It was rough. The terrain was all rugged and bumpy, making it hard to walk. Her metal boots were not making it any easier either. Elise could have almost forgotten the weight of her armor if the Traveler had not kept walking even faster. It seemed that the terrain had no effect on him, and Elise was sure he was purposely walking on the harder terrain.
They were walking for quite a while, but the mountain did not seem to be getting any closer. At the first break they took, Elise thought she was going to drop dead for sure. The Traveler was sitting on a rock and waiting for her to catch her breath. And at the exact moment she felt fine, he talked.
“A hundred push-ups, a hundred crunches, a hundred squats. Now!”
Was he out of his mind? It was impossible. Even without the armor on, Elise was not sure she could do those moves a hundred times under this gravity. She looked at the Traveler with incredulous eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that. You are already laying face on; you are halfway there. Start with the push-ups.” He pointed the sword in its scabbard to Elise and swung it at the rock next to him. The sword hit the rock with a strong ‘SLAP!’ sound. “Now!” He shouted.
Her eyes got bigger with shock. Her sword, her only friend. What was he thinking? “Please don’t!”
“Then move your ass!” He got ready to swing the sword again. He had a mischievous smile on his face.
That caring middle-aged man was gone. For Elise, he was the definition of evil right now. “Okay, okay. Just stop!” She forced her body to move and started the push-ups. But a hundred reps! It was impossible in her condition. Was he trying to kill her?
Elise had done body training before with her sword master. Her body was not in that bad of a shape, but this was too much. She forced every bit of energy in her body out, but twenty reps were the most she could manage. Her arms couldn’t handle more, and she collapsed.
“Good work! Catch your breath, then continue with the crunches.”
“But you said a hundred.”
“Ho hoh, so you still have enough energy to complain. Start the crunches now then.” That mischievous smile again. Yes, Elise was sure now. He was trying to kill her. Slowly, and painfully.
She managed to force out twenty reps at most for the remaining two. Her body surrendered after the fifteenth reps but a little ‘encouragement” from the Traveler in the form of her sword got her ramped up again.
“Let’s rest a bit.” He reached inside the layers of his clothing again and threw her a bottle of water. “Remember to stay hydrated. Drink it slowly.”
What useful equipment, Elise thought. It was funny how she was thinking something like that in her condition. Her curiosity was taking control over her head sometimes—a little side effect of her blessing.
He let her rest a bit more than usual. She lay there without any motion, trying to breathe in a certain rhythm to normalize her heartbeat. Her old master had taught her this breathing technique. It was used for recovering one's condition as fast as possible to keep on fighting.
“Nice breathing technique. But it isn’t enough.” He raised his empty hand and drew a circle in the air with his index finger. A glowing ring formed in the air. “This realm has a lot of wild Energy roaming around freely. You said you can do simple things like a small fire so; I assume you know how to feel the Energy. I want you to feel the Energy around you and absorb it as you breathe.”
Elise closed her eyes like she always did before starting a fire with ‘magic’. She had not had that much experience, but she remembered the feeling it left in her hand and tried to replicate it in her surroundings.
It was there. A lot of it in fact. She was shocked at how easy it was to feel it. How did she not notice it before? The Energy was whirling and waving around without even stopping, colliding and interacting with each other. But it was different than her past experiences.
Although she was new to magic, she did not expect it to be this difficult. She was used to using her inner Energy if she needed something like a quick fire. The Energy that was floating around was like a naughty child, not listening to her at all. She concentrated as much as she could. Every time she thought she managed it; the Energy was finding a way to slip away.
She was exhausted from her training and that was making her even more frustrated. Elise tried to breathe it in as the Traveler said and took a deep breath. It rushed inside her chest with her breath and filled her lungs. It was not refreshing like a normal breath, instead, it felt like she was burning from the inside.
That feeling remained only for a moment. After that, Elise noticed her muscles were not as sore and her exhaustion was gone. It refreshed her body to the point that she could move again without any pain.
"I made it!" She looked at the Traveler with glowing eyes. She was so excited.
"Well done! You did better than I anticipated. I was expecting you to only feel it, but you managed to absorb it through your mouth." He also had an excited expression. There was a slight smile on his face. "It isn't ideal, but it is a start. You look rested enough, let's keep moving."
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Elise stood up as she saw him doing the same, and they continued their journey toward the smoking volcano.
***
It was a compliment, right?
The terrain was getting harsher and harsher, and the Traveler was walking faster and faster as they kept walking. Elise was doing everything she could to keep up with him. They were taking occasional rests, with longer intervals between each one. Every time, it was resolved with Elise collapsing.
But with every break, she managed to do more. She walked, ate, drank, slept, and walked again. Twenty-two, twenty-five, thirty... Every time she did more and more reps of her exercises. With every break, bit by bit, she became stronger.
The Traveler was pushing her to her limits, but also allowing her to rest just enough to keep moving forward. He was harsh but kind at the same time, always praising her achievements and encouraging her.
