The rest of the day flew by quite quickly, and although it was still quite awkward to sit in the same room as Levi and Will, it appeared that both of them had concluded that their best course of action was to just leave me alone.
Now, however, the last lesson for the day had started, the self-study course... Yes, I also found it quite absurd that this was a thing, but then again, who was I to say otherwise?
"Please sit down, Aarick."
Having entered one of the many practice rooms in the combat hall with Ms. Zito, we were just about to start the lesson as I followed her instructions and sat down on the empty floor.
The practice rooms were pretty much just empty rooms that had some practice dummies that you could practice your skills on. For all intents and purposes, it was designed in a way that you could use the large open space to train however way you wanted to.
"Let's begin. First of all, even though I chose the courses that I thought would be the most fitting for you, you still have to choose what kind of direction you want to grow in. However, even as a demon, we have different talents and specializations that we excel in. For you, it seems that handling mana is your greatest strength."
As previously mentioned, it did appear from my status that intelligence and handling mana was the things I was currently most suited for, even if the other stats might be lacking because of the fact that I hadn't moved my body in years.
"That being said, the power of Lucifer that you have attained is quite special. From what I've seen, Lucifer's power isn't really suited for a spellslinger, even more so as her demonic traits are also that of a fighter."
"You mean like the claw ability that I have?"
"Exactly. However, there is nothing standing in the way of you being a control-type fighter that still specializes in using the power of your blessing. What this does mean is that we have to fix that useless body of yours."
"Useless...? Isn't that a bit too much?"
"So here's the plan. First of all, you will be doing calisthenics during all of your self-study sessions until your body is up to par, while at the same time strengthening your blessing. Even if it seems to be easy for you to lower gravity for yourself, it's a lot more essential that you learn how to increase it."
Lowering and raising the gravity that affected my body; that was the power of [Inherent Gravity].
So far, I had really only practiced lowering how much gravity affected me, something that came to me quite naturally. However, during that first night when she showed me the ropes, I had also tried to increase my gravity.
Needless to say, it hadn't gone all too well for me.
Increasing gravity was a lot harder than lowering it.
So, her telling me that I would practice increasing gravity while at the same time training my body could only mean that she was planning one thing.
"So, I'm supposed to train while increasing my gravity? To make it harder?"
"Correct."
It was quite a grand design, to be honest. Because even if I had been quite bad at it, I did manage to increase my gravity a bit, and there was no doubt that my body felt a lot heavier during that time.
"Naturally this is impossible before you can increase gravity without thinking about it, so that's what we will begin to practice."
Nodding, I immediately activated my blessing, trying to figure out what kind of intent I needed to make it pull me toward the earth.
Decreasing and switching the point of attraction had always been easy, but for some reason, it didn't feel as difficult anymore to increase it.
In fact, as I poured mana into the bowl of nothingness that was my blessing, I could immediately feel the sensation of the world pressing down on me.
"Ho? So you could do it, after all."
Yes, somehow there had been no issue increasing my weight this time around, and just like when I escape Bob 1 and Bob 2, my ability didn't feel so foreign anymore.
So after some very scientific tests, which involved me standing on a scale with and without my gravity increased, Ms. Zito quickly calculated some numbers to see where we were at the moment.
At the same time, I felt myself getting dizzier by the second as a result of emptying out my mana.
"The limit for increasing your weight seems to be 30% at the moment, but I guess it would be more realistic to think that you should limit it to 20% while training. Otherwise, you would probably run out of mana too fast."
*Clap!*
Clapping her hands, the floor suddenly lit up, and replacing the white panels a sort of running track appeared, creating an oval circle around the room.
"We will start by running. Please make sure to not cancel your ability while running around the tracks."
"Umm... Ms. Zito?"
"Yes?"
It was a bit embarrassing to tell her about the state of my body, but I figured that it would do no one any good to hide it.
"I am already out of mana..."
With her hand quickly palming her face, the frustrated teacher had no choice but to allow me to rest for a bit.
"Haa... We will begin in ten minutes then..."
==========
'It hurts... so much...'
If the training I had with Mr. Faer had been tough, then the training I had with Ms. Zito was utter and pure torture. Three hours of endlessly running forward, only being able to take small breaks when my mana began to dwindle, to then just doing it all over again. And again. And again.
Running in and of itself wasn't an issue. Even before I got my blessing, I had never had any problems with running. The problem was that due to the increased gravity, it felt like running through a thick layer of water, while at the same time having someone press me down to the ground.
Also, even though my ability had gotten a lot easier to use, my brain was still fried from keeping it activated for such a long time. So not only was my body in complete tatters, my head felt like someone had detonated a bomb inside of it.
"That's enough for today. Or at least, that's enough for now. After dinner, we will be continuing practicing the control of your ability, as well as you getting used to your claws."
"Dobby is free?"
"I'll see you back at home. I left you a keycard in your bag so there should be no problem getting in."
With those words, she left me lying on the floor with my lungs still burning and my legs completely dead. In other words, I had to make use of the resolve of a thousand men to somehow wobble my way back to my feet and slowly drag myself out of the practice room.
The worst part was that she had mentioned in the middle of our training that as soon as I got used to it enough, I was supposed to use my ability to increase my gravity at all times. And just the mere thought of having to get used to living with the feeling of always being pushed downwards sent shivers down my back.
Entering the hallway, I could at least comfort myself by knowing that I would at least get to go home now. Granted, there would be a literal demon waiting for me there, but it was better than having to endure the angry looks from all the students.
"Hey, wait up!"
Out of nowhere, a shrill voice rang out from behind me, and turning around, my eyes quickly landed on a golden-haired girl now jogging to my side. Although it was always a welcome sight to see a beautiful girl bouncing up and down, I still had a bad feeling about this.
Because the girl that had for some reason targeted me was Celina Black from my class.
"Aarick, right?"
'Do you really have to ask that when we are in the same class?'
Ignoring the fact that she posed a useless question just for the sake of pleasantries, I decided to just act normal. I had already made enough of a name for myself that I didn't need to create more drama, after all.
"Yeah, that's me. But I really have to get going, or I will be late for dinner. So, what do you want?"
Though it might have come off as a bit rude, I really didn't feel like standing around and wasting time for nothing. Especially as it hurt just standing up right now.
Then, a sort of shine appeared in her eyes, a shine that told me the story of a girl who had some very troublesome thoughts. Because as soon as I displayed an uninterest to speak with her, she dropped the act completely and just straight up told me what she wanted.
"I want you."