Training to B

Vandrad had never been lacking in terms of physical prowess. Sure, he wasn’t the tallest man to grace the world of Earthland and as many had attested to, his hair growth was certainly unique and eye-catching. While all aspects of one’s form could be changed thanks to the wonderful world of magic, he never felt inclined or desirous of making any physical alterations – save one. As a child, he’d started out rather scrawny. Perhaps it was his genetic disposition, as he certainly wasn’t lacking for nourishment. As he continued to age, his body didn’t grow much more than beyond the barest of limits. For a boy who very swiftly began to understand how much he enjoyed battle, that was unacceptable. So he began training – he put his body, mind and soul through some of the harshest training regimens that even soldiers would have backed off of. As he continued to grow older, his body grew with it. By the time he had reached his full height, his body was a chiseled piece of work that lacked weakness.

It was fairly obvious as well; he wasn’t lacking for shape even as he strode around in armor. But when Mura had asked him to help test out the new training hall, give it a true deep dive to its abilities and possibilities, there was no way he could say no. He was surprised the guild master had been so keenly aware of what would interest the Prince but, that once again, probably had to do with how he looked. Nonetheless, he accepted eagerly. For the first time since he’d arrived, he appeared in a different outfit as he walked towards the training hall. Gone was the full armor and instead he now wore a black wifebeater and black shorts that came to an end by his knees. While he still wore the gloves and boots of his normal armor set, it was quite the different look for him. But he wanted to be able to move as loosely as possible within the confines of the hall.

He was required to partake in testing for a full week. Seven days to work out to his heart’s content and experience the full range that the training hall offered. The first day revolved around him testing the durability of the hall’s infrastructure as well as its programming. Magic blasts and beams were unleashed on every wall, the ceiling and the floor to see how much damage they could take. One rotation without Empowerment, another with his transformation activated and a last round with him passing the limits of that. Impressively, the room remained marked by his attacks but unbroken and frankly, a simple wipe down with a rag removed the blast marks. This was good – that meant he could truly unleash himself within confines of this room. After that, he took the time to alter some of the settings of the room utilizing the technology installed within. He could alter the weather to whatever he wished, raise or lower the temperature, change the surfaces to be as slippery as waxed ice and even increase the gravity. With his testing done, he performed a simple cardio routine to get a workout in and resolved to return the next day to begin the true training.

The next few days involved a lot of rigorous exercise that even Vandrad himself found to be pushing his limits. The weather changes proved quite the unique situation in which to perform basic, routine exercises. A few dozen push ups with sixty mile an hour winds and hail found quite the way of pushing a man’s mettle to his furthest extremes. Or setting the climate to a desert, raising the heat to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit and then going for a five mile jog would probably be considered literal torture. And true enough, the Prince’s muscles were aching and screaming at him after the second day of rigorous training, complaining about the punishment he had suddenly decided to put them through. But in Vandrad’s mind, pain was progress.

Each day he put on a different routine and practiced full workout cycles in each one. He trained nearly nonstop; only pausing at certain intervals to grab food and water and take a quick breather. By the fifth day, he was comfortable enough with the weather changes to add in magic practice; flexing out his spells under the new conditions to better prepare his magic for whatever came his way. But before he checked out on the last day, he decided to test out the one setting he hadn’t touched yet – the gravity panel.

The idea of changing gravity didn’t seem advantageous at first. The human body could only take up to certain amounts of pressure before it suffered painful repercussions. Then again, magic had a way of buffering some of that damage and allowing a person to grow beyond what might be considered normal standards. Vandrad didn’t waste the time testing just how much punishment his normal form could take and immediately engaged Empowerment, boosting his strength and durability. Even doubling the gravity of Earthland proved quite the test – trying to simply walk proved as much of a chore as the previous days had presented in their entirety. But the Prince was not gasping in agony or cursing the machinery as he walked out; in fact, he seemed downright excited.

The last two days, he was determined to get above two times gravity. He couldn’t just will himself to bypass his body’s capabilities; doing so was how a person wound up injured or worse. And while he was as stubborn as a mule, he didn’t like the idea of breaking his leg just by simply stepping. That was arguably more embarrassing. So he worked his way up slowly, spending precious time getting his body accustomed to the pressure weighing down on him. And as luck would have it, by the end of the seventh day, he was able to ramp up the setting to three times Earthland’s gravity and, at the very least, walk around.

He compiled a full detailed list of each day, explaining what muscle centers he focused on and when and passed the paperwork in for Mura to review. With any luck, he would deem the training center viable and allow it to stay. Vandrad had found an exciting new way to upgrade his routines and he wasn’t ready to let it go just yet.