"Well, let's start with your physical strength and stamina," she said, and there was a steely note in her voice that sent a chill down my spine.
"Okay," I replied, trying to sound confident, even though a premonition of trouble was already beginning to arise inside.
"First, the usual run back and forth along the lake. You will run until you collapse from exhaustion!" Her words sounded like a sentence.
"Until I collapse from exhaustion?" I asked, trying to catch some humor in her tone, but it wasn't there.
"Exactly," she nodded, after which she commanded me, "Start!"
And I ran. At first, I thought I would quickly run out of steam. But, to my own surprise, my legs carried me easily. I could feel the rhythm of my breathing, hear the rustle of grass under my paws, and feel a light breeze blowing over my face.
After running for several kilometres, I gradually began to feel tired and heavy when I breathed, but so far it had been bearable.
After some more laps, I started to feel very tired. The air felt incredibly heavy and clumsy, and my legs wouldn't obey me causing me to stumble. There was already blood in some places, as I had fallen a couple of times, but with Shion watching me, I couldn't stop.
At some point, running became so painful and difficult that I just collapsed. I felt nothing anymore except fatigue and pain in my muscles and lungs!
Shion slowly approached me, lifted my head, and gently gave me water from the lake, saying!
"It's not bad for the first time, but there's a lot to strive for. Take a break today and go into battle tomorrow with renewed vigor!" Then she dragged me into the cave, where I safely passed out!
Skipping time
Several months passed at this rate, after which a significant difference was noticeable! I've become much easier to handle such heavy loads and I'm no longer lying dead at the end of the day. But the first week and a half, I didn't remember how it ended, because Shion squeezed all the strength out of me with these workouts!
I wanted to give up many times, but with incredible willpower I forced myself to train further! Since I understood that my life would depended on it, I was no longer in my own world, where there was almost complete peace! That's why I needed to become as strong as possible!
Now I was still standing on the same shore of the lake, waiting to hear what Shion would say, as we moved on to the second stage of training!
"You've done it much faster than I thought, sir! But this is just the beginning. Next, we will complicate your training and add spiritual strength training, as it is called here. Of course, I'm not much into magic, but I know something!"
Oh, right - during that time, I'd told Shion everything I knew about this world! So Shion also kept up and trained hard, while exploring this world! She hasn't figured out what time period we're in yet, and she hasn't found any villages or towns yet.
Shion often went deep into the forest to fight strong opponents! At the moment, the strongest opponent was a snake that was about ninety thousand years old, so he was on her teeth!
"Thank you for your help in this, Shion!"
"You're welcome. It's my duty to help you, because I'm your best and only secretary!"
I once asked Shion if she remembered anything about Tempest and Rimuru. According to her, she remembered everything, but it didn't make her feel any special, as if they were just acquaintances in that world. Most likely, this was the help of the system and the impact of full loyalty!
Also during this time, I was able to figure out how gacha works. I get one gacha ticket every thousand years. At the moment, I had ten tickets, but I decided not to spend them yet, for some reason it seemed to me that the time had not come yet!
"The next stage of physical training will be without but with a load" she distracted me from my thoughts, pointing to the stones lying at her feet and taking out a rope from somewhere!
"And maybe it's not worth it?"
"It's not worth it! You will run like this for half a day, and you will spend the rest of the day in something like meditation to feel and understand your spiritual power!"
Almost a year has passed at this rate, during which time Shion has repeatedly increased the load on my body with stones of different weights, and then added gravity to it. Because of this, I lost consciousness countless times, or ended up training in blood and exhaustion, as it pushed me to my physical limit! But after all these workouts, I can say with confidence that I have become much stronger and more resilient than I was a year ago. But this is not surprising, considering all the loads!
As for the training of spiritual powers, it was also very good, and even felt like a rest period for me. Still, there was almost never any strain, I just settled down and tried to feel the flow of power in my body, after which I moved it very slowly and carefully around my body. It was actually very easy, so very soon after we started training, we began to practice!
During practice, I tried to gather spiritual energy in my mouth to create a fiery explosion or a mini bomb, but there were problems with that! Because I didn't have enough control, I blew my face a couple of times. But thank God Shion saved me in time and stopped me from further filling the attacks with power!
My healing powers helped me a lot with injuries and wounds since they were the easiest to deal with. Due to the fact that this power was very soft and easy to control, and use, I was quickly able to learn how to use it to heal myself and others. And that's the only reason I don't have any wounds or scars!
It's only recently that I've been able to use my attacking skills properly so that I don't get hurt or exhausted!
"Now let's move on to the next part of the training!"
"Oh, my life is over, hell is starting again!" I sighed heavily.
"Next to you, Mr. Senko, we will begin to train your agility and balance, as well as conduct practical combat exercises so that you can gain experience in a real battle!"
With these words, she kicked the ground, causing boulders to break out of it. They rose, tearing up turf and stones, in front of her bizarre towers. Some were as thin as needles, others were wide and squat, and some were writhing like snakes.
"You'll jump on them in the beginning," she said, and her voice, usually soft, now sounded with a metallic determination that brooked no objections!
"Jump?" I asked again. I looked around at these chaotic piles of stone pillars, some of which seemed too high to jump on, and others too narrow to hold on to.
Shion nodded, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"Exactly. Just your sense of balance. Start with the lowest and widest ones, gradually moving on to the more complex and narrow ones. The goal at the moment is to get from here to that big boulder at the other end of the field without touching the ground between the towers. The main task is considered to pass on instincts, without hesitation and at maximum speed, and the main clarification is in the mountains, not this simplicity!"
I walked up to the first lowest and widest stone, which was as tall as me. I tried to imagine that I was not a heavy beast, but a light fluff or a cloud on the edge that could soar! Taking a deep breath, then exhaled, letting go of all doubts, running, I jumped.
The first jump was awkward. I slightly misjudged the distance and force, which caused me to fly almost to the opposite edge of the stone and fall on top of the snake, hitting it hard with my muzzle. Because of this, warm blood began to flow down my muzzle, and a sharp, unpleasant smell hit my nose.
In such a routine and pain, another year and a half passed, of which half a year was spent on jumping, and a year on practice! The result is that I can now jump almost at full speed over these stone towers and even walk around the waterfall like some kind of kangaroo. It doesn't pose any difficulties for me anymore. Most of the time, I don't even think about where and how best to land. It became something of a reflex. Well, it's no wonder, after all these countless "tortures" that Shion calls training! Another advantage, I guess, is that now I can always heal myself, or rather, keep the energy circulating in my body all the time, which in turn heals me!
Some of this nightmare was even worse, as Shion dragged various spirit beasts into the clearing that attacked me. At first, I was forbidden to touch them, I could only dodge and maneuver among the rocks to increase my dexterity.
After that, I had to fight with these beasts, and in the beginning, I was very often injured, since I had never fought before. After all, memory and real experience are completely different. Yes, I have a lot of scenes of Kurama's battles and a bit of Helios in my memories, but memory, personal experience, and well-developed instincts are two different things!
"Sir, you are incredible. You were able to cope with such a workload and learn everything in just two and a half years, although it usually takes five years! Shion said with an incredibly charming smile and amusement in her eyes."
"Well, of course, with such a load, anyone else would have died a long time ago, only my healing powers save me, otherwise I would have been dead a long time ago, sadist!" I grumbled to myself, but I answered her, "Thank you, it's all thanks to you!"
"Mr. Senko, why do I feel like you're cursing me?"
"I quickly replied, I feel like I'm breaking out in a cold sweat!"
"Okay, then tomorrow you will have an exam, all in the same place!"