Chapter 1223 Chapter 1223 Hard March
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Another short break to eat went around. Mostly for Oditr again. Kat and Lily had both long since finished their own portions at this point though. Oditr was still eating, but Kat was getting annoyed by the silence. It was a meal with everyone, it wasn't meant to be so quiet at the dinner table, especially not where everyone was sharing a meal like this. Despite Kat's desire for some conversation, Oditr obviously deserved the chance to enjoy her meal before all the good stuff was gone, so instead Kat asked a question of someone else. "Hey March, I hope this isn't a weird question, but… well really it's two questions.
"The first is how did you manage to get so many muscles? Most people that raise their level of strength don't seem to bother with normal muscles. I mean, look at me, I can barely see the muscles I apparently have but I'm exceptionally strong physically. The second question is, why go to all the effort? Not to say it isn't worth it, or that you shouldn't strive for it, just that once again, nobody else seems to bother so it can't be something easy,"
March finished off the slice of meat she had in front of her, Kat had lost track of exactly what number it was. Once that was done, March took a quick drink then started to explain. "I would imagine that at least some of my success can be attributed to my parents. Both mother and father were exceptionally large individuals compared to the human norm, and if their stories are to be believed, this has continued in both of their families for quite a number of generations.
"Even still, I am an obvious outlier that has gone above and beyond my own parents in terms of muscle mass, and possibly overall strength. It has been some time since I competed with my Ma and Pa, so I can't rightly say who remains stronger. They managed to peak at the top of Rank 2 when they were out adventuring, but found they could not push higher.
"My father blamed it on his lack of talent for magic, as even if you don't use mana for spells it is still quite important for reinforcing yourself internally. All the strongest individuals are, arguably, mages of some kind even if they can be more physically inclined then the robe wearing stereotype that image presents.
"My mother on the other hand… lost her leg to a particularly nasty curse in an old tomb. The cost to heal it was exorbitant. Allegedly, not outside of my parents' budget at the time, but certainly more than they were willing to pay so instead they retired any had me. Father now works as a logger, abusing the fact that he can carry the logs single handedly to make extra money, while my mother took a break to raise me, and now works at the sawmill moving things around. She uses are sturdy wooden replacement for now.
"Of course, that may sound like a physically demanding job, and it is, but both of my parents insist that their strength has dwindled over the years. It was still greater then mine last time we compared, at least in the arms… but it has been over a year since our last gathering. Perhaps I should visit them soon…"
March trailed off, having gotten rather distracted from the actual question Kat had asked about her muscles to talk about family. Kat wasn't particularly surprised, nor annoyed. It seemed family was a popular subject at this table for some reason. It kept coming back to that when Oditr was speaking, and what little other conversation there had been tended to revolve around it as well. Marigold being the main example of this.
Burnice, used the break to ask, "Do you plan to heal your mother's leg if you win the contest?"
March shook her head somewhat sadly, "No I'm afraid not. She'd never accept it. I know this, because I saved up my money judiciously to get hire a healer for her… but I was shot down rather harshly. A lot of talk about how I was just starting out, and I could use that money for equipment. That her time in the field was done, and she didn't regret leaving it to start a family… as well as a few jokes about making the family a bit larger now I'm out of the house.
"Which of course, only made it worse when I found out a short time later I didn't even have enough money. I still get teased about that whenever I speak to my mother or receive letters from her. So I can just imagine the sort of tongue lashing I'd get if I ever tried to use my favour for winning this whole thing to get her healed. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Ma chopped her leg off again afterwards, just because she's stubborn like that."
Marigold, Lily and Burgandy winced at the mental image. While Kat was mostly unphased. Apparently her sense of pain and consideration for maiming had been twisted. Woops. On the other hand, Burnice just nodded, "I can understand that perspective on things. I do not feel the need to heal my own wounds after so much time. Perhaps one day, when I am looking to finish up my adventures I will heal everything. Perhaps not.
"For now they serve as a good reminder, as well as a great test of who is worth spending time with or not. So many see my burns and pity me, or recoil in horror. I do not waste time with such fools,"
"Well… I do still have some hope," said March. "I plan to become so strong and successful that I can use the excuse that healing her is pocket change. Which… is a big ask, and while I'm confident I can get there one day… one day might not exactly be fast enough. My parents aren't that old, and with Rank 2 under their belts it's not like they're going to die of old age quickly… but growing in power and gaining that sort of wealth isn't a quick thing either,"
*Let's not mention the fact I got to Rank 3 with no effort in less then a year. Woops.*
[Yeah. Let's.]
"So… this is all fascinating," said Marigold, "And I love that we've got a bunch of interesting backstories between us all," Burgandy went to speak up, "Yes we'll be going over yours later Burgandy, I'm sure you've got at least one interesting thing in your past. That being said, I am also curious as to how you managed to get muscles like that. I train constantly, but the nature of my regeneration means that it's more likely to compact my muscles. When they fix themselves, they're also being constantly bathed in mana, so it's not exactly a surprise, but I still wonder how you manage… well that,"
March nodded and said, "Yes, I have indeed strayed from Kat's question, though that was not my intention,"
"It's fine I liked hearing about your parents," cut in Kat.
"Be that as it may," continued March. "Part of the answer, is as I said, my parents. So I was already predisposed to gaining muscle like this. The other, is that I always idolised my parents as a kid, much more than normal. I wanted to be big and strong like they were. Even after they'd insisted that they weren't the strongest around, that wasn't entirely my goal, even as a kid.
"So I started to work out, and I didn't see the gains in muscle I was hoping for. My parents assured me this was because I was five at the time. I really should've listened, but I kept trying. Eventually I found out that I have steam affinity… and that I'm perfectly capable of using that affinity to expand my muscles.
"It hurt quite a lot at the start. My body wasn't used to it, and honestly? I was probably doing the technique wrong. Assuming there was a right way to do it at all of course. Anyway, practising that technique alongside my regular workouts seems to encourage thicker and more numerous muscle fibre growth. On top of that, it helped stretch my skin around the correct areas so that it wasn't putting as much pressure on my muscles. I assume it also had the secondary effect of making sure my body didn't decide my muscles NEEDED to be compressed while I gained strength.
"Of course, now I'm at Rank 2, I'm quite sure they've been compressed a good deal, but I still have my large size. It does come with upsides and downsides of course, like everything does. The main downside is my lacking agility. Not to say I'm slow, or that I lack agility, just that my muscles do not compress and bend like the muscles of others. Though… I can offset that little detriment by pumping steam aspected mana through my body, increasing my power and speed so in real fights it isn't an issue,"
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