Chapter 334: Like a Titan From the Tales of Old

It was like someone had taken a curtain off the world.

He could see better: colours were brighter, things detailed and objects easier to make out in the distance. He could also hear better: the musicality in a person’s laughter, the song of the wind, the thunder of someone’s heartbeat. His sense of smell was better, he could perceive scents in ways he never could before.

Taste.

Touch.

It was all enhanced.

Then there were other physical improvements: sharper reflexes, more flexibility. His thoughts came quicker, clearer, his stamina went through the roof and he’d even shaved another fifteen minutes from his sleep time.

He was renewed, like a whole new man.

And he loved it.

“I can’t believe getting that gunk out caused such a change,” he turned his hand, examining it; when he focused he could clearly see the pores of his skin. “I didn’t think it’d be this effective.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Theresa smiled, and for a moment, he was lost. He saw her in a new way. In new detail. Her gracefulness—a beauty he’d never seen before—took his breath away.

A few hours had passed since he’d thrown up all that black stuff into the bucket—which he’d disposed of down the drain—and he and Theresa had strolled to the beach on campus. After Selina went to school, and the huntress heard all about Alex heaving his guts out, they’d taken a walk to a special spot, the quiet beach where they’d ended the night on their first date.

Fall in Generasi was the opposite to fall in Greymoor.

The warm autumn sun shone down on ocean waves breaking on the shore while gulls cried above. He could hear every sound so clearly…he could even hear a fishing leap from the water in the distance. It was as if his ears had been cleared of wool he never knew was muffling his hearing.

“Hey, do you remember when dad ‘fixed’ the axle on the wagon?” Theresa asked.

“Yeah…” Alex said, letting himself get lost in her face. He watched her eyes getting lost in his too. “Your mom thought we might need a new axle, but your dad got down there and found all kinds of built up gunk stuck to it. Didn’t he take like half a day getting it all off?”

“Seven and a half hours to be exact,” she said, wryly. “He counted. And you remember how well the wagon worked after that?”

“Yeah…it was like a brand new wagon,” he said. “I remember him taking us out for a ride. Worked the horses hard. By the Traveller, it was like we were flying through the countryside.”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling at the memory. “It’s the same with our bodies. All that gunk was clinging to every little bit of you. It makes your body struggle more, work slower, causes more pain, you get sick easier…getting that stuff out’s really important. Even if you can’t cultivate…this is…” She sniffed, tears coming to her eyes. “I’m just so happy for you.”

He felt a lump rising in his throat. “I’m happy I get to share at least some of what you’ve been experiencing all this time.”

“It’s great, isn’t it?” she giggled, wiping his eyes. “It makes you feel like you can run forever.”

“Yeah…that’s a good way to describe it,” Alex said, looking at her curiously. “If this feels this…amazing, what does taking in nature’s energy feel like?”

She sighed. “Like you’re one with the world, just for a little while. It’s like feeling creation’s heartbeat and bringing it in time with your own. Or the other way around, I guess…what you’re going through…just keeps going. Your senses get sharper. You feel healthier. Stronger. You feel different...in the best way.”

“Well…even just this part is fantastic,” Alex said. “Now…I wanna go train. Let’s see how I do with all that gunk gone.”

Theresa’s smile was like the sun coming out.

She leapt up from the beachside table and began to stretch. “I thought you’d never ask. Let’s go!”

The huntress took off, racing across the beach in the direction of the gymnasium. A second later, and Alex was sprinting after her.

Except ‘sprinting’ fell short of what he was doing.

It almost felt like flying.

Every footfall was strong, catapulting him forward like a stone launched from a trebuchet. He laughed as the wind rushed by his ears, and Theresa laughed with him. With every pump of his arms, he closed the distance between them until he was beside her, almost running flat-out.

He wasn’t even winded.

“Great! You caught up!” She grinned. “Now we can really run!”

“Wait, what now—”

She was gone.

Alex’s jaw dropped.

“Hells!”

She’d gotten a lot faster over the past few months. With a whoop of excitement, he followed, running flat-out. Trees whipped by. Passersby turned toward them.

But they were gone in seconds.

Too soon, they reached the gym, and Alex felt like he could keep running forever. But, it was time for a different kind of training.

“Alright.” He ran the mana current through his body and cast Mana to Life. “Let’s get training.”

