36th chapter : preparing is good .

Things were marching good, in the pace of training as red mermaid members were having enough motivation to move around and grow stronger as fast as they could. In that aspect, Marco was annoyed by what Alex suddenly requested. He knew that was needed but in some sort of manner it was getting annoying.

Thirty minutes earlier,

“Let’s start the training session!!!” Alex roared as she was the most fired up between all of them.

“Seems like she’ll enjoy it” Emilis said as he was taking a seat with Sophie to keep her company.

“Uhm, can’t I just stick to my own train-...”

Marco was speaking then suddenly got interrupted by Alex who said.

“Now strip down these shirts!”.

With a smug look on her face, Alex spoke confidently. Marco didn’t catch her words well.

“uhm? mind saying it again I didn’t understand” he asked trying to purify his mind and thoughts.

“It means to take off these shirts, the others wore sportswear for this. That’s why Alice wasn’t in the mood this morning” Zack responded instead.

Marco looked aside to see Xavier removing his shirt and same goes for Alice who was wearing sportswear directly exposing her belly, arms and legs too. Marco sighed then saw that Emilis was taking the attention of Sophie for that.

“Uhm! Should I join in this stripping thing!? or just stand aside so you guys would finish!?” Arthur asked as he saw them not that annoyed by it.

“You strip too!! if you wanna train then It’ll be an exclusive one time daily training!!”.

Alex was having a pretty heavy breathing expression on her, she calmed the moment she felt a great bloodlust roaming around her neck. Arthur looked at her and grinned as he didn’t mind her words and took off his shirt too.

After seeing that everyone got stripped Alex noticed that Marco hadn’t removed his clothes yet.

“Why are you not stripping!?!!” Alex asked ragingly.

“Is this an appropriate thing to ask? don’t be surprised that is,” Marco responded after being forced into doing it.

“Well, I don’t mind checking on your stats first….What the heck!?”.

Alex said as she was releasing her serment to get the stats checked for all the members. She was about to start with Marco then stopped as soon as she saw the big scar on his body along with the rest of the scars on his back and shoulder. They all turned to Marco looking at his body, since the last time they saw was in the black curse mode not realizing that there were these scars on his body. Besides Alice and Carla the other three didn’t really see Marco’s body until now.

“Do I really have to answer?” Marco protested calmly but they forced him into answering “As far as I remember, these scars were always present in my body, please finish your checking and let us start”.

Marco was getting annoyed by her touching his body to check up.

“Sigh, I got the stats but my serment says that there’s no check up in your euro reserves? Are you really ok!?” Alex asked as Marco had to explain again seeing that they forced him at first too.

The answer didn’t come right away, Marco told them he’ll speak when they start training and so that forced Alex to finish her work and get to start the rough work, doing some running laps.

“To put it simply, I have boundless reserves. So, as much as I want, I can’t put a proper limit to how the other navigators read up. The old man, Eyezar, said that it is a special thing when they get an unreadable notice. Same goes for master Emilis I guess, he’s a bit different from me, since his euro refilling is as fast as a half second, so that overloading euro gets to be as a pressure or something like that”.

Marco was speaking while they were doing some tours around the grounds. He saw that they were falling behind

“Do you even get tired!! we are running here!!” Carla exasperated as they were running.

For the training to be better, Emilis put a heavy gravity enchant on each of them so the work can be doubled. The only three who were able to keep up were Marco, Zack and Alice who barely kept the balance.

“Why do I have to run with you again!?!!” Alex roared as she was the least prepared person for physical training.

“That’s because you want to get stronger too so no one would try to hit on you and get away with it, though I don’t see the idea Alex sensei!” Arthur said as he was running with them but also with the least gravity enchantment.

present time,

“Ugh!! my legs won’t move for a bit now” Alice said as she was taking a rest with the others for five minutes.

“I’m gonna do some other tours I guess!!” Xavier was trying not to fall behind though he was as much as tired as the others.

“I’ll come with you!!” Arthur wasn’t tired too strangely he was able to speed up more.

“Marco, you fought against Alice for a while. Now I wanna know how good you can deal in close combat” Zack said as he fully recovered too.

“Oh!! Zack senpai is going to fight Marco, I wanna see!!”.

