When his training was over, Arthur did a procedure that was already standard. It was two hours to 05:00, so he used a full hour to do two full mana circulations, two great circulations in each major region of the body and two minor circulations in each part of the boy. He called it Washing.
This helped to relax his body completely and prepare him for sleep. Before, when he discovered the proper method for these circulations, it took him about 3 hours to complete just one full wash in the body. Now he used 1 hour to make two. This was also a daily control training he did.
Rising from the silver plate, Arthur went straight to bedroom. It would be smarter and more efficient to put a bed in the training area, but that would confuse things. There is a place to rest and a place to train. Never mix things up or you could go wrong.
With a yawn, he threw himself on the bed and let his mana slowly circulate. His breathing slowed, his muscles relaxed and his whole body began to calm and his mind at peace. He entered a state of sleep and meditation at the same time. His mind could rest more still, as the little mana circulated through his nervous system.
When it was already 5 o'clock, his natural clock made him wake up and he spent another hour doing the wash, circulating the mana twice through all parts of the body. Normally he would only do one on weekdays, but since it was Saturday, he had more time to spend.
Walking down to the training area, he began to practice his usual fighting moves. One concern that has popped into his mind recently was the stagnation of his 'Heavenly Flow Technique'. He had only reached the outer layer of the first two techniques 'Standing Lake' and 'Flowing River'. As well as his skills that needed to evolve through understanding, he had no idea where to go.
He just constantly repeated and applied these techniques in his usual movements. His punches and kicks followed a steady, rhythmic flow that was almost impossible to stop, so that in an instant his body was as still as a stone.
The training mode was already on at 40x the G force. His muscles were shaking, but they got stronger that way. Arthur also realized that this wasn't exactly the force of gravity, as it didn't affect oxygen molecules or anything else in his body. It was more of a weakening and a greater force multiplying most of his weight, but he hasn't figured out everything about the system yet to say that for sure.
Lowering his head suddenly, Arthur dodged a blow from Amanda's rod, who also began training with him. She was quite proficient in martial arts, but he was agile and fast, deciphering her moves in no time. But it was still a huge effort for him to do that with his body as heavy as a mountain.
"We're done!" Dripping sweat like a waterfall, Arthur gripped the stick by the end. His breath was quick but deep.
"Right!" Amanda nodded and relaxed her tense and sweaty body. 'This boy is very strange. Someone as strong as he normally wouldn't be so broken...'
"Shower and get ready, we're going shopping..." Arthur picked up his training shirt from the floor before heading to the elevator and leaving Amanda on the floor, panting.
About two hours later, when everyone had breakfast and dressed up, Arthur went down to the garage while Amanda and Thomas waited outside. He soon appeared with the Colorado.
"Back seat..." Arthur warned as he looked at Amanda, who was already about to sit in the passenger seat. She pouted and joined Thomas, who was chuckling a little and then focused on his cell phone.
Heading to a large hypermarket, Arthur parked in one of the spaces. His big, attractive pickup attracted some people's attention, but he was too lazy to care.
As his attention today was kind of scattered and not at all focused in the morning, he didn't notice a small, blonde figure looking at him with interest. It was Patricia, accompanied by her parents, who didn't look divorced at all. She was looking at Arthur in shock and she watched as he got out of the driver's seat.
'Is he really rich? Were the rumors that he had that car really true? And who is that woman?' With a shock, Patricia looked at Arthur entering the hypermarket. Her interest was piqued and she already had the camera open on her cell phone.
Not the least bit interested in anything, Arthur put on his earphones and let Amanda get the important stuff while Thomas got the snacks. He didn't like being alone and not too far from Arthur, so he was always around, keeping up with a shopping cart.
As his mind wandered back to memories listening to music, he suddenly felt a focused gaze on him. When he turned to look, he saw that it was Patricia, who jumped in fright and tried to hide her cell phone and waved an artificial smile.
"You really are an attention-grabber… Is she interested in you?" Amanda noticed the movement and also looked discreetly at Patricia.
"Keep shopping." Arthur decided not to waste his time on this. He still had to go to the construction of the Operation Center and didn't want to waste an ounce of his life on someone like Patricia.
Amanda noticed that Arthur was looking very strange today, more serious than usual... Or should she say nervous?
"Hey, Arthur! How are you, man?" A tall, socially dressed man was walking down one of the hallways when he saw Arthur and went to greet him.
"What's up man! Better only if you let me take it for free." Arthur greeted the man with a friendly handshake.
This man in front of him was the manager of the hypermarket, whom he met two weeks ago due to some annoying employee. The matter was resolved quickly and they met. The relationship was primarily based on business interests, as Arthur always came to make big purchases, but as he came often, the two eventually dropped some politeness of strangers. Basically, acquaintances.
