Changes in Training Plans

It was an awkward moment where 2 people suddenly aware of each other.

But then, Ray remembered something very vital.

"Artoria, can you transform your body? It'll be weird if people suddenly see you become so... adult" Ray said.

Like she has received a command, Artoria's body transformed back to what she used to have.

The armor was still the same and only the size changed to perfectly fit Artoria's more... 'diminutive' body. It was like the armor itself is a Goddess Rainment.

The dim golden hue in her pupils did not change as well. This fact made Ray nervous. He can only hope that people will not notice.

Ray looked at the clock that said 6 A.M.

Ray desired some more training. There are a lot of seconds in a 10-year period from which he can utilize the [Training Ground] and Dungeon to the point of misuse.

"I want to start the training now," Ray said.

Artoria nodded and closed her eyes. Her body changed to normal and the golden hue in her pupils got brighter.

Ray knew the Goddess has occupied Artoria's body. So, without further ado, Ray grabbed the Goddess's shoulder and teleported them to the [Training Ground].

Arriving at the [Training Ground], the Goddess summoned Rhongomyniad and said, "Let me test your capabilities first."

Without any warning, Ray's stomach was stabbed.

Ray tried to move out of Goddess's attack trajectory, but he was not fast enough to do it.

Before Ray can spit out the forming blood on his mouth, Goddess and her lance were nowhere to be found.

A hole the size of a soccer ball on his stomach can be seen. As painful as it was for Ray, he did not let down his guard. He put his trust in Avalon to heal him.

Ray summoned Excalibur to his hand and took a stance.

Although he can defend inside Avalon's bounded field, Ray did not know this Goddess capability.

Having a false sense of security can be a downfall when fighting a battle he knew would result in a defeat. So instead of summoning Avalon to defend him, he relied on his [Instinct].

Ray moved Excalibur to his left side from which the Goddess tried to stab him again. But then, she let go of her lance and moved in with Excalibur.

Ray did an upward horizontal slash to defend and if possible, counter the attack.

The two Excaliburs hit, making a shockwave strong enough to push people.

Goddess still has a blank look on her face. Everything that Ray did, as of now, was very disappointing.

Then, she kicked Ray's almost healed stomach and threw him away. His organs around the stomach were ruptured.

Like a bullet cutting through the wind, Goddess gave chase. It did not take a second for her to arrive and slashed Ray in twain.

Summoning the Rhongomyniad back to her hand, she conjured a light to the tip of the lance and fired it towards Ray's lower body. As a result, every part of his lower body was destroyed.

As she knew Avalon cannot heal him back if his brain is destroyed, Goddess then did a full-powered punch to his chest.

Like holding a plastic bag, Goddess held the only thing that remains after her attack, Ray's head with a pained look on his face.

Moving Ray's head to her eye level, they were looking at each other's eyes. Although Goddess still had the blank look, her chest felt hurt.

"It seems that she did not like my way of handling things," Goddess mumbled as she closed her eyes.

Then, she sat down and put Ray's head on her thighs while caressing his head.

Goddess knew Ray was trying his hardest to stay conscious. So, she helped Avalon's passive healing by inserting her power into it.

Ray went full health in less than a second, complete with his body. Even after he was fully healed, she still caressed his head.

"I will change your training regimen. Based on your very lacking capabilities, you are nowhere near even my lowest expectation." Goddess said.

Instead of feeling sad and angry, he replied with a resolute determination, "Yes!"

She then explained what she has in plans for Ray.

The Goddess wanted to improve his agility first. Because improving strength when Ray's body cannot respond to the first attack, which she did not even use a percent of her power, will be useless.

Although it did not change the overall training, she did choose an efficient and more violent method.

After she finished explaining her first training, there was only silence.

"So, from you and God? Which one is stronger?" Ray asked.

"He was still stronger than me." Goddess simply answered.