But her Energy training was another story. Elise was calling it the Energy Breathing, even though the Traveler was saying 'breathing' was not the right term for it. It was not going well.
"I'm the one at fault here. Don't go too hard on yourself. I said absorb it as you breathe before, but I didn't expect you to take it literally. I just hoped it would help you to imagine."
They were resting next to a wide, pink-colored, glowing river. The riverside had a lot of colorful glowing crystals scattered around the terrain. He was sitting on a big rock as usual and he had Elise's sword on his shoulder.
"Let's try this. Don't breathe it, absorb it like a sponge." He looked at her as if he had said something easy to understand.
"What do you mean like a sponge? I never absorbed anything like a sponge!" She had no problem with breathing the Energy. She had gotten used to it and was using it more efficiently than before. Was this not enough?
"You got a point there. Using the Energy as you wish is all about imagination." His eyes drifted towards the glowing river. "Maybe you should try it in there."
Elise got closer to the calmly flowing pink liquid and looked at it, hoping to see its bottom. The vivid glare of it was making it difficult to see anything through. "What even is this?"
"I dunno. It is filled with Energy though. If you get into a liquid like this maybe you can imagine absorbing the Energy like a sponge." He also came closer as he spoke. They looked at the river for a short time.
"Are you sure it is safe?"
"Well, things are living inside it so... It should be safe, right."
"Living things? You said this realm is incomplete."
"It is but, haven't you heard the saying; life finds a way?" He walked toward a rock with little glowing crystals sprouting on it and kicked it softly.
The rock crumbled into pieces. At least that was what Elise first thought. Some parts of the rock that had crystals were separating from it slowly and started to crawl away from him. Elise realized they were not rocks but crustacean creatures.
The Traveler reached and caught one of them. It had a head-sized shell and had dozens of little pointy feet underneath. He pointed his finger at its crystals. "Look, it absorbs and stores the Energy. That Energy solidifies and forms these crystals."
Elise looked at her surroundings. There were a lot of different-sized rocks and crystals on top of them. They were blending the terrain perfectly so; she couldn't tell which one was a creature and which one was a rock.
"So, you are saying, those creatures are living inside this river? They look harmless enough." The Traveler was putting the creature back to its rock. It found itself a new hole in the rock and settled in it. It was kind of cute, Elise thought.
"Don't let them fool you. That thing tried to suck my Energy. If my control was weaker, it could drain me." He came near the river again. "As for the creatures in the river, they seem to be different. More fish like I can say."
They shared a look for a moment. He was clearly expecting her to get into the river. Her resolve fell apart quicker than she hoped so. "Ok, whatever! Let's get into the unknown glowing liquid. What could go wrong, right?" She got ready to get inside the river.
"That's the spirit! I knew you had it in you. Keep the armor on, by the way, you may need it."
She slowly put her feet in first. Her metal-plated leather boots kept her feet from getting wet but only for a moment. It was warm, like the rest of this realm. But there was a tingly feeling where the liquid touched. It seemed to not be doing any harm to her.
"Come on! Go a bit deeper. You should absorb it with your whole body." He came a little closer to her. "I can push you if you want."
She ignored him and took a deep breath. Started to take little steps into the liquid. There was a faint smell coming from it, she noticed it as she went deeper. It was not pleasant, like some kind of wet animal. She tried not to mind that and kept walking.
As her waist went in, the tingly feeling reached her upper body, and she recognized it. It was a faint version of the feeling that she experienced when she breathed Energy. That made her hopes go up. If she could feel it without even trying, she could succeed here, right? She kept on walking till her neck went in and took a deep breath.
She dived right in. Her whole body was reacting to the liquid and tingling like crazy. She focused on that feeling and tried to absorb it, like a sponge. She was not expecting it to be this effective. She felt the Energy rush inside her and fill every cell of her body.
It was painful at first. It was like something was trying to turn her inside out and rip her apart. She recognized the feeling. It was the same feeling she experienced the first time she came to this realm. The Traveler was shielding her from it as far as she knew.
But she was not the same person. Her body was used to the Energy now. She calmed herself down and let her body distribute the Energy like her blood circulating her body. She felt all of her pores open with tiny explosions. The pain slowly faded away and left its place to the tingling again. But a bit more powerful this time. It was alive inside her.
But the most surprising thing was the change in her senses. She could sense her surroundings like the pink liquid was a part of her. She could feel the currents inside the river. She stayed there for a moment and savored that priceless experience. If she knew using the Energy was this exciting, she would have loved to learn more back then.
Elise was not sure how much time had passed since she dived in, but she was surprised by the fact that she did not need any air. So, this was what the Traveler was trying to do, she thought. He wanted her to not depend on him all the time and travel with her own effort.
While she was deep in her thoughts, she noticed a change in the river. Three different Energies disturbed the currents of the river. And they were coming towards her directly at high speed.