Chapter 14. Delicacy

With an already familiar movement, Kaas started the workout.

This time, Adri noticed that he was wearing a dynamic suit:

"Are you sure you want to practice in a suit? For a beginner, this can be quite difficult."

Kaas only nodded affirmatively, secretly glad that these gestures remained almost unchanged from his usual ones.

"Well then, let's get started!" Adri said confidently "So that you can appreciate the difference in training with and without a suit, let's repeat what you did in the morning!"

And the training was repeated exactly.

An additional 5% load seemed to him a trifle exactly the first few blows, but after that, the real test began.

He no longer thought about how to put his fists and how to focus power to improve his punches and strengthen his wrists. It was absolutely not up to that. If only to hold out.

On one hand, Aska, who is no doubt overseeing the workout. On the other hand, Kaas's innate stubbornness. This stubbornness was always selective, and he often directed it in an absolutely unproductive manner. But now, in front of the beauty's face, his pride took over and forced him, slowly but methodically, to repeat punch after punch, following the cheerful commands of Adri, who was not hiding smiling all over his face. It was difficult to say what was behind this smile of his, the joy for such a stubborn student, or the sadistic grin over how the self-confident upstart suffers.

With the extra load, the workout took a full hour, and although the dynamic suit was only set for 5% load, Kaas felt 500 times more tired than before.

The workout ended with Adri's approving chuckle, and now, Kaas just lay on the floor, face down, eyes closed, and rested.

Aska, did not wait for his request, removed the simulator, returned the bed, sat down in her chair and waited for Kaas to rest.

However, Kaas was in no hurry, although he was conscious, but his body was so tired that he would rather fall asleep, but could not. His mind was on edge and in spite of all today's pressures, it seemed not at all tired.

The dynamic suit not only added load, but also helped with heat transfer, which allowed him to complete the entire course to the end. And now, during his rest, he seemed to radiate a light, comfortable coolness that soothed his warmed up muscles.

After lying like that for almost half an hour, Kaas finally found the strength to get up and go to the shower. Entering, he turned off and took off his suit, turned on the water and sat down on the floor.

The suit is genius, if even after such workout a muscle does not hurt, then I don't even know what to think.

Kaas began to listen to the state of his body, unconsciously starting his breathing practice. The muscles really seemed to be buzzing. If before he did not even feel whether he had them or not, now, it was that very feeling of load. Arms, legs, back, and even the neck, anything other than the muscles of the mouth.

Undoubtedly, Kaas felt tired and even overwhelmed, he could not even smile. But also, he was filled with pride that he had finished this workout to the end.

It's good to be a child, he thought, Right now, although I am as weak as it gets, but completely healthy and for me the fastest progress that can be eventual is possible, and if I do everything right, then I will become stronger every day.

Estimating that Aska had to switch off soon, Kaas did not sit in the shower for a long time and left after a quarter of an hour.

"And how do you like training in a suit?" Aska greeted his return. There was no grin in her voice, just curiosity.

"Great", he replied, grabbing a new set of food from the shelf that had been delivered while he was in the shower, and sat down at his table.

"It was actually pretty hard", he admitted honestly, "but this is how training should be."

"It's good that you think so. In a medical sense, today, you did not have any deviations from the permissible norm, but if you trained for 20 minutes longer, then it would begin to hurt your body."

"Do you think I could train longer? Not a drop of stamina remained in me."

"That's great, by the way, in this portion of food, the nutritional value is another quarter higher! So eat and rest, and I have to go."

Aska turned her back as if she were leaving and her room disappeared again, replaced by a flat wall. And along with her, the last strength left from the tired body of Kaas.

He looked reluctantly at the food box. He wanted and did not want to eat at the same time. The body was literally torn between the desire to eat and sleep.

Anyway, I have to eat first, he decided and opened the box.

There were only 4 skewers in it, but significantly larger than those that were earlier, each one had something that looked like a yellow-green fruit the size of an apple.

He took one of them with difficulty and tried to bite off a piece, but as soon as he tried...:

"Fuck!" he cried desperately, and the skewer slipped out of his weakened fingers and fell to the floor. Kaas almost burst into tears of impotence. He could only look with regret at the skewer, which he dropped, because he was afraid that if he tried to pick it up, then later he would not be able to stand up and would remain lying next to it on the floor.

When the food 'ran away' from him, he wanted to eat even more. Since the fingers refused to obey, now with both hands, carefully, right above the table, he took another skewer and carefully began to eat.

