Chapter 57 The Noodle Arms

Meira’s curiosity instantly turned into bouncy excitement. “Oh, my! Do we have a budding enchantress?”

A shiny black stone materialized in front of Evernya on the workbench. “Will your mana through the mana system template.” Meira forcefully instructed after grabbing her kitten’s left hand, placing it firmly against the stone.

Evernya followed Meira’s overzealous instructions, pushing her mana through the tight mana veins running through the stone. At first, she had no problem filling the mana veins with her mana, but once she reached the central mana core, her mana refused to take hold. Annoyed by the rejection, Evernya pushed more mana into the stone, collapsing the entire mini mana system.

She returned her attention to the slightly less excited elf for an explanation. “As I thought, you have the talent for enchanting, but it hasn’t matured yet. A fully awakened enchantress could easily activate a simple mana system template like this. However, with how close you were to succeeding, I think you’re close. Still, as much as I would love to turn you into an enchantress, you need to focus on your other already awakened magic.” Meira explained, looking pained as she forced the last few words out.

“Cool, but I agree. I’m already overwhelmed as it is but don’t worry, I would never pass up that opportunity to learn from a master enchantress like you.” Evernya agreed, feeling a growing headache from yet another form of magic added to her already huge list.

“Oh, I won’t let you escape. I will hunt you down and drag you back, kicking and screaming, to ram my enchanting knowledge into that psionically enhanced brain of yours as soon as possible.” Meira proclaimed with a hint of insanity in her overzealous eyes, causing her kitten to shiver in fear.

Terrified of the enchanting obsessed elf, Evernya immediately changed the subject. “By the way, why didn’t you wake me up? I slept for over three hours.”

Meira took a deep breath to calm down, returning to her usual self within seconds before responding. “I tried, but you refused to wake up, so I gave up. I think you enter a real coma after eating. It’s a little creepy. Unlike a normal person who shifts in their sleep, you are deathly still.”

Unable to think of a proper response, she apologized, peering up at Meira through her hair, “Sorry.”

“Do not apologize. It’s not your fault your body forces sleep after meals. We will have to plan your training schedule around your required naps. I would rather have you take these naps and be healthy than forcing your body to stay awake.” Meira stated firmly, easing her kitten’s worries.

After shaking off her slight embarrassment, Evernya commented on the bright side. “I like how I fall asleep instantly. In my previous body, it took me hours to fall asleep.”

“Yeah, I follow you up to make sure you make it most nights. The second you hit the bed, you are out cold. Which gives me a perfect opportunity to play dress up.” Meira admitted without shame, as a goofy smile bloomed.

“Hey! I told you to stop playing dress-up in my sleep!” Evernya yelled, receiving a smile in response.

“Please stop? I’ll try on some dresses when you take me shopping. There is no need to dress me up while I’m sleeping. I am ok with wearing dresses occasionally as long as you avoid girly colors like pink or yellow.” Evernya bargained in desperation.

“But you look so cute while you are sleeping!” Meira argued, giving herself away.

Evernya stared at her with glowing, irritated eyes for several seconds until Meira gave in. “Fine, as long as you keep your word on wearing dresses, I’ll stop.”

With the bargain struck, Evernya quickly moved on. “So, you said some strength training is next?” Evernya inquired.

After swallowing her disappointment, Meira responded. “Yeah, mainly focused on your upper body. My equipment can’t handle training your legs besides they are getting a ton of work with all the running. I don’t think your upper body will ever be as strong as the average female shifter, but you are way too weak as you are now.”

“So exercises like bench press, overhead press, bicep curls?” Evernya guessed.

“Along with several other exercises. Your core seems solid, so we will focus on your upper body for now.” Meira replied as she stood up from her stool and walked toward the door leading to the hallway, prompting Evernya to follow her.

“I can do most of this on my own if you give me a list of exercises,” Evernya said when they reached the door to the gym a minute later.

After a second pause, Meira responded. “Maybe tomorrow. I want to spot you today to make sure everything will be alright.”

Fine, either way, Evernya trotted into the gym, followed by Meira. Unprompted, she sealed her mana while leaning against the wall just inside the gym for support, allowing her body to adjust.

“I’ll never get used to having my mana sealed. It feels like my body momentarily restarts.” Commented Evernya, leaning heavily against the wall as her body trembled.

“Most people don’t feel anything unless they are actively pushing mana through their veins, but for a being who lives on mana, I can see why it’s uncomfortable,” Meira stated after materializing her tablet, linking it to Evernya’s training suit.

A minute later, the weakness dissipated, allowing Evernya to support her entire weight. “I think I am fine now.”

“Good, let’s start with some bodyweight exercises. First, do three sets of pushups until failure.” Instructed Meira.

Evernya trotted to the open area on the back left side of the gym, dropping to the floor to start her push-up sets. First set, she performed one hundred twenty-one, then took a minute break before managing ninety-three on her second set. The previous sets took their toll as her arms gave out at push-up sixty-seven on her last set.

“Good job. Now do the same for pull-ups,” Meira ordered.

