Chapter 49

I woke up without a proper recollection of how I got to my room the previous day, assuming that midnight had passed since I couldn’t see outside. What was with the construction of windowless rooms in the Realm of Mesily? I didn’t feel awfully hungry, and I took that to mean that I somehow managed to get a meal down before I slept. The lack of sweaty stickiness meant that a shower had been had too, and I was glad for that, having to wash my bedding immediately after arriving wouldn’t have presented a pretty good image. Leaving alone the fact that I didn’t know where I could hang them to dry, I couldn’t deign to try to use my messy Mana Skills on them, there were lots of reasons that someone would wash their beddings almost immediately after the first day of using them, and none of them were good.

I wasn’t as sore as I had expected, then again, I hadn’t done that much in terms of physical exertion. But that aside, I still felt a general sense weakness that permeated my body all through out. It wasn’t exactly in my muscles, but more like something deep inside. Since I had worked with Mana so much the previous day, I assumed that was Mana soreness and tentatively pushed through it as I got out of bed.

I went through my morning routine of warm up, stretching, light exercise and a shower before heading to the ground floor restaurant for my breakfast. Since I didn’t know for sure whether the Baronies allowance would hold true, I decided to ask outright as I approached the counter, it was the only way to be sure.

“Good morning, what’s our meal allowance?”

The receptionist stared at me for a while before straightening up and answering, a bit too formal that it creeped me out, “Good morning to you too. Competitors are allowed a maximum expenditure of two gold-meals, three meals a day.”

That was double what we had had for the Baronies, did the prize double for each new level of The Grand Competition, or was it a gold addition? In either case, as long as I kept qualifying for the next competition level, my meal expenses for the entire year would be covered up for me. That was a pretty enticing deal for me, gold worth meals had proved quite delicious, and enjoyable. I couldn’t even imagine what ten-gold worth meals would taste like, and not in terms of quantity, but quality.

Since there wouldn’t be a fight anytime soon, and I planned to spend the early parts of the day visiting the training facilities, I decided to risk my meal. The recommendation I got during the Baronies had turned out to be a pretty good choice. I hoped the trend would stay strong.

“Give me your recommendation for the day,” I told the receptionist.

He nodded slightly before he turned to what I assumed was the kitchen counter to relay my order. I was about to call him back to add specificities but thought better of it. I could always get more protein at a later meal.

I turned and perused the dining area to choose an appropriate sitting area for me. During the Baronies, I had taken the right corner from the door, or left from the counter if I were facing the door, but for the Counties, I decided to change things as I turned to my right and went for the corner table. That was non-negotiable. There were few patrons in the dining area, around five or so, making me wonder if I had woken up so early that not many other people were up?

‘Clare, what time is it?’ I asked as I took my seat, facing the wall and away from the counter, with the left stairs to my periphery.

‘0526hrs.’

It was that early? I looked to the side of the room hoping to get a glimpse of the outside, but all I saw was darkness. I wasn’t sure if it was the building not having windows that showed the outside to its patrons, the windows being closed or that it was just so dark outside. Before I could think too much about it, my meal was placed in front of me.

The delicious aroma hit me long before I saw what had been delivered. The waiter, I assumed it was a waiter, bowed slightly before returning to the kitchen with the tray that had carried the platefuls of my food.

The first thing I saw were the fried eggs, using the two-pronged fork to count three of them. Don’t these people know about cholesterol? If I eat three each meal, for three meals, that would be too much. But as the health critic in me was analyzing how much the dieticians back on old earth would complain about my meal, my stomach was already rumbling in askance. Frankly speaking, I didn’t care that much either.

For someone who died before the age of twenty-five, denying myself a delicacy because of a potential midlife threatening risk at the age of fifty, sixty, maybe even eighty, it didn’t make sense at all. Besides, there was magic in the Realm of Mesily, maybe they already figured out a way to remove the bad things, maybe even from the food itself. I could see it actually, a wizened old man having bred chicken for decades just to get to the generation that would give him cholesterol free eggs, the bad cholesterol that is.

Tearing my eyes away from the eggs, I found there were also three large steamed buns and a thick meat broth that was emitting a mouth-watering fragrance of various vegetables, herbs and spices. A hurried taste of the broth reminded me that I still had a sensitive mouth, a baby mouth my family called it. I had argued that if torturing myself with hot foods and drinks was what made me an adult, then I would rather be a child forever.

When the meal was cool enough, I might have helped it a little with a few wind Skills, I finally dug in. But I had my fill after only going through two-thirds of the meal. I stared at the remaining bun, egg and broth and chanced a glaze at the kitchen. What did they do with the leftovers? Recycle them? Throw them away? I wasn’t really okay with any of those options, so I slowly forced myself to go through everything.

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By the time I was done, it was light outside, signaling the arrival of dawn and a lot more patrons and joined me at the dining area. Thankfully, no one came to the table I was sat at. I wasn’t sure when the windows had begun allowing the outside to be visible.

I felt like if I jumped even a little, the contents of my stomach would come out through the mouth, or bust the seams of my belly. I slowly got up and got on my way to the training facilities, but with the way I felt, I wouldn’t be exercising for the next hour or so.

…

The Jibane Training Center was already open when I arrived, and I had to present my Citizen Card to one of the security guards before I could be allowed inside the building.

