Charlotte had a very strenuous and annoying training; he spread the Chi into his head. This time, he only used a bit. It was still highly overwhelming as his senses were sent into overdrive, and his movements felt sluggish. It was almost like everything was moving slowly, and his head was hurting.
He took a deep breath and tried to relax. He slowly felt like he was beginning to get used to the feeling, although keeping it on continuously made his head pound.
"Are you okay?" Stella asked as she turned to him. Charlotte nods. The whole time she spoke, it felt like it took thirty seconds for her to finish speaking.
"You sure? You are sweating pretty heavily, and you look like you are about to pass out?"
Charlotte recalled the Chi and felt immediate relief as he turned to her. He smiled slightly and nodded.
He took his chance to look at Stella, who had golden hair and blue eyes. Her build wasn't much different than hers; she was taller by what looked to be a few inches. She had slightly tanned skin, although he could tell it was most likely due to sun exposure. Her shirt was more oversized than expected since he could see lighter skin under the sleeves. She was older than him, although it was most likely by a few years.
This made him stop and think since he realized his skin should have tanned a bit since he had been out for so long. He tried to pinch his skin, but there wasn't any pain. He squeezed harder and felt some resistance; his body was becoming tougher.
"You sure are weird; why are you pinching yourself, weirdo?" Stella seemed to find his actions comical, and she chuckled.
"Just making sure I'm awake...so do you deliver just deliver wood?"
Charlotte slowly covered their body in Chi, including his head; now, at least everything didn't feel awkward. His head still ached due to the overstimulation, but at least his body was in sync with his mind.
"There is a noble who has a fascination with wood carving; he just doesn't want to move to...our shitty town, as he says. So he pays me to deliver him wood weekly to work on."
Focusing on the conversation did lessen the overstimulation, similar to when he focused on battle. It was easier to do this when he could concentrate on something.
"Well, you don't seem that offended by him calling our town shitty, do you agree?"
Charlotte was curious since he had to agree with the noble. He has a few moments he would hold dear. When his dad left, though, those moments didn't come anymore.
"Well...it is a slightly shitty town, but I can't hate it, considering I grew up there."
She said a bit cheerfully, and he smiled. Her enthusiasm was infectious. He looked around and tried to grab a leaf that fell from the tree, but it still slipped past his fingers despite his speed.
He didn't know how long he kept trying to catch the leaves that fell near him. He could hear Stella laughing, but he had to focus on something to get his mind used to this enhanced effect.
"How about you try to do it? It ain't easy."
After trying a few more moments, Charlotte managed to get a few leaves, and he turned to her as he let them go. Stella shrugged and waited till one fell near her and tried to catch it.
"Okay, I concede it's not as easy as you make it look."
Charlotte chuckled and caught another leaf, and she rolled her eyes and focused on the road.
Charlotte would let his mind rest as he decided to recall his Chi back into his storage; he tried to focus on increasing the speed at which he moved Chi through his body as he moved a small amount across his body. He also spread Chi through his body and recalled it as soon as it covered his body. It was small, but the delay in spreading it to his body was getting shorter. It was also highly exhausting, and he was losing quite a bit of Chi while doing this. It was inevitable as he was sacrificing efficiency for speed.
By the time he had finished training, he had used up more than half of the Chi he had saved. Unfortunately, he noticed something strange; the few times he moved it to his head, he could see something following them. They were meticulous, though, only moving when they thought he wasn't looking.
He tapped Stella's shoulder, smiled, and whispered.
"Don't make it obvious, but I'm pretty sure we are being followed."
She tilted her head and looked around her, making Charlotte facepalm.
"Don't worry, pretty sure that's just my brother. He won't be able to follow us once we get far from town; he wants to try and go into one of those schools in the capital. He is training himself to be ready, and stealth is one of those skills he is building up. Although I usually don't see him, you have pretty good eyes."
Stella kept looking for him while Charlotte looked up into a nearby tree; he tried waving at them.
An apple was thrown from the tree towards him, and he quickly caught it.
He hands the apple to Stella, and she waves at the tree. He had already moved, though; as soon as he threw the apple, he moved, using the apple as a distraction.
"Well, it took me a while to notice him, so I'm more impressed by him. I wish him luck on his journey. It ain't easy."
Charlotte looked up at the sky; it was almost about to become nighttime. He figured they were going to stop soon to make camp.
"I hear and see that a lot. I have visited the capital a few times, and I have seen a few people trying to join them. The son of the noble is attempting to join it this year; I don't see him often anymore. His dad says he is training quite hard."
Her tone sounded a bit sarcastic, which made him quite curious.
"It sounds like you don't believe him?"
She was taking a bit to contemplate what to say.
"It's not that I don't believe it. I'm sure he is training, but I do not picture him training hard. He was always a laid-back type of guy, so I can't picture him training hard."
She turned to look at the sky and grumbled something under her breath.
"We might need to make camp soon; I hope you don't mind?"
He shook his head; he would probably stay up for a few hours. He had to eat and then make his storage bigger; he felt nervous already, even though the capital wasn't close.