My eye caught an orange fist- a hammer swing to my right and I canceled my slash and went for a duck before putting my feet behind me and taking a major step backward, repositioning myself into something more favorable- out of the pincer attack and into open space where I can freely swing my rapier.
The dummies who were about to sandwich me turned their heads quickly in reaction to my movement while the closest one sent out a devastating punch towards my face.
I was forced to raise my rapier to block the fist capable of denting steel, it connected to the broad side of my sword, my Pledge held strong but the hit made me stagger and pushed me back, I held out and waited for the dummy’s hand to stop moving, when it did, I didn’t hesitate and dropped a low kick to its shins.
Its wooden body met my calf bone head on and I grit my teeth through the pain and forced my body to push through it and continue the low kick, which eventually succeeded- the dummy was off its feet.
I pulled my rapier back before stomping on the ground and quickly executing an upward slash while I straightened myself and stood up, my blade met its wooden body and the dummy split in half. From within, I felt the Light inside of its doll-like body start to dissipate and disperse into the air as the vessel that contained it now had leaks.
That was one defeated, three more- I started a running dash and moved to the center of the dummy formation, which by now has broken apart from the chase, giving me ample space to execute attacks and slashes without hindering the movement of my sword.
I attempted a backstab that ended in vain because my target got protected by the dummy next to it, I took a single step backward and aimed for debilitation instead- striking joints and slashing necks in a vain attempt to stun lock the unfeeling dummies.
Despite them being literal puppets, they reacted like they would be killed and started blocking my slashes.
In a sense, these guys were like the Demons that I am training to fight- uncaring about the pain that they couldn’t feel and wouldn’t react to any wound unless it directly threatens their life, in this case, aiming for their necks works for both the Demons and the Dummies.
Also- just because they can’t feel pain does not mean that their joints can keep moving when damaged.
One my slashes connected to the knee of a dummy and the human sized doll buckled to the left, I kicked it away before taking its position and dodged both a kick and a punch that went at me at the same time, then, a moment later, I turned my head to the Dummy right next to me and slashed at its neck- it raised its hands and blocked my strike, and now, with its “face” shielded, nothing stopped me from kicking it to the other side of the room.
Now there was only me and the remaining dummy.
I didn’t use light, was under the effects of heavy gravity, and it took me 4 seconds- 4. That was how long it took me to break apart a formation of 4 Demon Captains, the lowest ranking when it comes to their ‘nobility’.
Most people would consider this good enough, and I do too, truth be told.
… but as I stabbed my rapier forward and used both the weapon’s as well as my arm’s natural length for maximum distance and struck the chest of the dummy- I couldn’t help but think that the Demons would win against humanity if I can’t defeat these guys in a single exchange while handicapped.
With light, I can decimate them no matter how many there are but if I can’t fight four of these guys simultaneously while underpowered then what’s the point of all my training?
It’s not enough- never will be- not when the entire world is under threat because of what I did-
I shook the thoughts off and removed my blade from the chest of the dummy and turned to the two shambling forms coming closer to me, the one that I disabled was heading my way slowly while the one that I kicked to the hips was slow, but not slow enough. With an internal yell, I charged at the one with the broken knee and decapitated it with a single slash before moving on to the other one and removing its head from its shoulders.
6 seconds? 8? No- 10. That’s how long it took me to defeat 4 Demon Captains without the use of Light.
Not fast enough.
I turned off the gravity well of my training room before opening the door and tossing all the broken dummies out, Zathania would know what to do with them so I didn’t bother with their “corpses” and I closed the door and increased the gravity well a quarter before maximum.
I was close to reaching the natural limit of my training room’s gravity well which means that I have to put up a request to upgrade it to military grade soon.
It will probably take what? A month more before I reach it? Maybe less now that I’ve increased the intensity of my training.
I couldn’t waste time- I… stared at the control gnob and considered if I should increase the strength of the gravity well- it’s only two more weeks before I go to Pledge Academy, and when I get there, I’ll have little time for personal training because the Academy’s focus were on a large number of subjects, not just fighting Demons or physical training.
I needed to get stronger fast.