If it was cold, it could be considered a real nut ice cream, he thought, picking up the next stick. Oddly enough, but while he was eating, his appetite only accumulated and did not want to retreat. Having drunk both drinks, he already looked with regret at the first portion lying on the floor.

Fatigue gradually receded, Kaas got up, picked up his skewer from the floor and, with a sigh, put it back in the box. He took the last 'reserve' set of cans of food and drinks from the shelf, sat down at the table and thought about his training and plans.

4 emeralds, this is a lot of money, and I can earn it in one year, but for this I have to win two hundred fights in a row.

Such a feat has never been accomplished by any MMA fighter, even having 200 fights in his entire life, this is almost unrealistic, he thought.

However, for my purposes, I only need to do half, which will already give me more than 10 sapphires.

But even this half, it is 100 battles in series of 10 and without one defeat or a draw, this is almost no different from 200, almost as unrealistic!

And the difference in prize money is huge, at least one defeat in the series and the prize pool will be 10 times less than the maximum possible.

On the other hand, you will have to fight with children, but again, what if the child has been training since the age of 5? He can be a real fighter! And if I come across someone who has already participated in several tournaments and received a lot of combat experience? Or if someone more genetically gifted comes out against me?

Also, having more experience in life isn't necessarily an advantage. After all, experience breeds caution and fear.

But 4 emeralds !!! It's easy to calculate that this benefit for more than 1000 years! What is this concept? Even if I don't get one fight, it will be like a benefit for 100 years!???.

On the other hand, how many people in the world can handle this? An unthinkable "carrot" for an unthinkable feat.

However, although this is a lot of money, it has a lifetime. Thus, this award is, in fact, a contribution to the economy. If the winner does not spend it, it will return to the treasury, and if he does ...

So Kaas reflected for a while, sitting at the table and sipping the rest of his drinks, until the fatigue subsided. Leaving all the problems until tomorrow, he went to bed.

***

"You're already awake?! How are you feeling?" the first thing Kaas heard when he opened his eyes.

After pondering this important question for a second, he replied:

"Lousy!"

"As I said, your sync is almost 3% this morning, so it should be better than yesterday, shouldn't it?"

Kaas got up and sat on the bed, listening to his condition more closely.

Very strange. I still feel bad enough, but this is the same feeling as yesterday. Muscles do not hurt at all.

Kaas was sure he would not be able to even move in the morning, let alone get out of bed. By all the rules, he should feel pain in every muscle, and given that this child had never played sports, this small load was simply prohibitive for him.

"Aska, why aren't my muscles sore?" he asked, puzzled.

She thought for a second, looking at her interface and replied, "I understood what you mean. Muscle pain after exercise. It is not there due to the fact that PAK takes care of such ailments."

"In fact, everything is more complicated", she began to explain, "PAK constantly collects data about your condition and transmits it to the medical center. Your nutrition is formed from the needs of the body for optimal functioning, taking into account all parameters. Therefore, having eaten yesterday's food, you actually received all the substances necessary to restore the optimal state."

"So, Can I train without worrying about the load?"

"Of course not, everything needs a moderation, if your loads cause significant injuries, then they will pay attention to this in the medical center and may be interested in the reasons. You already know it's best not to attract too much attention. And if I hide this data around the clock, then you will simply degrade instead of improving."

"Why didn't you finish your food?" she asked suddenly, pointing to the food he had dropped so annoyingly on the floor yesterday.

"I dropped it on the floor, but don't worry, I finished the rest of the cans, so everything should be in order with the ration."

"Even if you finish eating that food, it doesn't mean that it can replace this one", she said, "because it's not only the nutritional value, but also that it is designed specifically for your recovery after exertion. You have to finish it."

"Aska, but it's dirty!" he objected indignantly.

"Why should it be dirty?" she asked in bewilderment.

"Dust! Microbes!" Kaas insisted, pointing to the floor.

"Dust? Microbes?" She asked in surprise, and after a local second of studying information in her terminal, invisible to Kaas, she laughed, "I understood, don't worry, there is no dust and microbes here."

"How so?"

"Just like that, just not!" she confirmed, "there are non not only here, but in the whole city!"

"There are nor microbes at all, nor dust, if it does arise, like any garbage, it is immediately removed, like used food cans." she clarified with a smile.

Kaas hesitantly got up and walked over to the table, picked up a skewer and hesitantly examined this fruit-like ball. Visually, it was impeccable, with a light and pleasant scent and seemed to have not changed at all since yesterday.

