know how I’ll fight, yet. Hopefully, by the time I enroll in college, I will have that figured out,” Evernya commented while following Meira down the stairs to the ground floor.
“Don’t worry. We will find your preferred combat style within the month. A mix of both would be best.” Assured Meira, catching the worried expression of her kitten over her shoulder.
A few seconds later, the three women arrived at the gym. Meira led Evernya to a treadmill on the right side of the gym, facing a large TV. With her tablet, Meira turned on the TV, causing Evernya’s suit computer to beep. Evernya selected yes on the pop-up, asking to link her suit with the TV. Evernya’s information appeared on the TV, including her heart rate, current mana usage, her current mana left, and an overall score on her current physical state. She poked at her suit computer, finding out she could control the TV with options of adding more stats or to watch TV.
“These tests are basic compared to your previous tests. If you went to high school, you would perform these tests twice a school year. Well, the first parts would be. Since you’re an adult shifter, the strength tests will differ from just pushups and pullups. The first test will be a kilometer run as fast as you can to give us an idea of your cardio level.” Explained Meira as she set the parameters for the test on the treadmill’s control panel.
After completing the setup, Meira glanced down at her kitten’s bare feet. “Do you want shoes? My treadmill’s belt shouldn’t be too abrasive on your feet as it simulates soft ground. A barefoot-friendly belt was a requirement for me as I can go a little elfy at times, requiring long runs barefoot when it’s too cold outside.”
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Evernya stared down at her bare feet wiggling her toes, replying “I’m fine barefoot, shoes feel constricting on my feet.”
“How do I start? Do I set it at a pace?” Evernya asked.
“No, when you’re ready to begin press start and run, the treadmill will simulate as if you are moving.” Replied Meira.
“Fancy, but why not just run outside?” Evernya inquired.
“I wanted to keep the test in the gym since I have all the equipment here.” Reasoned Meira.
“You should stretch a bit before you run. Typically shifters don’t need to stretch, but I don’t want to take the chance.”
Evernya dropped to the floor next to the treadmill and began to stretch. First, she laid her legs out in front of her to reach for her toes. She immediately realized her flexibility was leagues better than her old human body when she folded herself over while hugging her feet with her arms. Next, she tried a butterfly stretch, but yet again, she felt no stretch despite having her heels against her crotch with her knees touching the floor on each side of her. Curious, Evernya attempted to do the splits, succeeding without effort.
Is this how Yoga experts feel? Evernya thought as she turned herself into a pretzel, trying to test the limits of her body’s flexibility.
Her audience of two watched on with wonder and a little envy as she contorted her body into impossible positions. “Wow, I think we can skip the flexibility test. I think you are more flexible than our resident elf and her race is known for their flexibility,” Elizabeth commented.
“She is. You should have seen her contort out of her training suit. My theory is she has rubber bones.” Meira added.
Evernya glared up at the elf while in a king pigeon pose, growling, “And whose fault was that! You didn’t tell me how to release it! You just sat there and watched while I struggled to escape it!”
“I would’ve helped, eventually. Your free contortionist display was too entertaining to stop.” Meira commented, showing no remorse.
Evernya sprung to her feet, flicking her tail angrily as she turned her back on the duo to step onto the treadmill. Her suit computer beeped, displaying a pop-up asking her if she wanted to perform a kilometer test. She glanced at the screen with confusion as she selected the yes option.
“She has the typical teenage shifter tail-flick down perfectly,” Elizabeth whispered to Meira.
Evernya glared over her shoulder at the whispering women with a look saying shut up or else.
“The moodiness too,” Meira whispered back, prompting a low warning growl from the subject of the teasing.
Damn it! I hate how I am powerless with my mana sealed. That cup in Elizabeth’s hand is a really tempting target to dump on their heads with telekinesis. Though Elizabeth will probably dump another big water tank on me for revenge.
Seeing the women wouldn’t shut up, Evernya ignored them and started the test. Fueled by her anger, Evernya started off too fast, only realizing her mistake when she could barely breathe at the quarter mark. She slowed down to a maintainable pace, trying her best to even on her breathing. Unfortunately for her, the fast start did too much damage. By the time she finished, she felt on the verge of dying. She fell off the treadmill, sprawling out, belly up on the floor, gasping for breath. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling while panting for breath for over five minutes before forcing herself up into a seated position.
