The Greatest Sin is Weakness; The descent into madness
Slowly but surely, Starry completed his pushups.
One hundred…Two hundred…Three hundred….Four hundred….Five hundred!
After consecutively completing pushups for about 30 minutes, he quickly got up and stretched before walking up to his master and his two sisters.
"Master, what are we going to train today?" Maelis respectfully asked.
"Today we are training our physiques and pain tolerance. All three of you, get down on the floor. Today we are doing 10,000 push ups, 10,000 squats, and running 10 miles. Pushups first!" Ryan barked before sitting down on a lawn chair.
Seemingly unfazed by the ridiculous amount of exercise they were tasked with doing, Seraphine and Maelis compiled and started doing their pushups.
'Are these people crazy?! Ten thousand pushups is the amount I might complete in a year but we have to do it in a single day?!'
"Starless, why have you not started yet?" Ryan asked, curiously eyeing the young boy.
"Sorry Master, but I feel that the amount of exercise we are tasked with is too much for me to complete in a single day."
Ryan quickly burst into laughter but then his expression turned serious.
"Boy, do you want to attend Luna Academy or not? This is the bare minimum training I had to go through when preparing to take the Entrance exam. Now get down on your knees and start working!" Ryan said, his tone carrying anger.
'I might seriously die.'
Even though the amount of exercise they were tasked with was extremely excessive, Starry nevertheless complied. This might be his only chance to hone his physique during the month, as he was mostly going to be focused on forming the various Aura components within his body.
One…Two…Three…Four…
***
During the second hour of working out, Starry's arms gave out and he fell to the floor. In response to this, Ryan invoked a minor healing name to restore his physical condition slightly and alleviate a bit of the stress on his body before instructing him to continue.
***
9995…9996….9997…9998…9999…10000!
Finally after five hours, Starry had completed all of his pushups. During this time, he experienced excruciating pain as his muscles completely tore over and over, while his master invoked minor healing names to keep him from giving out completely.
The constant pain he had to endure while completing the pushups was comparable to when both of his arms were cut off by the gruesome entities during the first trial.
Seraphine and Maelis had both finished their pushups around the three hour mark and were already mostly completed with their squats.
'I can't take much more of this.'
Starry thought, as he looked for an escape from this unbearable torture. While he wasn't experiencing any pain within his arms anymore, that was simply because the nerve-endings on his arms were thoroughly destroyed. Ryan had said that after they completed working out the whole day that he would heal their broken bodies, but just completing the squats was already out of starry's reach.
He tried to run away, but Ryan quickly caught onto his schemes and summoned a whip, stating that he was allowed to leave, but only after he let him whip his back one hundred times.
Starry quickly abandoned all hope of escaping and begrudgingly started completing his squats.
One….Two….Three…Four…Five
***
Eventually after eight hours of unimaginable torment, Starry finally completed his squats. This time though, he fared slightly better than when he had completed his pushups as he had barely clung to consciousness during the last thousand squats. He had instead utilized his muscle memory to complete the last thousand or so squats, effectively avoiding some of the pain.
When Ryan caught onto this, he whipped Starry a few times, but in the end couldn't prevent him from avoiding some of the pain.
'Only ten miles to go. Then I can leave this hell.'
Starry thought, still clinging to a small shred of hope that once he completed this hellish workout routine he wouldn't have to do it again.
***
Starry eventually completed the ten mile run around the capital city's outskirts after three hours. It was now pitch dark outside, but he still returned back to the three of them. He was greeted by the sight of Seraphine and Maelis sparring, and Ryan sitting down in a chair enjoying a cup of tea.
"Master. I have completed the assigned task. May you please heal me?"
"Of course. Next we will be sparring for one hour. Prepare yourself to spar with me."
'We aren't done?'
Ryan quickly invoked an inferior rare healing name, which alleviated a large portion of the pain and healed his body enough to continue on.
'Is this a joke? I can barely walk and this evil trainer wants me to spar with him?'
Starry thought, but he was unable to voice his feelings as Ryan picked up a medium sized stick and rushed at him.
Starry immediately summoned Nola and attempted to defend himself. To his surprise Ryan feinted an attack towards his chest and instead chose to strike his right thigh.
'Just how much damage could a stick inflict upon me? This guy is beyond arrogant!'
