Chapter 29- Training (Part 3)
Elio never thought of himself as a tenacious person. Sure, he was able to bear a very harsh and brutal life, balancing work and school with no breathing room. However, he never saw himself as someone with a strong will or someone who doesn't bend under crushing pressure.
He didn't forget the countless nights where he cried himself to sleep from pain. There were many days when he wanted everything to end, and he even came close to ending it all. However, there was still one thing that stopped him, and that was his worry for his only loved one, his grandmother. For her, he was ready to bear this pain and suffering; he was ready to get completely crushed just to see her smile and live a good life.
Deep down, he thought that was as far as his will went. Yet, shockingly, at that moment, when he was running, with every part of his body burning as if he was on fire, he found a strength within him he never thought existed. A strength that simply said 'Don't stop', 'Keep pushing', and 'You won't fall'.
His heart raced, and his mind was in shambles, but for some reason, he remained clear and focused.
'I won't fall. I won't fall!' His eyes seemingly burned like two embers of fire. He was hell bent on finishing that race. He forgot about the laps, he forgot about Fiona. All he focused on was that next step.
[Your stamina has increased by 1 point.]
[Your strength has increased by 1 point.]
[Your agility has increased by 1 point.]
At that moment, out of nowhere, several floating boxes appeared in his vision. The boy didn't notice them as he was still engrossed in his own world. However, upon hearing Fiona's voice, everything seemingly snapped for him, and reality pulled him back out.
"Elio! That's enough! You have finished the 50 laps."
"..." His eyes widened as he looked up at Fiona. Her words were like a cold bucket of water that was poured on his head. His leg stumbled, and he fell to the ground, rolling on it a few times until he came to a stop.
His chest heaved up and down violently, his heart was beating as if it was about to explode. His throat burned, and his head was beating too. All his muscles felt like they had received the most painful beating ever.
He stared at the ceiling, feeling like he was about to die. He couldn't even formulate a thought, let alone speak. All he could do was breathe and try to survive.
At the same time, while he wasn't aware, his Blood Energy seemingly accelerated out of nowhere, coursing through his body. It started working quickly, healing his destroyed body. It eased the pain in his muscles, helped with his wildly beating heart, and helped with transferring oxygen efficiently to every cell in his body.
His aura flared out of his body as it engulfed him like a warm embrace. In a matter of seconds, Elio went from almost passing out to extremely exhausted, and it only improved from there rapidly.
"Elio. Are you ok?" Fiona approached him in a hurry to check his condition. 'He had pushed himself way past his limit. His body is in a shocked state.' She frowned deeply. 'I didn't expect him to do all of this to finish the task.'
She felt guilty for giving him such a goal and making him do it. It was a miscalculation on her part, thinking he would never go to this extreme level.
"I'm… I'm… fine…" He finally spoke as he coughed and slowly rose from the ground. His Blood Energy quickly made him recover his ability to speak, and the pain turned into numbness.
'I almost died. That was so horrible. I don't know what got into me, but I was able to somehow finish the 50 laps.' He stared at his legs in a daze. He didn't know how he was able to pull off such a ridiculous feat.
His body was far from ready to run 50 laps. Hell, he would've been satisfied if he did 25.
'I felt like all of me didn't want to stop. That is odd… Where did I get that kind of strength from?' He asked himself, clearly unable to answer.
"That was impressive, Elio. Very impressive." Fiona said. "I honestly wasn't expecting you to do 50 laps. I wanted to simply gauge how much endurance you have, mentally and physically, and this… Well, you blew my expectations out of the park." She said. "That was truly something impressive."
"Ummm, thank you… I, hah, just don't know how, but I did it." He said as he wiped his face. "I'm so exhausted."
Then, he stared at the notifications in front of him.
"Oh! My strength, agility, and stamina all increased by 1 point each!" He exclaimed.
"Hmm? That is pretty good. Getting three points from this is extremely good." Fiona blinked, quite surprised. 'His body quickly rendered this stress into more power. As expected… His Blood Energy is just monstrous. He already recovered enough to speak normally.'
His recovery speed was almost like a cheat code at his level. This kind of extreme stress would usually take a long time to recover from, and yet a few minutes later, he was looking relatively fine.
"Can you move?" She asked.
"Mmm, I think I can…" Trying to stand up, Elio's body stumbled forward, almost falling on his face. However, at that moment, Fiona grabbed his hand.
"I got you." She said softly.
"..." The boy stared at her before he quickly balanced himself and pulled his hand away. "T-Thank you."
"How are your muscles?"
"Mmmm, I'm still feeling a lot of pain. But I can still continue after a small break. I don't want to stop." He said.
"What? Continue? No, that will be too much. You have pushed yourself enough."
"No, as you said, I don't have time to relax. Each day counts, I will be able to do the next set of exercises." Elio shook his head, his eyes determined as ever.
"..."
'This guy…' Fiona didn't know what to say anymore. Elio was just hell bent on making her speechless every time. She had never met someone as bizarre as he was.
"... If you can't continue, just tell me. But, fine, we will not stop." She said. "I will get you a recovery potion then."
"Mhm! Thank you!" He said.
After drinking the potion, Elio's recovery increased even faster. His soreness and pain disappeared quickly, and his exhaustion reduced greatly. He was still far from his peak state, but he felt way better than before.
"What are the next set of exercises?"
"Well, we will start with a relatively easy one. Fifty push-ups, into fifty crunches." Fiona said. "Your core and back are one of your most reliable sources of strength. Both need to be very strong."
'That's easy, huh? Haha, Fiona really doesn't go easy at all.' He laughed inwardly.
"Understood."
Then, without wasting time, Elio went down and started doing push-ups. For some reason, all his fear had vanished after the run, and he was now somehow even more motivated than ever to do every task.
He wasn't going to let himself fall. Not at the very first step.