Apparently, the rule of five seconds in this world can be ignored, he thought and confidently took a big bite, Tasty!

He finished quickly and, feeling noticeably more cheerful, immediately went to the shower.

This small snack made him hungry, so he did not linger in the shower, quickly doing his morning routine, he put on a dynamic suit and immediately rushed to see what would be for breakfast.

"Kaas", Aska called out to him in a serious voice as soon as he appeared in the room.

"Yes?"

"I looked at the recording. When you dropped the food, you swore out loud. Have you forgotten that you cannot speak your language?"

"Aska, it was by accident! I didn't want to swear, it burst out by itself!"

"I'm not telling you this because you were cursing. It's not pretty, though." Aska made a hand gesture indicating the importance of the question and explained, "Even if you want to swear, do it in the local language."

Kaas scratched the back of his head. This will be the hardest thing to get used to. Or, more precisely, break the habit. he thought.

"Aska, I'm really not sure I can control this."

"You have to come up with something. Best of all, if you unlearn swearing at all."

On Earth, Kaas didn't swear too much, but in his 70 years of life, it has become a persistent habit. When he was angry or indignant, hot words flew out automatically.

"I will try", he promised and went over to get a new portion of food that has already appeared on the counter.

Kaas impatiently took a new box and cans of drinks and put them on the already familiar table, which was clean after his return from the shower. Apparently, the table also knows how to remove garbage, he thought and sat down at the table. Taking a can of drink, he began to examine Aska's room, who was already sitting at her table and eating something unimaginable, looking at a new ornament on the opposite wall of her room.

Aska was dressed less strictly this time. Her suit could be considered the office wear of a spoiled boss. The harsh tones of her clothing contrasted with her snow-white skin and iridescent hair. She wore an elegant navy-blue dress that ran from her collarbones to her knees, perfectly highlighting the perfect curves of her figure. Over the dress was a dark black jacket that did not seem to be designed to be buttoned. It gracefully left the middle of the torso open, which could not fail to attract attention and excite Kaas's imagination. She might appear barefoot, but her dainty legs were wearing white shoes that were more like her hair than the color of her suit, which seemed like an unusual combination.

This time, the morning was cloudy, which added austerity to the overall atmosphere. Aska's room has also changed a bit, apparently, she liked making small changes to the interior.

Kaas, pretending to admire nature, looked at Aska most of all, because she was definitely more beautiful and more interesting than everything that surrounded her.

He opened a box of food, which contained a strange-looking salad and a spoon for it. The amazingly tasty smell filled his mouth with saliva and he felt impatient. He scooped up a full spoon and immediately put it in his mouth ...

"Uff", Kaas grimaced and almost spat out the food. Quickly grabbed the can of the drink and immediately took a long gulp.

"Aska, what is it?" he asked indignantly, looking at the food, which, despite its attractive aroma and decent appearance, looked more like a mixture of moldy cheese with mushrooms and something else that did not improve the taste at all.

"This is one of your favorite dishes", she replied, "an imitation of the traditional salad of vegetables and wolf liver."

"What?" he was indignant, "Aska, I have never eaten anything like that, and even more so I have never eaten a wolf, let alone its liver."

"Okay, this is the old Kaas's favorite food", she corrected. "Certainly not my favorite, but this salad is considered one of the local delicacies."

"Is it possible to make sure that this food never appears here again? This is almost as disgusting as the 'Red Price' sausages from 'Pyaterochka' taste, which they tried to disguise with onions and garlic." he winced, obviously overwhelmed by a bad memory from the past.

"Of course, I will remove this dish from the favorites list and add it to the exceptions."

"Can I not eat it, but order another portion?"

"Yes, but it will be for an additional fee. What would you like?"

"Anything, but not this, let it be just something fresh, I don't even know. Even if there are cans." Kaas said hastily, clearly ready for anything but that.

"Ok", she answered, and the box with this salad disappeared into the table along with the box and spoon. And in less than a local second, a new set of food appeared on the shelf.

Kaas transferred this set to his table, and now acted carefully, like a mouse checking if there was a mousetrap in front of it.

"Do not be afraid, I ordered something good, although it is relatively inexpensive, only 7.5 golds plus shipping, but I checked the statistics, those who do not like wolf salad prefer this dish out of many."

Kaas slowly opened the box, there was also salad, of a different color and texture, with a less intense, but also pleasant smell, which could not but alert him. He carefully scooped up a quarter of a spoon….

