As usual, the alarm went off in my head, waking me up. This time, I woke up before sunrise, as I will be training with Alyssia today.
⟨ Why do I feel like I didn't get a good night's sleep last night? Probably because... No, let's stop thinking about that. ⟩.
I got up out of the bed and I dressed myself up, I'm going to be wearing the sportswear that was provided to me for today. Once I was done, I immediately head towards the courtyard. On the way, even though the sun is yet to come out, there's already a lot of activity going on, from people doing laundry, to gardeners maintaining the beautiful flowers. I greeted a lot of the servants, there's a lot of them here, I think I'll have trouble memorizing their names.
Once I reached the courtyard, I spotted two women currently sparring against each other, it was Christine and Alyssia, their movements were fast, really fast, and powerful too. They're really going at it, I wonder if I could even keep up with them... Having noticed my presence, the both of them stopped, and looked at me.
" You were much earlier than expected. I'm impressed. ". Christine said.
" Indeed, and here I thought that I'll have to come over and wake you up. ". Alyssia added.
Even though they were sparring quite powerfully until just now, none of them seemed to be out of breath, not even a little bit. What is with this gorilla strength?
" Now that you're here, we'll begin, starting with basic forms, because your role will be mainly supportive, the forms I'll be teaching you will be the defensive variant. Focused mainly on defense, with this, you'll be able to protect Master Lukas with ease. ". Alyssia said.
" And I'll be helping with your strength and reflexes. ". Christine said.
" I understand that Alyssia will be training me, but, why are you also training me, Milady? ". I asked.
" I've got nothing better to do.. Hehehe~ ". She said, wow, what an underwhelming reason..
" Now, let's not waste time, and begin, we'll start with stamina training, run around the courtyard 50 times. ". Alyssia said.
" 50 Times?! You serious? ".
" Now. ".
" I- .. I understand!! ".
⟨ She is definitely a sadist!! What is with her pressure?! ⟩.
So I ran laps around the courtyard, it's a gigantic square, although my body is probably not organic anymore, I still feel out of breath and I'm now sweating.. Aren't I supposed to be inhuman?? What is with this shitty stamina I've got?! Even though when I trekked with Luke on the way here, I didn't have much trouble.. When I slowed my pace for a little, Alyssia would yell at me to "pick up the pace", what a sadist this b*tch is!! After 50 whole laps around the entire courtyard, I collapsed on my ass, what's weird is, instead of a frantically beating heart, what I felt in my chest was an electric whirr, like a small aquarium pump, doing it's best to circulate liquid. I hope the whirr wasn't too noticable..
" Great, now that that's out of the way, let's begin on the basic forms. ". Alyssia said.
Like that, I was taught how to tackle opponents much bigger than me, how to deflect blows, how to protect a person that's beside me, and how to subdue an armed person. Everything was easier once I used << Body Strengthening >>. Why didn't I use that earlier.. But, when I used that, I was scolded because that was only to be used in times of emergency. I was also helped by the guards stationed here, they were really nice people, even though they look like ruffians, they're really polite, they even helped me train by letting me tackle them. Though, I can't help but feel like they have ulterior motives in helping me, one of them even has this inexplicable expression on them when I exercised to subdue them. Ew, no thanks. I was being careful not to touch any of their "little brothers" or areas near that as I knew that'll bring trouble.
I continued with reflex and muscle training with Christine, I did push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squat jumps, and weight training. All of that without the help of << Body Strengthening >>. Once all of that was done, it was already lunchtime, so we ended the training there, there'll be more tomorrow of course. But I think I'll manage, but, what I think I won't manage is my energy level, it's getting really low, especially after the training, right now it's around 22% and that's a problem, because, here I can't really ingest a magic stone without being suspicious. And I don't have any on me left. I should've saved some of the magic stones from all those fish I and Luke caught. Damn.. I think I'll have to consult with Luke.
Right now, I was "eating" lunch with the guards and chatting with them a little. As I thought, they were after my body, I felt their eyes ogling like crazy, staring all over me.. *shudder* Disgusting. And here I thought they were a proper bunch, tsk tsk tsk. And, it seems that same sex relationships are treated like a normal relationship here, like in ancient Rome. What a gentle society. I'm both glad and unnerved, now that I know that the piece of lingerie was actually meant for me to use.. Why am I still bringing it up?? Stop it, me!
After lunch, I was told by Alyssia that Maxim will be waiting for me in his quarters. So, I swiftly returned to my room to take a bath and wash away the "sweat", it didn't smell like anything, really, and it isn't salty either, it's just like ordinary water. Don't ask why I tasted my own "sweat". After that, I put on the new button up shirt, with black trousers and black shoes along with the bowtie and the black vest, whose funeral am I attending? Basically, I look like what I was originally wearing, but, with a bowtie and dress shoes. After that, I went over to Maxim's quarters.
