In the morning, I woke up in my room. Memories of yesterday's sparring with the Grand Duke surfaced in my mind. Even if it was just sparring, it was so much fun. Especially the moment of the strike. I smiled darkly.
"Remembering something good, young master?"
I heard Ashley's voice.
"Ah, just… nothing," I replied hastily.
"Young master, breakfast with Lord Ordin in ten minutes. You overslept."
Breakfast. Yeah, by now it had become a tradition for me, I thought as I hurriedly got ready.
Barely, I made it on time. The Grand Duke was sitting in his place, and I took mine. We started eating. The same silence as always. But I liked it. No need to come up with topics for conversation. I hoped that today, after breakfast, I would hear the Grand Duke's voice:
"Training in half an hour. And again, after half an hour, the training hall, exhaustion, and meditation. Today's meditation went without incidents. Today you'll practice your swings. Two thousand of each (overhead, 1000 right, 1000 left, thrusts)."
So, sparring isn't daily, I thought, nodding.
After finishing the swings, I lay down and fell asleep instantly.
Morning again: breakfast, strength training once more. After the workout, meditation. I felt something again, this time without light—a flow of energy—but in the end, I lost it.
"Two hours until sparring," I heard the Grand Duke's voice.
I nodded in response.
This time, the sparring went smoothly, and after an hour, the Grand Duke said:
"Now put on the weighted gear, five kilograms each, and run until you drop."
I was surprised, mentally asking why.
"Judging by your expression, I can see your indignation. Alright, I'll explain. You need endurance, so now we train it."
After running for an hour and a half, I collapsed and lost consciousness.
The next morning, I woke up in my bed. The Grand Duke had probably brought the food himself, for which I was grateful. I didn't want anyone else to see me in such a humiliating state.
I heard a knock on the door and Ashley's voice, as usual. I got dressed and had breakfast again. Then training. Evening training. Running. Collapse. Everything now followed this cycle. The only changes were sparring every other day and practicing swings.
Two days later, they added a kilogram to each weight. Now ten kilograms. And this continued until the fifteenth day of training.
The morning passed as usual. After the midday training, I sat down to meditate as usual. Only this time, I noticed part of the ring around my core was already forming, a significant part. At this pace, I'd manage it in two months, I thought. Meditation ended. Now the Grand Duke demanded 3,000 swings from me—a significant increase in load.
The workload grew exponentially. And after the swings, more running. Again, I collapsed from exhaustion.