Five days later.

Knock* Knock* Knock*

"Mog! Wake up! It's time to train!" - Livia's voice sounded from outside my door.

"Okay! I'm awake!" - I responded and slowly got up.

My movements were much more fluid than they were six days ago when I took the potion.

While stretching myself, I removed my tunic and checked my status.

My stats were experiencing explosive growth, especially the physical ones. My willpower is still increasing even though it is already comparable to Rank C+. I wonder when it will stop growing.

My two talents are also steadily recovering, but their rate of recovery is slowing down with each lvl they rise. It will likely take me a few years to fully recover my warrior talent at this rate. I hope the potion that the mistress will give me will speed up my recovery process.

That aside, I got three new talents from eating bugs!

[Regular talent: Basic Tough Exoskeleton
lvl: 1/1
Type: Defensive
Grade: Common
Description: A good talent to have for any creature with an exoskeleton. This talent will enhance the toughness of your exoskeleton, enhance its shock absorption, and increase the rate of its improvement.
Effects: Tough Exoskeleton, Exoskeletal Shock Absorption, Enhanced Exoskeleton Tempering]

I got this talent from a dung-beetle, but it is absolutely useless. It didn't even increase the toughness of my skin.

[Regular talent: Basic Cellular Regeneration
lvl: 1/1
Type: Regeneration
Grade: Rare
Description: A talent that is excellent to have for all creatures with the ability to regenerate themselves with cells. Your cells are now able to regenerate more effectively, split more times, and at the same time reduce the chance of cancerous cell development. This enables enhanced natural regeneration and an anti-aging effect. It does not help produce stem cells or slow down cell aging, however, so it does not increase absolute lifespan.
Effects: Enhanced Cell Regeneration. Anti-Cancer, Enhanced Natural Regeneration, Slower Aging]

This sweet baby I got from an earthworm three days ago. Although I don't know what cells are, I do know that cancer is bad, and better regeneration and slower aging are good. I tried asking Erno what cells are, but he just gave me a confused look, not knowing what they are either. In any case, I guess that cells are good.

As a side note, I suffered from a bit of diarrhea after eating the earthworm, but it was worth it.

[Regular talent: Basic Enhanced Pheromones
lvl: 1/1
Type: Pheromones
Grade: Uncommon
Description: A good talent to have for any creature with pheromones and uses pheromones to communicate. It makes your pheromones stronger, making them have stronger convincing power on members of receptive races, and enhances pheromone attractiveness to potential mates.
Effects: Enhanced Pheromones]

This one is sketchy. When I was looking at the garden yesterday, I found a large Ant with wings, so I ate it, and this is the result. I didn't know what pheromones are, so I asked Erno, and he told me that it is something that the body of creatures secretes naturally, and its nature isn't fully understood. He did give me a few examples, though.

"When female animals and monsters go into heat, they secrete pheromones to attract male suitors. When many insects communicate, they use pheromones instead of speaking. Some animals and monsters use pheromones to mark territory. Although the majority of enlightened races don't use them actively, some beastkin and beastmen also rely on pheromones, but to a lesser degree than animals. There are other examples, but I am not sure about them." - He said while pondering.

That's all there was to it. It is, however, a talent that I can use to a limited extent, so it is a plus.

Overall, I am pleased with the results.

"Alright, I'll do my best today as well!" - I encouraged myself as I went to the training ground.¹Spoken like a true shounen MC. Oh, right, he is at that age, isn't he?

After arriving at the training ground, I saw Faevyre and Livia waiting for me.

"Welcome back, trainee Mog. As usual, you will continue training by yourself for now. However, with your rate of recovery, I am sure you will reach a sufficient level to join my training within another week of training." - Faevyre said with a smile.

At her words, I smiled and said, "Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am."

"Good, now get to it. Trainee Livia, follow me!" - Faevyre motioned as she started jogging.

"Yes, Ma'am!" - Livia followed behind her.

I also started jogging by myself. With the help of my increased stats and my constant energy stamina regeneration, I was able to increase the nine minutes from last time to over 20 minutes per Jog! Also, I wasn't as tired as before.

"Alright, I think I can start doing some more intense exercise other than jogging now." - I thought to myself as I started running instead of Jogging.

For obvious reasons, I got tired within minutes of running, and I ran rather slowly too, but it was an improvement from last time. I also started doing some push-ups, lunges, and squats. However, I only managed to do short ones of 3 per set. Still, it was an improvement.

Something worth noting was that the energy expenditure of using Regular Energy to recover my stamina has increased by around a third, while the amount I recovered stayed relatively the same, a third of what I recover when resting.

"Is it related to my Endurance stat? Well, it kind of makes sense. The more my body improves, the more energy I need to achieve the same effect as before. However, I shudder to think about the amount that I will need to consume when I reach C-rank in the future. Would I need to consume over 30 sausages worth of energy per hour to maintain this effect?" - I thought.

