*Lenny, Lenny, Lenny, you'll never attract a proper swordswoman like that. Faking failure because your body and brain are telling you that you can do no more, that'll be ten more squats, and my girls will help you.”
Len wished the man hadn't picked quite the tender spot to prompt his movement back up. There was little he could do to stop the jabs of pain as his legs shook from the effort. Whatever magic was in his swords, they could cut you painlessly or prod like fire and leave no mark. In that effort, the distance between what he was now and what he had been, felt like a hundred-mile march, but he made it.
Words were, well, only a long garbled groan that escaped the spellman’s lips as he lay there in true failure of his legs. The concept that he needed to fully break down his old body for the new half-step body to replace it upon repair was logical, but you couldn’t be a conspiracy theorist without questioning if this really wasn’t a play to make him so weak he’d lose the next competition. It almost didn’t matter that the man had created the body-type potion he’d ingested. Felix, when not caressing his swords like a madman, was quite the alchemist, using rewards and local resources to craft the potion as a special instance-based creation. And while those from the Broken Isles normally didn’t use half-step methods, he’d explained opportunities like this were one of the reasons they sought out these kinds of competitions.
“Two minutes and then push-ups.”
There was no feeling in his arms, let alone moving them, and a groan wasn’t even managed. All Len could do to distract from the pain was imagine being back home and correcting some of the worst professors' academic papers at Hazeldown University, as a more soul-shuddering alternative.
“Do you think Harmony White would make a good wife?” Felix demanded.
Len would have rolled away from this conversation as quickly as possible if he could. He knew Felix Campbell was a madman, but he didn’t know he was this crazy of a foreigner. When Harmony was eliminated, there had been hope that questions about Harm would be over. This man spent at least two hours a day staring at his swords! What would Harmony even do with him as a husband?
“Can’t… satisfy…”
“I wouldn’t expect her to satisfy me… I have Lux and the girls for that. I was thinking of more practical purposes.
Ashes, what a fool. Len focused on his words, “...Her.” Len finished with some bite, leaning into his [Correction] skill, while angry enough to have it come out as a slap even if he couldn't move his arms.
Felix smiled at the metaphysical punch, “Good. Good. Now we'll get to break down your skills the same way. But add more emotion to it, to find out if this half-step body is any good, I'm going to rebuild you from your essence up. Give you some knowledge to share with that sharp and cutting necromancer of yours.”
“She's not mine.” [Correction] hit again.
“But you want her to be.” Felix teased.
Len tried to trigger [Correction] at that, but couldn't.