Chapter 10- progress

And so, half a year went by.

It took David two months of hard work to plan the required enchantment, and it took even more grueling work to enchant each drip with it. David still trained with Ethan at the start, and because of that, he was able to train the bare minimum of time required so that he could focus on enchanting. Though it was different when Ruth recovered.

Ruth was shocked when Ethan told her the truth as David expected, but what he didn't expect was her opinions on the matter. Ruth actually supported David and Ethan's approach as it is the best training for David's quirk, which will be his best tool by far from now on. David was surprised since she's such a training maniac, but he came to realize that she genuinely cares and does what she thinks is best for him. Unfortunately, she still didn't go easy in the training they had. If anything, it got harder.

As for Ruth's magical amputation, it definitely didn't go unnoticed. Ethan did the best he could by hiding Ruth's arm, what's left anyway, behind bandages and other things to cover the perfect cut. Still, the fact that she didn't get an infection was noticed. Luckily, it did nothing more than surprise people a little.

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

"Finally, it's done! I don't want to do anything like this EVER again, but I guess it's inevitable" David celebrated as he finished enchanting the last reserve drip until he remembered all the other stuff on the list he needed to enchant. "Don't worry, the most urgent one is behind us now, so it's fine if you take a break or take your time enchanting the other stuff." Alex tried to lift his mood.

"Definitely the second one, taking a break would just mean doing hellish martial arts training instead of this. I prefer my sanity intact, thank you." David answered immediately. "Hahaha! Good choice. By the way, by how much has your quirk progressed? While it's good to train it day in and day out, don't overexert yourself, so we need to make the enchantments you make a little lower in power than what you can do at 100%. Also, I need to know so that I'll update the item list that you'll need to enchant" Alex stated with a little worry.

"Don't worry, the last thing I want is to overexert my quirk now that our plans rely on it. As for your question, while there is progress, it's pretty small at this point. Quirks develop with age, and since I've only awakened mine about half a year ago, it's power is still not that good. But if I had to scale myself, I'd say I can perform the drip enchantment about double the times I was able to perform it half a year ago. It's still not much, but it's getting better." David answered.

"That's good" Alex sighd. "Right, your mom told me to call you, you're late for training" he informed David. "WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" David jumped from his stool.

*Bomf* a sound was heard as the sand carved inwards beneath David's feet. "Those weighted clothes are scary... How can you even move in those?" Alex sweatdropped as he thought about all the weight David is carrying. "Honestly, it's mostly fear and determination" David replied in a somewhat depressed tone as he ran for his training location.

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

"Ugh, Mom, why did you have to go that hard on me?" David groaned as he checked all his bruises from the recent spar he had with his mother. "Oh, shut up, you have a healing enchantment on that thing, right?" Ruth said sarcastically while pointing at his clothes. "Yeah, but it's a minor one... It'll take a couple of hours, maybe a day for these to heal" David speculated.

"That aside, you're becoming quite good with that staff. Maybe I'll put in more time for it in your next program." Ruth changed the subject. "Please do, my fists are bleeding every session now and it hurts. Like a lot." David complained as he looked at the torn and bloodied skin on his knuckles.

"David! How is the project going?" Sarah stumbled into the pair as they returned to the settlement from their hidden training ground. "It's going good, though there's still much more progress we need to do," David said with a determined, but tired, voice.

"My offer still stands, you know," Sarah said. "I know, I know, but there's really not much for you to do other then brainstorm with me once in a while. I don't need help in the other categories" David explained.

"How's the training program for you?" David asked Sarah. During those months, David wasn't the only one busy. Ruth's training program for the normal people really took off after the attack. Although she's still too though with them, they are slowly getting better and better. "It's... excellent," Sarah says as she looks away from Ruth's murderous glare. "It is extremely difficult, don't get it wrong, but the results speak for themselves. Most of the people have mastered basic Judo throws and some locks and chokes, while the more advanced have started to learn Krav Maga" Sarah gave a more detailed explanation.

"Sounds amazing!" David said, "I can't wait until they turn into a trained force." "That will happen soon, don't worry," Ruth said with a worrisome smile as she chuckled. 'I'll pray for them tonight' David decided as he pitied his mother's students.

======================================================

Hey guys, I'm writing this at 6 am after an all-nighter so I'm sorry if there are some spelling or grammar mistakes I missed. I hope you enjoyed.