Still, for now, the consumption is small, so I can still afford to use it.

Another thing of note was that the size of the storage also increased by a few sausages worth of energy and now reached around 52 sausages. I also noticed a very small increase in the amount of energy that flowed into my talents, less than a hundredth. However, it still increased. 

"This is just a guess, but perhaps the storage is linked to my physical fitness, and the amount of energy I can transfer into my talents is linked to my willpower. I need to ask Grith to be certain, but he is busy being a Grith." - I unknowingly started using his nickname as a derogatory term at some point.

Shaking my head of those thoughts, I continued my training.

Soon, the sun was up in the sky, and after training, we sat down to eat breakfast in the dining area.

While wolfing down food at a speed comparable to Borso, I heard Erno's voice, "Mog, go meet the mistress at her bedroom after breakfast."

"Ok!" - I said as I continued eating.

"Did the mistress prepare me the potion to help restore my talent?" - I thought to myself hopefully.

After I finished breakfast, I didn't waste time and headed upstairs to meet the mistress.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, in the Senecio family's mansion, Amulius's study room.

Amulius was reading through the recent report from his subordinate, Uremiel. As he was reading it, his expression turned uglier and uglier.

"The vile monster!" - Amulius spat in disgust and anger.

Before reading this message, Amulius already had an impression of prince Cossus. On the one hand, he considered the man as charismatic, talented, and a genius. On the other hand, he considered him as a childish, cruel, perverted, and sadistic sociopathic freak. However, after reading this report, he also added the words vile monster.

Uremiel is his best spy, a Transcendent and Legendary Rogue with the side profession of Shadow Walker. He is a death sworn, an absolutely loyal existence. Amulius didn't doubt the report at the slightest.

"Ahab, you read this too." - With hands shaking in anger, Amulius gave the report scroll to Ahab, his most trusted bodyguard, and most loyal of friends.

Ahab respectfully took the report and started reading. However, after reading it for only half a minute, the stoic man's face started to noticeably contort in disgust and anger! Few things could move this stoic man anymore after years of seeing the dark side of the world.

After he finished reading the report, he turned his head and asked Amulius with eyes burning in anger, "Can I exterminate it, master?"

Ahab didn't even consider the prince as a human being anymore, but a monster in need of slaying.

Amulius took a deep breath to calm his nerves and then shook his head, "Not yet. Although the emperor has many good sides and is impartial in most cases, he has the major flaw of being overprotective of his own kin to an unreasonable extent, and blind to their faults, even if they do something bad. That time, after Cossus drugged Consentia that poor girl, and had her raped by 14 orc servants to just avoid marriage with her, even after Legatus Bultatus left his post to confront the emperor and threatened him with rebellion, the emperor only lightly scolded his son and grounded him for a month. A single, fucking, month. And that is also when he was served like the prince he is with those little slave boys and girls he so adores to fuck and toss aside after they reach the age of 12, fucking sick pedophile. Legatus Bultatus, in the end, for the safety of the empire, gave in and didn't support his daughter further, and even spread bad rumors about her, in fear that she will take revenge on the prince once she becomes the matriarch of the family, making the empire enter a civil war."

Amulius then rubbed his forehead in exasperation and continued.

"However, even if it is one of his favorite grandchildren, he won't be able to shrug THIS off. First, however, capture those three ambitious brats from the Fidelis family who provided the funds, the corrupt officials we captured a few days ago who covered up the tracks, The greedy merchants who got robbed near the magic forest, that piece of shit pit owner that sold his most talented goblin to the prince, those shitty nobles involved in the pits, the workers of that horrid breeding pen who raised monsters using female slaves for the said pits, that ass-kissing tribune who reported Aulus's cohort and the cohorts route to the prince, and that money-blinded tamer who killed all the female goblins in the magic forest, taught the goblins how to farm, forge weapons, use the said weapons, advanced military formations, and prepared the whole ambush, killing 427 loyal citizen-soldiers of the empire, and two valuable mages with strategic value."

Amulius then sighed again and said, "And all of this was just to dispose of one shitty brat to drag down his ex-fiancee, whom he apparently fears because of some stupid prophecy he apparently received over a year ago, to the grave, which still failed in the end. I don't know if I should call that prince a mad genius or a horrible and emotionless monster. Most likely both. In any case, by almost annihilating an entire cohort for no reason other than his own selfish interests, what he did is considered high treason against the empire itself." - Amulius said while rubbing the bridge of his nose and sighed.

After a short while, he raised his head and said with a determined look, "We will need hard evidence to take down the prince, and a lot of it, or the emperor will act like an ostrich and bury his head into his stupid golden shitter, AGAIN, and be indecisive, AGAIN. I swear by all the gods above that if he ignores it this time and doesn't execute that prince, then I will openly start deposing him from his throne, and spread all the wrongdoings of that prince to the public, leading to a public outcry, and causing the senate to remove the emperor, or I am not Amulius Pompilius Senecio."