"Haaa...fuuu."
Inside a huge training room that resembled the interior of a dojo, there were several thick wooden pillars with the smallest measuring a few meters high and the tallest tens of meters, on top of the tallest pillar of all, there was a handsome silver-haired young man sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
The air in this room felt much cleaner than in the outside and a dense current of energy seemed to run through the whole place, making any pugilist who entered this room feel instantly revitalized.
However, if someone who had not strengthened his body with pugilistic methods tried to enter this room, his body would simply not be able to withstand this kind of energy and would end up with broken muscles and bones at best.
This type of energy was called Qi, it was like the mana of the magicians, but for pugilists, and it was responsible for the incredible physical capacity that they had, being crucial to temper their bodies as well as serving as fuel to be able to use martial skills.
Although in the history of the founder of the pugilists there was no mention of Qi, many believe that it was because Atlas felt the Qi as if it was part of his body, causing him to feel no difference even when he used it, although it was not a verifiable fact either.
"...Ha!"
*BAM!"
Suddenly, the young man opened his eyes at the same time that he released a scream, disturbing all the surrounding Qi, this effect could only be caused by fighters of a certain level, specifically, when one finally had managed to touch the "limit" of the human body.
"Haaaa, I finally did it,." said the young man as he stepped off the pillar that measured tens of meters in one jump and landed gracefully on the ground.
He had finally reached the "limit", which was an important step for all pugilists, with this, he had gained more confidence in his chances of passing the entrance exam for the Eitsirc Academy.
"Well, it's time for a shower."
Heading to the back of the room, he reached for a large jade door with some markings on it and opened it. The view that welcomed him was that of a small hot spring that seemed to be hotter than normal.
Taking off his clothes, he revealed a body with incredibly defined muscles, his build wasn't slim nor too robust, just enough to look agile but strong at the same time.
The next moment, he washed himself before entering the hot spring.
"Haa~"
Now in the water, he couldn't help but let out a sigh because it felt incredibly comforting to be there.
He had only been inside for a short time and yet he was already feeling all his fatigue fade away, as he relaxed, it crossed his mind what could his friends be doing.
"Sarah...she's probably training hard for the exam, she's always been the type who's very diligent despite acting like she's not." He said as he remembered his gluttonous wizard friend, "Although...who I'm most worried about is Jay...he hardly ever does anything without an ulterior motive...haa, I just hope he's not doing anything bad."
To him, it was weird that Jay had confronted Carl just to touch his ankle, but he decided to ignore that for the moment.
'Oh well, they'll call me if they need help...' He thought with a smile of resignation on his face.
That was the last thing he thought about before closing his eyes to rest, enjoying the feeling of the hot springs embracing his body.
***
By the time Jay managed to get home, the sky had already darkened, so he proceeded to enter his house, however, as soon as he entered, he was once again assaulted by a familiar and very pleasant aroma.
"This...pizza?!"
Because he had been running for a long time, his appetite was quite big, so he rushed quickly to the kitchen to be able to relieve his hunger a little with such a delicious food.
When he entered he saw Sarah sitting at the table with a half-eaten slice of pizza in her hand.
Unlike the athletic outfit Sarah was wearing when they were training, she was now wearing blue pajamas that made her look cuter than usual, although her hair was still as loose and long as ever.
"Oh, Sarah, thank you for buying pizza~"
Jay then sat down at the table and grabbed a slice of pizza... or at least he tried to, but just as he was about to do so, the pizza box moved further away from his hand.
"...Sarah?" he asked, but Sarah didn't answer.
"..."
Jay tried to grab a slice again, but each time he did, it moved farther and farther away from him, to the point where Jay even had to stand up to try. Finally, when the pizza box was floating just a few inches away from the ceiling, Jay gave up.
"Sarah, you have a fetish for seeing me suffer when I'm hungry or something...?"
"Aren't you forgetting something important~?" She finally said, with her eyes half-closed.
"...Ah."
Certainly, before going to visit Carl, Jay had promised to tell her what was his plan, however, he had wanted to do it at another time, preferably when he wasn't starving.
And although he remembered saying that, Sarah had been asleep when he said it...unless...
