444 Shin conditioning

*Paradise Island – Pocket Cabin*

The sky turned dark, and it was time to call it a day. Vincent used Overheat to feed Zero and train at the same time. He repeated the same technique without a tree in front of him this time.

Vincent didn’t want to make too many loud noises like the previous day. He swung his arm, but to no avail. He couldn’t shoot the blade arch around his hand. It extended and later wavered out of existence every time he tired. The arch was enough to last for one swing.

*Roar?* Vincent heard the grumble of a belly. He looked down, but it wasn’t his. “Ahem.” He heads from behind him.

Vincent turned around and saw Lilith blushing. Her hands were holding the belly in hopes of quieting the noise.

“E-everyone is a little hungry to eat dinner. ” Lilith stuttered a little.

Vincent smirked and gently pinched her cheek. “Follow me, my hungry girl.” He teased.

Lilith followed Vincent inside, where he summoned dinner for everyone. Just as her faintly red cheeks were about to fade, Vincent teased her again.

“Your belly looks different.”

.....

A misunderstanding quickly arose. Nick, Clair, and Jun Ye Rim looked at Lilith from head to toe. After a coupled of awkward silence, Lilith was congratulated for being pregnant.

Nick, “Congratulations on having a child.”

Clara, “Congratulations... but didn’t I hear you couldn’t... bear children?”

Jun Ye Rim, “...”

Lilith’s face almost brightened the room with her bright red cheeks. However, on the other hand, Vincent understood he took the joke too far.

*Cough* “I wanted to say how Lilith has lost weight recently.” Vincent said.

historical

Nick, Clair, and Jun Ye Rim awkwardly nodded when the misunderstanding was cleared.

Lilith slapped Vincent’s arm, yet a smile appeared on her face. She was happy about the compliment.

Later, at night, Lilith couldn’t sleep. She went downstairs to drink a cup of water. Vincent was on the sofa looking outside the window. He nodded once as if he was talking to someone.

“You can sleep?” Vincent asked.

Lilith drank a cup of water and sat beside Vincent. She leaned her head on his lap and looked up. “Dear, I want to lose weight. Would you still like me if I lost a lot of weight?” She nervously asked.

“Change how much you want, my Lilith. To me, the most attractive thing in a partner is trust. ” Vincent removed her glasses as the lens was starting to fog. A smile appeared on his face, and a joke left his lips, “Childbearing hips come secondary, haha.”

“Close your eyes, now. We can sleep together like this.” Vincent warmly continued after the joke made her blush.

Lilith nodded. She closed her eyes and fell asleep after a few breaths.

[What a smooth talker you have become.]

-My teacher is the best after all.-

*Day 115 – 1 October – Thursday*

Lilith opened her eyes after feeling to have had a good night’s rest. Vincent smiling at her was the first view in the morning. She had forgotten how she didn’t sleep on the bed last night.

Lilith exchanged good morning with Vincent and wore her glasses. She leaned her body upwards to give him a peck on his cheek, but as she approached Vincent’s cheek, Jun Ye Rim, staring at her on another sofa, entered the edge of her sight.

Lilith swiftly got up nervously. She moved her head, and her fears were realized. Clair and Nick were in the kitchen. Both saw her sleeping like a baby on Vincent’s lap with wearing her nightgown.

“I-I need to change my clothes!” Lilith blushed and ran upstairs with the fastest speed anyone had ever seen Lilith move.

Later, Vincent went to train. However, his training was cut short after a familiar person called his name.

*Team Ten Island*

In the past few days, Lupa was sleepless after a problem with her legs suddenly appeared out of the blue. Sleeping became a nightmare because of this. Furthermore, Lupa had to walk without shoes because everywhere below her knees was itchy.

Iris tried her best with the herbs she owned, but the mysterious itch that didn’t even have a sign of rash couldn’t be healed, nor the symptoms reduced. Maria brought an inspection gemstone, yet no condition other than tired and sleep-deprived appeared.

Because Vincent and Lilith, the only ones who might have a chance to help, weren’t around, Lupa didn’t spar with Vivid in the past few days and tried to rest. However, after Ester awakened a new sigil yesterday, the burning desire not to lose to Ester lit ablaze.

Lupa ignored her tired body and asked Vivid for a light spar. She didn’t want to be left behind in fear of her self-proclaimed right-hand girl position being usurped by Ester.

