Chapter 51 The Devil Drill Sergent
Early in the morning, the next day, Evernya awakened to a loud ringing noise. She groaned as she tried to muffle the ringing with her pillow. Before she could reenter dreamland, a certain elf snatched her pillow from her grasp.
“Rise and shine! We have a long day of training ahead of us!” announced a chipper elf.
Evernya burrowed under her covers only to have her legs grabbed by Meira. Evernya flailed her legs, knocking the pesky elf away, allowing her to curl up inside her cocoon of sheets. Unfortunately, next, a powerful gust of wind blew away her covers, exposing the sleepy girl to the morning sun. She rolled onto her stomach and used her hands to block the sun.
An evil smile sprouted on Meira’s face as an idea came to her. With precise use of air magic, she feathered her kitten’s unprotected armpits, causing her target to flail and laugh uncontrollably.
Evernya covered her armpits only for her soles and unprotected sides to face the unrelenting assault, leaving her with no means of defense.
Evernya raised her hands in surrender, screaming between pants for breath, “I give up! I’ll get up! You didn’t need to resort to such evil tactics!”
Now wide awake, Evernya glanced at her digital clock on to her right on the nightstand. “Why did you wake me up at 5 am and when did you set that alarm?” Evernya questioned, glaring at the elf interfering with her sleep.
“Well, I typically wake up at this time, so I figured I would wake you up too. I set the alarm after you passed out.” Meira replied, while looking down at her tablet.
Evernya climbed off her bed before stretching the last bit of sleep from her body. “It’s handy you kept that suit on since we will need it for your training.” Meira commented, glancing up from her tablet to find her kitten standing, waiting for what’s next.
Evernya ran her eyes down her black-clad body. “To be honest, I forgot I was still wearing it. I’ve woken up so many times wearing something different its hard to keep track.” Evernya remarked.
“Your training suit is elf proofed. So don’t expect to wake up in something different as long as you wear that to bed.” Meira pouted, having had a pair of pajamas prepared.
“Your not making a very good argument against wearing it to bed. I prefer this over tree print pajamas. Besides, I enjoy sleeping naked, and this suit gives me that feeling without actually being naked.” Evernya teased upon noticing Meira’s expression.
“Fine, wear what you want to bed! It’s not like I can take it off of you.” Grumbled Meira, frustrated by her ruined dress up time.
“Don’t worry. I won’t wear this all the time. I just forgot to take it off. My only goal was to make it to my bed before I passed out.” Evernya assured, having accomplished her goal of messing with her Elven alarm clock.
Meira’s mood immediately improved at the possibility of more dress-up sessions, as she informed. “You will wear your suit a lot during your training. Since your body automatically enhances itself with mana, we have to seal your mana during physical activities not requiring your super speed. You won’t get in shape if you use your mana to increase your capabilities all the time.”
“I understand. So what is your training plan?” Evernya inquired.
Meira pulled up her training plan on her tablet before responding. “First, we will focus on improving your base physical capability with magic practice between sessions. I want you to have a sturdy base, both physically and magically before we start with the more complex stuff. My goal is to squeeze some more strength out of your twig arms and improve your endurance.”
“Ok, so what’s first?” Asked Evernya, eager to prove herself.
Meira materialized a purple smoothie, floating it to Evernya. “First, you need breakfast.” Meira insisted.
Upon spotting the glowing purple smoothie, Evernya’s fangs descended just as the smoothie reached her waiting hands. As usual, she downed the two-liter smoothie in less than a minute, licking her fangs to savor every drop. Sated, she threw the empty jug back to Meira, ready to train.
“I still can’t get over how fast you can eat and drink,” Meira commented after storing away the empty jug.
“It feels just as odd for me. The amount of food I consume in a day would have kept me fed for weeks in my old body. This quirk comes in handy, though, since I waste less time eating. Imagine how long it would take me to eat and drink as much as I do at human speeds.” Replied Evernya before suddenly stilling.
“Sometimes, I forget you‘re just as new to this as I am,” Meira commented, just noticing her kitten’s discomfort.
Evernya’s face contorted in pain as she panicked, holding her hands over her groin. “I need to pee! How am I going to pee with this suit!?”
