Chương 113: Chapter 29: Training of the Bearers
The next day, the training start bright and early, as the Aquarian recovery beds made sure that hangovers are merely a distant memory back in the modern ages of human existence. All of the humans in the actually all had a lovely sleep until they woke according to the compound's daylight hours. Rydel was up nice and early as he looked back upon the program that Dolon offered him when he started here.
During the meal yesterday, he vaguely remember that most of the combat type artifact bearers around is planning to join him in the training, while Ol suggested something...It was something that caused quite a reaction, all though Rydel has had way too many Aquarian shockers in his system by that point that he couldn't quite remember. The nanotechnology enhancements weren't exactly connected to compound metabolism, so he could still enjoy the feeling of being drunk, for better or worse.
As he walked out of the room, a tiny shadow of a thing dashed right in front of him, and his natural instinct let him jammed the foot into the ground, halting all of the forward momentum.
'Got to go! Got work!' Torelamri's not very apologetic apologies were left behind as he disappeared back into his room, slamming the door shut. Rydel smiled a little, as that's what he saw the day he began the training with Dolon, and the words she said that day still remained in his mind today.
Elmyra was there bright and early, and Zel looked like he has already done some sort of exercise in the morning. Both had their hair wet, but from the look of Zel's exposed muscles and Elmyra's pajama's, they both took a shower for different purposes. They greeted Rydel as he went past, and he returned the gesture. With a cold glass of mineral water in hand, Rydel squirted in some lemon juice and honey before joining them at the bar table.
'So, it looks like it will be you two, me and Valerie for the training.' Rydel said, 'The training of the artifacts is simple, but not easy. Dolon said all we have to do is to find our limits, get turbed, train, find our limits, get turbed, and train.'
'Turbed?' Elmyra and Zel both had no idea what this Aquarian curse word means, however, they will soon feel the meaning physically. As Valerie also arrived at the kitchen to grab her breakfast, Rydel clapped his hands together and told everyone to meet in the indoor training ground in an hour in comfortable clothing.
The kinds of tests will be some basic physical testing just to establish the basic physical parameters of each of the individual, then all of the different kinds of tests will be performed while using the artifacts, as all of the tests will be individualized. Then, a relationship can be drawn between any lacking physical qualities and artifact usage, so by training that particular quality, the usage of the artifact may become more proficient, apart from the fact that it was more practice.
It was kind of like how tossing and catching balls with Rydel's artifact usage hand drastically improved the accuracy at which he can summon and drop off items from a distance. The same could be achieved technically with the rest.
Rydel has decided to start with the physical tests, as it is actually less intense on the body compared to extensive usage of artifacts, as passing out due to exertion is not an uncommon occurrence. For the first few tests of strength, a mixtures of different performance and movement parameters were tested, and it was no surprise that Rydel and Valerie both knocked it out of the park thanks to their two enhancements. Zel has also showed at least above average strength due to his years of surviving in the wild regions, though many glaring imbalances were seen, and it was clear that a couple months of training to get him to at least perform quite a bit better than what he could now, at least in close quarter combat.
Elmyra, on the other hand, is quite untrained in terms of strength despite her short stint in the team sports at the Galatic IST. However, that was to be expected, and it did not appear to be her limiting factor at all. Though Rydel can see not much downsides in improving, it certainly isn't a priority at this moment.
The next tests were that of speed, and Rydel knew that some might critique the sequences of tests, but it really is to establish a baseline or basic quality rather than finding out the absolute maximum, so some level of fatigue is probably going to be fine. Again, Rydel and Valerie's enhancements gave them more than an advantage. Zel's heavy cybernatics proved quite chunky for him to just run around at high speed, and Elmyra actually is pretty fast.
The one after was that of agility, and similar results were seen.
The final physical test was that of endurance, and it was designed to at least push the physical limits of each of the individual bearers. If anything, endurance is one of the most important qualities in a bearer, as that directly relates to how long they can use the artifact, as an increased endurance means an increased capacity to use the artifacts. The tests required the participants to perform bouts of activity as designated heart rates for as long as they can, and it is there that Rydel and Valerie both realized how much of an advantage the nanotechnology enhancements offer.
In terms of maximum durability and strength, most of the benefits come from direct physical enhancements and training, what the nanotechnology enhancements can offer is to upgrade the speed of healing and recovery as well as increasing endurance, delivering nutrients and energy from the stores to the muscles at ridiculous speeds.
