Throwing one of the creatures over his shoulders, Enrico's legs gave out, making him sit on the ground unintentionally. Trying to raise his arms to get up, he discovered that his body had reached a point of no return—of course, this body had reached its limit many hours ago, but now it was worse.
'What the hell.'
"Congratulations on enduring a full twenty-four hours."
Before the blow could hit him, Matteo appeared, stepping on the Nartheis in front, which made Enrico feel a sense of satisfaction for having managed it.
"If you wanted, sir, I could go two days straight. I was even about to awaken something, but it seems I'll leave that for another day."
[Shameless liar]
"Since when did you become a shameless liar?"
Enrico felt like there was a third person behind him agreeing with those two, so he looked around but saw nothing.
"Now you can rest. Today will be Platina's turn to train you again."
"Yes, sir."
Enrico tried to get up but couldn't, which made him frustrated with his body. Besides being filthy, he couldn't withstand training like this—yet he planned for worse ones in the future? That was the monstrous thought of someone who could no longer be called human.
Enrico closed his eyes for a moment to rest, and then he felt his shirt being grabbed. When he opened his eyes, he was being thrown onto his bed, staring in surprise at Matteo, who had brought him there quickly.
"Good work. I'll see you in three days."
After saying those words, he disappeared into the air without leaving a trace. Guys at Matteo's level were as absurd as he was, so Enrico wasn't surprised by that—but rather by being brought to his room, which only meant one thing.
'This guy is planning something for the future with me.'
[Enrico, get out of this house. I'm warning you.]
'Do you think I don't want to? If I left, I'd lose good training and the chance to bring them to our side.'
He had to stay there, and he was sure Matteo wouldn't do anything to him for now—his level probably wasn't enough to matter to him.
'But in a few years, I'll have to be absolutely careful with him.'
What mattered now was that Enrico could sleep. He liked training and the feeling of improvement, but there were also other important things, like resting at least five hours.
'I also need to plan, make the others evolve, and get closer to them... I think I'll start improving my relationship with them.'
[What's this, feeling nostalgic?]
'Who knows, maybe. Maybe not. It's just that seeing them having fun at that beach, I felt something. But I can't waste time. They can rest, but I can't.'
Closing his eyes, he fell into a deep sleep after this whole day. His body felt relieved with rest—maybe only for five hours, but they would be the best five hours.
Hours later, in the hallway as dawn began, Taíra ran to Enrico's room and stopped at the door. She was nervous to speak with her brother after four days of intense training with their parents, brother, and sister.
"Brother?"
Knocking on the door, she opened it slowly, seeing her brother sleeping deeply. She approached quietly and sat on the floor a little away, waiting for him to wake up.
'It'll probably take another three hours, since from the little argument I overheard from my parents, he went an entire day without resting.'
She always heard her parents when they disagreed, coldly debating in their room, and she ended up overhearing. From the sound of it, both wanted to raise his potential to the maximum.
'I know he's strong, but aren't they overdoing it with these trainings? They're being harsher than when they trained my big sister and big brother.'
She didn't want to admit openly that she respected her brother now, but she was realizing that hiding this feeling was wrong, especially with someone who treated her so well even after she mocked him whenever they saw each other in the past.
"Taíra, what are you doing here? Breakfast is ready?"
"Brother, you should rest a little longer."
She quickly moved closer and sat in front of the bed. Her brother wore a bright and even playful smile at her concern, which made her avert her gaze. Seeing him stretch as he got up, she grew worried again.
"Don't worry, I've rested enough. Let's just say I'm excited for the next training."
Taíra's eyes lit up, and she jumped onto the bed, holding a book in front of him about a fire magic she had been trying to master—and was close to achieving.
"Here, this magic might help you. I already know a little, so I can train you too."
"Hehehe, what a lovely little sister I have."
Embarrassed by his words, she lowered her head. She didn't understand why those compliments affected her so much—maybe because he was family and seemed to care more about her than even her big sister.
"Let's see... it's called Fire Step? Sounds interesting. Can you explain it to me?"
She nodded quickly and opened the book, starting to explain all the basics of that magic. The book had several spells, but that one was interesting and had caught his attention.
"It's pretty interesting. If you use it with precision on your toes and the middle of your foot, you can increase the number of afterimages."
"Yes, you're right. If that's the case, I think there will be an improvement."
Without Taíra noticing, just by sitting next to her, Enrico was teaching and learning the spell alongside her, helping to improve her abilities.
"This is a speed technique. Let's say I already have one, but I could use this one perfectly."
"Really? Can you explain it to me?"
Without either of them noticing, Platina, who had come to call Enrico for training, observed the two. Even with her cold expression, a puff of steam left her nose, finding the two of them together quite cute.
'I guess I can wait a little longer.'