"Hey Goliath," I waved at him as I walked his way, "Can I ask you a favor?"
"Like what?" Goliath looked up from whatever he was reading.
"I'm too big to sleep in my room," I stated bluntly, "Ethan wants to stay until the tournament. Can you help me out?"
"With a bigger space for you to sleep in," Goliath chuckled.
"If you can't then it's time for me to leave," I sat down in the seat closest to the control console, "Even if I have to leave them behind."
"I can help you out," Goliath chuckled, "As long as you don't have a problem with sleeping in here."
"In here?" I frowned.
"Yeah," I can say it's specialized training, "So no one questions why your in here so much. Why does Ethan want to stay?"
"He wants to fight his brother after he wins the tournament," I looked at Goliath with a serious expression.
"His brother," Goliath frowned, "Why would he want to fight him?"
"I've only got bits, and pieces of the full story," I stared straight forward, "But Ethan's family, especially his brother, were abusive. Ethan got the family ability. His brother didn't. Thing is Ethan is not the most confident when it comes to controlling his ability so he didn't do as good at his training as they wanted so when big bro became a wind mage at the tender age of eight that made him the favorite."
"His brother is a mage?" Goliath sounded a bit confused about this.
"Yeah," I shrugged my shoulders, "And he'd considered a prodigy. They poured resources into his big bro, and Ethan was left to do whatever he wanted for a few years with a few harsh words, and a few beatings when he failed at his training. Then his brother decided to do something horrible to Ethan. I'm not sure what he did to him, but whatever it was did the mental damage that Ethan is having trouble with now."
"So I'm guessing you'll want to arrange for a way out of here after the tournament," Goliath looked at me seriously, "That's two favors kid."
"Fine," I looked at him funny, "I owe you two favors. Have anything in mind?"
"Not at the moment," Goliath smirked, "Something will come up eventually."
I wasn't sure if he was waiting for me to get stronger so he could ask me an even bigger favor or if he legitimately didn't have anything for me to do at the moment. I jumped down to the simulation floor, and got undressed quickly before switching forms quickly. I was close enough to the wall that Goliath shouldn't have been able to see me naked. My wings twitched as I settled down to, and looked at my watch. Goliath would arrange for me to be left alone for the time being.
I stretched my wings as I settled in. It was comfy for me to have this much space. I stretched out on the floor. Laying more on my side as I stretched as far as I could. Extending my wings as I enjoyed the space around me.
I'd never had this much space to sleep in without being outside to do it. I didn't know what was going to happen with me having this much space to work with. I snorted to myself as I thought about how big the space around me was.
"I'm not going to get anything productive done today am I?" I mumbled to myself quietly.
"Hey Goliath," I stood up suddenly, "Can you give me something to play with?"
"After I'm done with my paperwork," Goliath shut me down so fast.
I messaged Ethan to let him know that we had a solid plan of action until the tournament, and that he would be able to go. Goliath stood up suddenly.
"I've arranged for your cover story," Goliath smiled, "But you have to do well in the tournament, or they can't justify me spending so much time on a single student."
I frowned as I looked at him. I wasn't planning on competing. I was worried about giving myself away in a competition like that. Couldn't have myself loosing my temper in a situation where there was an audience. If that was what Goliath wanted then that was what he would get.
"Only if you consider it one of your favors," I snorted.
"I'll only consider it one of your favors if you make the top ten," Goliath smirked.
Now that was much more motivating. I smiled slowly as I thought of it.
"Fine," I snorted, "But you can't go back on your word."
"I don't go back on my word," Goliath's smirk widened into a full smile.
I stood up, and tensed my muscles slowly. I didn't have time to be goofing off. I'd need to get quite a bit stronger before I could comfortably handle more powerful opponents. I'd be at half strength so I needed to take that into account. I asked Goliath to get me some weights to work with.
The simulation floor had several things it could create at different weights. I asked for ones that would increase in weight each time I moved them. I wanted them to reset back to the original weight everyday so that I could start from a light benchmark, and work my way up to the heavier weights. Goliath got me out of classes so that I could work on my combat training as well. I smirked as I stretched slowly.
Straight into weight training for the rest of the day. When I woke the next day he was gone already. He left the weights simulation waiting for me. Goliath came back after classes. Then he put me through the worst hand to hand combat workout he could think of.
I was in human form fighting him hand to hand naturally. Not like I wasn't expecting him to put me through a workout. No the part I wasn't expecting was for him to keep it up for five hours. I could barely move after he was done with me. The entire month passed by like that.