Warning: this chap might be boring for many, and the bullworker is canon but there is no appearance of it so I improvised
***
So let us rewind the clock by a few minutes.
While a certain nymphomaniac girl (only for her teacher though) with an eyepatch was receiving a "love call" on her phone by her hot handsome professor, Gilgamesh finally decided on what to make the boy do.
The kid was scrawny, very much so at that. His build was also smaller than the average asiatic boy at that age and he wasn't even asian.
The food he fed him these past few days was from the age of gods, more specifically they were the plates for royalty, made from the flesh of most cared for stocks. In the current age those animals might as well be considered magical beasts raised by experienced magi of the oldest families but even then they would be able to make one or two of such every few decades.
Obviously he also had the flesh of innumerable phantasmal beasts, but he wasn't gonna waste them on him after his last stunt of insulting his food.
Anyway the food he fed him had such an incredible amount of calories that the boy could go without eating for two or maybe three weeks counting he ate it for two days in a row by now and on all three meals at that. Thanks to the nature of the food all those calories wouldn't have any adverse effect despite being a clear overdose, however it would be a pity not to do something with it.
Especially when the kid was a little walking breadstick.
And so Gilgamesh retrieved one of his favorite treasures.
"Here brat, choose one of these kits and wear it." He retrieved multiple cubic shelves with various things on top.
"These objects are all essentially the same noble phanstam, their name is Bullworker. By choosing one of this set and wearing it while exercising it will help you build muscles, of course it wouldn't stunt your growth. So don't worry and choose the one you like the most."
"The one I like the most…" Following his words he looked at all the objects on the shelves.
They ranged from various fashions, with the only thing they held in common being in pairs.
A white turban and cloak with long shoulder pads underneath.
A pair of boots.
Two wristbands.
Two cuffs chained to two big balls of metal.
etc…
'I guess I will just pick the least conspicuous ones.' Following this line of thought the boy picked a pair of black wristbands.
"Wristbands huh… maybe it would have been funnier if I chose for you, well whatever. Put them on and start running, kid."
'Just that?' Though he tilted his head the boy didn't question him and put them both on.
He felt no change upon wearing them though.
The problem came when he started running.
As soon as he lifted his leg he felt like his leg was already about to get tired and when started moving the rest of his body to follow it to continue running the feeling spread across every muscle he moved, from his legs to his arm and the rest of his body.
It felt similar yet incredibly different to trying to move underwater.
He continued running.
His breath quickly got labored and he started sweating.
And those were just the first five steps he took since starting.
"Huff…Huff huff."
THUD
In the end after just five minutes of running he was collapsing on the floor as the muscles of his legs gave up.
"..." Under the shade cast by one of the peach trees Gilgamesh was sipping a drink from a straw. "Did I push him too hard?"
Gilgamesh knew the kid lacked muscle mass but this was still pretty unexpected. 'I guess underestimated his situation, giving him something that weighed him down was probably too much for his first time exercising.'
"Hey, kid are you alright?" Gilgamesh asked from the bench.
"Huff…Haaaaa ye-haaaa yes, I am fine. I will get up now." Hearing his voice the boy immediately scrambled trying to get back on his feet.
"Haaaa." Gilgamesh sighed looking at him. He seemed to have misunderstood his words as an order to continue running. 'I guess I will just go pick him up. Hm?'
However, when he was about to get up he noticed that the boy was already on his feet albeit barely so as his legs trembled. And soon after he started running again while his mouth greedily sucked for air to feel his lungs with.
"I see." Gilgamesh mumbled under his breath. "So if your body can't bear the pain you will just ignore it, huh. Truly working like a mule."
He said harsh words but his mouth smiled slightly. 'Well, it's good for his health so it should be fine, right?'
THUD
The boy fell again.
'...Or maybe not, I guess today I will have to drag him back.' Gilgamesh thought as he slapped his forehead.
The boy struggled to get up once again, it was a bit of a strange sight though as his clothes appeared perfectly clean and ironed while his face was a bit dirtied and very sweaty. His arms trembled as he tried to raise his upper body.
'It's so hard…' The boy couldn't help but think so, he had never struggled so much physically before and it was achieved after six mere minutes as well.
The Bullworker was made to stimulate and grow muscles, however regardless of the workout if someone's body is too weak to train he wouldn't last long no matter what. He wasn't exactly unfit but training with something like that right away was indeed bound to be very painful despite the fact that it would improve his health.
In that Gilgamesh had indeed made a miscalculation as he wasn't really used to the state of the human body in the current age despite having gained knowledge of it.
However, why do people stop when they feel excessive pain?
That is because humans have an innate sense of self preservation.
Something this child was severely lacking in.
"Huff huff huff." The boy was standing again.
His lungs felt heavy and his chest felt extremely hot as his heart hit his ribcage with each beating, he felt every part of his body burning.
But he didn't stop and started running once again, his breath coming out in heavy gasps as he swung his arms widely to push himself forward. After all, if you don't have a reason to care about the pain, why should it bother you?
THUMP
It should bother you because then you would fall face first on the ground just like the kid did right now once again.
***
"BLERRGHH."
"There, there kid. Let it all out." With an unusual amount of kindness Gilgamesh patted the boy's back as he vomited gastric fluids on a tree.