Meira watched with amusement as her kitten squirmed, looking about ready to burst. “Well, you have a few options. The easiest is to pee with the suit on. Like your organismic adventures, it will automatically absorb it. Otherwise, you need to take the suit off, which from the looks of it won’t be possible.” Explained Meira, too slowly, in the overfilled girl’s opinion.
Unable to hold it in any longer, she opened the floodgates into her training suit. She moaned in relief as the unbearable pressure dissipated as quickly as it came.
With her bladder relieved, Evernya marveled at the lack of moisture down there. “Wow, that’s so weird! How does it work? Where does it go? It felt like my pee vanished as soon as I let it out without wetness or warmth.”
Meira chuckled at her kitten’s antics, watching her feel up her groin to check for moisture. “I don’t know the exact enchantment they use, but it essentially absorbs released fluids from your body. It will absorb sweat as well and help regulate your body temperature.” Replied Meira to her curious kitten.
“What is the point of wearing anything else? This suit does everything.” Evernya commented.
“Most suits don’t have nearly as many features as yours. Plus, it isn’t healthy to wear it all the time, as your skin needs to breathe. The personal training suit’s primary purpose is to improve training efficiency, not to avoid normal bodily functions. For this reason, many parents avoid buying their children suits with features that remove the need to do things like bathing or using the bathroom to avoid dependency.” Meira explained to her kitten, ogling her silky smooth training suit.
Magic really makes things simple. I could literally lie on my bed forever as long as someone brings me food.
Evernya shook her head to clear her delusions as she assured, fighting against her catlike laziness, screaming in her head to never take it off. “I don’t want to wear this suit all the time. Sure it’s handy, but I want to at least pretend to be normal.”
Meira ushered her kitten into the hall, brimming with sadistic excitement for what’s coming. “First stop is my gym for the first part of your torture. I mean training.”
To Meira’s disappointment, her kitten shrugged off her attempt to scare her. “I’m fine with hard physical training. I was fairly athletic in my old body. Plus, if a little pain helps me become stronger, then so be it.” Evernya stated while trotting down the hall.
Upon entering the gym, Meira led Evernya to the treadmill. “I know shifters rarely need to warm up or stretch, but I would like you to at least stretch before workouts.” Meira suggested, pointing toward a soft rubber mat laying in front of the treadmill.
Fine with pretzelizing herself again, Evernya laid on the mat without complaints. She reached towards her toes to stretch her hamstrings, only for Meira to stop her. “First, seal your mana to grade one,” Meira ordered.
Evernya laid back on the mat before selecting the mana sealing option on the pull-down menu. The familiar filter encompassed her mana core before the filter slowly becomes thicker until it only allowed a trickle to sneak through. Once fully sealed, a wave of lightheadedness assaulted her body for a few seconds before disappearing as her body adjusted to the constraints.
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She resumed her previous stretch by reaching toward her toes until she folded herself in half at the hips. She held the stretch for thirty seconds three times before moving on. Next, she performed the butterfly stretch to stretch her groin and hips. Evernya pulled her heels to her crotch and then pressed her knees to the floor. After repeating the stretch like the last one three times for thirty seconds, she moved on to the next stretch. She hopped to her feet before dropping into a lunge stretch to stretch her hip flexors. The stretch continued until her lunge turned into the splits, which she held for the same amount of time as the previous stretches. She stood up and stretched her quads by pulling her heel to her butt. As with her previous stretches, her body allowed her to continue to extend the stretch beyond normal. She pulled her foot back until her heel touched her mid-back, brushing her hair. After performing the same stretch with both legs, she stopped and turned to Meira with a defeated expression.
“I didn’t feel any stretch from any of that. There is no point in continuing to stretch when I have to fold myself into a pretzel to feel even a slight stretch.” Evernya revealed.
Meira nodded her head with an envious expression. “I agree, if yesterday was any indication, there is no limit to your flexibility.”
“It would be fun to go to a Yoga class just to see their reactions. The extreme poses I saw expert yoga practitioners perform I could probably do with ease.” Evernya commented with a smile, hoping they something comparable to yoga in this world.