I walked forward and felt the strain, I decided that it wasn’t good enough and turned back to the knob that controls the intensity of the gravity well. It was now or never-
I decided to increase it by a noticeable amount, enough that my entire body felt like it was being crushed.
Now? It was time to start working out in earnest.
Walking felt like hell but that was good- pain usually is when one is physically training themselves.
Inching over to the treadmill, I hopped onto the track and walked until I was in front of the control panel, and with gritted teeth from gravity weighing me down, I grabbed the handle to my right and fiddled with the panel in front of me, the treadmill turned on and was immediately on the last speed I left it at- I almost stumbled before I managed to slow it down enough for me to gather my wits.
I did a small jog to get used to the current weight and estimate just how much speed was enough for my current strength, and when I did, I decided to go over the top and put the speed around an extra mph from my own estimate- and the result was me needing to do long, painful strides to even keep up but I managed to do it in the end, it was painful, yes, this is all going to be worth it-
I ran for exactly 30 minutes before my aching body decided I was done and when the treadmill got turned off, my legs collapsed and I had to force myself to get back up, and standing there, full of sweat and racked with exhaustion, I realized just how much work I needed to do in order to reach my goal of reaching the maximum weight of the current gravity well.
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And I won’t just stop when I reach it either, I need feel completely fine when under the effects of maximum- I- I need to pick up the slack-
15 minutes later, I felt fine enough and pushed the on button of the treadmill again to start running.
I repeated the process one more time before I considered myself done and walked over to the weight lifts in order to work on my hands, and this time, readjusting the weight was easy, before long, I was lying on the bench with my hands clasping the handle of the barbell, I took in a heavy breath and removed it from the rack-
400 Reps. A hundred was the standard before I put the barbell back on the rack and took a break for 15 minutes before repeating the process again. When all was said and done, my hands felt sore, my back ached, and my chest burned, it didn't feel pretty but again, exercise was always like this, I'm just pushing myself beyond what I would normally do-
"Mistress,” I bit back a curse, Zath calling me that instead of Neo means that someone from my family is outside.
I removed myself from the bench and with painful steps, walked to the door and turned off the gravity well before opening the door, "Yes? Zath?” I put on my best smile and stared at the person behind my maid, “and Amber! Whoa, nice seeing you here, what's up?”
“That's what you always say whenever you want to hide something from me,” my sister mentioned skeptically, “so, Neo, what's up? For you to say that?”
“I increased my training?” I can't really lie to her, I found that out early on because for some reason, she just knows. There's no ingame lore that says anything about her “intuition” either, it was just there.
“By how much?” She narrowed her eyes.
“Well my hands are aching and my legs are wobbly from just weightlifting and the treadmill alone so… that's as good as answer as any?” I replied and she sighed.
“Well at least you're doing that when your body is halfway through developing,” she smiled warmly, "that's fine, we only scolded you back then because you were pushing yourself despite being so young,”
“I'm a Pledge Bearer,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, and you were puking blood.” She retorted with a dry voice, “anyhow, I just want to say that your maid can join us for breakfast if she wishes, father has told me as much-"
“We're only friends,” I said and Zath nodded.
"Yes, yes, friends- but again, father has given permission for her to join us on the table for breakfast,”
I slowly nodded, “okay… that's good, right?” I turned to Zath who only smiled, “yeah, it's good.”
“And that's all I want to say, also, breakfast is two hours away, as always, so it would be good if you leave this place before that,”
“Yep. Noted.” Amber turned back and proceeded to walk away.
“Zath, uh, tell the chefs to prepare a small feast for me alright?” I asked my maid before she escorted Amber out of the gym.
“Of course, mistress.”
Closing the door again, I sighed, “one and a half hours,” I said to myself, “that's how much time you have left to work on your sides, your abdomen, and your center. No biggie, no pressure, just… increase the gravity so that you can increase your gains- yep.”
The next hour and a half, I can only describe as Hell.