"You did enough for today, when you don't feel nauseous anymore tell me." Heaving a sigh Gilagames left him alone to calm down for a bit.
'I didn't think he would have been that frail…I shouldn't have used the Bullworker.' Gilgamesh scratched the back of his head feeling slightly awkward from the situation. 'I guess I'll have to give him a tonic tonight before sleeping so he won't be tired tomorrow.'
Meanwhile as he mulled over his action the boy stopped retching. He used a nearby as support to stand up and called out to Gilgamesh. "...I'm fine now."
"Mm? Is that so? That's good then." Turning around from hearing the sound of his voice Gilgamesh gave the boy a look before sitting back on the bench. "You trained enough for today, let's just relax for a bit before heading back."
The boy dragged his tired body to the bench and sat down as well.
The two sat in absolute silence, both of them had nothing to say after all. But that kind of irritated Gilgamesh somewhat.
'What do I do with this kid? I don't like leaving him so idle when he is under my care.' Gilgamesh tapped his finger against the side of his cup. He didn't particularly enjoy silence unless it was his own, and this child's blank, pretty much lifeless stillness irked him every time.
'Should we play some game to pass the time? What do people even play with today?' He looked around the park, while a normal person might have seen nothing the same didn't particularly apply to him.
While he couldn't peer into the future, as a possessor of the highest of clairvoyance his visual acuity and kinetic vision was miles above what was normally possible. With his bare eyes he looked at the rest of the park and found a family playing a game on a table on the other side of the park.
"…Ping pong, was it?" Looking inside his treasury he retrieved (as expected) an entire set to play.
"Ping pong?" The boy repeated as he stared at the things he brought out.
"Here, eat this." Gilgamesh offered him a little fruit with his hand. It was round and green, looking kind of like a little apple but without the stem.
The boy picked it with one hand and shoved it in his mouth before chewing. It tasted similar to a fresh peach.
When he finished eating it the boy felt his tiredness wash away.
"Feeling better now?" Gilgamesh asked with a smile, proud of the effects of his treasure, he already knew the answer but asked either way.
The boy just nodded in confirmation.
Gilgamesh then tossed him a racket. The boy fumbled with his arms before catching it stiffly.
"Do you know how to play ping pong?" Gilgamesh asked him after seeing him having the racket firmly in his grasp.
"I'm not really sure, I saw some kids playing it before but I never played it myself so I don't know the rules." The boy shook his head in denial.
"Haaa, I guess I'll just explain them then." He just sighed though he somewhat expected an answer like that.
"...How do you even know how to play ping pong?"
"Heh, I know everything." Gilgamesh rubbed his nose proudly as he said it. "Anyway after the ball hit your part of the table…"
The boy listened as he explained the rules of ping pong. "I hope everything is clear, I don't like to repeat myself. Let's go play a few rounds."
The two went each to a side of the table. Gilgamesh spun the ball in his palm with flair on the tip of his finger, clearly trying to show off, before flicking it in the air and then serving it to the kid.
PANG
The ball flew across the table and tapped the other half of the table before the boy awkwardly hit it back to the other side.
PING
The ball was not gonna hit the table but Gilgamesh still hit it back to keep the ball alive.
PONG
His shoot safely landed in the boy's area before gently bouncing off, the shoot was an easy one and he just hit back.
PONG
"Good job, hit it like that." Gilgamesh complimented him. The ball had landed correctly this time.
The two continued with a few more exchanges though it was more Gilgamesh's skill keeping the ball alive than the boy's. He continued playing with groggy movements and hit the ball mostly thanks to the easy passes he was receiving.
"Come on, kid. You can do better than this." Gilgamesh tried encouraging him a bit to improve his hits.
"...Yes." The boy answered with a slight panting.
PANG
PING
PONG
The game continued as thanks to Gilgamesh the ball had yet to fall off, all in all Gilgamesh was actually having some fun playing as his effort to keep the ball alive even when it would have been his point made things more entertaining.
In the midst of this the boy was slightly improving his shots at least. 'He's covered in sweat again…Wait, why is he sweating so much from this?'
PANG
Gilgamesh realized something was wrong with the boy but it was too late. When he sent his shot the ball didn't come back despite giving him an easy angle.
The reason?
Well the boy was laying flat on the dirt.
It was then that Gilgamesh realized something. "Why do you still have the wristbands on?"
"Huff…You never told me to take them off so I didn't." Gasping for air the boy answered him matter of factly.
"....Are you actually being serious?" Unsurprisingly Gilgamesh was pretty much lost for words at his reasoning.
"?" The kid just tilted his head unsure of why he would ask that. "Should I take them off?"
"..."
'Little shit.'
***
Hello there hope you enjoyed the chapter.
As I said before i wrote this while preparing for an exam so this pretty much a slice of life chapter rather than one that progress the plot. But worry not the next chap will be progressing the plot and much more than you probably think.
Anyway for a few comments on this chapter:
-Gilgamesh is speed running fatherhood
-Yuta is a bum
-I forgot to mention this last time but Yvette is dripping wet
-Yes Henry Smith is canon in this fic but William didn't reincarnate in his body so he lacks the six eyes hack. Instead he is a just a crazy bum who made friends with Flat after his circuits got discovered and hit taken under Waver's wing for learning magecraft.
-Zouken is a diddler
Well that's all, please leave comments, reviews and maybe a few powerstone.
Goodbye