Mulling over these new thoughts, Michael made his way upstairs to take his shake and a shower. He continued to process this new thought - he didn't have a full understanding of all of the implications just yet, but he felt that he was on the cusp of things. He came back downstairs to the fresh percolating pot of coffee and made breakfast.
As he sat down to his plate of eggs and chicken, he was soon joined by his parents. They were heading in to the capital on the early train this morning, so the three of them were essentially leaving at the same time. Luckily the timing for the shower just barely worked out, though Flavius did grumble at having ended up with a lukewarm shower at the very end. The three concluded that the new bathroom was coming in right on time.
As Michael rinsed his plate and gathered his meals for the day, he chatted with his parents about the book he'd been reading the night before. This started a conversation between the three on the subject of classical western philosophy that sadly they needed to cut short due to everyone needing to leave.
Michael packed up the rest of his stuff and quickly changed before saying goodbye to his parents, gently reminding them about the essay draft for review. He also asked them to send over any other book recommendations - either on the subject of their discussion, or more programming books. They both agreed, his father planning on sending over some other excellent thinkers and Rowena promising to send over a few more programming books. With that, the three said their goodbyes and settled on continuing their conversation at dinner.
As Michael ran today, he decided to continue his thoughts from the morning - instead of letting his mind get distracted, he focused on his gait, his breathing, and his surroundings. He tried to feel each step, making them as perfect as possible - landing his feet correctly, making sure his feet landed in proper rhythm with his breathing, and that his pace allowed him to continue without having to slow down.
This process was mentally taxing, but it seemed to be much more effective in the end. Though his maximum speed was not as fast as it had been in the past, the overall pace was faster. He was pleased that his understanding was improving and his theories were correct. However, this process was a huge drain on his focus, and he often found himself needing to redirect his thoughts from some random idea that flitted through.
The frequency of this did decrease as the run continued, though it never disappeared completely. It went from once a minute or so to once every few minutes instead. He hoped that this would continue to improve the more he tried it - he didn't have an Enhanced Focus - Running skill, after all.
He wondered if there would ever be a day where he would be able to maintain focus for an hour without the System's assistance, and if he could, what the results would be.
Another interesting side effect of this new focus seemed to be that once he acknowledged that a certain muscle group was sore or complaining and identified the source - for example, it had been the focus of several exercises from the morning - he was able to put the sensation aside and it seemed that the soreness dulled a bit.
During this process, he lost track of time, and before he knew it, he had arrived at school. He had actually arrived earlier than the previous day, though only by a little bit. He made his way over to the track as usual and was surprised to see that the red haired girl from earlier in the week was already there, running laps. He dropped his bag off by the side and stepped onto the track himself.
She seemed to be in her own world at the moment, and Michael had his own focus, so he didn't attempt to interrupt her. He concentrated on his breathing and steps as usual, trying to find the sensations of the different muscles moving in concert with his breathing.
There was an entrancing harmony between the sound of his feet hitting the track, his breathing, and the beating of his heart as his blood pumped through his veins. Maybe it was due to the uniformity of the track as opposed to the more varied and hectic route to school, but he could faintly feel that same spinning top sensation from the night before as he ran. It was only as the timer in his head chimed at 7am that he realized it had been almost 20 minutes on the track.
He finished up his lap, and saw that he had almost hit 8km for the morning. Quite satisfied, he smiled as he walked back over to his v. He noticed the girl was nearby, drinking water and wiping her forehead with a towel. He nodded at her as he picked up his bag. She hesitated, and then nodded in acknowledgement.
"We meet again!," he greeted.
"Oh?"
"Yeah... earlier this week? On the track?"
"Oh."
Michael chuckled a bit helplessly at this. Apparently he hadn't made the same impression on the other party as they had on him. Not being the most perceptive, he continued.
"I haven't seen you around before. Do you go here?"
"I have to go," she replied, as she hurried into the changing rooms.
Finally getting the picture, Michael went to get changed himself before making his way to the library for his morning shift.
---
"Good Morning, Mr. Maddox!"
"Good Morning, Mr. Prout. Good work on the revisions - I've left my follow-up thoughts in my reply. You can take a look after you finish shelving."
"Thank you, sir!"
The librarian nodded before leaving the desk and heading to his office. Since Michael had started working here, the librarian spent most of his time in there whenever Michael was on shift. "I guess he must be working on his studies - after all, he's a student, too," he reasoned to himself. He then busied himself with the minimal shelving the morning offered before opening his inbox and looking over the reply.
He also noticed another email that made his heart skip a beat. It was from Ms. Blackice, and included scans of his supplementary work as well as the markings. "Good Work, but be sure to show your work for all problems. It's important for me to understand your thought process. I will be away from class for a few weeks, so it would be better for you to scan your supplementary work and send it to me over e-mail instead of handing it to poor Richard. Also, take a look at the document I've attached. You might be interested. Be warned, this isn't just Algebra, but all of the secondary curriculum, and some things beyond that. Let me know."
He quickly opened up the document to see that it was the details of a Regional Mathematics competition scheduled for just before the winter break. Shortly after that, a notification from the System.
<<[Mission: Regional Mathematics Competition]
Description: Challenge yourself on all fronts - it's the best way to promote growth.
Rewards:
-Top 10: Mental Enhancement Module
Optional: Further rewards based on placement.>>
Michael's eyes lit up and he immediately replied. "Absolutely, thank you! I won't let you down."
His initial urge was to immediately start gathering all of the available Mathematics books, but he remembered that he had Free Period later in the day and would probably be more effective then. So he decided to implement the changes from Mr. Maddox instead and then spent the remaining time reviewing grammar in case there was another test during the upcoming English class.
As chance would have it, he did in fact have another test in class. He thought that it went much better than the previous one, so he was looking forward to the results when it had been scored. The rest of class was introduction of some new grammar rules, and then further discussion on the outlines that would soon be due. Michael spent this period of time reading more of the book from the night before through the System's display.
Were it not for the fact that he essentially looked like he was staring off into space, this would be an efficient way to read in general!
Soon class concluded, and he left with Jeremy and Valeria. They chatted a bit and confirmed that they'd meet after Gym class to head over to the cafe. Sadly, it wouldn't be a very long visit for Michael, as he wouldn't have been able to work on any of his other projects if he stayed.
However, much to his surprise, as he was heading down the hall with his friends, he noticed that a familiar red-headed girl was walking in to Ms. Aldrich's class.