I walked out of the training room feeling pain all over my body- Zath greeted me and I smiled weakly at her, “your hot bath is ready, mistress,”
“Oh thank god-” my own body seemed to have forgotten my fatigue because I rushed towards the gym’s bathroom, pass the locker room, into the bathroom before immediately jumping into the bath with clothes still on, which I shook off now that they were wet.
A little while later, Zath stepped forward and grabbed my sports bra, my pants, as well as my undergarments while looking at me dryly, I shrugged, “I can't help it,” I let myself sink into the euphoric warmness of the tub, “I was tired and I need my muscles to relax,”
“If you say so,” she walked away without saying anything more.
The door closed behind her. Then, a little while after that a knock, “Neo, your new set of clothes is here,”
I smiled, “Thank you~~~"
I arrived to the dining hall two minutes early yet feeling refreshed and wearing a new set of sports gear, Dad kept eyeing Zathania as she walked behind me and blatantly did so even as we both took our seat, me as always alongside my fellow Pledge Bearers at the center and Zath with my more… lower ranking and less influential siblings to the left.
Igneous spoke first, and what timing, Dad just had to wait for me to drink water first didn’t he? “Are you not gonna sit with your lover?”
I almost did a spit take but I swallowed the water down and I calmly placed the glass onto the table before giving him an exasperated look, “Dad? What?”
“Neophyte, I am trying to be supportive here-”
“I"M NOT GAY!” I shouted, paused, then said, “sorry,” he nodded, “what the- ever loving mother Goddess are you doing?!”
“Neo, it's fine, I do not care about your preferences in lovers,” Igneous said in a soft voice, “and if you're worried about your choice then I am completely fine with it, both functionally as well as politically, the scion of House Phagea has told me of his woes in regards to the letters that his daughter sends as well, and those are about Zathania’s desire to serve you and nothing more, hence why she has "no time” for lovers.”
“Zath?!” I turned to her. You were supposed to be my lifeline damnit!
“It is true, though, mistress.” She replied without an ounce of shame, “and no, I do not want to sit with her, as she is not my lover.”
“See?” I turned to Dad, “I'm not gay!”
“Is gay another word for Dyke? Sister?” I shot Quartz an ugly glare and the little shit grinned, my youngest brother, one who's still sitting on the left side of the table can joke like this-
“Huh, gay.” I heard Bismuth say, “clearly you have thought this through if you created a term for it correct? It must’ve been stuck in your mind daily,”
“No-” I bit back my tongue, “yes.” what's better? Admittance of my past life where that word exists or say that I created a new term to bless their coded NPC minds? “And it's not… Dyke or an insult. It applies to everyone, guy to guy, girl to girl.”
“Wow. I'm impressed, dear sister,” Byzanthine clapped, a smirk tugging on her lips, “truly impressed.”
“Oh sure,” I rolled my eyes, “impressed, that's nice,” I glared at the older princess as well as my fellow Pledge Bearer, “anything else? Sister?”
She smirked, “nothing~~”
The King cleared his throat, “food is about to arrive, so I suggest that you all should stop your bickering,” he said, “and also, Neophyte, since you clearly wish to be in the role of a man's, then I have thought it through and have considered your gift for your acceptance in Pledge Academy,”
Wait, I was already accepted?
“Acceptance is a rather odd word to use father,” Pearl pointed out, “as the Academy head essentially kneeled for you to allow her to go there,”
Igneous cleared his throat, “I suppose so,” he said, “but regardless of your method of admission, you will earn a gift much like the rest of your siblings who managed to pass and enter the school and thus, it is with a smile that I have granted you permission to enter all the stables found on castle grounds so that you can find a suitable mount,”
“Even the dragons?”
“Even the dragons yes,” he answered easily, “though I suggest a griffon as they are the fastest flier, making it easy for you to go back to the castle and visit Zathania during your breaks,”
I stood up, “I'm honored, father, and I thank you for such a generous gift,” really, generous doesn't put it because not even Adamantite, the guy who's supposedly the future crown prince, got the chance to enter the dragon stables.
“But I’m not gay.” I added.
“Of course sweetie,” I turned to mom, who was smiling, “you are not.” Everyone around the table chuckled like it was funny.
I'm not joking!