But he didn't want to give up on the sandwich after seeing Thompson still working on his, so he found the motivation by saying to himself, "You need the energy and protein."
Then he wolfed it down.
It felt as if someone had put a gun to his head and was forcing him to eat the sandwich. It was truly a chore to eat it.
When he was done, he felt as if he had a full six-course meal. He felt far more than full. He felt bloated.
It made him rub his stomach and say, "This is ridicu..."
He couldn't finish it because he had to yawn.
Not only did he feel bloated, he felt drowsy. He wanted to lie down and sleep right there. But he didn't do so and managed to walk over to a carriage.
The carriage took him and Thompson home. By the time he got home, he was already asleep.
He had tried to hold back, but he was dozing and soon fell asleep. Not even the bumpy ride could prevent him from sleeping.
Thompson's situation was better as he was still awake. But he was already nodding his head. He was fighting off the sleep, but it was clearly a losing battle.
When they got home, the driver had to help them down the carriage. Thompson could still walk, so he wasn't much of a problem. In the case of Arthur, the driver had to carry him down the carriage and to his house.
Before they got to the door, someone had opened it, and Geltra rushed out.
She exclaimed when she saw Thompson's bruised face and his unsteady gait. Then she rushed to him to examine him.
She asked, "What happened to your face?"
He opened his mouth and yawned for a long time.
Then he managed to say, "We fought."
Geltra shouted, "Who made you fight? Was it your instructor? How could he make you fight on your first day? This is atrocious."
She asked a lot of questions and deserved a lot of answers. But Thompson couldn't produce a lot of answers. He could only rub his eye sleepily and point at Arthur.
Then he said, "He made us fight."
It was then that Geltra noticed the red-haired boy being carried into the house like a damsel in distress. Unfortunately, his current face didn't look good. He looked like a damsel that had been punched in the face.
She asked in surprise, "What did he do?"
Thompson yawned again. He didn't look like he heard her question at all because he didn't reply no matter how long she waited. So she carried him and rushed after the driver.
The two boys were laid to rest as they were not forthcoming with information. It was until Thompson woke up three hours later that they got the full briefing of what had happened at the training facility.
Arthur didn't wake up until six hours later in the evening. When he did, he was surprised to find himself in a bed. So he looked around to ascertain where he was.
When he looked to his side, he found his mother sitting on a chair beside his bed reading a book. The familiar room and her presence made him relax.
She had noticed his movements. So she glanced at him and returned to reading. But she said, "My little troublemaker is finally awake."
He rubbed his face and said, "I don't know what happened. I just felt so sleepy."
She explained without looking up from her book. "It's the pills. They make you feel full and put you to sleep."
Then she asked, "How is your body now?"
He moved his arms and legs and found that they were not as sore as before. In fact, there was almost no pain when he moved them around.
All he felt was a slight ache that alluded to the strenuous exercise he had done in the morning. If not for this slight ache, there would have been no trace of the exercise on his body.
He said, "Wonderful. My body feels wonderful."
She nodded as she read her book. "The blood pill contains a lot of energy and some medicine that nourishes your blood and heals your body. So it is a very good pill."
"I didn't expect that you would get two blood pills. In fact, I didn't expect that you would get one."
He moved off the bed as he replied, "What can I say? I'm just that good."
His mother snorted. "I also heard that you got into a fight. That I am not surprised with. In fact, I expected it."
He asked in surprise, "What fight? This is news to me."
Lady Vena closed her book with an audible slam. She then focused her attention on him and said, "There is no use denying it. Thompson already told us everything."
He just laughed without shame. He gave no explanation for the fight, and he didn't apologize for it.
His mother didn't ask for an explanation or an apology either. She wouldn't have cared even if he gave one.
She only threw a small bottle containing a red pill over to him and said, "This is a rank 1 blood pill. I didn't expect that you would get one, so I prepared one for you."
His eyes lit up, and he said, "Thank you, mother."
She shook her head and said, "It is the least I can do."
Then she said, "You will get one every day from today onwards as long as you get top ten."
He became even more excited and said, "Cool."
Then he tried to open the bottle to take the pill. But Lady Vena stopped him.
She explained slowly, "You should perform your exercise first, or you will waste it."
"If you take the pill before your exercise, the energy within the pill will just be converted into stamina, and it will increase your performance. But that's only temporary. You need to break your limit on your own and then take the pill to make full use of it."