Ray did not get surprised by her answer. More like, it was an answer that he was looking for. Thus, her answer gave fuel to the already fiery determination in his heart.

But, in the back of his mind, he was scared to fight the enemy in 10 years. Although he has all the time in the world to train, he felt like he was chasing a sprinting mountain that became much faster.

And that mountain just said that there is a taller and faster mountain.

Artoria's strength already reached beyond his imagination with her single ascension. Though the person herself thought that she was cheating, it was necessary.

Helping a person that will take responsibility for all of humanity's safety requires an immense amount of strength. She knew that deep within Ray's heart, he feels that it was too heavy of a responsibility.

Ray was a person that had tried to end his life after a series of events, straining his already draining mental health. He was a person that had experienced how hard life can be.

Now that he was forced back to life once again while adding a much heavier responsibility, just add more salt to the wound.

No matter what cost, Artoria will help him to the best of her abilities.

Despite what Artoria think, Ray has been living his life to the fullest. He was very happy to live again and get to be with his 2D turned real waifu. The responsibility that he needs to take in the future is just a price to pay, was his thought of his current situation.

Although, he did feel the burden becoming heavier each minute he did not gain any strength.

After a little bit of rest, Goddess forced him to wake up by threatening him that he will be a bodiless person again.

And so, his training began.

His agility training only consists of him dodging needles conjured with the wind element. If Ray gets hit by one, his pain signals will go haywire, thus making only a shallow stab akin to his body being obliterated and multiply it by 20.

Of course, he got hit by the needles.

Goddess purposely increased the intensity whenever there was a hint that Ray can dodge even one of her needles.

Compared to Artoria that only threw rocks at Ray with a speed that almost break the sound barrier, it was much harder.

The velocity of a single needle can reach up to Mach 10. With Agility points of Ray being in 47 and can only manage to achieve Mach 2, which is about 230+ km/h, it was way lacking.

The only thing that shuddered Ray was when he asked the maximum speed that she can throw the wind needles, which Goddess only replied with, "As much as I want."

-------------------

There was a significant change in Ray's ability in 5 days of constant dodging needles. But, the needles suddenly became much more accurate. Ray knew that it was the Goddess that controlled those accurate needles.

Thus, in random intervals, Ray was forced to avoid the controlled needles from all sides including his man area.

At the end of the 5-day training, his Agility points increased massively. It was not enough for him to achieve the speed of light instantaneously, but enough for him to achieve re-entry speed which is more than Mach 25 or 30.000 km/h.

Although his [Instinct] did not level up, there was an improvement. A little bit more and Ray might make a breakthrough.

Ray was laying down on the ground panting.

"Not a bad improvement from someone like you. Although it was still not close to my expectation, it was enough for now." Goddess said.

Ray did not respond, but it was expected. So Goddess continued, "I will give you another hour to prepare for the next training."

"...Yes, mam." Ray said as he looked towards Goddess.

Her golden hue eyes dimmed, signaling that Artoria got her body back. She then went towards Ray and put his head on her thighs.

Without saying anything, she began to caress his head.

Ray closed his eyes, enjoying the moment. He was never given a head rub in his life until Artoria came.

Although he thought that it was him that was supposed to give a head rub, being the receiver was actually not that bad.

They did not talk, only enjoying these short moments of peace together.

While her body was occupied, Artoria was forced to see the carnage the "other her" did to Ray. She was trying her best to gain her body back, but it seems that Goddess's mental fortitude is much harder to breach than expected.

She can only watch as Goddess destroyed his body. Although she knew Ray also has Avalon and will eventually heal back, she cannot bear to see Ray suffer.

Artoria was still confused about her feelings towards Ray. It was a feeling that appeared when she was caring for the lion cub, but much more intensity.

Artoria's hand moved to Ray's cheek as she looked at Ray. This gesture made Ray opened his eyes.

She was caressing his cheek softer than when she did his hair.

Both of them looked towards each others' eyes. Artoria's cheeks were reddened but she kept looking.

