Sword, Magic and Academic Society

"The most important thing about running is covering the same distance on a pre-decided route every day. Through this, you can assess your growth. Seeing progress is crucial for motivation.

Of course, the optimal distance varies for each individual, depending on their base physical fitness and mana manipulation skills. But I believe there's no need to be fixated on this 'optimal distance'. It's not easy to determine what's optimal as that limit keeps changing every day.

Instead, what matters far more is being able to run the same course single-mindedly. It's similar to incorporating this running into the level of 'forms' in swordsmanship. In addition to increasing the level of body strengthening, eliminating any distracting thoughts and simplifying the process hold greater significance.

Once you get used to it, you can focus only on using body strengthening the instant your foot touches the ground, and while your body is in the air until the next step, you can cut off the magic. The essential element here is to remove the mana residue."

After pondering about it in my own way, this was one of the reasons I had come up with why my stamina was greater than everyone else.

Whether it was Parry-kun or Leo, I was also intrigued by the varying intensity in their strength once they got into battle stance and activated their enhancement, but the thing that bothered me most was apparently they couldn't randomly turn their enhancement on and off at will.

It was no wonder they got tired so fast.

"......I see. This seems to require a keen sense of mana manipulation. But if that's the case, would it be okay, for instance, to run in an indoor arena?"

Al put up his doubt.

"Of course, that's fine too. However, the perimeter of the Royal Academy has moderate undulations, and the pavement offers various textures. If you only use body strengthening indoors, you'll be able to develop specialized skills effectively. But if you want to grow your practical skills, I recommend running outdoors. Time is limited, after all."

"Understood."

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"It's a well-known fact that the more expertise people have, the more delicate their mana manipulation. And the fault is indeed on us in neglecting that part just because we were blessed with more mana than others. But it still doesn't explain your monstrous stamina."

Stella, the girl with pink colored twin-tails, pointed out.

I mentioned another possibility.

"Do you guys focus on compressing mana while working out using body strengthening?"

"...There's no way we can do that. It's theoretically impossible to divert your attention to compress mana while using magic. It's like trying to draw water from a hose with only one opening while also trying to suck in air at the same time."

Stella remarked, her expression questioning what kind of ridiculous nonsense I was spouting.

No, not just her, everyone was making the same expression when I swept my gaze over them. I replied with a wry smile.

"I am not some superhuman to achieve that. When I say 'while', I meant the interval between your workout."

"...I never thought of doing that. In fact, let alone this, I'm already shocked to hear that you can turn your body-strengthening magic on and off so easily while running despite being the same age as us.

......Say, you're not talking about doing mana compression while your leg is still in the mid-air during running, are you?"

Stella asked me with a piercing glare.

"Of course, I am. I've developed the habit of compressing mana as much as possible to refill my mana capacity whenever I switch off body-strengthening magic. In fact, that's what I did during my duel with Leo, compressing my mana to restore the amount I lost in the gaps of my movements.

Well, I indeed can't do it while doing anaerobic exercises like full-speed sprints, but as long as my body-strengthening output is only around 50%, I can cut off my magic during the movement intervals and compress my mana. For other routines like normal running and swinging practices, I can go up to 70% or more. Such actions are hardly enough to dry up my mana. If anything, my body will hit its limit before that can even happen."

Blonde-haired Jeu chuckled softly.

"You always keep saying such unconventional things with a straight face. I know mana compression recovers mana faster than waiting for natural recovery. But it's an incredibly difficult task that requires concentration. It's already a herculean task to do this while running, so like hell we can manage it during battle."

What do you mean I always say such things? If anything, Fey here was obviously the chairperson of unconventional talk...

But, considering their expressions, that seemed to be the truth. In my case, my Mother did it as naturally as breathing air, so my elder sister and I naturally picked it up from her and practiced it. Well, there were also my brothers who couldn't do it no matter how many times we explained.

"The key here is to perceive the meticulously layered mana compression for raising maximum mana capacity as something different. It's indeed a task you need to get a knack of to achieve, and I believe everyone here can at least incorporate it into your 'forms' while training. Realistically speaking, though, there shouldn't be that many chances where you need to maintain magic for such a long time."

In normal circumstances, battles don't last that long. Unless the opponent was someone close to their level in a one-on-one scenario, or where enemies continuously attacked without respite, combat usually didn't last for more than an hour.

So the traditional approach of focusing on training their instantaneous burst power might not be wrong. No, not might, it was the right path.

"... What's your goal for running uphill from here?"

Coco asked.

"Great that you asked! Everything we did until now was like a warm-up exercise, the real training starts from here! Al! It's not the time to roll your eyes! Not that there's anything special to worry about!

The purpose of this hill sprint is muscle training and increasing proficiency in body-strengthening magic under maximum output through full-body exercise by mustering every ounce of your power. If you ask me, nothing beats full-speed sprints for efficient muscle training.

Take a look at this hill! That lovely 10-degree incline and that wonderful 500m straight road. Where else can you find such supreme conditions? Running up the hill with full power, and then slowly descend while refilling your mana capacity. Don't you think this pretty much covers all the core strength parts that a knight needs to train?

By turning running into a routine and devising a plan on how to cross that distance in the shortest amount of time, I can train evenly in muscle strength, maximum output of body-strengthening, explosive power to increase output, and endurance with just one exercise.

In other words, it's a training that covers power, speed, and endurance, all in one package. Moreover, by adjusting the number of repetitions, I can manage the physical load as well."

"...Running at 'full power' on this hill where a rock would easily roll down, huh?...... Can you do it, Leo?"

Dan asked Leo.

"Of course not. I would need at least a few months of training. If I fight with Allen outside, I can see my chances of winning plummeting. He has one heck of a talent for mana manipulation."

...Hmm, I never thought about that. But could you guys please not look at me with such incredulous gazes... I don't know how to react to them.

Click

I turned to look at the sudden source of the sound to see Fey had attached some kind of magic tool to my wrist.

"What's this?"

"This is the magic device that I spent over 8 hours improving. Well, the only improved part is I just modified a device that measures remaining magic power so it can record data. With this, your secret will soon be visible to everyone—," Fey explained with a smirk.

I picked up a nearby rock and promptly smashed the magic device she had attached. I ignored the dumbfounded look on Fey which seemed to ask 'Why' and concluded the conversation.

"Anyway, I've rambled about theories, but remember, you need to first think for what reason you are running for, and draw your own conclusion. If you just accept what others tell you, you won't really gain anything.

In the end, what you need to focus on is to experiment and try out, and through it, gradually improve your routine."

After leaving these words, I faced toward the hill and started running. I couldn't afford to waste any more time talking here, it would just interfere with my schedule...

I still had the trial called Sora's Breakfast waiting for me as part of my morning routine.