He nodded after hearing her explanation and said, "I'll go and exercise now."
Then he rushed outside to exercise. She called out to him, "Make sure to have your bath before taking the pill. I don't want you stinking up my house."
Only his mother was left in the room.
She sighed and said, "I can only try my best."
She has decided to assist him with the best that she can manage. But she doesn't have any special expectations for what he can achieve.
She only hopes that he will turn out better than she did and won't have to be a concubine in a powerful family just so that he can acquire the opportunity needed to continue growing stronger.
She thought about this briefly before she stood up from the chair and left the room too.
Arthur woke up the following morning full of energy. He flexed his arms and said with disbelief, "Unbelievable."
He had exercised yesterday evening for almost four hours. Even then, he had felt a difference. He had been able to do more and pushed himself farther than he could earlier in the morning.
It was not an illusion. Even his system showed him that he had improved in strength.
MOUNTAIN SITTING DAO
State of Existence: First Mortal Coil (First Transformation)
Life Span: 106 >>> 104
DIVINE ABILITIES
1. Mountain Karma: Level 2 (98,553/10,000,000)
2. ????: ------
ATTRIBUTES
Power: 1 × 2 (Mountain Karma)
Mind: 1. Mental Energy: 5 >>> 7
Body: 1. Life Energy: 5 >>> 8
His life energy should be 7, just like his mental energy. It was 7 in the morning, but it became 8 in the evening.
Then he did more exercises, struggled to eat the food that was given to him, and went to sleep. However, it felt as if he hadn't done any strenuous work yesterday.
In fact, he felt the opposite. He felt full of energy and vigor.
He muttered again, "It is just unbelievable."
He finds it difficult that he did 7 hours of exercise in one day, and yet, he can't feel it. His visible growth also made his work feel worth it. It made him eager to get to class today.
But he didn't rush to go to class. He still had his morning routine of collecting contributions of bread and fruit from his kind neighbors, who he didn't have to threaten at all.
Then he had to distribute the bread. Everything will take about 1 hour.
He will still need to have his bath and eat after that. But he is sure he will be able to make it to class in time because it is just 7 am, and class starts by 9 am.
Even if class will start by 8 am, he is still going to prioritize distributing bread and earning karma first because he believes it has more potential than training.
Since he is just one tenth of the way to the next level of Mountain Karma, he still has a long way to go and can't waste time. So he rushed to the store and picked a sack.
Then he went to the kitchen to start his busy day.
He was done by 8:30. Thompson was already waiting by the time he was done. His face had lightened up, but the scars from yesterday's fight were still visible.
Lady Vena saw Thompson's face and said to him, "Don't protect Arthur anymore. In fact, try to distance yourself from him. He is a bad influence."
Thompson scratched his head and said, "But my mother said..."
Lady Vena interrupted him. "Don't listen to your mother. Arthur is troublesome, but he can take care of himself. He will only drag you into trouble. He is not good for you."
When Arthur heard that from where he was eating, he grumbled inwardly about how his own mother was advising another person's child to stay away from him. It reminded him of his neighbor's mother, who warned her to stay away from him.
The two boys were given a lunch box today too. Then they took a carriage together to the facility.
While they were in the carriage, he said to the quiet boy, "How is your face?"
Thompson shrugged.
Arthur shook his head and said, "Thank you for yesterday."
Thompson smiled and didn't say anything.
The two of them didn't speak after that. The carriage was silent all the way to the training facility.
He stepped down from the carriage and began returning greetings to many people. He was like a celebrity waving to his fans. He even had a bodyguard. Thompson followed closely behind him with a placid, expressionless face.
They finally reached their class. There were a lot of kids there, including Gray. There was even a new addition in class, which increased their number to 24.
Gray's face had been patched up because his injuries were more serious than others. He couldn't even mouth because of his broken lips, so he couldn't taunt Arthur even if he wanted to.
He could only stare at Arthur with repressed anger as the red-haired boy greeted everyone pleasantly. But no one fought.
Instructor Lawson came a few minutes later. His loud voice boomed in the small classroom as he spoke.
"I hoped you had a good rest yesterday. If not, then you're in big trouble because we will be doing what we did yesterday today again."
"You know what to do. Pick a mat. Spread it on the ground, stand on it, and squat."
Their speed wasn't satisfactory, so he shouted at them, "Hurry up, slow pokes. Why are you walking about like grannies?"
They were walking like grannies because their bodies were sore, but no one offered up that explanation. They all rushed forward to grab their mats and set them up.
He jumped down from the podium and shouted at them again, "Squat like you mean it. Squat as if your lives depend on it."
He went about lowering their bodies, correcting their postures, and generally making the exercise more difficult for them.