Ray, on the other hand, was confused about why Artoria was like this. Not that he did not like it though.

There was a slight hope in his heart that Artoria at least has a crush towards him. Hoping for her to fall in love is a bit too much.

Unconsciously, Ray touched her reddened cheek.

He did not notice it in the past, but Artoria's ahoge is moving from side to side like a puppy.

When he saw her ahoge some time ago, he thought that it was weird to see a strand of hair defying gravity like that. But he just shrugged it off and put it at the back of his mind.

Looking at it now, he was sure that there is something that makes it like that. But because time was almost up, he did not try to ask.

Ray put away his hand and got up.

"Thank you, Artoria," Ray said.

"...For what?" She mumbly asked.

"For everything. I won't be here if it weren't for you." There are still things that he wanted to say. But for now, it was enough.

Although she did not understand what Ray meant, she smiled and said, "You're welcome."

They both got up.

Immediately, the Goddess occupied Artoria's body again.

Ray sighed and said, "I'm ready"

And his training continued once more.

--------------------

Another 10 days went by and his agility soared up to a height where he thought impossible without a year of constant training at the very least.

Although light speed is still far away, he was able to add 20.000 km/h more to his pure, unadulterated, speed.

In total, he can reach up to 50.000 km/h or 31000 mph.

Even then, he would need to constantly use [Reinforcement] when he achieved the 38.000 km/h mark unless he wanted to destroy his body.

Because of this, his [Reinforcement] also improved to rank A.

Since the usage of [Reinforcement] skill requires mana to activate, his magic parameter is also improved but not as much as his agility.

But that was not all. His strength also improved because his body was constantly tempered with the wind needles thrown by Goddess.

Another skill that was improved by his first 10-day training is [Instinct] to A rank.

With [Instinct] skill in A rank, it was not far from lesser clairvoyance. He can react to most of the Goddess needle range attacks.

Although he was supposed to be able to react to all of her needles, it was as if something was chaining him down. So he felt like he was unable to use this particular skill to the fullest.

That or Goddess's strength is higher than he could imagine.

"We will stop this training today. The next session will be another training that will temper your strength. Be ready." Goddess's last words before Artoria regained her body.

With the Goddess disappeared, so does his guard. The moment he let down his guard, he went unconscious.

Artoria unconsciously used [Mana Burst] to catch the slow fall of Ray's body. She did not want his body to touch the ground.

After Artoria caught his body, she said, "Good work, Ray. Rest your body."

Like usual, she put his head on her thighs. But instead of caressing his body, she summoned her Avalon and envelope both her and Ray so his body can relax more.

This doubled as her stress relief as well.

---------------

Name: Ray Purnomo

Race: Human, Dragon, *Sealed* (20% unlocked)

Strength: 70

Endurance: 79

Agility: 130

Luck: 40

Magic: 100

System Points: 111.287

Skills:

[Eidetic Memory: ?] [Cooking: C] [Instinct: C->A] [Programming: G] [Pain Tolerance: B->A] [Reinforcement: B->A] [Fire Breath: F] [Mana Bullet: F->E]

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Hello readers,

I don't know if this "training chapter" is boring or not, but I hope for the latter.

I only have my internship final report to be finished and submitted on March 9th. I really wanted to rant here about that stupid final report but I think it is better if I do it later, or in r/offmychest.

I feel like this novel became really lame. But I think this novel is already lame from the start. I don't have any intention to rewrite unless I did a complete overhaul. Even if I want to rewrite, it will probably be the plot and stuff. The people, suicide, betrayal, and most importantly, Artoria will still be there.

And I just realized that my "power structure" of this novel is really weird. Hope it did not turned out to be similar to DBZ...

I'm currently writing my ideas in my "idealist" in case I want to use it here, or in case I want to write a new novel.

This chapter probably will not come out until the middle of March where everything has stabilized, including uni stuff.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy :D