Training and a Call

Clair POV:

I let Lilia take a breath from the kiss and then hugged her tightly.

"Gaia said that it will make you stronger and the veins aren't as visible as you think," I said and she tightened the hug the moment I mentioned the veins.

"Stronger?" Ilza asked interestedly.

"She didn't specify how, but by the looks of it, it might be that she's immune to my pressure, like the other things. Or maybe photosynthesis?" I speculated.

"Photosyn...what?" Drull asked.

"That's the term used for energy production through the sun. Plants use the sun and can change the energy inside of the sun rays into something like sugar, which is their food," I explained.

"And what will that mean to me?" Lilia asked and inspected the green veins under her skin for the fifth time.

"It could mean that you don't need to eat, as long as you have water and the sun," I said and forgot to say the possibility to never eating something again.

"You mean like you and Drull?" Ilza asked.

"Not the same, we use mana to satiate and nurture us, while photosynthesis doesn't need anything except water and sun rays," I explained.

"What else is possible?" Drull asked excitedly.

"Don't know, these things look like plants, so maybe regrowth of limbs?" I said and shrugged my shoulders.

"Let's test the photosynthesis theory. Lilia only has to stay outside in the sun and then do some sports. That reminds me, I have to train," I said.

"Train? You? Aren't you strong enough?" Lilia asked.

"Yeah, I mean your stats are too high for the status to even list them," Ilza said.

"Only my stats with runes. I noticed my relatively weakness while I fought the insect that kidnapped you," I explained.

"Then how will you train?" Drull asked, slightly eager to train with me.

"Don't really know, I don't think normal sport will help," I said.

"What about weights?" Ilza asked.

"That would only work if they influence my whole body, otherwise, they might be harmful. Something that increases my overall weight would be good," I said in thoughts.

"Do you have a rune for that?" Lilia asked.

"Not a perfect rune, I'm trying to develop one that makes things float. But until now I'm only able to let them either fly away or be heavy as hell," I said.

"Why floating?" Drull asked.

"I want to build a flying fortress," I said with an evil smile.

"...okay. Wouldn't the rune work either way? I mean you only have to increase the weight," Ilza asked.

"Well, let me demonstrate," I said and walked out of the house, where I inscribed a fist-sized rock with the weight increasing rune.

"I'm able to increase the weight as much as I want, however, will become dangerous if it's too much. This rock here is 100 times heavier than before," I said and let the rock drop. It quickly fell down and sunk into the soft forest ground.

"And? Do you know what I want to say?" I asked.

They tried to come up with the solution. Ilza quickly gave up and Drull first made a face of hard thinking and then a fake "I don't care" face. While Lilia really came up with something.

"You mean that it would increase your weight which will also create problems wherever you stand. Because you will sink into the ground," she said and looked happy to found a solution.

"Exactly, I'm around 45 kilograms as Clair and around 95 as Dex, that would mean I'm 45 or 95 tonnes with 1.000 times my original weight. I might be able to train on a hard ground but not while travelling," I said and explained why it wouldn't work as of now.

"Then how do you want to train while travelling?" Drull asked.

"Easy, I simply put a large metal disc on the floor before I start with my training. I can do muscle and agility training without much space and the disc will distribute the weight equally over the ground. This way I won't sink down and can train as well. You all can help and train with me," I said and showed them what I mean.

I first conjured a large amount of metal, formed that into a disc with a radius of 20 metres and a height of 20 centimetres and then put it down. We then stepped on the disc and I put a few runes on me, each new rune doubles my weight.

It quickly got heavier and I stopped at 100 times my original weight.

"Okay, now I'm as heavy as 4.500 kilograms," I said.

"Let me try," Drull said and picked me up. It still looked as easy as picking up a child. It also looked like it.

"True it's way heavier than normal," he said and put me down.

"This much is still not a problem, so I have to further increase it," I said and raised the weight to 500 time my original weight. I'm now 22,5 tonnes or 22.5000 kilograms.

Drull tried to pick me up but wasn't able.

"Okay, that is heavy," he said impressed and then tried to push me, which didn't work.

"Are even able to walk like that?" Ilza asked sceptically.

"Don't know, currently, I'm in a perfect balance," I said and tried to walk. My legs felt as if I am underwater and have weights on. But I'm able to walk, even if it's slowly.

"And?" Lilia asked.

"It's heavy," I said while making a grimace.

"I meant, does it work?" Lilia asked again.

"Yes, this way I'll be able to increase my strength," I said.

"Come to think of it, why weren't you caught by the bug?" Ilza asked.

"I was caught, but my normal stats aren't related to [Mana Manipulation] contrary to yours. I have a skill that makes my body "limitless" which means that I don't have the natural limits of achievable strength. I can be as strong as I want and won't harm my body, as long as my strength comes from training. The runes would hurt me without safety runes like indestructible and regeneration.

I kinda suspect that it also has something to do with my over the top rune tolerance, but I'm not able to prove it," I said and made some push ups. I had to stop after 10.

"Are you able to make runes that just increase the weight to a set amount?" Drull asked.

"Yes, how heavy do you want it? Oh and Ilza and Lilia, I'll have to delete your runes if you want to train, your body won't handle another rune," I said.

"Increase my weight to 8 tonnes," Drull said and I did, he hasn't the sensitivity skill, so he promptly fell to the side and struggled to get up.

"Shit this is heavy," he said with a grunt and sat up.

"I think I'll pass, I don't need to get stronger," Lilia said but still began with normal training. We still wanted to know the influences of her veins.

"I want 500 kilograms," Ilza said and I deleted one of her runes for it. She didn't fell to the side like Drull and was able to walk slowly. The metal plate sunk a little into the ground but not too much, so I said,

"Good then let's train," and began with a light jog, a very slow light jog.

Two hours later we all were drenched in sweat, we all except for Lilia.

"And, °huf°... do you °huf°... feel something?" I asked and drank some water.

"Yes, or more like no. I don't feel fatigued or hungry," she said.

"Okay, that more or less confirms the photosynthesis theory. Let's see what happens at night," I said and deactivated the runes. Drull and Ilza did the same.

"Drull wait before...." I said but was too late. Drull already sprung up but used the same force he used with 8 tonnes and as a result launched himself into the air.

Ilza, again thanks to her skill, was able to stand up as if nothing happened.

Let's eat something I'm hungry," I said and walked back to the house, after taking the metal disc back into my inventory.

Ilza and Lilia followed me and Drull landed safely shortly after we reached the house.

Lilia wasn't hungry but still able to eat, which was a relieve to me. We waited for the sun to set and then started to train again. This time, Lilia wasn't as energetical as before, on the contrary, she was short breathed after a half an hour.

"So you have increased stamina during the day and decreased stamina at night," I commented while doing push ups.

"Seems like it," Ilza said and then had a shocked face.

"What?" Ilza asked worriedly.

"That means that we can't have sex as much as before," she muttered.

"And that comes out of Lilia?" Drull asked with a laugh.

Lilia in return got red and looked down, while muttering, "That's Clair's fault, she's the pervert."

I began to laugh and plopped down from cramps.

Lilia got redder and run inside.

"What did she say?" Ilza asked and looked after her.

"Nothing important," I said and resumed the training.

The day after we all had aching muscles, so we stayed inside for the day, only bathing and eating.

Lilia wasn't affected and tested another theory of mine. She deactivated her regeneration rune and cut her finger. The wound didn't heal immediately, but it was fully healed at the end of the day. So we could add faster regeneration into the list of positive influences from the veins. We also solved Lilia's stamina problem at night. At least the problem during sex, I simply conjured a light that mimics the sun. The downside was that we didn't stop, normally it's Lilia who's out of breath. But this time we both didn't get tired and before we noticed it was already morning.

The night increased Lilia's confidence and she slowly began to accept the veins.

We continued our travel to Eisenberge and reached it two months later. My training showed results and my stats began to raise.

We haven't passed the border longer than a few days as I got a call from the empress, Yukina.

"Is there Clair?" She asked, with breaths between the words. She must be running.

"Yes," I said.

"I know you are far away, but can you help me?" Yukina asked.

"What happened?" I asked and stopped driving.

"There was a coup. The church marked me as an elf collaborator with you as a reason. They gained control over the majority of the nobles and military.

The coup was three months ago and they held me captive until today. Only Max stayed loyal, he rescued me at the execution ground and we fled. The rest of his team is in pursuit. They have the order to bring me back so that they can finish the execution. The pope plans to unite the human countries and kill every none human. The army is already marching to Kirk and Solo. I fear that they won't stand a chance against Raska, peace lasted for too long. Their troops have no experience, while our troops are well trained from the border to Duren. They plan to crush the other countries in one large campaign.

Please save as many none humans as you can, I know that your border is safe," she said and her voice began to quiver at the end.

"What about you?" I asked.

"We can't escape them. They will catch us in at most two days," she said quietly.

"Where are you? I'll come to you," I said.

"... do you want to tell me that you are near enough to rescue us?" She asked after a short pause.

"Sure, so where are you?" I asked again.

"We are near Lichtstadt, half a days travel on horse away. We tried to reach Heiligenstadt, it's to the south-east of Lichtstadt. We might be able to reach it before they catch up with us. There is a tavern Max knows... °male vispers°... Max said the tavern is called Dead Harpy. If possible meet us there," she said.

"Sure, I'm on my way," I said.

"Thank you," she said and then cut the connection.

"And?" Drull asked. They were able to listen.

"I'm naturally going to save them, we have to postpone our visit of Eisenberge. A clone will bring you to Nahar, while I fetch the empress and Max," I answered.

"Have a safe trip," Lilia said and I conjured a clone.

"See you in a day or two," I said and took off.