Isekaied Into An Eroge, Time To Have Fun!-Chapter 41: Improvements
I was beyond surprised to find that doing the exercises to the fullest extent of my abilities - however paltry they might currently be - was actually kind of... dare I say... fun?
The burning in my muscles and the pounding in my chest was something I rarely felt before, but that hum inside of me was sort of addicting, especially since now I could actually track the progress with a number instead of trying to rely on whatever I saw in the mirror...
As stupid as it was that sort of thing actually helped me do anything in life, especially when the results weren’t something that I could physically see right away; attaching a value to it and seeing that value go up was motivating, and right now the number that went up was looking so damn good.
Without the buff of the Lost Cardinal’s Pendant and the set bonus that I was receiving from the Beginners Series my STR - strength - was now at a whopping 3; not really that impressive, yes, but it was an improvement nonetheless.
Besides that I was even getting a single point into my AGI - agility - for doing these workouts, though I imagine that was thanks to how they were tied together to a certain extent; I needed muscle strength in order to move better, after all, and my stretches might be helping with the flexibility too.
Whether this meant the small routine I had haphazardly thrown together for myself was actually worthwhile or not was yet to be determined, but I was completely aware that progress was progress and this was as good of a start as any, especially since it had barely been half an hour yet.
I think... I really needed to get wristwatch or pocket watch sometime soon, which funnily enough there was an item in the Academy that I could get that did more than just tell the time; for now though I should get something to help with the time, even if it was just a rudimentary hourglass.
My muscles were aching just right and my breathing was still stable enough that I was considering another set, but I thought better of it and decided that I could take a quick break to go back to my mediation, since clearly I had been onto something last night before I... got a little too ’eager’.
This was another thing that I wasn’t terribly confident on whether I was doing it right or not, but at the very least getting accustomed to the feeling of mana inside of me was beneficial since I had never had mana inside of me before yesterday.
Acclimatization to magic on its own was probably going to be really important once I get my lessons started, so I sat down beside my folded robe and closed my eyes, focusing on the energy inside of me.
Unlike last night though I held back from feeling all of it inside of me and instead targeted certain spots, trying to familiarize myself with the locations inside of my body that acted as ’hubs’ of sorts.
Areas that mana gathered in abundance before heading off to wherever I needed mana at that moment in time; these hubs were located primarily on each hip and each shoulder with smaller ones residing at the ends of those limbs, allowing for me to store up mana in my hands and feet before casting spells.
There were another two hubs located at the throat and of course right on top of the Core, though those ones were more centered around storage and regeneration rather than casting spells... according to the things I had learned in the game.
Becoming familiarized with the hubs on my shoulders and hands would allow me to utilize mana in close quarters combat, be it through enhancing my attacks - like summoning a wreath of flames for my blade or hastening my swings - or by enhancing my defenses through barriers and the likes.
Meanwhile the hubs on my hips and feet were best used for movement based magic as well as sensory spells, so although they immediately felt less useful then the previous two since they weren’t as offensively oriented and flashy in combat they were - to me, anyways, both prior to and after my life in this world - far more important.
Good movement magic could save your life ten times over compared to some good offensive spells, and sensory spells were utterly broken since you could learn so much about the upcoming fight before it happens.
The reason I view the hubs in the hips as a hotspot for sensory spells was simply due to the one spell I had active at all times during all my play throughs, and that was a spell that allowed you to sense the vibrations in the earth from very far away.
And that was just at lower levels, since the more you put into the spell the more you could learn, scaling all the way up to being able to ’see’ everything in a mile wide radius as clear as crystal through the vibrations of the earth.
A person’s height, weight, gear, some of their appearance and even what sort of magic they were using to move... that was the amount of information I could learn with that spell, but the issue was such a busted spell was - of course - locked behind a myriad of masteries and requirements.
That’s for much later, but just thinking of it again made me all excited since it turned my character into such a broken being - and by that I mean being able to pretty much avoid all combat or, conversely, hunting down a specific thing without any issue at all.
Anyways, everyone’s hubs were located in roughly the same spots but they were also able to be ’unique’ the same way everyone’s body was technically the same but also vastly different from one another.
Some people were born with extra or less hubs, others had bigger or smaller ones, some had elementally attuned hubs or elementally ’allergic’ hubs that refused certain elements... they were the same thing but so different at the same time.
I wouldn’t know the exact specifics of my own till I could test myself properly with some real magic - by that I mean by harnessing a specific element without damaging myself and running it through me - but I could sense the general layout of my body somewhat easily.
Everything seemed... not that bad; the right hip was larger then the left while both of the shoulders were equal in size, and comparatively my throat and Core hubs were above average as well... I think.
Mana was flowing freely into and out of those hubs, and I could feel them humming gently whenever I focused on them specifically, letting me know everything was working alright and allowing me to move on from this.
To continue with my meditation I decided to take a bundle of mana and run it from one hand to the other, just guiding it up my arm and then through my Core before heading for the other arm, doing that a few times to really get the feel of what needed to happen internally.
It was interesting, since there was a conscious effort that needed to be made to move it yet right after it went towards the targeted destination it felt... effortless, like that was what it was meant to do.
Magic was just full of contradictions and surprises, wasn’t it~?
That was making this fun, but before I could continue any further I felt a presence in front of me, forcing me to open my eyes and blink away the bright lights of the magically altered gymnasium as I tried to focus on the figure in front of me.
"I apologize for being too close, but you were meditating for quite some time... or were you sleeping..?"
Looming over me was Kha’Miero, the Draconian futanari occupying most of my vision simply due to how muscular she was... and how domineering her presence tended to be thanks to her ’non human’ features.
That serpentine head adorned with sharp quills was somewhat jarring to see in person again, but really I was focused on those slitted orange eyes that were burning with curiosity, intrigue and amusement, being the only way I could gauge her emotions thanks to her stoic features.
"I-I was meditating..!"
Grunting softly and nodding once, Kha’Miero just looked me in the eye before her eyes dropped down towards my blouse, which was soaked with sweat and somewhat see through; she didn’t bother to hide her lust from me, but she did at least have the decency to move on despite clearly being drawn to my breasts.
"I came here to do some of my own training, only to find you over here in the corner... Are you keen for more, Natalie, or are you done for today? Classes do start tomorrow..."
Biting my lip and forcing myself to continue meeting her gaze, I tried to push my lust down too since the way she stared at me and the sheer size of her compared to me was definitely turning me on, so although training would likely lead to something ambiguous I grasped onto that like a lifeline meant to save me from drowning.
"W-We could... Could we train together..? Just something... maybe something light..?"
She grunted again and offered me her scaled hand, giving me a moment of pause again before I hesitantly accepted it, making sure to avoid her sharp claws only to realize that was a weird part of her that made my stomach flutter in confused arousal.
What wasn’t confused arousal was how easily she hoisted me to my feet, and the definitely on purpose extra bit of ’oomph’ in that hoist that had me stumbling into her arms so that she could ’save’ me from tripping.
She had a stoic facade but those eyes were burning with amusement as she caught me, one arm around my waist and the other still holding onto my hand as she kept me close, showing off how warm she was and making me blush hard.
Mainly because my free hand was pressed against her stomach, where I could feel each sculpted line of her abs beneath my fingers... and Goddesses be damned if I wasn’t attracted to a woman with a six pack capable of grating cheese...