After Elmyra and Zel took their second shower of the day and lied on the sofa trying to grasp for their lives, Rydel and Valerie are still hooked on the treadmill. They continued for another hour, and realized that there really isn't any point in continuing this test, seeing their enhancements are always going to replenish their stores at this current activity level.
'You will never know how much of an advantage you have until you took a step back.' Rydel commented, and Valerie nodded in agreement. Rydel gave her a kiss on the sweaty forehead as they headed back towards the living room. As the data are being processed and Elmyra and Zel still knocked out from the tests,
Rydel knew perhaps they need to take it easy for the rest of today and come back tomorrow. Rydel has arranged for some reaction and coordination based tests in the afternoon, and it should be somewhat accurate after these ones had the time to take a nap.
'You know, I wouldn't really mind getting some enhancements right now.' Elmyra said, her eyes squinted as the root of her teeth is somehow feeling a bit sore, and that pain is not going away anytime soon.
'Yeah, me too.'
'What the hell do you mean me too, Z?' Elmyra turned to Zel, who's also a pile of meat stacked on the sofa right across from her, 'you had that metal arm, remember?'
'Despite my best designs, it still isn't the easiest to carry around...'
'Excuses excuses...' Elmyra is having none of it, and Zel is looking a little sad.
'I see that the physical tests have done what they are supposed to do?' Ol's voice came from above as Elmyra opened her eyes, 'How are you feeling, Elmyra?'
'Dead.' Elmyra responded, and Ol nodded as he walked away. Human expressions are typically full of over-exagerations, and he knows that she is somewhat fine if she could still make such a joke.
As Rydel came over to Elmyra, she tried to muster the strength and turned to look at him, but an intense wave of drowsiness hit her right at this time and she can't help but yawned at Rydel's face.
'Tired?' Rydel smiled and handed her over a tiny energy gel.
'What is this?'
'An energy pack that should give you some energy.' Rydel said.
'Some energy to do what, go for another round?'
'No, for you to go to your bedroom and take a nap.' Rydel said, giving Elmyra a slap on the shoulder, 'not everything is going to be this hard. Especially if you won't have to fight them.'
Elmyra tore down the packaging and slid the gel in her mouth, it tasted sweet and sour before an entire season of harvest exploded in her mouth. The wave of freshness hit her and did actually allow her to sit up in the sofa.
'You know....' Elmyra said to Rydel, who took a seat on the next couch and handed Zel a gel too, 'From my own experience, it would appear that I would very much need to fight them.'
Rydel nodded understandingly, and stood up
'Take four or five hours, and we can do the coordination and reaction speed tests later today!'
As expected, Elmyra and Rydel both excelled at the reaction speed tests, in terms of bodily coordination, Elmyra is around average while Zel is almost on par with Rydel. Valerie took the cake for both of the tests however. This reveals a few more interesting things regarding artifact usage and perhaps how people with certain qualities may be better suited to certain artifacts. Especially for artifacts that involved movement of one's body, coordination and reaction speed is vital.
Given Valerie's highly trianed background, her performance isn't too surprising either.
The next day, the tests revolved around artifact usage, and the nap thrown in the middle of the day before really helped with both Zel and Elmyra's recovery so that they are at least near their tip top shape. Rydel is going to spend some time with Elmyra first and Zel and Valerie is going outside to do their tests.
The things Rydel wants to find out about Elmyra's artifacts are first simply how long she will be able to stay in the Space of Uncertainty. Is it akin to diving underwater, and there is a certain trainable threshold or is there a hard limit placed? So far, Elmyra haven't found a way to voluntarily enter the Space of Uncertainty on its own without at least some sense of danger, so Rydel simply threw a ball at her and she was in.
To the outside word, the entrance and exit into the Space of Uncertainty is nearly instantaneous as Elmyra's perception of time is altered and accelerated, giving her a sensation of being outside of the normal flow of time, so it will have to be how Elmyra perceives the time from within the Space.
The glowing in her eyes subdues as she lets out a long held breath, at least from her point of view. She counted seconds in her head, and she was in there for what felt like thirty seconds, and to Rydel it was less than a second.
'Do you reckon you go go in there longer?' Rydel asked, and Elmyra's eyes glowed again before quickly subsiding. Rydel thought that felt quicker, but in Elmyra's head, she squeezed out another ten seconds.
'How long was I really in there for?' Elmyra asked, and Rydel showed the timer on his personal interface. The first time was around 0.8 seconds, while the second one was 0.6, and yet it felt so much longer when she was in there. An extra ten seconds is beyond just counting a little faster than she was last time.