"Mmmm ... that's really good", he said, closing his eyes ...

Indescribable taste ... a little spicy, salty, fresh, notes of crab, mint ... it's strange, incomprehensible, but very tasty …

"Aska, definitely add this to my favorites", he declared and began to quickly devour this dish as if it could be taken away from him.

After carefully finishing the salad and washing it down with the equally successful drink, Kaas asked with a satisfied face:

"What is this salad made of?"

"This is a salad of crawler beetles!" she said calmly.

Kaas dropped the can from his suddenly weak fingers.

"What's wrong now?" she asked, looking in surprise at his face, which suddenly became completely unhappy.

"Aska, why didn't you tell me before?" he said, picking up the can, which he had dropped, "bugs ... it's disgusting !!!"

"But just now you joyfully ate them and were quite happy!"

"Yes, but! ...."

"I don't know what kind of food you're used to, but these beetles are really quite tasty", she said, including the scene with the demonstration and continued to explain, "look, they were grown specially and for a long time before, they were a real delicacy for the elite."

On the stage, at this time, a farm of these very fist-sized beetles was demonstrated, which the farmers fed with some kind of fruit and leaves. The beetles looked like beetles, large and creepy, in thick shells and all in thorns so as not to be easy prey for predators.

"Of course, your salad is only a copy, not a single real beetle was in it, otherwise the price would have been 30 times higher."

"Aska, I understand everything, but could you order a chicken salad?" he asked hopefully, looking at the beetles merrily digging in the leaves.

"Chicken? What do you mean?" With bewilderment she asked.

"Chicken, this is such a bird!"

"Bird?" Aska plunged into information again.

"Kaas, the translator did not find a suitable analogue, apparently we have no birds."

"How are there no birds? These are such animals, with feet, wings, beaks, covered with feathers! And also, they can fly!"

"Do they fly? I looked, we have no flying animals, only insects!"

Aska began to study the information again.

"I found something", she finally said, "in prehistoric times, there may have been such animals, but this is not certain, because there are no good remains. They became extinct many millions of years ago. So, for sure, you won't be able to find any chicken salad on the whole planet!"

Kaas sat back in his chair in disappointment. No birds, he thought, looking doomedly at the beetle farm, where, according to all the rules, there should have been chickens pecking millet.

"Get used to it, especially since you liked the taste. Although the composition of the food is tailored to the needs of the body, and only imitates the texture and taste of the original dish, in the past, when the breeding of this beetle was learned, their meat helped a lot in the development of mankind, because it was perfectly balanced and healthy. And of course, you've seen that the taste is also very good. Before their mass production, they were very rare and such dishes could only be seen by noble families from the level of star rank on their tables."

Seeing Kaas's confused face, Aska removed the beetle scene and recalled:

"You, according to the plan, already have 3 minutes before the start of training!"

Kaas stood up and shook his head, chasing away extraneous thoughts.

"That's good", he said, and began to figure out the interface.

So, hide the bed, get the simulator, choose the training program for Zemtsu. Go.

This time, Kaas did not turn on the suit in the morning, deciding to leave the increased workload for the evening.

Adri also changed the program, forcing Kaas to move around the bag while remaining in a stance. The essence of the exercise was to shorten the distance in order to reach the strike distance or break the distance.

The exercise, with its different variations, took over an hour, during which Kaas made five circles clockwise and counterclockwise around the bag, shifting, approaching, striking and breaking the distance. The exercise was simple and effective at the same time, however, Kaas's best achievement was that by the end of the session he stopped stumbling. Adri showed that he was pleased with his performance and finished the lesson.

After hiding the simulator and returning the bed, Kaas went to the shower, washed off the sweat and comprehended the results of the workout.

The previous studies and understandings still left a benefit, he mused, while doing his breathing exercises, which he remembered only in the shower.

Earlier, at first, I did not realize how important it is to be able to move, and now we can assume that I will save a year at once, doing more and more correctly, investing in this understanding.

Kaas repeated these movements in his mind several times. I'll have to train them without Adri additionally, he decided, clearly unsatisfied with the result. He turned off the shower, put on a dynamic suit, turned it on at 5% load and returned to the room.

There, Aska was already waiting for him, and a new set of food.

He looked doubtfully at the box and asked:

"Will there be bugs again?"

"Who knows", she said mysteriously, "just imagine that these are your birds, is it really that important? It's just an imitation anyway."

Kaas looked at the box again and swallowed, synthetic bugs ... but no germs!