Getting Stronger...

"Gods above... that was incredible, Kira~! Let's train like that some more, hm~? Every day- no, every few hours!"

I rolled my eyes as I rose from the bed, our 'training' effectively over now that I was completely empty and drained of my energy, with my rumbling stomach making it clear we needed to go eat now.

Alessia - of course - had different ideas as she hummed to herself and pounced on me again, the golden Dogkin pinning me to the ground and rocking herself back and forth as she milked me some more, much to my arousal - even if it was hidden as I tried to push her away, only to get her to use a heavier hand in taking what she wanted.

When we finished up, the two of us were once more covered in sweat and reeking of sex, but that wasn't something our mana couldn't fix, so we cleaned off and made our way downstairs, grabbing our clothes that were randomly strewn about and cleaning them too with our mana before heading out into the night.

Finding a random bar, the two of us went in for drinks and something to eat, spending some of our coin rather generously as we feasted to recover any and all energy we possibly could, before draining our tankards and getting a nice buzz from the alcohol.

To no one's surprise, the horny Dogkin remained horny despite everything that happened today, and when we returned to her house, she pounced on me again, the two of us going at it for as long as our bodies would allow before passing out together in bliss.

The next morning went differently, with Alessia heading out first to go get groceries and leaving me to my own devices at her house, something that made me feel warm inside since it showed she trusted me - though it's not like there was anything to take besides her clothes...

So, I just went back outside and donned my new armor, doing some warmups in it and enjoying the slightly denser mana that was outside in 'nature' compared to inside, helping me regenerate everything I had spent and allowing me to get back to my balanced self.

Now that this was a real world for me, I wanted to get stronger, and the methods to do so weren't that different from what I used to do in my 'old real world'; lifting weights and training my body in as many ways as I could remained the best way to get stronger physically, which would need to be balanced out with two other things.

Physical strength was important, yes, but I had already proven that having a higher physical strength wasn't the end all be all in terms of winning fights; there were two other things that I could do to improve my body and my base strength.

I needed to be able to control my body, and I needed to have a stronger Core, which would give me more mana for higher level spells.

Control was something I could achieve in many ways; there was agility and dexterity, the quickness of my body and my ability to control my limbs, as well as my reaction speed and ability to hone my instincts through repetition of an action.

Perfecting a single thrust of the sword would do little in the grand scheme of things, but being able to do so would make improving other parts of a technique easier, and it was something that you could build around to become your signature move.

Everyone had something they were better at physically, and finding it out and honing it into something great was one such trick to getting stronger; it was how I was able to easily kill Goblins far higher in level and stats then me, and it would help bridge the gap until I reached those stats.

Then there was having a stronger Core; many people mistakenly believed that the only benefits of a Core - and conversely, magic - was to be able to cast spells and do other arcane things, so when Battle of Eden first released, it was amusing to watch as those players that despised magic realized just how stupid they were for their choices.

Back then, you could pick a starting class to choose your own starting stats, and at the sight of INT and WIS - the two stats that usually correlated with mainly arcane subjects - they avoided them entirely, having a single point in each to juice up their other stats.

Whilst that worked initially they realized their mistake swiftly enough; mana could be used to buff yourself by amplifying your blood flow and all sorts of other incredible physiological actions, meaning they were being outclassed by people who had gone for balanced stats right off the bat.

And when you had a higher level Core, the mana flowing through your veins raised your physical stats to a certain degree, because without a strong body, you would explode from the abundance of power; your body was a container for your mana, and a weak container holding super cold or hot liquids would become damage, before eventually breaking.

So making sure you had some degree of strength magically was imperative, but that didn't mean magic was the end all be all; people with weaker magics could still defeat a really skilled mage by simply being too quick to hit, having high defenses, or simply nullifying the spells in the area.

Having all of your eggs in one basket wasn't always a good thing; when that basket was snatched away, you were left with no eggs at all.

That's why I always made sure to have at least two 'baskets' to rely on, but of course one was larger and more important.

Now, in this new life of mine, my body was currently stronger than my magic, but the beauty of being a Swashbuckler meant I could lean to either side, so if I played my cards right...

I could do wonderful, incredible things without much difficulty, but only if I played my cards right.

And my real goal was to be able to strengthen not only my strength, nor my Core, but also polish my tongue some more; muscles are great, spells are awesome, but what could be better than talking your way out of being on the receiving end of either of those~?

Why shouldn't I try and convince others to come to my aid and ensure victory that way, instead of trying to be some immortal, indestructible main character that I most certainly wasn't?