But hearing that he was going to use his attunement for training was… surprising. Especially since even Mikella wasn’t so sure about handling the power that Zeke emitted from his attunement.
At least during sparring. If her life was on the line, she would at least make up a good fight, but that wasn’t on the list today.
Zeke breathed heavily through his mouth and nostrils, switching between them in intervals as he gathered up his mental control. Mikella waited patiently before Zeke opened his eyes and stood up from his sitting position.
“...Ready,” Zeke muttered. “Mikky, prepare yourself.”
Without questioning him, Mikella prepped herself into a combat stance with her sword.
But everything soon turned into disarray the moment Zeke unleashed the mighty attunement from within.
The air became heavy, a familiar pressure engulfing the entire room they were in. Even with its powered ward, Mikella worried whether it would even stand against his overwhelming magic.
It seeped straight into her bones, and even made her body quiver. It wasn’t fear filling her, but the pressure of the magic itself.
But instead of feeling the power concentrated straight from Zeke–it instead spread outwards, covering the entire room and forcing the pressure that was there before to multiply in potency.
Her body now went from quivering to nearly shaking, the weight increasing in folds as she gritted her teeth. A disgraceful groan left her body as she used her own sword as a walking stick to keep herself balanced. She looked ahead, shocked to see Zeke in a familiar position.
His eyes strained to keep open, his gritted teeth revealed as he half-knelt from the pressure. The two were stuck in a similar position of being manhandled by the heavy air pressure, finally sparking realization in her mind.
Did Zeke intend to spar just like this?
As if reading her thoughts, Zeke gritted his teeth again, revealing a tiny grin as he tried–very, very hard–to keep up a fighting stance, his fists slowly rising into the air into his own combat stance.
“R-R-Ready…!?” Zeke shouted, his own voice failing to keep up.
Seeing the grin on his face, it only ramped her up more. Mikella roared and let the environment grind her to dust. To the point where she would shine like a diamond in the rough.
…..
Zeke’s entire skeletal structure ached, and his muscles felt like they were getting stabbed from the inside from multiple daggers at once. He was bone-dry exhausted.
But the following notifications proved that his theory worked like… magic.
You have gained +21 STR from your actions.
You have gained +6 DEX from your actions.
You have gained +18 VIT from your actions.
You have gained +15 END from your actions.
The notifications from Mikella were also very nice to see, even if they weren’t his own.
You have gained +6 STR from your actions.
You have gained +5 DEX from your actions.
You have gained +17 VIT from your actions.
You have gained +8 END from your actions.
Granted, they were only physical stats, and the number of stat points gained despite spending several hours sparring in the World Field (the current name for the technique) seemed so little.
But Zeke needed to remember that at his level, gaining stat points from training became rarer by the day. In fact, he hadn’t received a single stat point increase throughout the year, proving just how high his stats are compared to normal people.
So getting these gains in just a few short hours under the heavy pressure was actually impressive in its own right–though his body certainly liked to complain about that.
It got so bad that it even got Mikella to call for a break, her pained expression practically burned in his mind. That was the first time he ever saw her get tuckered out, and he was no different.
Of course, those were just the stat increases. What really mattered, at least for them, were the skill levels.
Kinetic Manipulation Level Up! It is now Level 4.
You have gained +2 DEX (x3) from your skill.
You have gained +1 END (x3) from your skill.
…..
Unarmed Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 5.
You have gained +2 STR (x4) from your skill.
You have gained +1 DEX (x4) from your skill.
…..
Pain Resistance Level Up! It is now Level 6.
You have gained +2 VIT from your skill.
You have gained +1 END from your skill.
…..
Meditation Level Up! It is now Level 8.
You have gained +1 INT from your skill.
The fact that even his usually difficult to level Meditation leveled up proved just how fantastic World Field is. Thanks to these increases, he found that his Strength, his supposed weakest stat, now surpassed Vitality. Somehow that felt wrong as a mage, so he put in his hoarded free points into Vitality, bringing it up just a few points behind Strength.
Despite getting his ass beat by Mikella for the following hours and being riddled with bruises and caked in sweat–he never felt happier.
