Stella and 2 of her underlings/friends boarded the carriage that Nathan was on. Each was meant for 4 people so all those who were unable to ride with the 3 pretty girls shot Nathan looks of hate, anger, and jealousy. He, however, just ignored them as he meditated and focused on improving his ki.
There were several ways to improve the total amount of ki in one's body. The first was to simply train the body. The more powerful the body, the more ki that it would store within.
This was considered the least effective method since it could only be used for so long. Each level of talent was only able to reach 1 layer higher than the next.
What Nathan was using looked like normal meditation but was actually one of the most dangerous ways to train his ki. Nathan was forcefully compressing and expanding his core rapidly.
By expanding his core, he was allowing ki to enter and fill it. Then by compressing the core, the ki would be trapped and would be absorbed into the core past its limits and causes it to adapt to the new levels of ki while also forcing his entire body to instantly take on the new ki limits.
This was very dangerous due to being extremely unstable and risks destroying the core completely as well as crippling his body. If he expanded the core too much, it might shatter. If he let in too much ki, the core would be deformed. If he compressed the core too hard or too fast, he also risked breaking it.
There was also the risk to his body. If he improved too rapidly before his body could adapt, it could end up tearing his muscles and organs apart.
But none of these were a major concern for Nathan. He always had his complete focus when training so he knew that neither would happen to him. Due to this, he was able to increase his abilities rapidly and was already at 2.5 times strength which would be the limit for yellow grade mystics.
The 3 girls looked at Nathan before ignoring and talking with each other. They just treated Nathan as a piece of furniture that looked good.
"So what's your relationship with him? You two seemed close after your battle and you even made a beeline for his carriage. You two together?" asked the dark elf girl. She had black eyes, white hair, and purple-gray skin like a typical dark elf would. Her body was also very developed.
"You know that can't be it. Our demon princess has had a bunch of guys try to hit on her. She wouldn't fall for one boy after he had just lost to her in a match, right?" She asked while turning her eyes to Stella.
This girl was a beast-kin of the bunny variety. She had blond hair and bunny ears on top of her head with a cottontail sticking out of the pants of her uniform. Besides that, she looked just like any other human, lacking human ears of course.
"Haha no. He is not anything like that although I am very interested in him. I was thinking about pulling him into our house and having him achieve greatness for us during the first-year tournament."
Both of the other girls looked shocked at Stella's announcement.
"Are you crazy? While he is definitely skilled, this is the Freshmen tournament we are talking about. There will be at least 3 riders there."
"Hmm. Carrot girl is right. You were able to win since you are a monster who can dual cast and had innate spells. You were nothing short on a one-woman artillery division.
A mystic would have a much harder time. Not only with the last section that is just one on one battles but the battle royale at the beginning would be even more dangerous.
Even if he is careful, he has already attracted the attention of everyone else just by being related to you. They would surely try to eliminate him immediately."
Seeing both girls doubt Nathan did not dampen Stella's mood but instead put an even greater smile on her face. She knew from talking with Nathan the night before that he had not gone all out just like she hadn't.
"It will be fine. When have I ever been wrong?"
Both girls looked at her. Then each other. Then let out a sigh knowing that they could not change her mind. Once Stella had decided on something no one could change her mind.
Seeing her friends had given up on convincing her, Stella had a triumphant smile on her face. She then turned to look at Nathan beside her and said
"How long are you gonna pretend to sleep? You have 3 very pretty girls in an enclosed space with you where accidents are bound to happen."
Nathan opened his eyes but ignored Stella. Instead he looked at both of the girls they were riding with.
If he was honest, he had to agree with Stella's assessment. Both girls were indeed very beautiful, even by their species standards.
"Indeed they are pretty. And I wasn't pretending, I was training," he told Stella.
"Oh. You can flirt? What about me? Am I pretty?"
"It is not flirting but just me stating the obvious. I would just be stating the obvious but yes you are," He told her to appease the princess.
The other girls were surprised by how casual Nathan was. Even though they knew of the Guri Clan and the Order, they also knew Nathan was an outer member and a commoner. He should be nervous around royals such as themselves but he was not.
"Interesting. What sort of training method were you doing by the way?"
Without thinking anything of it, Nathan answered casually,
"Just some Collision Training."
Both of the other girls had shocked looks on their faces before they yelled at the same time,
"Collision Training!?!?"