Starry thought as the stick collided with his thigh, drawing blood. The second that the strike connected, Starry felt as if his thigh was electrified with pain. Looking down at the small stick, he noticed that there was a slight Aura trailing around the stick, as well as a few small arcs of blue electricity dancing around the stick.
Starry did not dare underestimate his tutor anymore, as he continued to spar with him. Even though Starry took on Ryan in earnest, he was still beaten black and blue repeatedly during the duration of an hour.
Eventually, an hour passed and Ryan stopped attacking Starry. Starry lay on his back exhausted with many cuts and bruises littering his body. This sparring session had taught him an important lesson; pain is the best teacher.
Seraphine walked up to Starry and poked his face a few times to ensure that he was still alive. Annoyed, Starry waved his arm at Seraphine in an attempt to shoo her away, but instead she grabbed his arm and invoked a major healing name of low tier. Instantly, the pain in his arm subsided, and a pang of warm electricity spread throughout his whole body, thoroughly refreshing him.
He quickly got up from the floor and repeatedly thanked her. Although this shocked Seraphine greatly, she still accepted his thanks nonetheless. The reason that it shocked her was because usually, after an intense workout, Starry would be unwilling to speak to her and would completely ignore her.
'He really did change.'
Seraphine thought, taking note of the small changes that she had observed in Starry throughout the week.
Although Starry had been thoroughly spent after the intense routine, after Seraphine had invoked that miracle name he was mostly refreshed. He also noticed that his muscles had grown to a visible degree, no longer looking like a somewhat skinny but lean boy. Instead he looked like a slightly less skinny but lean boy. This was an improvement that might have taken a month to make, but he had changed in only a day's time.
Interrupting his thoughts, Ryan walked up to him and said,
"Color me surprised kid. Your swordsmanship improved significantly since the last time we sparred. At this rate of improvement you seriously might have a chance at passing the Entrance exam to Luna Academy."
"Thank you master. It is only under your tutelage that I have come this far." Starry said respectfully.
"Nonsense. But it seems that this specific workout routine has helped you improve greatly. For the rest of the month we shall adopt this routine."
In truth although this was a hellish workout, it helped Starry refine his physique further and find out where his limits lie. This was important because during the process of forming an Aura Body, he would need to know precisely where his limits lie, to form an Aura Body best suited for him.
Ryan then looked upon his student proudly before walking away.
Before Starry could think further about completing this hellish routine every single day, he heard a voice come from inside the house.
"Dinners ready!" Leo yelled out.
Maelis and Seraphine quickly exchanged glances before walking back inside. Starry also followed suit. At this time, Ryan packed up his things and headed home.
Walking inside of the kitchen, Starry caught the scent of a delicious aroma. Looking at the table, there were four plates filled with steak, potatoes and vegetables.
They all promptly sat down and ate their dinner in silence, unanimously deciding that Starry was on cleaning duty today.
Seraphine stayed behind to help Starry with cleaning up and both returned to their respective rooms afterwards.
Upon returning to his room, he noticed that Nephim was lying down on his desk covered by a tiny blanket on a tiny bed reading a comic book. She looked at him briefly but then returned to reading her book. Starry couldn't help but laugh a little when he looked at her though, as the sight of a tiny fairy reading a proportionally massive comic book was absurd. Though Nephim acted as if he didn't exist and ignored his antics.
Starry then walked to the center of his room and started meditating, aiming to reach 20% completion rate of his Aura Core by the morning.
Starry eventually gave up around 16% completion due to mental exhaustion. Walking to his bed, he lay down and covered himself, thinking that perhaps life like this wasn't so bad after all.
***
Starry continued like this for two weeks before eventually forming his Aura Core. He endured that hellish workout, day after day, eventually reaching a point where it was no longer hellish but just taxing and tedious. During this time, his relationship with Seraphine and Maelis deepened, with Maelis no longer viewing him with extreme contempt, and Seraphine loving him just a slight bit more. He hadnt talked to Nephim much during the course of the two weeks, as after the first week of ignoring her, she eventually gave up on talking to him altogether, only speaking when absolutely necessary.
***
Starry lay in bed after another day of being abused by his tutor Ryan, and annoyed by his two sisters, Maelis and Seraphine. He didn't feel any particular way about Leo though, as they interacted very rarely throughout the week, usually ending in Leo giving him pointers about his sword style or conversing about cooking.
