Chapter 59: Training plan

Frost had been hoping to keep quiet and simply listen to whatever she intended to teach him, but Ava continued to regard him without saying anything. As the silence stretched, he finally gritted his teeth and cleared his throat.

"So, are you going to teach me about runes?"

Ava blinked, then scoffed. "’Teach me about runes,’ he says. You think you’re ready to learn runes?"

’I should have stayed silent,’ Frost thought, already regretting the question.

"You’re nowhere near ready to use runes," she continued. "I was studying your build to see what we need to work on."

"Excuse me, what?" Frost blinked. "What does my body have to do with becoming an evolver capable of using runes?"

"Tch. You really are a country bumpkin," she muttered, sighing in exasperation. "I suppose it’s my duty as your teacher to explain it to you."

Frost resisted the urge to point out that he had been waiting for her to do exactly that. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and listened.

"To put it simply, only fools would learn runes without first training their bodies. Your physical condition is just as important to your progress as an evolver as learning runes, which is why all recruits are required to train before they even touch a rune tome."

She looked him over again before continuing. "The purpose isn’t simply to build muscle or increase your strength. You need to prepare your body to withstand the strain of channelling rune essence, improve your endurance, sharpen your reflexes, and develop the coordination needed to control your abilities. What use is a rune if your body can’t handle you casting it?"

Frost’s expression grew thoughtful as he considered her explanation. Put that way, it was easy enough to understand, though no one had bothered explaining it to him before.

"Ah, that makes sense. Otherwise, my body might give out under the strain of all that power."

Ava snapped her fingers. "Exactly," she said, smiling for only the second time since he had come to know her. "You’re smart. I suppose you had to have at least one thing going for you."

Frost wisely chose to ignore the jab and listened quietly as Ava continued.

"For the next six weeks, most of your time will be spent doing extensive physical training. I’ll supervise you in the mornings and early afternoons, but after that, I’ll have my own duties to attend to, so you’ll be on your own. I suggest you spend some time with the other recruits and learn how to fight, both from them and against them. You can’t join their regular training sessions yet, but you can at least pick up a few things."

Frost nodded, watching as Ava pulled back the sleeve of her coat to reveal a sleek metal plate fitted over her forearm, ending just above her wrist.

She tapped it, and a small triagram flashed above its surface as an oval disc appeared in her palm.

Holding it in one hand, she tapped its surface a few times, causing another faint brilliance to shimmer across it before a holographic panel lit up.

Frost regarded it curiously. "What’s that?"

Ava looked over at him. "What, you haven’t seen an information plate before?"

"I’ve seen one, but I never asked what it was or what it did exactly," Frost replied, scratching his cheek. He might have to tell them he was from Earth soon, preferably before Ava decided he had spent his entire life living under a rock.

"Is that so? Basically, it stores and displays information," she said simply, then went quiet as she moved her fingers across the panel.

It was clear she was entering something into it, so Frost waited patiently. Once she was done, she swiped across the display, making it turn towards him.

"It’s a little like your status, on the display part at least," she added.

"Oh..." Frost leaned closer to examine the information.

Conveniently, he could read it without any trouble, and from the looks of it, she had arranged everything into a table. More specifically, it was a schedule.

"I’ve made a schedule for your training sessions with me over the next six weeks," Ava explained. "Of course, we’ll make adjustments as you progress. I’ll decide whether to make the workload lighter or heavier based on the results you show."

The schedule was easy enough to understand. She had even accounted for his breaks and recovery periods, with brief descriptions explaining what each session was supposed to improve.

Every day, he would wake up at five in the morning and eat a light meal for energy before meeting her here at half past five.

They would begin with thirty minutes of warming up and stretching, followed by endurance running from six until seven, without stopping.

Seven to eight was set aside for breakfast and recovery, after which he would begin full-body strength training until half past nine.

Agility and reflex training would follow, lasting another hour before his second recovery period and lunch, which would take him through to noon.

From twelve until one, he would work on core strength and body control, followed by an hour of combat movement drills. Finally, from two until half past two, he would cool down and stretch before being left to his own devices for the rest of the afternoon.

Frost studied the descriptions more closely.

Each session worked on a different aspect of his body, and although the amount of exercise made him a little uneasy, it was clear that she had put some thought into how everything fitted together.

She hadn’t simply told him to run until he collapsed and then get up to do it again, which, considering their conversation so far, he wouldn’t have put past her.

"Impressive," he commented, looking up from the panel. "I don’t know much about this stuff, but I can see that you put a lot of thought into creating it for me." He smiled at her. "Thank you."

For a moment, Ava seemed at a loss for words.

Faced with the genuine gratitude in his expression, she didn’t appear to know what to say, and the faintest hint of colour rose to her cheeks before she quickly looked away and cleared her throat.

"Y-yeah, yeah. You’re welcome," she said, waving off his thanks. "It’s no big deal."