l wandered towards some weight lifting equipment before looking at the weights. Where supernatural powers was commonplace training to be strong changed. Heavier weights, longer training and more suffering.
Picking up a barbell that weighed 20 kg it felt like a feather. For someone who had never touched a weight in their lifetime it felt so surreal. The power this body held at C rank was remarkable. The feeling of strength was almost intoxicating in a way. Curling the barbell was easy however the more I did it the more my body started resisting. I continued to push myself until my arms felt raw.
I decided that working on my endurance and legs would be best while I waited for my arms to heal. Starting with a leisurely jog around the training area I slowly increased my pace after each lap until I was sprinting at my maximum. Unfortunately I couldn't control my breathing and I had to stop shortly after out of exhaustion. My arms felt normal again so I decided that I would work on my combat techniques with my cane.
Each swing and each parry brought me closer to honing my weapon. Slowly it was becoming a part of me like my gun and scythe was. Looking around at the other students they were doing similar things, either benching heavy equipment or training their endurance. It was a rare sight for someone who stayed away from others. They trained in different ways but I could adapt and learn their styles of training to boost my own.
Ever since I couldn't use blood weapons to boost my strength it has been a slow path. 2 Months of training and delving into dungeons barely raised me an entire rank. It was suffocating to think I may be squished like a bug before I reach the heights of that power. I had learnt how to boost the power of my muscles by speeding up the blood in my body and applying mana to the blood as it circulated around my system.
I needed to gain strength but it was all I was talking about recently and even I was tiring myself out.
My constellation magic allowed for AOE spells.
My Blood magic allowed for heavy singular damage to one foe.
My shadow magic allowed for stealth and assassinations finalizing my build.
I decided that in my free time I would let myself relax and maybe go around the city and enjoy myself and find something to do. Just thinking about it got me excited. Maybe a nice meal and some alcohol would do me good. A nice stress reliever after all the chaos that had ensued and for all the chaos that would start soon, Soon the academy would come under attack and the heroes would make their appearance to set the stage for the story. I wonder where they are? I haven't seen them around but they must be near.
While I was meandering about fictional plans the class had apparently ended and the day was over. The class was exiting to get changed from their sweaty clothes however I wanted to talk to our homeroom teacher who was talking to our training teacher.
"Excuse me miss do you have a second?"
"Ah Noir sure I have a moment what's the problem?"
"Well I was wondering if I could be exempt from the maths and literature classes since I am ahead of the others?"
Hmm usually I would say no but i have an idea, since you can answer questions that even teachers would struggle with. Next week go to the staff room, by then I should have been able to convince them that you can take the end of year exam for whatever subjects you request. However this comes at a price kid."
"If I get you access you will need to work as a class representative, basically an assistant to me and help the other students. We have a dungeon dive coming soon and I'll be counting in you to lead whatever group you are put in, I know you are more than strong enough too since you tied with me when I limited myself at C rank even though your technique was sloppy but I can see that it has improved so there should be no problem. To be honest something isn't right about you most students of your age have barely hit D rank and those who would have been in S class have barely hit low C rank in one or two of their stats. The disparity between each rank is massive so for you to be able to go toe to toe with me means you are either hiding your strength or you aren't a student." Her eyes narrowed at the end of her statement but after a moment she resumed her nonplussed look
"It doesn't concern me as long as you don't cause trouble and I'm sure that the headmaster has already solved these problems. So do you still want to take the exams ahead of time?"
"Yes I believe it will be beneficial as I can then get support catered towards my magic as it is where I am weakest."
"Fine, you know where to go. Goodbye Noir"
"Goodbye Miss Sephardim"
"Oh yeah keep what I said about the students ranks quiet yeah? I wasn't meant to tell them to students for confidentiality reasons."
With that she left before I could even get a word in edgewise.
~~
After getting back home I sat on one of the chairs I had brought yesterday, a wave of exhaustion coming over me. A shorter schedule would be better and it would allow me to do more practical things like guild quests and dungeon diving. Overall it seemed like an improvement.
Thinking back to the training session the students all seemed to do things in a way different from me. They would do something a certain amount of times then they would add aura or mana to their training. While I couldn't see the exact glow of mana with my eyes I could see it like waves on an ocean. When they were training the peaceful waves of atmospheric mana clustered towards them and moved in time with their breathing. Is that how strength is gained? By imbuing mana into your movements. Was it like a passive Mana reinforcement? I had countless questions and few answers however I would try spreading my mana through my body like when I am strengthening my 'mana core'.
Speaking of mana cores I had managed to increase the size of mine by about a quarter as I moved it across my body, slowly my body would become the mana core but it would take a couple more months before it was finished and perfected.
I had noticed an increase in my mana reserves however the purity of my mana had dropped showing that I was basically regressing my progress however the benefits outweighed the downsides for soon I would be more powerful than those who were above me in core strength.
Rocking the chair back and forth I decided that I would keep chipping away at the core until early morning. I still had to attend classes until everything was set up. Luckily the weekend was coming and I would be able to do whatever I wanted.
For now I would just sit and enjoy the peace and quiet. Slowly pushing the mana around my body I could feel it absorbing into my very being, There was a reason this was the best and that was because it passively refined the body and mana at the same time. I could step down on the training once I had finished creating the lattice core system Mishia had planned.