'So it is about how quickly I can process and perceive time within the space, rather than how much time is going on outside.' Elmyra said, and Rydel agreed with her findings, 'I would have never thought about it this way!'
'Well, I am sure we can discover so much more.' Rydel said, now the warm fuzzy feeling of guiding another through the journey that he once traveled through filled his heart, 'ready for the next one?'
The next test relates to how many items Elmyra is able to impact within the same time, and Rydel had to bring out the ball tossing machines freshly made by Torelamri. He, of course, dropped the machine off a minute before Rydel planned to use it and left before Rydel even said his thanks.
'The Rocky, he is always quite busy isn't he?'
'Yeah....don't know what he is working on most of the time.' Rydel shrugged.
As it turns out, Elmyra could alter as many balls as she wanted, but the limits actually came from how quickly she could alter the trajectories of each of the balls individually, instead of how many balls she could move at any one dive. Elmyra performed a few trials in quick succession and found that the easiest way would be to combine the displacement of her body and movement of a few balls as the optimal strategy, and soon that's all she is doing.
As Rydel saw her flickering through waves of balls and altering a few, he knew that despite the look, Elmyra has already become extremely proficient. Perhaps her trial is quite a lot more difficult then activating the artifact, grabbing the thing and throwing it away? Rydel quickly buried that thought and moved onto the next few tests. It became clear what Elmyra will have to do for her training already.
Looking at the outside, Zel's tests have already begun. He is considerately more experienced at using the artifact than Elmyra, though his understanding of it remained pretty basic.
'I have been telling you, I could only warp myself and some other things into the Pocket domain.' Zel said for the fifth time after hearing what Valerie wanted him to do, 'I haven't tried half warping something... What?'
Valerie was about to ask what the last word Zel said was about, but he put a hand up as if talking to someone on the phone.
'Never mind! It doens't want to help me.' Zel spit onto the ground and loosens his shoulders, the Pocket refused to tell him what he asked was possible, so now he just have to try to do it himself. In front of him were a simple cube placed on top of the table, and Valerie's instructions were simple: To warp half of it into the Pocket Domain.
Zel started activating his artifact like he always had, starting from the center of his stomach before reaching it outwards. The stretches of space traveled forward and envelops the cube, however, he made sure to halt its progress before it reaches halfway across the cube. As he then contracts the boundaries and try to warp it in, the cube slipped out of his control like a wet soap in his hand.
'Damn.' Zel cursed, 'you ain't gonna make this easy for me?' He tried again, but now the entire cube is swallowed away.
'Now, try to slow things down.' Valerie finally spoke after seeing Zel fail a few more times, 'for you, it has always been an on and off switch, but perhaps the warping is a scale?'
'A scale?' Zel thought to himself but didn't speak. Something can either be outside, or in his pocket domain, how is a scale making any sort of sense?
Trust the girl. Finally, the Pocket spoke from inside him. You may not be the most suitable vessel, but you have got friends around you.
'Oh, now you are telling me this?' Zel shook his head, Unsuitable vessel? After all that we have been through?
With a light pop, the cube was cut in half as fifty percent of it was swallowed away into the pocket domain.
'Yes!' Zel cheered and gave Valerie a metallic high-five with his augmented arm, and now the next thing to work on is the speed of his warping. So far, he doesn't want anything to do with partially warping his body, but things will take time.
The training plans after the days of testing became clear, and Rydel and Valerie simply took the schedules that they used back in Absolute Academy and modified it a little bit so that the two bearers here will at least have most of their bases covered for the training in the next few months. They will perform artifact based training before their general combat skill training. The evenings will be when they built up their physical qualities. The plans will alternate with periods having focuses on specific goals as to make sure there is enough energy for their bodies to adapt to.
The Aquarian recovery beds should take care of the rest side of things, and the food printer will do a good enough job of dealing with nutrition. Now, all that's left for them to do is to put in the work and come out the other side much stronger and better than before.
The current plan is for them to train as hard as they could for two months before everyone takes a break and go to visit the cultural festival held in the Olympus Zero system. That would be when Val's school break will happen as well, and Valerie misses her little sister dearly.
In that time, Rydel and Valerie have their own training assignment too, as Rydel tried to improve the amount of warping he was capable of, thinking back to how he warped a ship in and out of his glove but at a heavy cost. He wanted to replicate it again, but it will not be easy.
Valerie is focusing on incorporating her artifacts better into her general fighting style, and she has an idea just waiting to be used.
There is no telling whether they will bump into anyone from either Infinity or Absolute Being when they got to the galactic capital, but if they will, everyone will be ready for a fight.
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