Meira giggled, picturing the human’s bewildered expressions if they allowed her kitten in. “I would love to witness that! I practice Yoga on my own twice a week, but I have never gone to a class. To be honest, it is easy to perform even the hardest poses for me. I doubt you will have any issues with a human-created program. Maybe if we have time, we can try it out sometime. I am sure they will let us join for at least one class. Yoga isn’t about seeing who can do the most extreme poses, but you never know with humans.”
“Oh, Yoga exists here?” Evernya asked with surprise.
“Don’t be afraid to ask, I would rather you ask me then cause an awkward situation in public,” Meira said.
Evernya cringed at the thought, nodding in agreement with Meira. “Explaining myself out of those awkward situations would be a pain. Unfortunately, sometimes it just comes out like when I mentioned Yoga.”
“You will improve once you spend more time in public,” Meira assured.
“I hope so, saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could raise some red flags,” Evernya commented.
“Anyway, let’s move on to your training. First, I want you to jog on the treadmill at a steady pace until I tell you to stop.” Meira directed.
Evernya hopped on the treadmill, setting it to eleven kilometers per hour. She jogged along leisurely for a kilometer before upping the speed to thirteen. Her legs glided over the belt with ease, but learning her lesson from yesterday, she kept the pace.
Despite her increased endurance, the jog soon took its toll. Her previously perfect form broke down by the twenty-minute mark, but she continued to push through. By twenty-five minutes, only her will was keeping her going as her body was nearing its limit. Mercifully, at thirty minutes, Meira stopped her just before her body gave out.
Meira looked up from her tablet to praise her collapsed kitten. “Good job! You are already improving. Take a break and drink this before we move onto the next part.”
Meira floated a cold bottle of MEL to her kitten, who had a resurgence of energy greedily gulping the MEL down. The MEL flooded through her mana veins, rejuvenating her exhausted body. Even with the boost, she laid on the treadmill belt for several minutes, panting heavily.
She groaned in pain as she forced her aching muscles to lift herself to her feet. As Evernya recovered her breath, she walked up and down the alleyway, running down the middle of the gym. With each step, the soreness in her muscles dissipated, allowing for her smooth stride to return. Unfortunately for her, less than five minutes later, all too soon, Meira called her back to the treadmill.
“Back on the treadmill, this time run two kilometers as fast as you can!” Ordered Meira in her best Drill Sergeant tone, causing Evernya to comply immediately out of fear.
Evernya hopped back on the treadmill, setting it on free mode with her Drill Sergeant elf watching her closely. She ran at a brisk pace, but learning from the last time she paced herself. Under nine minutes later, she completed the 2K out of breath but otherwise okay.
“Quick, off the treadmill! Perform as many pushups as you can.” Meira commanded, cracking her voice like a whip.
Evernya dropped to the floor to the left of the treadmill to perform pushups, despite still panting. She continued to perform pushups until her arms gave out after number sixty-two.
Without a break, Meira ordered her back onto the treadmill. “Back on the treadmill! Run another 2k as fast as you can.”
Evernya grumbled under her breath as she staggered to her feet and climbed back onto the treadmill. With a push of will, she commanded her fatigued body to run another two kilometers. She finished around nine and a half minutes later. The moment she finished, her legs crumbling under her weight.
“Off the treadmill! Perform as many pull-ups as you can.” Meira ordered, showing no remorse for her suffering kitten.
With a groan, Evernya climbed to her feet and wobbled over to the pull-up bar on the opposite side of the alleyway. Despite feeling like jello, her legs didn’t fail her as she leaped up to grab the bar. She performed sixteen pull-ups before her grip failed, causing her to drop to the floor. Her tail did its job, keeping her balanced as she landed on her feet, but immediately afterward, she crumbled to the floor.
Meira’s Drill Sergeant facade disappeared as a smile bloomed. “Good job! First interval completed two more to go. You have two minutes to rest.”
Meira materialized another jug of MEL, floating it to her kitten. Evernya allowed the jug to land on her chest before she weakly grabbed it to drink. Evernya stared up pleadingly from her position, sprawled out on the floor as she gulped down the jug of MEL.
