Abby bought a tea of her own and joined Moby at his table.
"Sorry that I was so late, I was doing my regular exercises before I got here. So, why did you call me here instead of starting the training right away?" Abby asked in a somewhat annoyed manner.
"I just wanted to get to know you, and what your motivations are better before we properly get started with our training," Moby replied.
Moby was just trying to get as much information as possible out of her. He wanted to know what kind of person she is before going through with his plan.
"Ok, I guess that makes sense," Abby said, cooling off a bit.
"I heard you say that there is someone you must defeat at all costs and you need to quickly gain strength. Can you please elaborate on that?" Moby asked.
"Honestly, I don't like to talk a lot about that, but, since you will be my future master, I guess it will be fine to tell you," Abby said in a serious tone.
She took a deep breath before continuing what she had to say.
"As you probably know, the Ried family is one of the only fire families in the world and one of the more powerful and well known."
"Ever since I was little, I have been very weak, fragile and I was always greatly overshadowed by my older sister."
"Her name is Jessica Ried, she is a second-year at our school, and she is already an A rank student. She is currently my main goal to defeat and get my revenge on."
The word "revenge" had intrigued Moby very much. In his eyes, she didn't look like the type of person to go after revenge.
"She has always been a lot more talented than me. She would non-stop bully, abuse, and mock me every day just for being weak, useless, and most of all a disgrace."
"She would always use me as a target for her aim practice and even develop her new techniques on me in practice matches as an excuse to hurt me. It was like she found it fun and enjoyable."
"I even have severe burns and scars that couldn't be healed even by some of the best healers." She said as she exposed a little bit of her shoulder showing a deep red, ugly scar.
"The servants never reported anything to my parents either out of fear or because they didn't like me because they saw me as a failure to the family."
"I was so weak and fragile that I would be called a disgrace to the family on a daily basis by the servants. Sometimes behind my back, and sometimes to my face."
"My sister was always my parents' favourite. So, she got away with so many things. She would always threaten to torture me so I do not speak of anything she does to me to our parents."
"I wanted to tell my parents everything that happened but every time I did, they never believed me or they just seemed uninterested. It was like they hated me as much as my sister and all the servants. They must have also seen me as a disgrace to the family."
"To this day, I still don't know why they even kept me alive and fed me every day."
"One day my sister found out that I had tried to expose her to our parents. Of course, they either didn't believe me or simply didn't care."
"That night, we had one of our usual training sessions. But this time, it was not like the rest. That night, I had felt more pain, and fear than I had ever felt in my entire life. She had burned and scared even more of my body than ever before. The pain and anguish were like nothing the little me even imagined could be possible."
'Why are mentally unstable people always attracted to me? What is her motive for telling me all of this? Is she trying to make me feel bad for her? I expected to fish for all this information myself, but it's just being handed to me for free. But, if she speaks the truth, I can see many similarities between mine and her life so far,' Moby thought his usual paranoid thoughts.
"After that night, I had contemplated suicide many times. But, in the end, I decided that I couldn't let my family have the last laugh. I could not just back down and let them win. I decided to get stronger to make them pay for all they have made me suffer."
"I promised to make them agonize hundreds of times harder than they had made me endure."
"Ever since I was 10, I had been training my ass off every day, trying my best to not waste even a single second of valuable time."
Moby then noticed that Abby had really chiselled muscles for a girl that was hidden under her fairly baggy student uniform.
'Wow, she might be even more of a training junkie than you,' Avilia remarked with a chuckle.
'Heh! That's impossible! I am THE training master! This is one of the only things I can confidently say that I have over everyone else,' Moby said with a clear prideful tone.
"That is why during the skills exam, I admired all the hard work you had put in to get to the point where you are today instead of laughing at you like all those fake bitches."
Moby did find it weird how she was the only person in his group for the skills exam that didn't ridicule his performance on the test. But now, he has gotten his answer.
Moby now feels a little more respect towards Abby than he had before. Only a little.
"Due to all my training, I never had the time or interest to make any friends at school. Also, I was unable to trust anyone with anything due to my previous experiences."
"To be honest, I don't trust you at all but, since you are much weaker than me, I feel more comfortable talking with you. No offence."
"And to be honest, you are my only hope at improving. For the past few months, I had hit a bottleneck in my training. I was not improving at all no matter how hard I tried. Honestly, I would rather die if I had to stay at this strength for the rest of my life. I am still far too weak to exact my revenge. And if I can't do that. Then what is the point of me even living?"
"I believe learning martial arts might help me overcome my bottleneck and reach the next level."
'She has indeed reached her limit, from what I can tell, she was in fact born with a very weak, and fragile body. She had already trained her body and ability to the utmost limit of her capability. No matter how hard she trains, her power level would not increase by much, if at all. She would stay like this for the rest of her life,' Avilia said.
'So, all she needs to get stronger is a tougher body? Correct?' Moby asked.
'Yes, that is correct,' Avilia replied.
'Perfect!' Moby thought.
"I had tried to follow and practice professor Leo's techniques but they seem to be no help for me at all."