The next notifications are from Mikella’s side.
Kinetic Manipulation Level Up! It is now Level 7.
You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
You have gained +2 END from your skill.
…..
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Axe Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 3.
You have gained +2 STR (x2) from your skill.
You have gained +1 END (x2) from your skill.
…..
Spear Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 3.
You have gained +2 STR from your skill.
You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
…..
Hammer Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 2.
You have gained +2 STR from your skill.
You have gained +1 END from your skill.
…..
Pain Resistance Level Up! It is now Level 3.
You have gained +2 VIT (x2) from your skill.
You have gained +1 END (x2) from your skill.
“Ready to take a break?”
He looked up from the floor of the training field they were borrowing, seeing Mikella looking over at him with that glinting smile of hers. She was also pretty badly bruised, considering he did his best to fight her, and she was sweating like crazy while drying herself off with a towel.
Despite all that, she never looked so radiant under the bright ceiling lights of the gym field.
“I thought… we were,” Zeke said with a smirk, getting Mikella to help him up with a hand.
The two still had to take on a quest later, not wanting to skirt around the tower issues and getting Cronus pissed off. But the assassination attempt from yesterday spooked Zeke enough to try out his new idea before eventually going for the next step in their progress.
It was time to eat their enhanced attribute fruits.
Truthfully, they intended to do this earlier than intended. It was right after reaching Journeymen that they wanted to do this, in fact. However, after receiving Cronus’ declaration to move to Arcelot to deal with the towers, it became just a passing thought in the back of their minds. It wasn’t as though they were in serious danger, and they needed to get their bearings before suddenly getting an influx of attribute points.
But now was the time to do so, and even better that Zeke got this World Field theory into practice before he did so. The more stats they gain, the harder it would be to gain it again through training like this. It was still perfect for skill leveling, which Zeke knew he wouldn’t have had the chance to use before becoming a Journeyman to control his attunement properly.
Sitting side by side, Zeke pulled out the enhanced attribute fruits he always had in his Storage pack. Considering that they got a whole biodome with their own attribute tree ready to make fruits annually, Zeke took it upon himself to get some fruits to give away as gifts for his friends–particularly, they can also be great for bribes in case he needed to get something important from someone.
Either way, he was the sole person in their group to hold these priceless fruits as he handed one to Mikella before taking a bite out of it himself. As usual, the taste of the fruits was so tantalizing even for his Journeyman body.
A moan from Mikella shocked him, only realizing that she was enjoying the fruit’s taste as well. She smirked when she saw him looking at her.
“What? Got hard or something?”
“Shut up.”
She giggled, taking another bite as Zeke received the notification just like before back in the tower at the biodome. This time, the enhanced fruits were so improved compared to the first time that just eating one single fruit is enough to reap all the benefits in one fell swoop.
You have eaten a Spiritually Enhanced Attribute Fruit.
The limits of all your attributes have been increased by 500.
You have gained +30 STR from the enhanced fruit.
You have gained +30 DEX from the enhanced fruit.
You have gained +30 INT from the enhanced fruit.
You have gained +30 SPI from the enhanced fruit.
You have gained +30 VIT from the enhanced fruit.
You have gained +30 END from the enhanced fruit.
…..
Attribute Analysis complete. Displaying attribute growth limits.
Strength: 1350
Dexterity: 1400
Intelligence: 1450
Spirit: 1750
Vitality: 1300
Endurance: 1350
However the Journeymen did it back in the tower was impressive, because after receiving the points–Zeke felt like his world became dizzy.
Perhaps it was due to their long years as Journeyman, so they got better control over their bodies. His chest swelled with power, and his muscles bulged and ached. His mind was exploding from increased cognitive prowess and his mana were getting charged like receiving a boost from jumper cables.
He fell over, his hand pressed onto the clear marble floor away from the training field, sweat dripping from his wet forehead. He felt Mikella drop to her hands as well, breathing erratically just like he was.
“Holy shit, that’s a rush if I ever felt one!” She screamed, pounding on the tough floors made precisely to handle her strength, but even then, each strike made a powerful twack sound that echoed around them.