Carla said as she saw that Marco was doing some push ups on his own while Sophie was sitting on his back. Marco stopped, looking at him.

“Sure. But I don’t really think that I’ll lose”.

Marco tried to provoke him so it would be a good match therefore Zack didn’t take his bluff. In the end the two faced each other taking a defensive stance. They were overwhelmed by the gravity and hardly moved around.

“It’s hard to move but it’s ok!”.

Zack was excited as he tried to attack first but Marco dodged easily and returned the hit therefore Zack also blocked it, they exchanged hits with no moving in the end Zack pushed through Marco and hit him to the guts. Marco felt the punch and fell on the ground to make a turn on his movements just to kick Zack on the right shoulder pushing him aside.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Marco followed that kick with a slight jump to hit Zack on the shoulder again, he used the gravity as a side effect for the weight and pressed Zack down. On the other hand, the hit was heavy on Zack but he didn’t refrain from liberating his weight and moved to some extent his arm to punch Marco on the face, sending him flying away.

The two were feeling every hit with the gravity enchantment doing its job very well. Marco sighed then looked aside wiping his nose from blood.

“I’m not done yet!! Come!!! Marco!!” Zack was all enthusiastic to the end of the fight.

“I’ll come, don’t worry”.

Marco responded with a smile, his body was getting enveloped in euro particles then the cloak instantly vanished from the sight as Zack saw that Marco was moving deliberately. The next second, they all realized that something was off as Marco landed three fast and clean hits on Zack who was slowing down.

In that battle, Marco wasn’t backing down either but he was stopped by Emilis who stood between them after noticing what Marco did then flicked his forehead with a sigh.

“I told you not to use any of that, didn’t I?” Emilis was pretty much upset.

The others didn’t understand what Emilis meant as they took a rest after him telling them to look for another training style.

“Well why not go for learning what I learnt?” Marco suddenly asked as he was going to take a seat with Sophie.

“Huh?! What do you mean?” Emilis was curious about what Marco said.

“I mean going to Alba sensei’s place. Sophie wanna go too anyway” Marco answered as he was looking aside at Sophie who jumped happily after hearing Alba’s name.

The others didn’t understand what Marco said as they saw Sophie was happy for some big reason.

“Master? Can you take us to the toss realm?” Marco asked again a ridiculous question.

“Errm, even If I asked from the council, it would be a month so we can get an approval, two weeks if I press on them, so I think we will wait” Emilis was a little bit upset about the suggestion.

Marco looked at him then sighed before looking aside at a shadow-ish figure.

“Marco!!!! It’s my time to shine!!! Now it’s my time to show you what a guy like me can do!! Your great grandpa will make you proud!!” Cedric said way too enthusiastic for a mere portal establishment.

“Alright! alright don’t growl in my ears!!! I can hear you loud and clear” Marco responded to Cedric as the others looked at him thinking he snapped out of it insanity.

“Well, please whatever you do, Don’t ever step away from him, Arthur!! Don’t even think that I’m joking since you know me well and Sophie don’t be scared too” Marco said as if he was saying his goodbyes.

“Are you going somewhere again!?!” Carla asked as she seemed to be troubled as much as the others were too.

Seeing their worried reaction, Marco grinned awkwardly then took a deep breath. The next second he closed his eyes, Marco was about to fall on his back then suddenly a dark aura surrounded him using the curse mode as the vibe around him totally changed.

“Man!! It’s really good to breathe fresh air!!” Cedric said as he was using Marco’s body instead of Marco who went to the palace.

Cedric looked around him and started getting closer to all the members one by one with a fired up look in his eyes while having a different sight on them.

“Man!! I can’t believe that I’m really meeting you guys!! I mean I’ve always been on your side but this is the first time to meet my other grandson and granddaughter in person!!!!! I’ve always wanted to hug you two!!!” Cedric was acting like the childish person, while taking in his arms Sophie and Arthur.

“Uhm, where’s Marco nii?!” Sophie and Arthur asked as they felt that it was no matter what, that wasn’t Marco’s soul inside.

“Oh right!! I forgot my first objective. Well, red mermaid master san!! I’m glad that you took care of them!! please do care more cause you won a jackpot. For now, let’s drop from the air!!” Cedric snapped his fingers as he opened a portal right beneath them.

