'I can't believe it. Humans rejecting the natural beauty of the body? It's too much.'
There was eyes everywhere now. Kalia wanted to organize her thoughts based on her newfound common sense, but not right now.
"I know what you're thinking."
"Really?"
"But I'm so hungry."
"My daughter is hungry, the one who said she could eat dew and still be full!"
'If someone eats only dew and gets full, that's not a human being! Even aphids don't live like that!'
"I understand, Kalia. If my daughter is hungry, I must prepare everything for her. Bring more bread and meat from the kitchen."
"Yes, my lord."
"Thank you."
The meal was finished, albeit with a bit of a fuss. The Grand Duke and Duchess were surprised by their daughter's remarks, but more than that, they were pleased that she had an appetite and was healthy enough to feed herself.
That's the kind of parental love. The only thing that bothered Kalia was that she wasn't sure if the object of their love was actually their child.
When she finished eating, she returned to her room. Melan urged her to hurry back to bed, but she didn't.
She couldn't. How could someone eats and lies down right away?
A nagging voice told her that if she ate and lay down, she would become a cow. Even if you don't turn into a cow, lying down right after eating puts you at risk for reflux esophagitis.
'I need to get my thoughts straight.'
Instead of lying down on the bed, Kalia paced the room to keep warm. As she did, she organized the common sense she'd just come up with.
In this world, the amount of food you ate was only a fraction of people's caloric needs. The higher the class, the worse it was, and there were cases of high nobles eating just enough to keep from dying.
Considering that, Kalia and her parents weren't skinny, they were healthy. Normally, Kalia thought, if someone was that starved, they'd be a skeleton with skin on.
'And they tall, too. Is it the power of genes? So, Kalia, I'm supposed to eat little and still be so big?'
It was a waste of genes. They were naturally built for strong, and they were punishing themselves by restricting their food intake!
There were other problems that flowed from the amount of food they ate. They didn't have enough muscle, they didn't have enough energy, so how could they use their bodily functions?
'What was it....'
Kalia recalled a memory from when she was Hana. In the comics she read then, in her world now, when nobles needed to use their strength, they used magic.
Magic. It was a mystical power that science could not explain.
The characters in the story used it to do all sorts of strange things. From enhancing physical abilities to drying wet bodies in an instant, making flowers bloom on bare ground, and leaping through space.
Indeed, magic explained a lot.
But magic was not infinite. Just as exercise depletes physical strength, magic depletes magical power, the Mana.
And the mana capacity was not very large. There were at least four or five events in the comic she remembered that were caused by mana depletion.
'Magic can be a supplement to physical strength, but it can't replace it. No one can live their entire life using power aids. Is this a matter of social perception?'
It seemed foolish to remove one life option just because magic could fix so many problems. So Kalia's first plan was physical fitness.
She couldn't cut exercise out of her life. She just couldn't. It was impossible for her to think that way.
'So where do I start?'
She gathered the information she needed to know. She created a rough blueprint, if not a life plan.
She wanted to pick up where she left off in her previous life. Yes. Pushing herself to the limit!
A young age of ten, a body with great potential, and the aid of magic. The circumstances were favorable, except for one thing: the eyes of society.
First, a step. This step was the most important. Because every journey begins with a single step.
Stephen King, the famous American author, was once asked how he writes a novel. "I write one sentence at a time." Life is no different.
She didn't have a choice about which exercise to start with. There was no gym here, and no exercise equipment. The only exercise available was, of course, calisthenics.
'First of all, basic fitness and minimal strength.'
* * *
Kalia ran.
When she woke up, she did gymnastics and ran.
When she ate breakfast, she took a break and ran.
After lunch, when she no longer felt full, she ran again.
Running is the best exercise you can do without any equipment or preparation. All you need is space and legs. And space was in abundance at the Summer Palace.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess were horrified to see their daughter was running morning and night. Naturally, they were worried. Would she collapse again?
But Kalia told them, "If don't move, I feel myself collapse again.". She meant it to be reassuring, but it sounded like a threat.
She wanted to start strength training, but it was premature. She didn't know her body very well. Unlike 'Kalia', who had lived in this body, 'Hana' had become her one day.
How flexible was her body? How good was her cardiorespiratory endurance? How much strength did she have in different areas? How coordinated were her muscles?
She had no idea, so she started running with the mindset of taking things one step at a time.
And the result is....
First of all, her posture wasn't right. The Grand Duke and Duchess felt she was "floundering". This was because she was literally floundering.
She had an ideal running form in her head, and she certainly had it right when she set off.
Stride moderate, whole body flexible, upper body relaxed and soft, speed - she felt it completely by feel - a low 8 to 9 kilometers per hour, head up, eyes away.
It seemed to hold for 30 seconds. Within 30 seconds, she felt her hands and feet go limp, her heart racing, and her whole posture was broken.