“Okay… maybe I should dampen the fruits a little…” Zeke eventually said, his voice hoarse from the power swelling all around.
“Nah, nah…” Mikella shook her head as she spoke. The surge of power was finally diminishing as she sat on her haunches with a relieved look on her face. “I think we’re just a little too early, that’s all. Besides, we can't keep wasting fruits like that, right?”
“Guess that’s true…” Zeke shook his head. His vision swam before meeting Mikella’s gaze. “I don’t know if we did the right thing or not to spar a bunch before eating the fruits now. I feel out of place.”
“We can probably squeeze in one more spar,” Mikella said, hope in her eyes. “Without the field, of course. By the way, that was awesome! I never felt so close to my limits before! It felt just like when we were in the old world.”
“You think so?” Zeke said, pride replacing the intensity of the energy within. “I hoped that was the case. Still…”
He raised a knee to his face, looking over at the empty field in front of him. Mikella only watched as he delved into his thoughts.
“Wonder what was up with all that?” Zeke said. “People want to kill me now. And for what? Just helping people?”
“There are always people like that, Zeke,” Mikella said, though there was a weariness in her tone as though she saw this many times before as she knelt the same way as Zeke did. “That assassin girl said you shouldn’t have messed with the guilds, right? Considering she said ‘guilds’ as plural, that means it’s not just the adventurers’ guild that was involved. Considering those receptionists said that they usually buy from the Alchemist’s guild, and seeing how Cru is affected by all this…”
“...Guess that means the Alchemist’s guild wants me gone, huh?”
“Yep,” Mikella answered simply.
“...I’m sorry,” Zeke said, trying, but failing, to meet her eyes as he lowered his own.
“Don’t be,” As though she read his mind, she continued. “I know what you’re going to say. It’s not your fault that you didn’t want others to suffer. And it’s definitely not your fault that a bunch of old bastards want to kill you for taking their money away from people who were suffering. Even though I complain a lot–I’m proud of what you did.”
Zeke looked towards Mikella, her gaze as steady and powerful as always. Her words were like a calming balm to his soul, relieving him of his worries that his actions brought out bad consequences.
But then what? If he hadn’t, those adventurers would have died. Even Saang would have died had he not done what he did.
But something else stung at him as he continued.
“It might be possible that they won’t just target me. Maybe that assassin girl didn’t want to bring in Clara, but what happens if those bastards went after her to get to me? What if they get to you too?”
It was one of the possibilities that would definitely happen, regardless of whether his actions were saintly or not. The best way to take down a target, in his current mindset, was to destroy everything he loved. If assassins went and killed his family, he wouldn’t even have the will to live anymore.
“There’s no ‘ifs’ anymore,” Mikella shook her head. “Now that they’re out there, Ali is not gonna get Clara involved. That goes for Zoan too. As for me–dude, come on. Come on.”
Mikella kept propping him, raising her fingers with a gesture that said ‘really? you think they can take me on?’.
Zeke rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright. Guess we got lucky. Still, I can’t help but get worried about that. If only I still had my barrier…”
“If only we were immortal, if only we were masters by now, if only we had the powers of a god…” Mikella shook her head. “None of that matters. We can keep adding more stuff, and we’ll still have problems on our hands. What matters is what we do now. And right now’s perfect to let off some steam.”
Mikella suddenly rose up, patting down her shorts and bottom hem of her shirt before facing Zeke with a raised fist.
“No point in thinking if you’re in too much pain to think–am I right? Or am I right?”
Zeke scoffed, shaking his head as he stood to his feet. Still, a smirk was plastered on his lips as he faced her.
“Damn, you’re still eager to eat my fists?”
“What a way for a gentleman to say to a lady,” Mikella said haughtily, her hand over her chest like a delicate maiden.
“Please, you make godzilla look dainty in comparison.”
“Hey, that’s offensive! Remember, I’m a Draconian now.”
“You’re right. I need to give godzilla an apology to compare it to a monster like you.”
Zeke dodged an incoming strike from the pissed Mikella, and soon the two went into their own little world, their fighting styles speaking for themselves.
In the end, nothing changed for them. No matter how powerful they get, they would still have each other.