"...You were awake, right?"
"I was tired, yes, but not that tired, besides, didn't you enjoy taking a girl like me to bed~?" Sarah replied with a small teasing smile on her face.
"Hey! That can be misunderstood! Your father could be watching us...!"
Jay reproached her as he remembered how terrifying Sarah's father was.
Then he started looking for any animal that might be listening to them in the house, this could seem like the act of a madman, but Sarah's father was a special kind of magician known as druid, their specialty was that they could control certain types of animals and even some monsters.
"Don't worry, I don't think my father is watching me 24/7, so relax~" She said, not even a bit worried about what Jay was thinking.
"Well...you're right, maybe I'm a bit parano-..."
Just then, Jay saw the head of a small squirrel peeking out of the doorway to the backyard.
"..."
"..."
For a few seconds, the three of them froze there and made eye contact before remembering what that little squirrel meant.
"GET HIM!!"
"AAAHH!"
Sarah quickly pulled out her wand to try to catch the squirrel and Jay ran to the door in a hurry, letting out a war cry, but when he got to the backyard...the squirrel was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh...oh no...this is bad."
Said Jay as he fell to his knees, his face showing the expression of someone who had been sentenced to death, in his head passed images of a giant man and a bear playing soccer with his body.
"Gee, you look like you're in trouble, huh?" Said Sarah with a smile and a look of pity.
'THIS IS YOUR FAULT, DAMN IT!' He thought with a small tear in the corner of his eye, but before he could say anything, Sarah pulled the pizza box down from the roof and offered it to Jay.
"Don't worry, I don't think anything bad will happen, more importantly, how about we talk about what you promised while we eat~?" She said, felling a little bad for what happened, but still wanting to make Jay keep his promise.
Seeing Sarah's bright smile accompanied by the delicious aroma of the pizza, adding his great appetite, Jay's anger was immediately appeased.
'Haa...I really can't stay mad at her...let alone the pizza...'
Then, deciding to put aside the possible consequences of letting that squirrel escape, Jay sat down at the table and grabbed a slice of pizza before he began telling Sarah about his "ability".
***
After half an hour and several slices of pizza, Jay had finished telling Sarah about his ability, now he was seeing what would be her reaction.
"...Woah, so...you're an esper after all~"
Although espers were usually born with their skills, there were really unusual cases where their skills only manifested themselves at a certain age, so it wasn't so hard to believe Jay's story.
Jay had expected a different reaction than what Sarah was showing right now, maybe that she would be a afraid that he would infect her and "take away" her abilities or something like that, however, she didn't show any of that.
She just got happy for him and even made a joke about how his ability was perfect for a villain.
Sarah's carefree attitude to this had made Jay happy, and had also reaffirmed once again that he could trust Sarah.
'And, it's a good thing that he isn't involved in anything dangerous...well, nothing THAT dangerous.'
Sarah was relieved that Jay was not involved in shady things or that he had a suicidal desire, and although there were still several doubts about what Jay had planned to do to make himself strong enough to pass the entrance exam, Sarah was satisfied for now.
After spending some time talking about Jay's ability and having him introduce Sarah to a few of his "little ones," it was time for bed. However, when Jay planned to say goodbye to Sarah, she said something that surprised him.
"Jay...eh...my...parents aren't home...and I don't want to sleep alone with how big my house is...so I was wondering if..." she said a little flushed as she played with her hair, her appearance that of a pretty girl in distress about to ask for something embarrassing.
However, faced with this scene in which many people's hearts would race, thinking of the possible outcomes in which this situation could end, Jay simply pointed to the upstairs before saying, "You can sleep in the guest room."
"You didn't even left me finish!"
"Am I wrong...?"
"No...but, uh...damn, I'll get you one day!" Sarah said before going up to the second floor and going straight to bed, leaving Jay alone in the kitchen.
Luckily, after spending a lot of time with this girl, Jay had developed an incredible ability to deal with this type of situation, the so-called "Resistance to Female Charm," Jay's strongest skill!
And that's how the night when a third person came into contact with the parasites ended, although of course...it wouldn't be the last.
