Chapter 111: 111

In the morning, Michelle waited for Anastasia in the training grounds once again, but unlike the day before, she didn’t even think about improving her control over her soul energy and Soul Leash, the Binding Chains. Instead, she just stood motionlessly in the middle, her eyes lightly closed, as she listened to all the sounds that could reach her. And just as she was expecting, soon she heard the light footsteps of Anastasia approaching.

The moment Anastasia set foot in the training grounds, Michelle, using only her hearing to navigate, conjured a chain in her hand and whipped it at Anastasia, who instantly dodged to the side in surprise. She didn’t expect Michelle to strike at her without even saying anything.

Understanding that the training had started, Anastasia began dodging as Michelle kept whipping at her with a long, black chain. She tried to conjure up her soul energy, but because she couldn’t concentrate, she always failed.

After a good half hour, Michelle opened her eyes and let the chain disappear, looking at Anastasia, who was panting and barely able to stand from having to constantly run around. “See?” Michelle said as she noticed the scattered soul energy in the air. “Without training, you can’t use your soul energy, no matter how good or powerful it is, because you need to concentrate while using it. What I want is for you to be able to use your soul energy even if you are nearly unconscious.”

Nodding a bit, Anastasia sat down on the ground. “Did you have to completely exhaust me just to prove your point?” she asked, feeling aggrieved.

“Yes!” Michelle said simply. “I need you to be completely spent to start the training,” she added with a shrug.

“Eeh-?” Anastasia felt like complaining, but knowing that Michelle was helping her, she kept her mouth shut and stood up. “So, what now?” she asked, in exhaustion.

“First…” Michelle glanced around the training field. “You could run at least ten laps. Or more, if you wish.”

Barely withholding a curse, Anastasia started running, even though she hated it and was exhausted. The training field was huge, so the ten laps took her another half an hour, and when she was done, she collapsed on the ground in front of Michelle, her breathing hard and quick.

“Now, now…” Michelle squatted down next to her and patted her shoulder. “We are just starting now,” she said with a kind smile.

But when Anastasia saw the smile, she felt a shiver run up her spine, like she had seen the devil. “You… monster…” she got out of her mouth as she pushed herself up to sit up.

Michelle didn’t mind Anastasia’s annoyance. In her past life, she had received the worst curses one could think of, and she didn’t take them to heart, so Anastasia’s complaining was nothing compared to that. “You are now in the perfect condition to start the training!” she said with a smile. “Try to conjure up your soul energy in this state!” Her voice was commanding, but not harsh.

Listening to Michelle, Anastasia tried to activate and summon her soul energy, but with how exhausted she was, she couldn’t do anything. But under Michelle’s gaze, she refused to give in to failure and tried again and again. She didn’t even notice that her exhaustion was slowly fading.

“That’s enough!” Michelle interrupted her just before she succeeded. “From now on, you have two rules. First, try to summon your soul energy in the same shape as your Soul Leash. It will be easier. Second, every time, just before you succeed, you will stop, wait thirty seconds, and try again. Only then can you summon your soul energy. You will keep them around for about a minute, and then you will return to running. Repeat this whole process until noon!”

When Michelle stated the rules, Anastasia felt hopeless. The sun had barely risen, and Michelle told her to train until noon. That sounded like hell. But she complied and tried conjuring up her soul energy again. And to her surprise, she did it in a few seconds.

Staring at the black feather in her hand, she realized that it wasn’t because she got better, but because she wasn’t as exhausted as when she started trying. She finally understood what Michelle wanted to achieve by having her run around the whole noon. By pushing herself to her limits, Anastasia could slowly reduce the amount of energy and concentration she needed for summoning her soul energy, so when she started sparring with Michelle, she wouldn’t be completely hopeless.

As Michelle told her to, Anastasia kept running and summoning, running and summoning, in an endless circle. By noon, she was completely exhausted, drenched in sweat, and barely breathing, but she summoned the raven feather in her hand for the last time before lying on the dusty ground. She was spent, and didn’t even care that she fell asleep under the strong noon sun on the hard concrete ground.

Seeing the state of Anastasia, Michelle walked over to her and dragged her to the small building connected to the training grounds, basically something like a changing room, but also with a bed. Well, bed. A wooden plank with a makeshift mattress.

After throwing Anastasia onto the bed, Michelle went back into the training grounds and sat down in the middle, looking at the spatial bracelet on her hand. She had already straightened enough space twists and folds to store all the eggs from the auction in there, but didn’t alter the space yet, so it could act as an incubator. She had tried it a few times, but that was basically just probing. Nothing serious.

Even at the moment, when Anastasia was sleeping, she wasn’t planning to make a breakthrough in shaping the space, but she wanted to push at it a bit. Before she started anything serious, she wanted to know as much as she possibly could about what she could do with the space, so when she started, it was easier.

So for the next hour or so, the training grounds were silent, even though two people were there.

But the training ground designated for the knights was filled with the sounds of weapons clanging against each other, or small explosions of spirit energy. And in between the knights, Ivona was sparring with the knight captain. He was one of few knights who were cultivators, and his cultivation was closest to the border of the spirit rank, so he was the only one Ivona could train with.

At the same time, Kieran was holed up in his room, cultivating. Back in the dungeon in the evening, Michelle, Kieran, and Ivona all decided not to do anything more until they, including Anastasia, were able to leave the Land of Exile. Of course, they wouldn’t just leave silently. They would stir up trouble for the Ostrich family and leave a message for the Ostrich family. As Michelle was planning to never set foot in the middle realm, she was going to straight up provoke the upper realm’s Ostrich family, so she could deal with the root of the problem once she got there.

But there was also one more variable that could change things. The Sloan family, in the lower realm. If they originated from the middle realm, she would have to deal with them, but even if that was the case, she would somehow do it without needing to go there herself. Or, if it was really unavoidable, she would go there only after going to the upper realm. She didn’t like the middle realm in the least bit since the killer of her mother was from there, but if things got too serious, she could take everything into her own hands and take care of it.

Still, she was hoping that the Sloan family was just from the lower realm and had no further connections.

After Anastasia woke up, she came out of the small room, and Michelle opened her eyes when she felt Anastasia’s presence. “Since you are rested now, let’s spar,” Michelle said, standing up lazily. “I’ll give you the first three strikes so you can get used to using the feathers as weapons. Also, prepare your weapon.”

Always carrying the clawed gloves in her sleeve, Anastasia quickly put them on, but she replaced the metal claws with the gray feathers, since she had complete control over them and they were sharper and harder than any material processable in the Land of Exile. Or basically anywhere in the world, since soul energy came from deep inside people’s souls, so it was one of the hardest materials when used with enough skill.

When Anastasia was prepared, she lunged at Michelle and tried to slash at her, but Michelle easily dodged the first three attacks and then sent a single attack at Anastasia, striking her ruthlessly with a whip made of chains. “If you want to get to me before I retaliate, you have to learn to not only solidify your soul energy, but also course it around your body to make yourself stronger and more agile. Also, you cannot only directly use it as a weapon. You can coat your weapon with it to make it more deadly.” Michelle explained as she dodged Anastasia’s next attack. Though Anastasia had already received a hit, she refused to succumb and kept attacking while listening to Michelle’s advice.

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