Unaffected, Meira explained what was next. “Don’t give me that look. You said you could handle it. Besides, if you go past your limits, the safety on the suit will release your mana. The next interval will be a one kilometer run with the same push-up and pull-up interval. So less distance, but I expect you to run faster to make up for it.”
After drinking, the MEL Evernya laid on her back, gasping for breath, dreading what’s coming.
Meira returned to drill sergeant mode the moment the two minutes expired. “Times up back on the treadmill now!”
Like an old grandma, Evernya climbed to her feet and wobbled on stiff legs to the treadmill. She ran as fast as her abused legs would allow for one kilometer, finishing in four and a half minutes. By the end, black spots encroached at the edges of her vision, but she persevered to the end. Without Meira’s prompting, she dropped to a pushup position and performed fifty six push-ups before her arms gave out.
“You’re doing good! Keep it up!” Meira encouraged, breaking her drill sergeant facade.
Evernya staggered to her feet and ran another one kilometer on the treadmill. This time finishing in under four minutes. She used all her willpower to push her crumbling body to keep going. After the run, she dragged herself to the pull-up bar, but her legs refused to propel her high enough to grab the bar. On the second hop, she barely latched onto it, but kept her weak grip. She performed eleven pull-ups before her grip failed. Like last time, she landed on her feet but kept herself from falling. Meira handed her another bottle of MEL, which she gulped down.
“Hang in there! Only one more interval to go! This time I want you to run eight hundred meters as fast as you can with push-ups and pull-ups.” Meira cheered on with a proud smile.
Evernya gave no sign she heard as she devoted all her willpower to stay conscious and on her feet. She stood next to the treadmill, swaying slightly back and forth as she waited for the next interval to begin.
Meira watched the timer on her tablet tick down before signaling her struggling kitten. “Ok, time’s up! Start interval three!”
Evernya stepped onto the treadmill and ran with everything she had, finishing in just over two minutes. After completing the run, she robotically dropped off the treadmill and performed forty-five pushups. She blocked out all unneeded distractions as she climbed back onto the treadmill for the last eight hundred meters. With a growl, she sprinted with all her might. Using every last ounce of power she had left, she finished the last eight hundred meters in 1 minute 30 seconds.
She tried to step off the treadmill, but found her legs unresponsive. A second later, a rush of delicious mana flooded her system as her suit’s safety trips. The last thing she saw was Meira rushing toward her, panic etched on her face before she blacked out.
Twenty minutes later, she awakened to find herself on the couch in the living room. She attempted to sit up, only for sharp pains to assault every inch of her body. With her eyes clenched shut, she willed her mana through her body to speed up the healing.
Meira walked in, placing a stack of Blue Serpent steaks on the coffee table, which Evernya instantly spotted but was in too much pain to eat. “Stay still, your body is still healing, you push yourself hard at the end. Your heart nearly gave out, and your legs didn’t fare much better. I didn’t expect you to have so much willpower most people would give up. You should be fine in another ten minutes, but that’s enough physical activity for today. You did an amazing job, I am proud of you.” Meira praised, smiling at her lying kitten.
After several minutes of enduring the pain, Evernya recovered enough to speak. “I am so out of shape. I could’ve done all of that minus the last interval in my old human body.” Mumbled Evernya, dejectedly.
“Don’t worry if you keep it up. I am sure you will outperform any human. Don’t be so hard on yourself. This is only the first day. You have two months before college starts. I refuse to let you go until you can run circles around any human.” Encouraged Meira from her spot on the recliner by Evernya’s head.
“I hope so, but for now, I think I am going to stay here and take a nap.” Slurred Evernya as her eyes drifted closed.
Meira’s expression became urgent. She jumped to her feet, rushing to tour her kitten to shake her awake. “Don’t sleep yet! Try to eat lunch first! You need to replenish your reserves!” Meira ordered, as she diced the meat for her kitten.
“I’ll try.” Evernya slurred without even opening her eyes.
Evernya cracked open her eyes to pinpoint the plate before telekinetically machine-gunning it down her throat. Within a minute, the plate was empty, as she somehow vacuumed it all down without choking or even chewing. She let out a cute little burp before going limp out cold.