[Breathing styles were created by Yoriichi Tsugikuni. They don't need special energy. As long as someone has the ability, they can use them. The Host used Sun Breathing during the transformation and now has the ability to use it.]
"So, that means I can use Sun Breathing in my daily life?"
[Yes.]
"Great!"
Kael Vane was even more excited. His weakest point was right before he used Take Over.
Right now, he was very weak and easy to kill. If he was killed before he could transform, it would be all over.
He also didn't want to use his ultimate move on every single enemy he met.
If a random grunt from a Dark Guild showed up, he'd have to transform to deal with them. That wouldn't work.
The transformation used a huge amount of power. If enemies came one after another, he would run out of magic power very quickly.
The best solution was to make his base self stronger, so strong that he wouldn't need to transform to handle most enemies.
He would save the Take Over characters for enemies so strong that he had to transform.
Sun Breathing could greatly increase his physical fitness. If he could master Total Concentration: Constant, he could keep the breathing style active 24/7, and his body would slowly get stronger.
He decided to do it right away. Kael sat cross-legged and began to breathe.
A minute later, he stopped, his face pale and covered in sweat.
"I can't do it! I can't do it at all! Just one minute of Total Concentration and I feel like I'm dying! It's too painful. My lungs hurt, my ears hurt, they're throbbing... my eardrums... ahh!"
Kael slapped his hands over his ears several times until the feeling faded.
"That scared me! For a second, I thought my heart was going to burst—my heartbeat was pounding in my ears!"
"System, what happened? I used the breathing style just fine a minute ago. Why can't I do it now?"
[Before, the Host had the character card's body. Now, it is the Host's own. The Host's foundation is too weak.]
"Then how do I improve my foundation?"
[1: Run 10km every day.
2: Do 10 breath-holding exercises every day, increasing from one minute up to ten.
3: Use Sun Breathing for 20 minutes every day.]
"That doesn't sound too hard. I'll start tomorrow morning."
After a shower, Kael Vane had a wonderful sleep in his new home.
The next morning, before the sun was up, Kael woke up, got dressed, and started his run around Magnolia Town.
It was just getting light and the air was still cool. It was a good time for a run.
The 10km distance was one full lap around Magnolia.
Kael finished in about 30 minutes, which was much faster than his old time of one hour. It seemed his body had improved a lot since he crossed over.
Next was the breath-holding. This was simple. He got a large basin of water and held his face in it for as long as he could. He found his limit was about one and a half minutes.
Finally, Kael sat in his yard and practiced Sun Breathing.
By now, the sun was up. Kael stood up, ready to go to the guild. The 20 minutes of breathing didn't have to be all at once. He could do it anytime, and it worked best when his body was rested.
Just as Kael left his house, he saw Mirajane and Elfman walking toward him.
"Kael!"
Elfman waved as soon as he saw him. Since the mission, he and Kael had become good friends. Mira had helped him join the guild and find a house. The two of them were the people Kael knew best.
"Morning, Kael! How did you sleep?" Mirajane greeted him with her usual beautiful smile. Seeing it brightened his whole day.
"Great. Thank you so much, Mira. I never would have found such a perfect house without you."
"You're welcome. You helped Elfman, after all. Just think of it as a thank-you gift."
"A gift? I almost forgot. You two should come over for dinner sometime. I'll cook. We can make it my housewarming."
"Hmm... I can't refuse that."
"Kael, you can cook?!" Elfman looked at him, surprised.
"I'm decent."
The three of them chatted as they walked to the guild.
Soon, other people started to arrive. For many guild members, coming to the guild was like going to work. Even if they just joked around all day and didn't take a mission, they would still come to punch in.
It was more fun to eat, drink, and hang out with friends than to be alone.
After eating, Kael Vane went to the request board to find a job.
He skipped the B-Rank missions. His priority was A-Rank.
A-Rank missions all had rewards of 1,000,000 J or more. Most of them were extermination-type jobs.
Extermination was the most dangerous type of work, as it involved hunting powerful magical beasts. This world was full of magic, so just as humans had mages, animals had magical beasts.
The strongest magical beasts were even more powerful than the Ten Wizard Saints.
Kael scanned the board and picked a 1,000,000 J job. It wasn't too far from the guild, about a day and a half of travel. The round trip would be three days. With the mission, it would take four or five days total.
Factoring in rest, he could do one A-Rank mission a week. That was four A-Rank missions a month. With the free pull from the system, it meant he could get a ten-pull about every two months.
Just as Kael was about to take the request slip...
Makarov's stern voice rang out. "No! You cannot do that job."
Kael looked toward Makarov, but his eyes were drawn to a head of bright red hair. He saw a beautiful face, silver-gray armor, a black-pleated skirt, and black boots. She looked brave and heroic.
Kael recognized her immediately.
"The Fairy Queen—Erza!"