Starry was currently facing a dilemma though. Nephim refused to talk to him anymore, instead reading comic books all day or lazing around. It had gotten even worse after Nephim had gotten a smartphone, as she mindlessly scrolled through social media all day, but that wasn't even the worst of it. She would stay up late at night playing games on her smartphone, yelling and screaming in frustration when she would lose—which happened often.
After a long time contemplating his various choices on how to confront Nephim, he eventually landed on the most uncomfortable but effective choice.
Starry got up out of bed and walked over to his desk where Nephim laid on her tiny bed.
"Neph. We gotta talk."
"Inna minute. I'm playing right now." She said as she shoved cheeseballs down her throat.
Although this matter greatly frustrated Starry, he didn't want to anger her further by taking her phone away. So he waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually after an hour of waiting for Neph to finish, she finally said,
"This is what I hate about you. You're so stubborn. I obviously didn't want to talk and here you are waiting for me to finish a game I never started."
"Persistence isn't necessarily a bad thing Neph." Starry calmly said.
"Leave me alone. You don't need me anymore right? You already found a new girl to have fun with."
"New girl to have fun with?" Starry asked, confused.
"You're so annoying! Why don't you just shut up and keep flirting with Seraphine as you pretend to train!" Nephim yelled, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"So that's what this is about? You're jealous I'm spending time with other girls? You could've just said you wanted to spend more time with me."
"Fine. Maybe that is what this is about. Maybe I'm angry that you won't spend any time with me. Maybe I'm angry that you keep on flirting with Seraphine and not me. Maybe I'm angry that when I ignored you, you didn't even care at all." Nephim yelled, tears streaming down her porcelain face.
"Wait. Rewind that real quick. You're angry at me for 'flirting' with Seraphine instead of you?"
"I said what I said." Nephim said, her face turning bright red.
"Either way, I'm sorry for ignoring you this past week. You've been with me since the start of my journey and I would hate to see us break apart like this. You saved my life and I still haven't gotten the chance to properly repay you. Life is boring without you. I need you Neph." Starry said, tears starting to form in his eyes.
"I'm sorry Starry!" Nephim yelled, tears streaming down her face as her voice cracked. Her body rapidly transformed into that of a short but beautiful young human girl, closely resembling her previous form, but supersized. She quickly embraced Starry without giving him a chance to respond.
"I forgive you. But, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have ignored you all this time. Next time, ease up on the pranks though." Starry said, feeling the warmth of Nephim's body as she pressed against him.
"I won't ever play any pranks again" Nephim yelled, her voice breaking further apart, but continued,"so please dont ignore me like that ever again!"
"It's okay Neph. I won't ever do anything like that again. I'm the only person you can talk to and here I was, ignoring you." Starry said, feeling a slight kinsmanship towards her statement. He felt that somewhere in his heart, obscured by his odd memory loss, he had felt as Nephim had.
Pulling away but still keeping her arms on Starry's shoulders, Nephim looked him deep in the eyes, raised her right hand and said,"Pinkie promise?" Starry then raised his arm and interlocked his Pinkie with hers saying,"Pinkie promise."
An odd ripple in space then spread out from their hands, the origin being their pinkies. There was a good reason for this though, as in the Fairy culture, Pinkie Promises were commitments that had to be followed. This meant that Nephim could no longer play any pranks and Starry could never ignore her without permission from either one of them.
"Guess what, Starry" Nephim asked, still close to him,"What" he replied, curious as to what she was going to do,"Look at what I got you!" Nephim said, her voice regaining all previous energy. She then moved out of the way and revealed three items on his small desk. One was a new Smartphone, and the other two were the previous gifts that she had been given by "I am.".
"Well?" Nephim asked, her voice filled with energy,"Thanks Neph. With this we can play together now." Starry said in response, his voice somewhat sad. "We sure can! Come on! Download the game and then create an account!..."
Time passed as Neph and Starry lay on his bed playing the mobile game that Neph had constantly been losing in. To Starry's surprise, it was a very fun and refreshing experience to be doing something other than training, although the game itself wasn't the most interesting thing ever, the thing that made it most worthwhile was playing with Nephim. Eventually, Nephim gave out first, opting to change clothes and switch into her pajamas.