“Okay, let’s see where I am,” Alex said, approaching a weight bench. “You mind spotting my chest press?”

The huntress’ eyes ran up and down his body. “I don’t mind at all. The view’ll be great from up here.”

She stood behind the bar as he slid the plates on. Her eyes grew wider the more weight he piled on. “By the Traveller, how much is that?”

“Six hundred and ninety five pounds,” he said. “I’ve almost caught Thundar. Let’s see if I can close the gap today. You ready?”

“Sure am,” she said, holding her hands below the bar.

The fact that she didn’t flinch at the thought of spotting that much weight gave him an idea of just how strong she’d become.

“Alright.” He rubbed powder over his hands then slid onto the bench. “Let’s see if I can beat Thunda—Oh holy crap!” The bar felt like it weighed nothing in his hands. Nearly seven hundred pounds glided through the air.

He pressed the bar a few more times then—

Clang.

—racked it.

“We have to go heavier,” he said in excitement.

Theresa, almost giddy herself, went for more weight.

Clang.

Seven hundred and fifty.

Clang.

Eight hundred.

Clang.

Nine hundred.

Clang!

“More weight!” He was so pumped, he was twitching. “I can’t believe this! I feel amazing!”

Theresa slid more plates on the bar. “After this…we’ll have to move to a bench with a stronger rack and bar, this one’s starting to bend. Right now, the bar’s got…a thousand pounds on it! That’s more than some horses weigh, Alex.”

“Well…let’s see if I can lift a horse, then.”

With hands shaking, he closed them around the bar and inhaled.

Then pushed.

Slowly pushing a thousand pounds above his chest, then slowly bringing the bar back down.

Theresa gaped.

Then they looked at each other.

“More?” she asked.

“More,” he said.

They moved to a heavy-duty bench with a much thicker frame and bar, one he’d seen Grimloch and other immense folks using.

He’d never considered using it before, yet here he was, pushing his limits over and over again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

He finally hit his limit for bench press for the day at thirteen hundred pounds.

His forearms and triceps shook and he stretched them out. “I can’t…I can’t believe this. We’ve gotta test my limits for other exercises!”

“Let’s go,” Theresa said, almost as excited as he was.

Over the past two weeks, his numbers had exploded across every exercise. Today though, he’d eclipsed all of that. After a punishing series of tests that pushed his muscles to their limit, his maximums were on a completely different plane for the day.

695 lbs. → 1300 lbs. - bench press.

1,250 lbs. → 2,340 lbs. - deadlift.

1200 lbs. - 2,245 lbs. - squat.

560 lbs. → 1,050 lbs. - shoulder press.

5000 → Had to stop counting - push ups.

By the end of the session, he was exhausted…but completely elated.

“Holy shit,,” he said, lying flat on his back on the bench while catching his breath. “From what I read in my anatomy books, my body just passed the limits of natural human biology, it’s like I have a brand new super body, Theresa!”

“You lifted how much?” Thundar gaped. “What…no…that can’t be right.”

“Hey man,” Alex grunted, lying in bed while his body recovered. “The numbers…don’t lie.”

“No, that can’t be true. That’s impossible!” the minotaur cried, sounding a little hysterical.

“It is okay,” Prince Khalik patted him on the shoulder. “Being second strongest in the cabal is no shame.”

His grin was perfectly evil.

Thundar gave him a flinty look. “I hate you.”

Khalik’s smile grew wider. “Oh, I know. And that? That pleases me.”

The next week, Alex Roth’s continued to explode.

The gymnasium almost became his second home as he kept shattering his old records. His muscles burned, but in a good way, and recovered quicker than they used to. Session by session, his strength rose.

It was astounding how his body kept adjusting, getting stronger, growing beyond anything he'd ever expected.

He didn’t think this was what Val’Rok had in mind when he lent him Ito’s Spiral, but Alex had to make it a point to thank the Mana Manipulation teacher a thousand times over.

He started drawing a crowd when he went to the gymnasium these days. Some onlookers began taking bets on where his numbers would stop, while others cornered him, asking for his secrets.

Baelin was right.

He really did have to write that textbook one day.

As for his appearance, his muscles had stopped growing in mass, but seemed to be increasing in density. His body was solid like warm marble now, making his bed groan a little louder whenever he fell into it.