This is just a gym, that was my first thought when I walked inside the training facility. There were rows and rows of equipment and racks of weights, and punching bags of all sizes, from the heavy full body-sized ones to the small hand-sized ones, and the spiked ones too. There were already several people inside doing exercises in some of the equipment, I estimated around thirty or so individuals. They must have gone to the gym before having breakfast, completely opposite of what someone else, me, had done.

I felt uncomfortable just standing there watching them workout, so I turned around and walked out of the training facility. I decided to do the tour of all the facilities first before I chose one to workout at. Because I was doing that, with those equipment, I could finally work on my neglected [Strength] Attribute. Maybe it could be the thing that quickly raises my overall Level, not that it really mattered that much in the long run, as long as the other Attributes were on par with my opponent and I didn’t fight like an idiot, I would still have a chance of winning.

My trek through the city was uneventful, with the only thing of note being the elf I met near the Chulu Arena. My reaction was the best I had managed so far, immaculate even, throwing them a passing glance and keeping to my business without making a fool of myself. After seeing more than two of them already, their looks weren’t so unnatural anymore.

As far as I gathered, each of the four main arenas had a training facility of its own, all named after the fighting arenas they were close to. It made me realize that Sjuma arenas must have had training facilities of their own, which I had somehow failed to notice.

The training facilities all had pretty much the same kind of equipment, and equipped enough that even if all the competitors decided to use the facilities at the same time, they would all be accommodated and still leave some to spare.

During my tour, I noticed that Choska didn’t have much in terms of distinction in the city, other than the affluent sector that is. All the rest looked much the same, with different kinds of buildings and housings found mixed up all over the city.

Of the four training facilities, only Ithima Training Center didn’t have anyone inside when I visited it. I had quickly left right after though, but I planned to visit it for my day’s strength training. But first, I went to my room to relieve myself, to prevent any mishaps from happening, before hurrying to the training facility. I didn’t want to find that it had already found patrons in my time dallying about.

I assumed the main reason it didn’t have patrons was because of its location in relation to the inn the competitors stayed at. Of the four arenas, it was the furthest away, located almost to the opposite side of The Competitors’ Inn and the gate in general. It was so far away that it took close to half an hour just to get to it.

When I arrived, I found I hadn’t been as lucky as I had hoped, there were already three competitors working out in the facility. I thought of leaving but decided against, it was only three people, besides, I would still meet other competitors somewhere as long as we shared nearly everything, better to get it over with sooner rather than later.

After thinking that, I still did my best to avoid them, and since they were clustered together, I opted for the equipment that was furthest away from them. I decided to conduct my workout using the top-down approach, I would start at my head and end at my feet. Now, how to exercise the head?

After coming up blank, I moved onto the neck. I knew from pictures and reading articles that people worked on their necks, but when I looked at the equipment at my disposal, I couldn’t think of a way to use it to provide exercise for my neck muscles.

After failing on that one too, I went to the next muscle group on my body. Shoulders. Or was that chest? Back? Or maybe the arms? I decided to just work on the upper body as a whole, choosing exercises that I thought worked any of those muscles. I was in a gym to work with weights, so I ruled out bodyweight exercises. I also knew that there were some workouts that were pretty dangerous without a spotter, so I avoided any equipment that looked like it could do more damage than good. That pretty much eliminated everything.

I was surprised to find the gym had gained close to ten more people in my moment of indecision. How long had it lasted? Minutes? An hour? I couldn’t rule that out. Seeing how everyone was busy doing something, I decided to start with what I had seen on youtube videos. I moved to the barbell section and began working on my biceps, triceps and squats, in that order.

I began on small weights, slowly increasing the weight for each new set. The first few sets were smooth, but as the weights increased, I began to struggle. The biceps tapped out at twenty kilos, and I moved to the bar section as my squat weight went past sixty kilos. By the time I squatted eighty kilos, I was shaking uncontrollably and I ran out of strength while I was in the squat.

I nearly clashed backwards as I tried in vain to stand upright from the squat. A sudden support brought so much relief that I nearly let it go completely.

“Slowly,” my rescuer said in a familiar tone, forcing me to try and help with the weight. “Are you trying to knock yourself out of the competition before it has even begun?”

When I was free of the weight, I collapsed on the bench, finally sparing the energy to check who had come to my rescue.

Artina, of course.

I should have guessed it when her tone felt familiar, she was the only other competitor in the Counties from Sjuma who had actually talked to me. The other finalist never said anything to me, not that I ever said anything to her either. Honestly, I couldn’t even recall what she looked like.

“Thanks,” I told her when she finally took a seat on the bench with me.

“Don’t mention it,” she said, waving off at me with her left hand as she stared at the weights I had just being squatting.

I looked to see if anyone was hovering nearby, checking if she had come with someone. If she had, I needed to chase her away before her friend decided to join us, if not, I still needed to chase her away. I didn’t see anyone hovering, but at the same time, there was a group of three working out two stations from where I was who gave me the vibe that she had been with them just moments before.

“When did you come?” I asked her, trying to pass the time as I searched for a way to politely send her away.

“Wednesday, I wanted to come on Tuesday, but Jan delayed me,” she said. That was the day after I came.

“Jan?”

“My boyfriend, he was coming from Noova, but arrived too late,” she said.

“You’re from the same town as Oki? He never said anything,” I said surprised.

“Yeah. Come,” she said as she got up, “let me introduce you to my new friends.”

Shit, I had taken too long getting rid of her, and she had made things worse. I decided to humor her since she had helped me. But this once, I reminded myself.