During the time that Nephim spent changing in the restroom, Starry got up from his bed and walked over to the desk, still clearly curious about the two items that Nephim had received from "I am." The reason that Starry kept on referring to the man as "I am." was because Nephim specifically had instructed him to never even think about his name or else he might suffer disastrous consequences.
Upon inspection of the two items, he learned that one was the diluted blood of "I am." mixed with the various races' royal blood. The worth of this item was immeasurable, as just owning the royal blood of just one of the races would be grounds for an all out war amongst the races. Needless to say, The worth of all of the various races' royal blood mixed with the bloodline of "I am" was worth more than he could even fathom. If word got out that he owned something like this, entire races could face genocide as the various old divine ranked monsters would come out of hiding to swipe up the tiny vial. Even though the small vial was worth so much, he wouldn't be able to absorb any of the bloodlines within it anytime soon, as the minimum requirement was that he had an Aura Body, Aura Soul, and Aura Core at the red-colored standard. Needless to say this feat was currently beyond him as he had barely managed to form his Aura Core and train it to the Purple-Colored standard.
This was already extremely impressive, especially considering that he had only been in direct contact with Aura for the latter half of two weeks. Nephim praised him for this feat, but said that she had met other fairies that had done the same in less time. She said that in order for him to be worthy of taking the bloodline, he needed to form all three components and raise them to the purple-colored standard within three months' time. Currently he had already spent nearly one month on the easiest component and was running out of time.
The reason why he was running out of time was because in one week he needed to take the Entrance exam to Luna Academy and hopefully pass.
He then started inspecting the other item—a small, seemingly wooden figure of a man sitting on a throne. He couldn't directly view the face of the man sitting on the throne, but based on where the small object had come from, it was clearly extraordinary. Unexpectedly, in contrast with the blood vial, this item had a description and name within the prestige.
**
**Eternal Name**
**A Figurine depicting "The Monarch"**
Description: A small wooden figurine depicting "The Monarch". Its origins are unknown. The figure seems to be a lock of some sort, which can only be unlocked once the individual holding it reaches the white standard in the Aura Body, Aura Soul, and Aura Core.
Item is Soul-Bounded upon contact.
Capabilities:
1. Stabilizes the principle of all things.
2. Guides all things towards entropy.
3. Indestructible and resistant to Aura.
**
While Starry didn't know who "The Monarch" was, he knew that it was certainly some person whose background was extraordinary, otherwise why would "I am." conveniently have a figure of him. Another curious thing about the small figure was its "Eternal Name" ranking. The prestige did not have a name-tier called Eternal, but this was likely due to the name's extremely special nature. Additionally, None of the capabilities seemed to be of any use towards Starry's current situation. He had no need for something that guided things towards entropy, or that stabilizes the principle of all things.
Hearing footsteps coming from the hallway, he put both items exactly back in their places and walked back to his bed. He then started changing out of his training clothes and into his pajamas. Nephim walked into the room, noticed him changing and promptly screamed at him for his lack of decency. Starry though, didn't understand why she was acting like this, as she had already seen his mostly naked body when signing the contract between them.
After he finished changing, he called Nephim back into his room and hopped into his large bed. Nephim then looked at the desk in the corner of the room before coming to a sudden realization.
She had no idea how to turn back to her original tiny fairy form!
Embarrassed, she asked Starry,"Starry. Can I sleep with you tonight? I don't know how to turn back into a little fairy." Starry then proceeded to look at her with a confused expression as if she had just said the dumbest thing in the world, before resigning and saying,"I don't mind. Just let me sleep though."
Nephim then clambered into the large bed, opting to stay as far away from Starry as possible. An embarrassed expression filled her face. She never knew what he might try to pull after all. Even though he was hundreds of years old, he was currently in the body of a growing teen. Much to her surprise and dismay, she noticed that Starry was already soundly asleep.
'This ignorant fool! A beautiful young girl is sleeping in bed right next to you and instead of making moves on her you sleep?!'
Enraged by his complacency and lack of embarrassment, Nephim decided that she was going to make him flustered one way or another. She quickly scooted closer towards him and started hugging his small body.
'Take this you stupid fool! Once you wake up and realize this beautiful fairy queen is clinging on to you, you'll die of embarrassment!'
She thought to herself, a smirk filling her face. Eventually, she fell asleep, still wrapping her arms around his small body.