“MARCO!! YOU SON OF!!! I’M GONNA MAKE YOU REGRET IT!!!”.

Alice and the rest were screaming as they were falling from the sky. Arthur and Sophie were enjoying the moments more than the others as they felt like skydiving before Emilis would catch them from falling on the ground. At the same time, Marco returned to his body from Cedric's curse mode as he cracked his neck.

“Damn it that hurt a lot. Well, as long as I’m doing it only once in a while I’ll…” Marco was talking to himself then calmly avoided a hit from Alice.

“You damn…why it’s heavy to breathe, huff!! gasp!! huff!” Alice was the first to get more hazy because of her high sensitivity after Alex.

“Well, this place is far richer with euro particles than our homeland. well I would call it the human realm, and this place is exactly what we call the Toss realm!!” Emilis responded as he was looking around while speaking.

The rest of the red mermaid members besides Sophie, Marco and Emilis were barely keeping in check their breaths.

“Marco nii!! Marco nii!! Let’s go right now!! Let’s go meet Alba sensei!!!” Sophie shrieked happily.

Sophie was the most cheerful person in the party as they all stood there opening their mouths wide after seeing her bunny ears roaming around her head in happy movements.

Besides Emilis and Arthur who saw it directly, the others thought that Marco was speaking about her cheerful attitude and not meaning rabbit ears in real life.

“I’m seeing things, am I not now?” Alex said as she was fixing her glasses with a pale look, fraily shaking.

Marco grinned awkwardly as Sophie jumped on his head shaking him.

“I told you guys that I’m not bluffing about anything I say, just keep it up for now until we reach the city down there” Marco said as he was pretty positive too, looking at how he was energetic to meet with Alba.

Red mermaid members were having a rough time walking as they fell straight in the middle of the forest. Emilis was enjoying his time seeing them having a hard time walking while Marco and Sophie had no hardships in walking as if they didn’t feel a thing. Even Marco thought it was more enjoyable to see Arthur having a hard time too.

“How far do we have to walk?” Emilis asked.

“Uhm, about thirty minutes by foot, I usually take ten while running but you guys aren’t in a state to do so, and Arthur are you still having a hard time?” Marco responded then addressed Arthur who was looking like a dead cat.

“Shut up ! I’m too tired to argue and I don’t know what to do either” Arthur responded with a pale look too.

Marco giggled in his face teasing him.

“Just absorb the euro particles and cloak yourself with it until your body gets used to the density around”.

Marco responded as he gave them a tip about how they should do it though he was able to walk without that trick.

“Huh?! it’s that simple, then I’ll be fine in a second”.

Arthur got his high spirits back as he did what Marco told him with ease unlike the others who were having a rough time trying to do that trick with no knowledge about it.

“That’s not fair!! goddamn it a kid did it and we can’t!!” Alex and Xavier were complaining as Arthur started teasing them right away.

Thirty minutes later,

After walking with the last ounce of strength they got.

“Gahhaa!!! finally reaching a city!!” Alice and Zack said as soon as they saw the city ahead of them.

“Marco! That’s a city right. And this is the toss realm right?” Emilis asked as he found it fishy, a little bit.

“Ah right, you guys didn’t really come here before. It may sound like a place for criminals but I can say more or less that this realm is a peaceful one. Don’t misunderstand me, still this is the birthplace of Sophie anyway”.

Marco responded by explaining a few things as he shocked them again with that birthplace information while Sophie was happily hugging Marco on his back.

After walking down the city they reached an old restaurant. Marco looked at Sophie then both took a deep breath before entering while Arthur and red mermaid members were behind them wondering why they stopped there.

“Old man!! give us the usual order as always!! It’s been a while since we ate a good meal with you!! Right, Sophie!!”

Marco shouted with a happy cherish voice as Sophie continued after.

“That’s right Alba sensei!! I want my spoon and dish too!!! we are back grandpa!!”.

As they said their words, Alba was pretty much moved on with a teary happy face as he laughed a little at their words then grinned an awkward smile replying.

“Welcome back you glutton punks! The order is coming right away!! So take your seats!!!”

Alba’s words were from the bottom of his moved heart.

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