"When we fought, I felt like you had an immense, almost monsterish strength coming from you. Your martial arts and your techniques were like nothing I had ever seen in my life."
"I just had a feeling that you would be able to help me break through my bottleneck."
"So, do you think I am fit enough for you to train? Even if your training doesn't help me break through my bottleneck, I still promise to pay you!"
Moby pretended to take a long time to ponder her story. He had been intensely listening to her the entire time and had already decided what he would do.
"I know how to make you overcome your bottleneck, I can definitely promise you that! However, the process will be really painful, are you still up for the task?" Moby said with a smile.
Moby was testing if her resolve was truly as strong as she claims and, most of all, to see if her reaction looked genuine.
"REALLY!! YOU CAN REALLY DO IT!? I PROMISE YOU THAT I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PAIN! I WILL LITERALLY DO ANYTHING TO OVERCOME THIS BOTTLENECK!" Abby screamed, jumping out of her seat, bringing all the attention in the shop to their table.
"Calm down! You are causing a scene!" Moby whispered under his breath.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I just couldn't help myself! This is the best news I have ever heard in my life! No exaggeration at all!" Abby said with a smile, sitting back in her seat trying to calm herself down.
"So! How do you do it! Let's get started right away!" Abby said with clear impatience.
"Yes, I can get it done all today! You don't have to worry about that, but first, why don't we meet up with my other pupil?" Moby said with a smile.
"Other pupil!? You are telling me that I am not the only one!?" Abby said in shock.
"You have probably heard of her before. You will know who they are once we get there. let us go there right now. Quickly finish your tea and follow me," Moby said as he stood up and went towards the shop's exit.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Abby said as she chugged the rest of her tea and ran after Moby.
Moby ordered a taxi to drive him to their destination.
During the ride, Abby kept on asking Moby about their destination and who his other pupil was. But all that Moby would reply with was.
"You will find out soon enough."
After a 30-minute taxi ride, they finally reached their destination.
It was a big mansion with a big garden in the front which led to the big wide mansion doors.
Although it was still smaller than her family mansion, Abby was astonished at its beauty and grandeur. It looked much nicer and calmer than her family's house.
When they knocked on the door, an old butler immediately opened up for them like he was expecting them to come.
"The young miss is waiting for you in the battle arena. Allow me to escort you there," the butler said with a bow.
"Thank you very much!" Moby replied with a smile using a familiar tone like they had known each other for some time.
The whole mansion just gave off a warmer feeling than Abby's family home. It was most likely due to all the bad memories she had to endure in her old mansion and not because the mansion she is in right now looked nicer.
After a minute or so of walking, they finally reached the entrance to the arena.
"This is the entrance to our battle arena, the young miss will be waiting for you inside. I shall be taking my leave now, if you need anything, all you need to do is call," The butler said, bowing and leaving from the way they came.
The arena was huge which really surprised Abby. She never imagined that such a big arena would fit in this mansion.
In the middle of the arena, there was a figure of a beautiful blue-haired woman standing there waiting.
"Your pupil is Jayden Griffith!? I heard that she had made you her pet! Was it just a cover story for her being your pupil!?" She exclaimed.
"Yes! Of course!" Moby replied with clear confidence.
When they finally reached the center of the stage meeting up with Jayden, she gave him a bow saying,
"Greetings master. It seems like you have gotten a new pupil."
"Yes, indeed, she will be your fellow pupil. I hope you 2 can get along well," Moby replied with an authoritative voice.
"Umm… Master… You have yet to tell me how you will help me overcome my bottleneck?" Abby asked, with a bow.
After seeing how Jayden was acting so respectful to Moby, she just felt like it would be weird if she acted too casual around him. Especially when she is trying to ask for something.
"Your bottleneck is due to the weak body you were born with. You have already trained your body to its utmost limit. No matter how hard you train, you will never be able to get stronger. But fret not! To tell you the truth, I have gone through a similar experience myself. I was weak, very weak, and my strength was rarely ever growing. However, recently, I have discovered a new method of gaining absolute power, breaking through our human limitations, breaking free from the shackles of mortality itself to become something much greater!" Moby said, telling her the partial truth but still hiding many things.
"I am not sure I understood what you just said. But, if it is able to get me past my bottleneck and help me gain more strength, then I will be forever indebted to you," Abby said with a deep bow and a firm voice.
"This method will be very painful, more pain that you have most likely ever felt in your entire life. Are you sure you still want to go through with this?" Moby asked in a serious tone.
"More sure than I have ever been on anything in my entire life! If this works! I promise to compensate you with anything you want that I am able to provide. Anything at all!" She replied with no hesitation at all.
"Good! Now, all you need to do is relax and let my energy flow inside your body without offering any resistance," Moby said as he put his hand on her head.
Suddenly, a wonderful sensation spread all over her entire body as she felt an unknown energy enter through her head. She felt calmer at and more at peace than she had ever felt in years or maybe even her entire life.
'This is not so bad…' She thought with a blissful smile on her face.
*******
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