Wow, I’m in worse shape than I thought. A kilometer wasn’t as hard with my old human body. My vision even got a little blurry towards the end. Any further, and I may have passed out.
Meira glanced up from her tablet to find her kitten nearly recovered. “Improving your cardio will need to be one of our primary focuses. You completed a kilometer in 5 minutes 12 seconds, which would be ok for a female human of your age and size but pitiful for a female shifter. Typically It isn’t hard for any shifter your age to run a kilometer in under 3 minutes.”
“Yeah, I felt like I was dying near the end. I am so out of shape.” Evernya forced out between gasps for breath.
Upon noticing her kitten’s difficulty standing up, Meira gestured for Elizabeth to help. “With your mana sealed, your body cannot heal itself efficiently, so Elizabeth will heal any soreness to ensure you can perform at your best.”
“So that’s why you wanted me to observe her physical tests so badly. You wanted a healer on-demand,” grumbled Elizabeth as she scanned her patient’s panting body and quickly fixed any damage.
“I also wanted you here in case she hurts herself. We don’t know how her body will handle these tests. Besides, another pair of eyes, especially someone as experienced as you, will help interpret the results.” Justified Meira.
Elizabeth ignored the elf as she reported. “Her suit’s body scan appears to be functioning correctly. My scans showed the same result as the suit. She had minor inflammation, mostly focused on her legs. If she had access to her mana, she would heal in seconds.”
“Good, that means her body can handle the stress, but her cardiovascular system is out of shape, probably because it relied on her mana system to support it. Her heart rate never reached high levels, maxing out at around 140 bpm at the end. With her ragged appearance, you would think over 200.” Meira stated while scanning the data from the test.
A couple of minutes later, Evernya had her breathing under control. “So what’s next on the torture Evernya day?” Evernya asked with a hint of fear.
“Well, I was planning on doing the flexibility test next to give you time to recover before the next strenuous test, but from your warm-up, any test on flexibility would be pointless,” Meira replied, pulling up her testing plan on her tablet.
“What is the next test after that?” Evernya asked after climbing to her feet.
With a sadistic grin, Meira responded. “Your acceleration and max speed again on the treadmill.”
A shiver ran down Evernya’s spine, and her tail slightly puffed at Meira’s grin. “Give me a few more minutes. My legs still feel like Jell-O.”
Evernya walked up and down the alleyway, running down the middle of the gym for several minutes until her legs regained full functionality. With hesitation, Evernya stepped on the treadmill, preparing for the worst. She heard a familiar beep from her suit computer, asking her if she wanted to perform a speed test.
“Why do I keep getting these pop-ups out of nowhere?” Evernya inquired.
“Oh, that’s from our end. I put the app on my tablet into testing mode and selected what we wanted to test. The suit must require verification from you every time. The security settings I set are working, if it requires your approval to send any information somewhere else, even for something as simple as a kilometer test.” Replied Meira.
“I like how my information doesn’t broadcast everywhere, especially with how sensitive some of it is.” Commented Evernya.
“I got a high-security training suit for that reason.” Commented Meira before she relayed her instructions for the test. “For this test, whenever you are ready, run as fast as you can until you hear an alarm from your suit computer telling you to stop. This test should take a minute at most.”
Evernya procrastinated for another minute before pressing the start button. She started at a brisk jog before building up to a sprint. After ten seconds, her legs burned in pain, on the verge of tearing, but she continued to push on. Less than twenty seconds later, she heard a loud alarm prompting her to stop. Her legs wobbled before giving out, causing her to collapse on the treadmill, just barely avoiding a kinked tail. A throbbing pain radiated from her legs before suddenly diminishing as Elizabeth tended to her swollen legs. Evernya sighed contently as the soreness washed away, returning function to her abused legs.
Meira stared down at her tablet with confusion. After Elizabeth finished with her patient, Meira showed her for a second opinion before whispering, “Is something wrong with her? She should be much faster than this.”
Elizabeth ran another scan on the still collapsed girl before shaking her head in mutual confusion. “No, her body is healthy.”
“Then how did she achieve the speeds I recorded during her catnip episode? Sure she is fast for a human female but thirty kilometers per hour is nowhere near enough at her mana grade.” Meira questioned.
Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Meira’s head. “Of course! No wonder her body could handle the strain of sprinting at two hundred kilometers per hour!”
Both the recovered girl in question and Elizabeth stared at Meira, waiting for an explanation.