Chapter 350 - Suit Of Crying

Mercury lifted the dumbbell a few times before he nodded, then he looked over at Mars and asked

"So that's the plan? To get ripped?"

Mars shook his head 

"Nah, you're going into the suit of crying"

"... The suit of what now?"

"Crying"

Fast forwards 30 minutes Mercury was running around an underground running track, wearing said suit of crying, it was more of a bodysuit only it weighed about 5 metric tones without hampering his sense of balance or movement, Mercury wasn't really running as much as he was just making the movements of running but in slow motion instead as he heaved for air, he had only been running for about 15 minutes with the other 15 minutes having been used to by Mars to persuade/threaten Mercury into the suit

"It's… Really… The… Suit… Of… Crying…"

Mars was sitting at the edge of the field while seemingly meditating but still, he had time to comment on Mercury's complaining

"If you have air to complain use it to run instead"

"Roger…"

"Very good"

As Mercury ran in silence the others were also busy training…

Julia stood with a bow, she quickly drew it back and released an arrow towards the target as it hit the target Chloe sighed before she spoke

"Well you're skills are quite good, though they could use some polish"

"Then what's the sigh for?"

"I've done this a little too many times by now, not to be demeaning but your talent is nothing special, though you've clearly worked hard to get to your current level, plus you use a crossbow, right?"

"Yeah, a semi-automatic self-loading crossbow"

"But it's still a crossbow right?"

"...Well yeah"

"Then all the influence you have on the bolt is when you pull the trigger, right?"

"Well… That and where I point it?"

"Exactly, then let me show you something…"

Chloe took picked up Julia's crossbow before she deftly checked over the construction before she nodded and took a shooting stance and rapidly fired off a few bolts at seemingly random, though the effect was terrifying as all of the bolts hit the exact same spot on the target, more precisely the bolts made a hole straight through the metal target with their combined might, Chloe then spoke

"Something like that, there's also this…"

She narrowed her eyes and a glint of red flashed before a bolt was fired at another target and penetrated right through the metal target like the other bolts had done

"The same effect, though I only use one bolt this time, could you tell why?"

"No… Though there was some sort of mana reaction…"

"That's right, I used a spell called 'Enchant' to superheat the tip of the bolt, thus allowing it to pass through the target and that's what I am going to teach you, how to quickly and efficiently enchant the bolts you're firing to increase your combat capabilities"

Julia nodded before she spoke

"I have an affinity for water magic, though magic is not my strong suit…"

Chloe nodded and showed a smile

"Then we have our work cut out for us"

"Ugh…"

Marie let out a grunt of disapproval as she attempted to get up from the ground, Varvei the half-dragon and one of Mars' wives sighed before she swung the viper spear around before she stabbed it into the ground and walked over and sat down in front of Marie as she spoke

"Marie, you're kind, that's your greatest weakness in a fight… especially since you don't make use of your eyes…"

"I am looking, you're just too fast…"

"Not like that, I mean use the real power of your eyes"

Marie's face sank before she sighed and admitted it

"I'm just… afraid of hurting people… Actually, the last time I used it, I… Hurt Naila deeply…"

"But you used it right?"

"....Yeah I did, in the heat of the moment I… Got angry"

"If you used it once, you'll use it again… So we need to train it, your Fire god's eyes"

Marie nodded and rolled over on her back where she gazed at the sky for a bit before she stood up again, then she turned to Varvei that was also standing and spoke

"I'll train my eyes, but not for myself... for Mercury's sake"

Varvei nodded and showed a smile

"That's fine, besides training your eyes we'll also go over the bestowed skill you received"

"Yes!"

78, the woman with the unique features of each of the 3 main races looked at Asma from behind, 78 had just given Asma a task and that was to select a weapon, Asma looked at the myriad of weapons that was contained in Mars' armory, she walked around the whole thing a few times before she finally selected a weapon, it was a curved singled bladed knife with a unique handle, it looked a little weird but basically, it looked like there were two handles, one normal and then another smaller handle on the end of the first handle, Asma put her hand on the smaller handle and pulled it slightly, to her surprise the second handle easily separated from the first with a thin wire connecting them, Asma's ears could hear something spinning inside the first handle as she pulled the second handle further out, she tilted her head slightly and asked 78

"This knife?"

78 nodded and received the knife from Asma before she explained

"It's a special knife alright… It's called a string fang and it's used both as a normal single-bladed knife, though you could also use it like this…"

With a silent click, the two handles separated from each other then 78 threw out the knife as she deftly manipulated the tread in between the two handles to strike the targets around her, the knife whistled through the air and precisely hit the vital parts of the targets before 78 pressed a button on the smaller handle and the knife was reeled back in and attached itself with a click, then 78 looked over at Asma and saw that Asma's eyes were shining brightly, then 78 nodded and showed a smile

"Then let's go with this"

"They call it 'Chrome lag'"

"Chrome what?"

"It's something every Boddy modder goes through, see that piece of metal that has become your right hand?"

Naila looked down at her prosthetic hand and nodded, meanwhile Mary continued

"That is a piece of metal, not your actual hand, not anymore anyway"

"I kno---"

"Do you? I mean do you really know that?"

"...What do you mean?"

"Say I asked you to put one of your hands into a forge, which one would you chose?"

"...Well my prosthetic hand of course"

"That's the Chrome lag right there, you hesitated for a moment, a moment was what you needed to remember that your right hand is no more, that it's a piece of metal"

"I see… and if I overcome this… Chrome lag I will become stronger?"

"Yeah, basically it's like a soldier learning what angle of the shield they can reflect attacks with and how high an angle is an outright block, there's a difference in there and that's what separates an armature body modder getting the newest, flashiest piece of chrome and an elite modified soldier sacrificing their artificial hand to disarm an H-bomb, or so Mars says anyways"

Naila looked at the blonde half elf in front of her and after hesitating a bit she asked

"So how do you train this?"

Mary showed a smile and spoke the obvious

"Well the fastest way is though combat of course"

"Great, I'll get my sword"

Mary showed a smile and shook her head stopping Naila in her tracks as she spoke

"Unarmed combat, your orpenet is going to be me too, aren't you happy?"

Naila felt the overwhelming flighting spirit that oozed out of Mary and showed a slightly trembling smile as she spoke

"Y-Yay?"

"What about me?"

Mary turned to Ben and showed a smile as she spoke

"You I have a special program for…"

"Which is?"

Mary cracked her neck before she gathered mana and in an instant, she appeared in front of Ben and… Poked him in the center of his forehead, Ben's eyes went wide before his body went limp, Mary grabbed his arm and laid him down on the ground before she showed a slight smile and muttered

"If your mind survives this I'll teach you, you bloodthirsty murderer"

Naila tilted her head slightly and asked

"Ben is a murderer?"

Mary nodded before she spoke

"Yeah… And it's not only 5 or 10 people he's killed, it's closer to 150… It's been a while since I've felt such a dense thirst for blood, though to his credit he seems to know it's wrong too and fights it, just not very well"

Naila narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at Ben, then Mary continued

"You can't blame him, it's the effect of an inborn skill"

"A skill?"

"Yeah, though I won't mention its name"

"Okay then… Let's start the training?"

"Yeah, let's go"