Extra's Abyss-Chapter 17: Training[1]

"Lady Ericka, about the information gathering, young Master Noctis suggested a few days ago an idea of his," having remembered his talk with Noctis back at the restaurant.

Brad reported everything he heard from Noctis and included his own suggestions in the plan.

"Hmm, I suppose that would help in some way; you can go ahead and buy that auction business. It should cost a couple of bits." Holding her chin, she nodded as she thought about it.

"Okay, both of you are dismissed. I will be on my way to the training room." Stretching her hands back, she walked away while gesturing with her hand for them to leave.

A few minutes had passed since she instructed Nox to run around the training room. Walking in the hallway, she glanced around, feeling a little nostalgic.

'Adric is dead, Lily has vanished, and now Grace has left as well; where and how did this tragic sequence of events even begin?' Only the sound of her heels clicking was heard as she made her way, her head staring at the ground, feeling melancholy.

'Grace, you must have found some leads to Lily, right? or else you wouldn't have left little Nox here. '

'For the past few months, I couldn't find the perpetrator who was behind this little assassin group, but now that I have a few leads, I'll make sure to pay them back as much as possible for what they've done to your family, Grace.' Ericka's face tensed for each second, clenching her fists so hard they started to turn white, her mana rioting inside her, responding to her intense rage.

Having nearly arrived at her destination, she let out a deep sigh, calming herself. She entered inside.

The training room of the Nightryn's family was quite large; she spotted a small figure running slowly, breathing heavily as if he was deprived of oxygen.

"Oh boy, this is a little worse than I thought." Murmuring to herself, she rubbed her temples while making some quick adjustments to her training plan.

---------------------------------------------------

A few minutes ago,

Noctis just walked out of the room, and after he was a little distance away from his Aunt Ericka, he finally let out a breath of relief.

He felt nervous at first but eventually relaxed and successfully avoided raising suspicion.

The game didn't showcase the other characters well. Aunt Ericka is truly stunning. Shaking his head, he entered the training room and changed into his tracksuit.

'Five laps, ha! Just when I was thinking of giving up a few days ago when I barely ran five laps around'. Taking a deep breath, he began to run.

One lap done, two laps done, three laps done.

Breathing heavily, Noctis moved his tired legs forward. 'How the hell do those main characters even have the spirit to do this?'

His mouth was dry, and feeling his heart beating violently, he finished the 4th lap.

'Okay, last lap. I am tempted to just stop now and lie about completing it. I don't know if she would use her mana sense to check up on me; it's better I just do it than get an earful later.

Feeling a little hyped up about the last lap, he increased his speed, or so he thought.

Halfway through the lap, he faintly heard the door opening; he didn't turn as he continued, and finally, after what felt like hours, he finished his five laps in a few minutes.

"Your physique is in a lot worse state than I expected, Nox," he heard a gentle voice above him; her words stung him a bit.

He managed to speak through his ragged breathing, "Y-yeah... I..." Ericka shushed Noctis, stopping him.

"Take a few minutes to rest for now."

Noctis nodded lightly as he calmed down his breathing and sat up after a few minutes. He noticed his aunt seated in front of him, gazing at him serenely with a warm smile.

He felt his face heat up a little at her stare. She stood up and walked up to him, placing her hand on his chest.

"Wait a moment, Nox; I need to check something with your core." He nodded, feeling a warm mana flowing through her hand to his chest.

"O-oh, okay," he complied.

If he recalls correctly, Ericka was an Aether resonator, which gives the user control over the elements of life, light, and soul.

'Oh yeah, I need to check her status.' A blue screen appeared in front of him.

[Status]

Name: Ericka Von Sivonne

Rank: A+ (Sage)

Resonance Elements: Aether (A+) ƒreewebɳovel.com

Unique Skills: Berserker Angel (A)

'Hmm, same rank as in the game; she's probably invincible under S ranks, and this Berserker Angel, I can understand the angel part, but berserker?'

This was the second unique skill he came across, and just like before, he doesn't have any information regarding skills other than the main characters and a few S and above rank skills.

'Sivonne? That doesn't sound familiar to me.'

Ericka took off her hand as she smiled at him. "Good, there's nothing wrong with your core. Brad informed me that you were showing signs of being emotionally unstable after Grace disappeared."

"So I had to double-check if there were any signs of corruption in your core." With a nervous nod, Noctis looked up at her, who was more than a head taller than him.

"Next time, make sure to inform me at the slightest signs of corruption in your body to prevent any risks, okay?" Noctis nodded at her.

"Let's continue. I prepared a training routine for you. You will follow this for the next few weeks, and it's only body strengthening for now," Ericka said seriously, sitting back in her chair.

Noctis didn't refuse it; he was curious about other stuff, but this comes first.

"I will inform Lira to prepare a set of specific nutritional monster meats for your diet." Noctis nodded. "It won't taste good," she added.

"I have already checked your body's condition; it's really in a fragile state, and we need to build up your strength first before moving on to anything else." Noctis listened intently.

"Now stand up, start with a light set of exercises to build up your strength and stamina. Each day I need you to complete at least 20 squats, 20 push-ups, and 5 minutes of planking twice, once in the morning and once in the evening," Ericka's firm voice sounded, almost sounding like a military officer. His face was already turning a little pale, and he was wiping his sweat.

'Ahh, what did I get myself into! I can already feel the bad ending patiently cleaning its scythe'.

"R-right n-now?" His voice stuttered, feeling his soul slip out.

Ericka nodded her head. "Yes, right now. Come on, you can do this. Let's start with the squats."

Her answer snapped him out. He got into the position and started doing squats. He was expecting to get right into combat stuff or how to use weapons.

Letting out a sigh, he continued for a bit and finished them; twenty squats were quite easy.

'Now the push-ups.' As he got to the near twentieth count, his arms were really sore and very achy, begging him to stop. His face flushed, turning red as he completed them, and falling to the ground face first, he let out a long groan.

Ericka just watched him do the light exercise, chuckling at his groan at the end. "Now, take a minute to rest and get ready for the plank."

The plank was easily the toughest exercise, and holding it for 5 minutes, which was 300 seconds, felt like pure agony. His frail body trembled like a twig in a windstorm, barely clinging on to not get blown away.

By the end, he collapsed onto the training room floor, limp as a worm, too exhausted to rise. Moments later, he fainted, his breaths shallow.

Ericka took out a book from her ring, planning to wait for Noctis to wake up. Reflecting on the moment she scanned his body, Ericka recalled finding something intriguing.

'His soul has become a lot stronger than before, which is causing his body to be on the verge of collapsing. Something seems to be holding both of them together. Is it a unique skill he was born with or something else? Unique skills can't be sensed by anyone unless the user themselves reveals them to others.

She too, was a unique skill holder; she got it by absorbing a law shard acquired after completing a set of trials in a fractured world, where there was a set of bloodied angel statues in a temple.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she glanced back at the little boy sleeping on the floor. 'Along with the usual routine, he will need to study for his exam in 2 years, and I will start to teach him about combat once he has enough strength.'

With ample time to manage the training she has outlined for Noctis, she refocused on her book.