(Cover made by my dear friend MPTARTS. mptarts on Instagram)
(A/N)
Essiter: Well I had an exam that required me to be up super late and sleep deprivation somehow gave me story ideas but my brain does this thing where if I don't write it down immediately then I'll forget XD hence the two chapters in two days. Speaking of chapter here's another :D
And for the Kael brothers? No, It'll be explained eventually and The duel will probably be within 5 chapters or so?
Hangee: Got some sleep. Here's some chapter :)
Guest: Nah, This may be a redemption arc but he's gonna have to earn it. Other wise it ain't going to be much of an arc :D
Spenge: ong fr fr. mf is balling
Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-five. Cardin grunted as he hit his upper limit. His shirt straining as he held the dumbbell up. Wincing as he felt the familiar burn spread through his bicep before slowly lowering the dumbbell to his side and letting it fall to the ground.
"Magni and Modi..." Cardin muttered to himself as he grabbed a drink from the employee lounge, a towel around his neck as he waited for his client to show up. The gym owner had taken only one look at him, Offered to pay him 45 liens for each client he brought in on top of the monthly salary of his other employees. Cardin didn't waste any time to take up that offer. He got to workout for free and he get to earn money.
"Open up the mandatory task."
QUEST:
{Duel of Kael: Test of Strength and Courage}(Incomplete)
TASK:
Defeat Magni Kael and Modi Kael in a two on one duel(X)
?(X)
?(X)
Rewards:
Defeating the Kael brothers: (Vestige of ?) and
?
?
"CARDIN? YOUR CLIENT IS HERE" The owner shouted from the front as Cardin sighed, His examining of the quest and rewards will have to wait until after instructing his newest client. Not all of them were to better themselves, Cardin learnt from a few grabbier clients. He really hoped this one wasn't one of those.
"Welcome to Ponos' gym. I'll be your instructor tod-" Cardin froze when he realized that the reason for the exuberant amount that he was paid was because instead of one client, He was training four. To make matters worse? It was Velvet's team with their leader at the helm, Examining him. "Hello... Cardin"
"H-hello." Cardin answered nervously. His shirt felt too tight, His pants felt too long, His body felt too hot and the sweat clinging to him was starting to annoy him. This was not normal.
It is indeed not normal!
The system's helpful confirmation ignored. Cardin led the quartet further into the gym, As he did so, He felt the four pair of eyes digging holes into his back but he tried his best to ignore said stares before he sat down on a bench and turned to the four and gave them what he hoped was his best smile, "So. What are you four looking to work on today?"
"Oh, we are just tagging along. Your real customer is her" Coco said as she moved aside to reveal Velvet in sports bras and tight-fitting yoga pants with her hair tied up. Cardin swallowed nervously as he nodded before looking at Velvet, who was fidgeting nervously and not meeting his gaze. ...Oh shit
SIDE QUEST:
{A bunny gotta excise too!}
Help Velvet with every excise she asks for!
TASKS:
Complete the workout session(0/14)
Rewards:
Upon completion: (Tower of Hanoi) and (Gamer's body)
"So.. uh, Velvet, What do you want to train on today?" Cardin asked curiously. His body calming down somewhat as his mind starts to shift into coaching mode. Velvet jumped a little in surprise when he talked to her but she quickly brought out a long list from her pockets, "w-w-well. M-mostly legs"
Cardin nodded as he took the list and balked at the sheer amount of leg excise that Velvet had jotted down on her paper. After a careful examination however, He quickly smiled
"You can actually shorten your list. Majority of what's on here is just a version or variety. Unless that was your intention, You can just do more of the others" Cardin said helpfully as Velvet's ears perked up and she flushed a bright red. A trio of snickers and a quiet "I told you so" were heard but quickly stopped when Velvet turned to glare at her team
Adorable
Adorable
"Th-that will be good." Velvet agreed as she took a deep breath before quickly adjusting her list and adding more excise to her upper body and more excise that makes Cardin not want to kill himself. "What should we start off with?"
"Up to you, I may be the coach but you get to decide what you want to do. I'm just an advisor" Cardin said as Velvet nodded before immediately pointing to the squat rack.
"Let's get legs out of the ways then!" Velvet said as Cardin nodded. Cardin immediately racked up the weights while Velvet started to stretch. Noticing the lack of an instructor stretching next to her. Velvet turned to Cardin curiously, "You aren't going to stretch?"
"Well, I usually don't stretch before work-outs, Only afterwards. Works best for me but if it eases your worry. I've been working out for two hours" Cardin said as he easily unracked four hundreds pounds from the squat rack with ease and started to begin his set. Ignoring the two wolf whistle that echoed in the gym as he counted the reps
"Are you using aura?" Velvet asked curiously behind him and he paused before turning his head slightly to respond, "No, It's less effective if you use aura. So when I ask you for how much weight you want. Do your amount without aura"
"Any reason?"
"Well, Your aura boosts your strength, Yes your muscle will still get micro-tears and rebuild itself stronger but if you do it without your aura boosting your strength but rather your healing? it gets you more result. you are able to work longer AND get better results"
"ohhhhh"
Cardin reracked the weights as he waited for Velvet to finish her stretching, His eyes roaming over her body as she did her perfect split. A flexibility that Cardin could never hope to achieve. His eyes wandered over every detail of her body before their gaze met. Indigo met Coffee.
"I'm ready" Velvet answered, No shyness or redness as she stood up. It was surprising to see that there was no reaction to seeing Cardin basically checking her out as Cardin coughed into his fist nervously and forced him focus to the task at hand. Focus Cardin, Focus. This is a job.
"So... How much are you thinking?" Cardin asked as he placed a hand onto the plates before Velvet shook her head and got under the bar, Causing Cardin's brow to raise but he nodded and positioned himself behind Velvet, "Be careful and don't push yourself too much. I'll spot you"
Velvet quickly began her set with Cardin behind her, His eyes never leaving her body as he took in every detail and every flaw, He readied himself when he saw Velvet's legs shaking from the amount of weight but didn't rush to help, "UP UP UP"
His shouts seem to fuel Velvet as she slowly started to rise against the weight on her back, Her face twisting in exertion as she let out a shout and got the weights up with Cardin moving swiftly to help her rerack the weights.
"Good job, One thing I'd say is go deeper during your squats and have your feet parallel to each other" Cardin said as Velvet nodded, Exhausted from the set as Cardin handed her a bottle of water and towel. It was obvious that Velvet was pushing herself but Cardin was kind enough to not say anything.
"Look at that man flirting with the animal. What has Vale come to"
"I know right? She would have been cute without those disgusting ears"
The words that Cardin would once agree with now caused his brows to knit together as he spun around, His expression no doubt angry as the two that were talking shit quickly turned around and returned to their workout. Both of them looking frailer than a piece of paper, Turning around to Velvet he said loudly
"Good job doing that set Velvet, Keep that up and you'll be looking like a supermodel in a month unlike those skeletons standing behind me" Cardin said proudly with a smile, No words in that sentence was exaggerated as Velvet flushing slightly under the complements and said skeletons turning around with indignation clear across their face.
"Excuse me?!"
"You take that back!"
Cardin only stared at the two of them before giving them his signature arrogance grin
"Squat more than me and I will"
The two quickly backed down and minded their own business but Cardin purposefully ignore the thumbs-up Velvet's team shot towards him as they walked over the two with masks in hand. Turning back to Velvet, who look none the wiser, Cardin smiled, "Let's continue"
"You really think I'll look like a supermodel if I continue this routine?" Velvet asked as she looked at her physique, Cardin was not ashamed to admit in his mind that his eyes drifted to a certain area incredibly fast. He was a teenager again after all and in front of him stood an incredibly attractive girl. Cardin scoffed as Velvet turned to him confused.
"Is that a no? was it just a taunt?" Velvet asked curiously, Although Cardin could hear a little bit of disappointment in her voice. Cardin quickly shook his head to clear up the misconception, "No no, Everybody in Beacon and huntsmen academy has incredible physique because they've been training all their life, What I'm trying to say is that- you would look better than any supermodel I would see"
Velvet and Cardin blinked in sync before Velvet's entire face flushed red and she started stuttering. Cardin kept his calm but inside his brain. Everything was on fire and nobody could find the extinguisher, SYSTEM WHAT THE FUCK
You're welcome by the way.
+1 Charisma... Just kidding, We still don't have that
"Anyways... Let's continue?"
"y-y-y-y-yeah"
And the stuttering is back, god damn it
But it's adorable~
Shut up
A lot of aggression but not a whole lotta complaining. Just saying
I wish that bullhead had killed me so I didn't have to deal with you
Luv you too honey
-(One incredibly awkward hour later)-
(Cardin)
"See you Velvet, Same time next week?" Cardin asked as he leaned against the table, Velvet smiled at him and nodded before waving her goodbye, Coco shooting him a sly grin before walking away with Velvet, They had made a far distance away when Coco elbowed Velvet slightly, "He was definitely checking out your bunny ass"
"COCO"
"What? I'm not wrong, I know I definitely was"
"COCO YOU CANT JUST- ARGH"
Cardin's face flushed red as he overheard the conversation but that embarrassment was quickly distracted by the System rewards that popped up in front of his eyes.
{A bunny gotta excise too!}(COMPLETE)
TASKS:
Complete the workout session(14/14)
Don't check out Velvet(X)
Rewards Granted:
Complete the workout session:(Tower of Hanoi) and (Gamer's body)
Not checking out that hot piece of meat: Title (Gentleman)
Cardin was sure that his face wouldn't be able to return to it's original color for at least a few minutes while the system reminds him of the workout session. He was a teenager, Cut him some slack if he's interested in hot woman, Wouldn't it be weird if he didn't?
All I'm hearing is excuses, Besides. Vale's racist, Not homophobic
Cardin rolled his eyes, "Like that's any better"
At least it's not as bad as Atlas...Inclusivity win?... Kind of?
Cardin sighed as he opened up the reward description, Done with the mocking of the System and in a very poor attempt to distract himself from the images that keep flashing across the forefront of his mind, Hint it began with V and ended with elvet.
I KNEW IT
SHUT UP
{Tower of Hanoi}
Samguk Yusa Tower of Hanoi, Hailing from the land of ?! $#. It's main objective is to teach the player about cultural and history of ?! $#
But for your sake? It's a glorified dungeon crawler.
Effects: (Place the Tower of Hanoi onto the ground and stop it's solving at random. Failure in stopping it will result in battle on Floor 64th)
(Each floor will give random loot: Skill books, Weapon, Future knowledge. Passive skills)
Whilst in the tower. Time freezes for everybody else.
Cardin hummed appreciatively at the reward. It's could act like a training room for him and he gets loot out of it. He would have to exploit this whenever he could. He summoned his rewards to him as a block of wood with three prongs sticking out the top with 64 golden disks stacked on one of them appeared in his grasp
"Cool! Let's see the other one"
{Gamer's body}
"It's a videogame, it's not real" - Every child ever
Effect: (Your body will never feel the effect of hunger, thirst, or sleep ever again. Wounds seal up in the matter of seconds. Fatal wounds no longer kill but will take away majority of your health. However. The agony of the wound will linger)
"This... This could really help me in the duels" Cardin said excitedly as he read the description of the Gamer's body over and over again. he would essentially never need to sleep eat or drink. Pairing this with the Tower of Hanoi? Infinite dungeon grinding and infinite loot... if he could beat the floor. But he was Cardin Winchester. Of course he could beat the floors.
"Definitely testing this out back at beacon"
YAY FILLER CHAPTER NEXT
"What?"
What?
2,434 Words
Anyways. That's chapter 4! Cardin now got the infamous Gamer's body and the pocket dimension creation! what will happen next? Stick around and find out
And if this story doesn't update in a long time? I probably got burnt-out but It won't happen... probably
Comments and Criticism welcome!