6

Today they were taking a trip to meet an old friend of Virion's so that Arthur could contact his parents. I however would not be going, not because they didn't want me to, I just didn't see a need for me to go.

Right now I was going through some stretches I had read from a book Virion gave me. He said it would benefit me since my fighting style relied on speed and finesse, which I agreed. These stretches made me realize how behind this body was, and it felt nice to see notable progress once again.

Before I took over this body I saw barely if any progress when it came to training. Now the sight of my core continually purifying and the changes in my body gave me a motivation I hadn't realized I had lost.

While performing a stretch where I stood on my hands and allowed my legs to dangle over me, bent at the back, I heard the light steps of Tessia as she made her way to our room. Was she going to wake up Arthur every morning? She knocked softly when she finally made it to the door.

"Come in." I called, maintaining my pose.

"Good mo-… what are you doing Leo?" She asked with a confused look on her face.

"I'm training. Your grandpa told me I should make my body as flexible as possible for my fighting style." As I spoke I began straightening my legs up, and then lowering them back and forth while maintaining the hand stand.

"What does that do though? You're just standing on your hands?" She asked curiously.

"It gets my arms used to supporting my body weight, helps with my stomach muscles which in turn helps you build a strong core for better balance." The words seemed to go over her head, but she just nodded absently.

"You going to wake Arthur like usual?" I asked, finally coming out of the hand stand . Giving my arms a rest from the weight by sitting down and spreading my legs as far as I could before leaning to one for a count of 20 and then to the other.

"Hehe. He always has funny reactions." She replied as she sneaked up to the bed. I just shook my head as I continued my stretches. I couldn't understand how someone could be so oblivious to their surroundings, especially someone like Arthur who sometimes seemed like he had the bearing of a fighter or warrior.

Tessia sat on his chest, smiling as she looked down on him. I could see Arthur straining for breath due to the weight causing him no longer take his normal breaths.

"G'morning Art! Wake up!" Tess announced and Arthur's eyes fluttered open before beginning to try and close again. This trigged Tessia to start bouncing up and down.

"Come on sleepyhead! You need to meet grandpa soon! You should be more like Leo and wake up in your own." I nodded my head at her words. How could this kid that apparently wants to get stronger and get better be so lazy?

"I get it! I'm up, Tess! Please get down from my stomach so I can get up." Arthur groaned.

"Hehe~ Art, your hair looks funny. Hey hey, is it true you're going to be staying here for a while? Grandpa told me this morning that you and Leo will be staying! I'm so happy!" Tess exclaimed finally getting off of Arthur as she stood by the bed.

"We'll know for sure after my trip with Elder Virion, but most likely I'll be bothering you both for a bit longer, Princess."

"Not Princess! Tess! T.E.S.S.! I'm going to be upset if you don't treat me better." I felt Arthur shoot me a quick glare as I smirked at him, before quickly turning back to Tessia.

"All right, all right! I have to shower and get ready so unless you want to see me naked, I think you should leave the room, Tess."

"Eek! I'm leaving you pervert!" She shrieked as she ran out the room, face ablaze in crimson.

"You know if her parents heard you say that I don't even the old man could help you." He visibly blanched at my words and nodded.

"You're probably right, even though I'm too young for that to be a worry." He said turning to toward the shower.

As he entered the shower I got up from my place where I had been stretching and headed to the door.

"I'll be in the library while you're all away. Come get me when you return, so we can train." I called, waiting only long enough to hear him agree before leaving.

I needed to learn all I could about the elves if I was going to pass myself off as one. Right now I'm not being questioned because I've been relatively quiet. Which can be attributed to the 'traumatic' experience I endured. But soon I'm going to need to be able to act like an elf since im going to be living in this Kingdom.

Magic came in handy during library visits as I could use a combination of my gravity magic and my newly acquired wind magic. I lessened the gravity on my body and then moved up the shelf with small spurts of wind, to reach the highest shelves. It was good for training too as I had to concentrate on 2 different spells.

When I slowly returned my gravity to normal I had a sudden thought. Why don't I use gravity as a replacement for weights? I know that I can increase gravity as well, as back in my leopard form I had used it to allow for crushing blows against my enemies. I had never considered it for training before now.

Increasing the gravity I did it right up until I couldn't withstand anymore without imbuing my body with mana. With that done I made my way to a table and began pouring through books of all sorts. And like that many hours passed.

Closing the book I had decided to be the last I noticed the sun had been completely swallowed by the night. Was there trip supposed to take that long? I guess I should have asked Tessia or the old man before they left. I guess I wouldn't be getting any training tonight, i guess I'll settle for some core cultivation.

Before I even reached the door I could sense Arthur approaching. Opening it I could see Arthur was melancholic but he smiled when he saw me.

"Leo! Sorry we took so long, but I ended up being able to talk to my parents! They were both alright and seem to be living in Xyrus city now." He said as approached.

"That's good. I'm glad your parents are in good health. It's a little late for training but you can join me in meditation before bed?" He nodded at suggestion and we made our way back to our room.

I was curious how he was able to communicate with his his parents, ultimately figured it didn't matter to me. The thing I was glad about was having a skilled sparring partner at least until the summit.