He kept going until…he finally plateaued.

Well beyond natural human limits.

“You can do it!” Khalik cried from the nearby bench. “You can do it! Just a little higher!”

“Hrrrraaaaargh!” Alex roared, finally getting the bar above the rack, then racking it with a thud. The noise echoed in the room.

His arms felt like jelly. His heart pounded like thunder.

This was it. This was where his body wanted to be.

“Well done,” Grimloch snarled, moving his hands away from the bar. As Alex’s strength increased, only Grimloch or Claygon were strong enough to spot him.

“That’s it, I’m done,” he panted.

“By all the gods,” Thundar grunted. “How much was that again?”

Alex looked up.

At the highest weights, lifters rarely used plates here in the gymnasium. Instead, enormous iron blockswere laid out for the most powerful life enforcement practitioners to use. The shark man regularly used them, but now, Alex could join him.

He looked at his friends: Theresa, Thundar, Claygon and Grimloch.

“One ton.” He smiled. “Two thousand pounds. Give or take.”

“What in all hells!?” the minotaur shook his head. “Alright, tell you what? Next time there’s a monster to wrestle? You do it. Theresa, Claygon, Grimloch and I’ll just watch, relax, and eat goodies.”

Alex laughed weakly, folding himself off the bench and picking up his notebook.

This time, he’d saved chest press for last and he recorded the final number, then reviewed all of them.

2,000 lbs. - bench press.

3,600 lbs. - deadlift.

3,450 lbs. - squat.

1,600 lbs. - shoulder press.

Don’t even bother - push ups.

In essence, physically—with his special training—he’d reached his peak of strength. In strength. Reflexes. Stamina and endurance. He was like a titan in tales of old. Combined with his potions, magic, friends and Claygon?

Alex Roth was feeling ready for anything.

“Those were the longest weeks of my life,” Catherine said, riding ahead of her two companions. “Leaving the wizard’s camp, getting away from the rest of the delegation, investigating those attacks and then riding all the way back here? I feel like I’ll be wearing the aroma of horse for at least a month!”

Above, a crow cawed, hopping from branch to branch in the canopy. The forest grew thick over the secret paths to Uldar’s Vale: just one of many defences that had kept it undisturbed, undiscovered and protected through time. Rioran should be feeling safe, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. Even here. The skin on the back of his neck felt like eyes were boring into it.

“It’ll be worth it,” Stanwic said, bringing up the rear and glancing over his shoulder. So far, none had followed, except local wildlife. “While Rioran breaking from the plan was frustrating, it might have been beneficial. We have much to report.”

“I’m right here, you know,” the sandy-haired man grumbled.

“Yes, well how much more would we have discovered if we could all have moved about freely for the entire time we were with those wizards?” Catherine shot a challenging look at Rioran. “Trying to take all the credit for yourself, are you? Uldar does not bless the selfish.”

“The only credit goes to Uldar,” Rioran said, glancing at the trees. “I—”

His words died.

There was a light ahead.

A green and gold light flickering in the distance.

His sword was in his hand in a heartbeat. “Something’s in the trees!” He pointed with his blade.

With the swift reaction of an angered snake, Catherine and Stanwic drew their weapons, turning their mounts toward the woods.

“What is that?” Catherine whispered. “A wizard? Did they follow us?”

“No…I don’t think so…hold your blades a moment, I think I recognize that light,” Stanwic said. “I saw something like it, far from the Vale when I was a lad. Follow me.”

The elder of the three spies slid off his horse, leading his companions into the trees with a stealth borne of a secret life lived in service to those on Uldar’s escarpment. Catherine and Rioran exchanged a glance and followed. They wasted no time bothering to secure their horses: vale steeds were trained to remain until their rider returned. They were a breed not skittish by nature.

As the trio approached the light, Rioran squinted to see through the darkness. A deep calm seemed to lay in the air. Peace. And a promise of fortune.

“What witchcraft is this?” he hissed.

“No witch had anything to do with this…” Stanwic smiled, stepping through a wall of trees and into a clearing. “This is all natural…congratulations, you’re two of very few in Uldar’s Vale to ever lay eyes on an Aeld tree.”

At his words, crows burst from the canopy, chattering and screeching, raising a mighty racket. In Rioran’s paranoia, he could’ve sworn their caws were cries of triumph.