After another minute of rest, Evernya hopped to her feet before trotting to the pull-up bar five meters to her left. She stretched her stiff arms above her head, then sprang up to grab the bar. She willed her sore arms to thirty-two pull-ups on her first set. After a minute break, she jumped back up to the bar, forcing her weakening arms to twenty-five pull-ups. She shook her arms out, waiting a minute to eke out a bit more for the last set. On the last set, she managed nineteen pull-ups before her hands slipped off the bar.

As soon as her kitten’s bare feet land on the floor, Meira ordered the next exercise. “Next three sets of dips, do you know what those are?” Meira questioned.

“Yeah,” Evernya replied, taking a few steps to the left to stand in front of the dip bars.

Evernya waited a couple of minutes before hopping up onto the parallel bars for her first dip set. Her three sets of dips end up very similar to her pull-ups with 35, 27, and 19.

She chugged down the provided MEL while letting her shaky arms recover. After taking a few laps up and down the alleyway, she returned to Meira, standing next to the bench press.

“Now, we will move on to weighted exercises. In the future, you will wear weights for the bodyweight portion. Let’s start with the bench press. I want three sets of five at sixty kilograms,” dictated Meira, ushering her kitten to lie down on the bench as Meira moved behind the bar to spot.

Evernya lifted the bar off the rack with ease, then performed the first rep without a problem, so she continued. The first four reps came easy enough, but by the fifth rep, her arms visibly trembled as she forced the bar upward.

After placing the bar back on the rack, she sat up and stretched out her arms for thirty seconds before trying for the second set. On her second set, she had much more trouble just barely pushing the bar up by the fifth rep. After a minute break, she reluctantly laid back down to force her abused arms through the last set.

The first rep gave her little problem aside from some minor shaking, but the second rep was a different story. Her face reddened as she pushed with all her might, just barely locking her arm straight. Against her better judgment, she tried for a third rep, only for her arms to give out immediately, forcing Meira to help her lift it back on the rack. Her arms fell to her side, limp as she laid on the bench, exhausted.

“Not quite what I wanted, but close enough. I think it’s safe to say you are stronger now,” Meira commented as she reset the weights to zero.

“What is your goal for me to bench?” Evernya inquired, still lying on the bench limp.

“I would love for you to accomplish one hundred kilograms soon, but that is not possible. Your body isn’t capable of exerting high forces with your arms, but your muscle endurance is solid. From now on, we should focus on bodyweight exercises as we up the added weight.” Replied Meira, while amending her training plan on her tablet.

“As much as I want to refute that, I agree. I’m better off focusing on improving other aspects instead of trying to achieve brute upper body strength with my petite frame.” Evernya stated logically after sitting up, recovered enough to move on.

“Well, the bench press isn’t the best indicator for brute strength, but since everyone loves to compare their max bench, I figured I would have you do it too. For today let’s complete my planned workout, tomorrow I’ll make some tweaks.” Meira responded while poking at her tablet.

After a few more minutes of rest, Evernya continued her workout. Over the next hour, she performed many exercises with her arms progressively weakening after each one. Meira ran her kitten’s arms through the gauntlet, forcing her to do exercises such as bicep curls, overhead presses, arm raises, shrugs, and many more. By the end, Evernya’s arms were useless, lying limp at her side like a wet noodle.

“Umm, could you lift my arm to my suit computer? I can’t unseal my mana if I can’t reach my suit computer.” Evernya asked from her position lying on the floor next to the dumbbell rack.

Taking pity on her exhausted kitten, Meira gently floated her kitten’s right hand to her suit computer. Evernya clenched her teeth together to prevent a scream from the sharp pains shooting through her arms. As soon as her hand was within contact with her computer, she immediately unsealed her mana, allowing her arms to flop back down.

A moment later, she moaned loudly as her mana rushed through her system but otherwise kept herself under control. As her mana calmed, she pumped mana into her arms, increasing her healing rate. She laid still on the floor with her eyes closed, savoring the feeling of the pain in her arms washing away as her muscles stitched themselves back together.

After fifteen minutes, her arms healed enough to function again without pain. She sat up to find Meira sitting on a bench reading the same enchanting book from the morning.

“So what’s next?” Asked Evernya after trotting up to her elf, fully recovered.

Meira glanced up at her kitten momentarily before materializing her tablet. “Til dinner, I want you to continue practicing with your weighted balls. Try to control six or seven five kilograms balls at once. For now, I want you to focus on control since your accuracy is solid.” Instructed Meira.

“Okay, the target practice was fun, but aside from a few hiccups, it was easy,” Evernya commented.

“Don’t worry, I plan to change the difficulty next week. I have someone coming in to set something up, but he can’t get out here for another five days. So, for now, I want you to focus on the basics.” Meira replied, flashing a sadistic grin, enjoying her kitten’s worried reaction.

“You aren’t going to tell me what you have planned, are you?” Evernya asked while smoothing out her puffed tail.

“Nope,” Replied Meira before returning her attention to her book.

“Fine then,” Evernya grumbled, flicking her tail at Meira as she strode out of the gym to the kitchen for her smoothies.