An hour later, in the spar, Vivid asked if Lupa wanted to stop. He feared Lupa might faint from exhaustion she kept going. However, Lupa’s unbreakable determination the be the best never waned. Not even for a second.

Vivid tried his best not to let Lupa faint, but as he evaded Lupa’s weak longwinded swings, a faint chill ran down his spine. He felt an ominous feeling emitting from Lupa.

‘This feels like an ominous feeling of a predator looking at me... no! Wait for a second! Is Lupa moving quicker now?’ Vivid thought as he started quickening his speed to evade Lupa’s long-winded swings.

Lupa’s body felt lighter to her legs. The pair of legs moved quicker, and they covered more distance. With every step, her body moved more distance than the next.

Lupa was feeling a strange yet familiar feeling. The excitement of the hunt and the instincts of a predator increased. Her nose smelled more accurate, her ears heard farther, and her eyes could focus on her target even faster.

A second later, the world around her slowed down as Primal Insight activated on its own. A pair of golden shining predator eyes calmly looked upon Vivid.

Lupa dodged Vivid’s sword swing with ease. Even if her body was exhausted, she quickly sidestepped behind him. After catching Vivid off guard, she used her momentum to push Vivid to the ground.

Vivid raised his gaze and felt a chill when he saw Lupa look like a predator looking at its prey. Her aura was intimidating, and her calm personality, one devoid of any emotions other than to hunt, was intimidating.

As if the calm and collected Lupa could feel and understand the real reason for the itching, she suddenly changed her attention to a tree. She bolted towards it and kicked it repeatedly, using both legs.

Vivid got up and tried to stop Lupa, but as if there was a mysterious force against him, Lupa would sidestep away and keep kicking.

Vivid swung his sword at Lupa to stop her craze tree-kicking spree since he couldn’t grab her, yet Lupa predicted his attacks and evaded all of them.

“I need to bring the others if you don’t want to listen to reason. ” Vivid said before rushing to bring Ester and Iris to stop Lupa as fast as he could.

Later, Vivid returned with Ester, Iris, Maria, and Pussy. The four of them gasped before approaching Lupa.

Lupa was still kicking the tree as if it was her worst enemy. The pair of golden eyes remained shining while blood dripped from her bloodshot eyes.

Her legs were covered in blood. The bones were most probably fractured beyond recognition. How Lupa was standing was a question no one could answer.

Lupa suddenly jumped, raised both her legs and performed a double sidekick.

*Crack!* The sound of the tree breaking loudly sounded. If the bones of the legs also broke, they couldn’t be heard from the tree breaking and falling.

Lupa landed on her legs. Her eyes closed, and she started to fall.

Vivid caught Lupa before she fell. As he, Ester, Iris, Maria, and Pussy looked worried at the state of her legs, a strange sound entered their ears.

The sound was faint, but it was quite similar to someone rearranging their bones back in place. The legs and feet muscles twitched, and they gradually increased in size.

“What is happening? Vivid. Pussy. Do you know anything about this?” Ester asked.

“I am a warrior, and based on what I know, beastmen can’t do something like this.” Vivid expressed how he didn’t have a clue about what was happening.

*Meow!* “Hey! Don’t look at me! Shapeshifters can’t move the bones like this!” Pussy explained how what was happening wasn’t from the ordinary shapeshifting class.

Iris touched Lupa’s shin to understand the situation better when she felt hundreds of needles poking her skin. “Ouch! It stings like shaved hair.”

White fur suddenly grew from Lupa’s knee down. Additionally, her toenails became claws, similar to what happens to the nails on her hand.

Lupa now had a pair of arms and legs with more muscle mass and stronger bone density. However, her body shone, and she turned into a white wolf. Fortunately, her legs looked normal and healed.

Vincent would later explain how this was called shin conditioning and how some athletes hit hard surfaces like trees to fracture their bones and eat enough nutrition to regrow their bones stronger than before.

*Paradise Island – Pocket Cabin*

Vincent, Nick, and the visitor, Elias, were doing pushups.

Elias was the first one to stop. He looked at the cabin and felt happy he could stay in such a place after his teammates kicked him away.

However, the exercise didn’t continue for long. Jun Ye Rim opened the door and shouted, “It’s not like I care about your safety, but Blemish tracked a boar a few meters away from you. Do what you want. I don’t care if you get hurt.”

*Bam* Jun Ye Rim closed the door as abruptly as she opened it.