" Oh, hello, Evan. Come inside. ". Maxim said.
He was preparing to brew tea. Yes, it was a surreal sight to see a magic stove inside someone's room, boiling water.
" I shall teach you how to properly brew tea, and how to best serve it, along with the appropriate choice of snacks to go along with the tea that's served. ". He explained.
Like that, my training began, it seemed really simple in the beginning, but, once you look closer, small details such as, how fast you're pouring the tea, and from how high up you pour it, to even the choice of the tea cup's material, all of those small, insignificant things affect the taste and feel of the tea. Now I understand why people often brag about their brewing proficiency in this world.
It took a real long time before I managed to brew a tea that's acceptable for Maxim's standards. And he said that was barely acceptable. It was nearing sunset already. I returned to my room, there, I tried to remember which snacks go well with tea on a hot summer day. All because Maxim said he'll test my knowledge again tomorrow. This is too tough.
⟨ Oh yeah, I was going to consult Luke about the situation between me and magic stones. ⟩.
So, I waited for a while, to make sure that I didn't interrupt him during dinner, then I headed over to his room. His room was located a little ways away from mine, because of how big this stupid estate is. I finally reached his room, it seems that memorizing everything that Maxim told me yesterday was worth it, because I didn't get lost, even once in this labyrinthian manor. Once I was in front of Luke's room, I knocked three times, and said.
" Master? It's me, Evan, may I intrude? ".
" Hold on, I'm coming. ". He answered.
He then opened the door and let me in, the inside of the room was spacious, with a layout similar to my room. It was a little bigger than my current room, and with much more decorations.
" Didn't I tell you to stop calling me "Master" ? ". Luke protested.
" I'll only call you master when we're in public or in the presence of other people, our true identities are supposed to be secret after all. ". I explained.
" And, it's also a fact that you'll be my master from now on. ". I added.
" Hmmm.. Whatever you say. So, what do you need from me? ". He asked.
⟨ Oh boy, should I just straight up tell him that I wasn't human? And that I eat literal stones to stay alive? Yeah, I should do that. ⟩.
" Listen, Luke- no.. Hinata, I'm not really what you think I am, actually, I'm not human. ". I said, frankly.
" What do you mean?? ".
" Well, you'll get it once you see it. ".
Saying that, I deactivated my << Form Imitation : Human >>. With a glow, I slowly transformed back into the slab form, it came along with the pain as well, that agonizing, burning pain. Oh God.
" Ugh! AAAHH! UUAAA-! ". I yelled like an idiot. Lucky there's nobody that heard.
" Whoa! Wait! What's happening?! Are you okay?! ". Luke asked.
My form slowly changed from a small human child to a huge, 2 meter tall, 1 meter wide black rectangle. I started floating again after a while. And the pain finally subsided.
" Wh- What is-.. What are you?! ".
" Relax, it's still me, Evan, as you can see, I'm not really a human child. ". I said, my voice returning to the original, computer-ish electronic voice.
" What?! ". Luke exclaimed, his face painted with a combination of shock, horror, and awe.
I explained that all this time, I was actually a race called a Monolith, and that I consume magic stones, and how I don't have any and because of that my energy was getting real low. He was skeptical at first. But I managed to convince him to get me some magic stones to eat. He offered me a replacement magic stone for his desk lamp, it's apparently from a goblin. I accepted it with glee and immediately absorbed the stone, my energy level is now at a comfortable 44% by absorbing three pieces of those magic stones. And I stupidly decided I should transform back into my human body. Again, it's real painful, when will I learn? Having finished transforming, I tried to stand up, but I inevitably fell down, but was caught by Luke in the nick of time.
" Whoa. You okay? ".
" Yeah, I'm okay, just a little dizzy. ". I lied, I was in immense pain. Why?
" So what I saw in that Forest at first, was true? ". Luke said.
" What did you see? ".
" I saw a literal rectangle save my ass from a monster. You looked like a flying fridge. ".
" I actually do look like a fridge in that form. ".
" Now, not only are we other-worlders, one of us is also inhuman. That's interesting. ". Luke said.
" Certainly, it's quite the weird isekai plot. ". I said, jokingly.
" Hahahaha~ You think so? ".
" Yeah, it's like we're in a stupid electric novel written by a no-life, NEET. ".
" Ahahahahahaha~ You're right. ".
Like that, we continued to talk until well into the night.
====[ Author's Note ]====
HEY! I ain't a no-life, the f*ck is you talking about?!
Author's Rant:
I have a dilemma, I would love to have illustrations for this series, but, I don't have the money to hire an illustrator, nor can I draw. I don't want to ask for commissions for free, because I feel like that could be harmful for the artist's dignity and self-worth. What do I do???
Rant End.
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