80 Sixth Day

Waking up, like usual Mitsuna woke up Natash right after stretching.

This time she didn't push her but pet her head. With a hard chop.

"Nye?!"

"Come on. Time to hunt."

"Just pushing me out of the bed is better, yes."

Walking out of the house with the usual atmosphere, they started making their way to the forest.

"How about we don't do boars today?"

"A rabbit is fine, yes."

Catching a rabbit with the regular plan, Mitsuna was surprised to see it protect her children that were hiding in the bush.

"Let's leave the children."

"Why?" Natash asked.

Shocked by the question, Mitsuna tried to find a reason besides her own self-interest.

"If they grow up then we'll be able to catch them and get more meat than if we hunt them now. I'm thinking long term."

"But without their mother, they have nearly no chance to survive that long. Killing them now would be like mercy, yes?"

Surprised by Natash suddenly showing such a side to her, Mitsuna told her to leave them and that it would just take more time to skin them all.

Natash soon after replied with a short 'fine' and they moved on.

'Maybe Natash was just thinking efficiently. I did do it just out of self-interest after all.'

Reaching home with an adult rabbit, they made a soup because 'bread would make them fat' is what Mitsuna and Natash both insisted on.

Eating a nice bowl, they went to train like usual.

Today they continued stamina training with the usual planking technique.

Mitsuna could now hold 3 plates for 8 minutes while Natash could hold 5 for 4 minutes.

After the training, Mitsuna took a deep breath.

'We stink.'

Asking her teacher if they could take a bath after training today and receiving a nod, Mitsuna was fired up.

'Now that I think about it, the last time I had a good bath was nearly two weeks ago at the castle.'

Finishing her 8,000 sword swings by sundown, Mitsuna's mood was ruined by a new exercise.

This time it was sitting against the wall.

Empathy wasn't content with just that as she made them hold the plates that were on their backs at the same time.

"Today's mission is to stay like that for 5 minutes. With two plates. You have until midnight, after that you can go have a wash."

On their first try, due to the sudden change in exercise technique, Mitsuna managed to hold for half a minute while Natash managed for three-quarters of a minute.

This was when they had only one plate mind you. The sudden change of holding both hands straight out and balancing heavy metal plates on them was gruelling to their bodies.

On their second try, Mitsuna managed 40 seconds while Natash managed a minute.

At this rate, Mitsuna was going to fail and Natash was barely going to make it.

After their second attempt, they laid on the ground.

While Natash was breathing heavily, trying to rest up for her next attempt, Mitsuna was thinking.

'A way to conserve stamina and strength...'

On their third try, Mitsuna barely managed 50 seconds while Natash managed a minute and a half.

They currently had a little under an hour to complete the exercise as the brakes they took in between were slowly getting longer and longer.

During their third break, while Mitsuna almost looked like she was down for the count, Natash stood up and went to try again.

'A way. I can think of a way.'

Setting her mind on her current body, Mitsuna was thinking of a solution.

'I need a way to supply my muscles with more oxygen. Since training my lungs and heart is one of the only things I can do to increase my stamina for now... I need a way to breathe better. Or a way to get my heart pumping fast.'

While Mitsuna was thinking, Natash had finished her fourth try. She came back with the high score of two and a half minutes.

'Since teacher had forbidden me from using [Mana Reinforcement] I need another way...'

Natash stood up for her fifth try.

'The only things I can think of is to change the way I breathe, concentrate more on my stamina conservation or to change the passive mana flow within my body. Since none of those have anything to do with my skill, teacher shouldn't be mad...'

Natash came back with the record of 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

At this time, Mitsuna was now breathing calmly.

'Is she giving up?' both Empathy and Natash thought as they hadn't seen her try in a good while.

They now had under half an hour to finish their mission.

'Let's try breathing.'

Breathing in deep, Mitsuna felt how oxygen filled her body. Trying the same through the nose, she immediately threw that idea in the bin as it was way less efficient.

Trying to breathe as fast as possible, she noticed how the oxygen didn't reach far.

Trying to find the perfect rhythm, Mitsuna completely focused on this one task.

Ignoring everything else, even when Natash had asked her if she was fine, Mitsuna just silently continued breathing.

After finding a good rhythm, Mitsuna tried different ways of breathing.

Full open mouth, mouth and nose, slightly open mouth, nose only... This continued for 10 minutes.

Still not figuring out a way, Mitsuna kept trying while multitasking and slowly changing the way her mana flows.

Normally, all living beings on this world have mana naturally flowing through them and strengthening them over time as you age.

Mana flows inside blood vessels and the more purified and stronger your blood, the stronger the mana flow that in turn strengthens your muscles and blood.

Now, what would happen if the mana was used to strengthen not just the muscles and blood but the vessels carrying it?

What Mitsuna was doing was essentially changing the way she aged.

Nearly two minutes later, Natash had finished and was waiting for Mitsuna to get to it.

"She has about 10 minutes."

...

2 more minutes passed and Mitsuna managed to change the way her mana flows inside her body.

The result was that the mana flowed not in the blood but around the vessels in a spiral.

The vessels themselves had changed as well.

They no longer just helped the heart pump the blood but also enriched and strengthened the blood themselves with the help of the surrounding mana. Along with having the blood flow faster like a vortex, the mana kept the vessels stable.

And with her mana flow strengthening the speed of her blood flow, her stamina had increased by another level.

But Mitsuna was not stopping there.

After a good long while, Mitsuna had finalized her breathing style.

She had her mouth slightly open while her teeth blocked most of the air.

Although it seemed inefficient, this breathing style was perfect for the rhythm she had found.

Opening her eyes, Mitsuna still had sweat all over her face.

She had just enough time. 6 minutes to complete the mission given to her by her teacher.

Mitsuna took the two metal plates and got into position.

Her breathing could be heard all the way inside the house in her room.

It was like sizzling.

Mitsuna's eyes were closed as she focused on this one task.

At the end of the 5 minutes, Mitsuna opened her eyes and let the metal plates hit the floor.

Taking a deep breath while leaning on the wall, Mitsuna was greeted by her teacher.

"Now what do we have here?" Empathy asked while analyzing Mitsuna and adjusting her glasses.

Natash was sitting not too far away, she was happy that Mitsuna had completed her mission and even happier that both she and her teacher were right.

When Mitsuna was still deep in thought, they made a bet.

"She will finish in time."

"I think so too, yes."

"Wanna make it a bet?"

"How?"

"If I'm right you'll have to get me boar tomorrow."

"But I also think she will make it, yes."

"Exactly. No chance for me to be wrong. Hehehe."