NOVPUB
Chapter 63 - Training
"Not so bad, now is it?"
I glared a little hatefully at the blonde in front of me, partially wanting to swing the hammer at her and partially wanting to yell a string of very naughty words at her that would let her know what I wanted to do to her smug face right now...
But instead I held it in as I just gulped down breath after breath, my body soaked to the bone in sweat and overheating as the sun beat down on us from above; I felt hot and cold at the same time, my muscles were throbbing and flaring up in pain while my vision swam a little...
And the entire time she just smiled at me as she watched me deal with it for a few seconds more, relishing it only to hand me a red crystal rod and force me to snap it in half, sending a jolt through my body that honestly hurt more than the running I had just done.
"Shh..."
Clamping a hand over my mouth, Hilda watched me ride out that agony as I writhed around for a few seconds, only to have the heat, the dehydration, the torn muscles and everything else dwindle down by a lot as the mana from that rod got me back into shape.
It was... kind of horrifying that it could do that, but before I could even ask Hilda just said "That isn't something I suggest doing often. I am only doing it because now I know exactly where to push you and how far. At least on the stairs. Never do this in your own time, not unless you like the potential of muscle atrophy and perpetual dehydration." 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
That was even more horrifying, so I shook my head and waited for her to continue, which she did after watching me stand up straight and not clutch my side; when she deemed me fit for the next test she walked me over towards a nearby machine I was somewhat familiar with.
"This'll help train your legs even more with heavy weights, and then beside it is a simple bench meant for... well, bench presses. Pretty much most of your required muscle groups can be trained here using these weights and these two 'machines'. So... let's get started."
Pushing me onto the leg press, Hilda took my hammer and set it aside before loading up some weights and got me going on that, constantly increasing until she noticed I was at the right spot... to her, anyways, since for me it was a little hellish.
Then she handed me a slightly filled waterskin, had me switch over to the bench and then forced me to take ahold of the bar as she loaded that with weights as well, getting me to bench that immediately and grinning at me the whole time.
It felt like torture and she sure was into it, but at the same time I could feel the benefits already... somehow; they weren't big, like there were no muscles bulging and turning red as I entered some weird power state, but the mana from the rod had definitely done something to me alongside this training.
My best guess was the process of hypertrophy was accelerated quite a bit thanks to the mana and my new physiology, speeding up the process of increasing my strength and letting me see the results far faster...
Or I was just delusional and Hilda had broke my mind already as she had me switch from bench pressing to curling the bar, all the while she just played around with some baby weights beside me...
This didn't seem like the kind of training she wanted to give me initially from the discussion we had, but here we were, and there was no changing what was happening... that same excuse was used too as she told me that she just wanted to get a feel for where I needed to be, but I was truly beginning to think she was just tormenting me.
Playing with me like I was some toy instead of a person her sister had trusted to teach and improve... though she did win back some of my trust when she concluded the weights and moved us back over to the stairs.
"You probably don't like me that much right now, but I really don't care. I'd rather you hate me than be dead."
The sudden shift from her light, playful tone to a more detached one as she sat down and looked back at the manor caught me off guard, and Hilda knew it as she gave me another smile a moment later.
"My sister isn't wrong entirely. About wanting you to train more for endurance and lower body strength, anyways. Those should be your focus, but... an adventurer needs to be strong. Needs to be able to do things they don't want to do. A bit of a petty test on my end, but you'd be surprised the correlation I've found between those who endure the petty test I give and those that die."
"You..."
I was at a loss for words with how this had shifted, and Hilda continued to give me that somewhat serious but also amused smile as she nodded and added "I've seen a dozen or so - well, not personally seen it but you get what I mean - hopeful adventurers tell me to fuck off when I do this. A few days later, maybe a couple of weeks... I get word that they're dead. Dead, maimed, or they quit. Been doing this for two years and almost every other month..."
She chuckled and shook her head, though where I expected to see some self pity, some anger, some... negative emotion, she just shrugged and continued speaking, looking back at the manor and keeping her amusement.
"I've seen a lot for someone who just hit twenty. So has Hilda. Comes with the turf, sadly. Met too many promising studs who just ended up getting themselves killed. Started doing this to figure out who I should invest myself into, found out it worked. Maybe it worked too well, maybe I'm a genius. Either way, now I know you might actually be worth a damn. At least out in the world as a fighter instead of as my sister's personal pocket pussy. Goddesses know she has plenty of those."
Then the amusement was back, and the odd moment passed away as she continued to tell me about how stupid her sister was or the things she expected of me now, the hopes she had and the way they tied into her idea of 'girl power' or other things like that.
Like she hadn't just said she had seen many people die, like we hadn't been talking about something so morbid... as if none of that had happened at all, or as if there was no issue with what she had said and the fractures that had to be in her mind because of it.
