An hour after setting in, Lucian emerged from the depths of his bathtub once again feeling fully refreshed. He pulled the plug and let all the water drain out before stepping out, making sure to dry himself off thoroughly before getting into any of the good stuff. While his dorm was considered quite good for the conditions of this world, the insulation and ventilation weren't exactly top notch so he had to cover up quickly if he didn't want to catch a cold.
'Now, let's see if that was enough time to fully receive the effects of the herbal mixture.' Lucian gulped down a glass of water as he thought to himself.
He wasted no time in pulling up his stats, checking through them thoroughly.
[Name: Lucian Verdan. Age: 12. Sex: Male. Vitality: 1.01, Agility: 0.69, Strength: 0.6, Mind: 0.1. Status: Body is in peak state.]
'Yes! It actually worked.' Lucian had a rare moment of emotion when he saw his vitality surpassing the 1.0 mark. This was something to be celebrated after all, as it meant he had just officially taken his first step towards becoming an Apprentice Knight.
After this, all he had to do was push his agility and strength to the same point, and he could confidently call himself A knight. Though he wouldn't be a very strong one. But this didn't matter to Lucian — he wasn't interested in the strength the Knight training could give him. Instead, he was much more interested in what he could learn and gain from becoming a Mage.
After all, from what he had learnt during his short tenure in this world, it was that Knights paled in comparison to Mages. They couldn't even be compared on the same level; it would be a disrespect to the Mages to even consider this. And this was including the fact that Mages didn't even focus on strengthening the physical body — to them this was just a side effect not even related to their main path.
'I mustn't waste any more time here, though. Taking such a long bath meant reducing the amount of sleep I'll get tonight by an hour. I can't sacrifice my time spent training, so I'll have no choice but to cut back on sleep.'
Now that Lucian had confirmed his suspicions and taken a big step toward his goal, he set his mind on his next task — practising either his footwork or sword techniques. He thought it through for a little while before settling on footwork, though, as the time he'd have to spend on it was shorter, and it would be easier for him to focus on getting the techniques and movements right while there was still some daylight above.
If he left footwork till last, then he'd have to practice it in the dark, well into the night. He'd much rather choose to practice his sword techniques under such conditions than his footwork. He wasn't yet at the level where he could control the movement of his feet to such a degree required for the technique without keeping his eyes on where he was stepping, after all.
***
*Cough*
"Hahh… haahh.."
A few hours later, a sweaty and sticky Lucian stood out on the open grass, away from the hustle and bustle of the main areas of the academy. He'd just spent the last two hours going over the footwork provided by the AI improved Knight training method, and quite frankly… he was horrible. He kept tripping over himself, missed multiple steps and had to start over again, and even nearly tripped backwards onto the nearby path, potentially risking a serious injury if his neck or head slammed into the ground.
However, this embarrassing performance wasn't entirely Lucian's fault. Well, not the new Lucian at least. The easiest way to put it would be that his body was too frail and weak to keep up with the training methods described in his memories. They were designed to be used by people already above 1.0 in their stats, so it made sense why he struggled so much. That didn't make it any better for Lucian, though.
However, he could feel that his body did improve from this intense workout, and his wet, sticky and frankly foul smelling clothes were evidence of that. Despite his best efforts turning out to be the worst he could have imagined, it didn't stop him from working his hardest. For as long as he could remember, this was how his brain worked. No matter the outcome, he had to put his best effort in.
Lucian moved over to the side after taking a few moments to catch his breath. There, a few metres away from him, lay his old and rusty training sword. This thing was heavily neglected by his predecessor, along with the rest of the equipment he was wearing. Lucian was even annoyed to find out that they weren't even used at all ever since he was enrolled into the academy. He spent a good 5 minutes or so during a short break from his footwork training to check through his memories and found no recollection of ever having used them.
Scowling, he picked up the sword and patted some of the residual dust off. His actions when training his footwork earlier had already removed the dust and dirt from his leather armour. He didn't exactly need to wear the armour when training, but he wanted to get used to the feeling. Not only would it make it easier for him to manoeuvre during battle if he was already used to the flexibility allowed by his armour, but he would also know exactly how his sword techniques and footwork paired together.
There was no use training in his normal everyday clothes if, when he actually encountered any danger out in the wild or found himself caught up in a battle one day, he had to get used to the feeling of moving with heavy equipment on the spot. That would only put his life at unnecessary risk.
Step.
Step.
"Oho! If it isn't everyone's favourite Lucian." An annoyingly irritating voice interrupted Lucian while he was mid preparation.