After talking for a while, Arthur had also finished his shopping and took everything to the car. He shared boxes with the other two, but he carried the heaviest ones.
He stopped by the house to drop off the groceries and asked Thomas to organize everything while he and Amanda left to sort out construction issues.
When they got there, he left Amanda to take care of the workers and engineers in charge. In fact, all these workers were arranged by David, who had contacts with people who were really more specialized. The best employees are not always from the best companies. And all these people had needs and families to feed, and Arthur sympathized with them.
Construction was in its final stages, and now only the paint and furniture was missing, which technically were just as important as. The walls were robust and made with high quality materials, and the work of the masons was worthy of a 10.
Arthur then went to Emily's mother's restaurant and soon saw a figure that made his heart warm and relax.
"Hi..." He nudged her in the ribs, making her jump up and turn around, a smile already on her face.
She recognized his voice and her heart beat faster as she hugged him.
"Lunch again?" She asked as she pulled away with flushed cheeks.
"For everyone." He gave a smile used to looking at her dimples.
"I'll ask mom to prepare. Will you want help to take it?" She asked as she almost lost herself in his gaze. Even though they didn't have a concrete relationship yet, nor even kissed, they had a huge attraction for each other.
"Obviously…but I'm going to have lunch now, if you don't mind and want to join me." He was already pulling her gently towards a table in the corner.
"Do you want the right answer or the one I want to give?" She asked with a teasing smile.
"Which is the right one?"
"I'm on work hours, so I can't do this... But before you ask, I want to!" She had already gone to the kitchen by now, leaving Arthur to admire the beautiful view from her back. She was wearing light blue jeans, sneakers, a white blouse and a yellow apron.
Sitting at the table, he would wait for the food while circling and playing with the mana on the table. Since no one could see it, but he could, it was nice to play weird pictures with it.
"3, 2, 1..." As soon as he finished counting, a usual figure came through the door of the restaurant. It was a tall and handsome man. It was the teacher who was hitting on Emily before, and he was always showing up around here.
Emily was soon out the kitchen door carrying a tray with some plates and a pitcher of juice. She personally set up Arthur's plate and was looking forward to seeing him eat it.
"Hello again, Emily." The teacher spoke as soon as he saw her, with bright eyes and clear desire.
"Hello. I'm busy right now, so if you have any requests, just go to the counter over there." She felt a little uncomfortable with this man, for reasons she didn't know. It was an instinct. She quickly got rid of him before putting the smile on her face again and going to sit with Arthur.
Looking slightly at the teacher, standing still, Arthur didn't even smile. It was nice to see how Emily didn't care for him, but it was still pretty boring to see this person. He hadn't given the promised beating, but it wasn't far from him to do so. Every Saturday this man came here to talk to Emily, and Arthur did the same now. Basically, he spent the whole month having lunch with Emily on Saturdays.
"Chicken pie?" He noticed that there was another plate on the tray, one slice.
"I made it yesterday, and there was a piece left..." She spoke as if it didn't matter much. In fact, she already knew he would come and prepared it in advance at night.
As they talked and ate their lunches, Emily's usual laughter and cute lines irritated the teacher's ear, who sat not far from them. He chose this table to keep an eye on them, so the boy wouldn't do anything to his desired one.
'I've had my eye on her since freshman year, and I'm just brewing it for when she graduates... You're not going to screw it up now, you dumb little boy... Wait, why are you two eating the pie with the same fork? There are two forks there!' Wanting to strangle Arthur, the professor was forced to watch the scene of the two sharing the pie affectionately. And Emily even had the gall to sit next to him and lean right in.
For his final torment, the two even left together carrying some lunchboxes. Emily only had two, while Arthur carried at least ten.
They left the lunchboxes for the construction workers, who received them tactfully and thanked. Every single day, since it started, they receive their daily salary, which amounts to almost R$200 and they also have lunch, snacks and all the necessary equipment. And there are a lot of workers, so one doesn't have to die of exhaustion to finish the task in one day. Thanks to these rewards and kindnesses, they worked harder and kept everything organized.
When it was around 4pm, the restaurant finally closed and Arthur said goodbye to Emily. He went home with Amanda and went straight to the bathroom.
Sitting calmly in a bathtub, Arthur let his troubled mind gradually calm down as he concentrated on his own breathing. His body also relaxed when he went to sleep to take some of the nervousness out.
"I've spent all day trying not to focus on it... On you... But it seems there's no way!" With a frustrated smile, Arthur got up from the tub. He stared at himself in the mirror as his resolve grew more determined. His hands were about to break the sink.
"If it's to protect, then let it be everyone. I won't let anyone else away from me."