Miledi dragged Leo until she stopped in front of an aged double door of more than 4 meters. The dust that settled on its surface showed it was unused for a long time. She raised her hand and touched the door. A sky blue magic circle emerged on the door and the door opened itself with a creepy "Creak~" and revealed a large hall shrouded in darkness.
"First, I'll test the limits of your body and your control over mana. With them in mind, I'll create the most gruesome training plan for you. If you are having any doubts then please turn back. I will tolerate none of them later."
Leo adopted his most serious face and replied, "None."
"Good. Then let's proceed."
Leo was still unable to comprehend the change in her. Was she always serious like this? Or was acting annoying her way of suppressing her true self?
"Master!"
He turned around to discover Hearst running toward him. Smiling apologetically, he opened a gate right in front of her.
Forgive me, but I don't want any distraction this time, he thought and followed Miledi inside the hall.
*Snap!* With a snap of her fingers, the hall lit up. Leo stared at the hall completely covered in magic circles. Roof, floor and even the walls, not a single portion of the hall was spared.
"Now, let's start with light exercises. A thousand push-ups will do~"
"Isn't that too ea—" before he finished, a weight of more than a ton fell on his body. It wasn't much for the current but the sudden attack surprised him.
"Start!"
Under the weight of increased gravity, he finished the push-ups with ease. Just as he was about to stand up, the weight on his back increased. Now he had to put some effort to resist gravity and pull his body.
Miledi repeated the process with a sadistic smile which Leo, fortunately, didn't notice or all of his admiration might have vanished in a second. Time and time again, Miledi's eyes (Fake) opened wide. The demon really surpassed all her expectations. He managed to do more than 1000 pushups under 1210 times normal gravity without utilizing any mana.
(A/N:- For comparison, with Leo's current stats, his full-powered punch carries roughly 10.5 tons worth of power and that is without mana.)
His clothes ripped from the force and exposed the slender muscles underneath. Every muscle was compressed to the limits to carry maximum explosive strength. Even Miledi couldn't avert her gaze from the charms this brat (In her eyes) exhibited.
He indeed has the assets to create such harem…
Leo stood and looked at himself completely drenched in sweat. His body ached from the extreme workout, his eyes nonetheless contained a strong determination to continue.
Miledi hid the faint blush on her face and spoke in a serious voice, "This is the end of physical assessment. Now for mana control, try to cast an advanced magic spell."
Leo nodded and whispered, "Crimson Javelin."
The mana gathered and conjured a spear out of swirling fire. He was about to throw it but a strange thing happened. The mana around the spear dispersed into nothing.
"No need to be surprised. This room is a part of Reisen Gorge and I can control the mana dispersion here to some extent."
"Okay…"
"As for your control, I'd say it's average. You are just using the quantity to force the magic spells to materialize instead of using a minimum amount of mana to achieve high efficiency. Look at my spell."
She created the same spell within less than half of his time. With a faintly smiling face, she added,
"You need to wield mana as if it is a part of your own. Don't see it as just a means to cast spells. Now you can see what you have to work on now. First, transfer some mana to my body~"
Leo contemplated her lecture for a moment.
Part of my own body… It might just work...
He nodded and followed her instructions to cast Transference, a high-rank magic spell and transferred half of his monstrous mana to her.
"Sweet~ Let's start the training with twelve hundred gravity and you'll have to survive without using any mana~"
Leo blankly stared at her as she activated the gravity magic carved on the circles. It was his first day of the most hellish week…
---
When Leo was training his ass off, Eri, Yue, Shea, Irene, Remia, and Tio gathered in the living room of the house and sat in a pair of two on sofas. Right as they were about to start the meeting, a gate opened and Hearst fell out of it, crashing face-first on the ground.
Shea hurriedly picked up the teary-eyed Hearst sprawled on the ground and made her sit on the sofa.
"What happened? Why are you crying?" Eri asked as she passed over her handkerchief to her.
Eri shook her head at Hearst, still bawling her eyes out.
"Why are you still crying? You are the one who can perfectly sense his emotions. Can't you see? He didn't want you to witness the training or he sent you here to stop himself from any distraction."
"I'm sowwy. Eri-san."
Eri massaged her forehead. 'This girl is so dumb yet so cute.'
"Anyway, thank you all for gathering here."
Her serious tone created a solemn atmosphere.
*Clap!* *Clap!* *Clap!* Clap!*
But one rabbit girl wasn't so serious.
"Shea!"
"Sorry. I won't do it anymore."
Yue reprimanded Shea, who in return apologized with a miserable face.
"Ufufu. It's…"
Eri shut Remia up with a deadly glare. Her crimson eyes really scared the former widow, who assumed a serious expression.
Eri continued with a sigh, "Did you all notice the boost in our strength?"
Irene raised her hand to attract everyone's attraction which wasn't needed.
"Yes, my stats nearly doubled. I don't know why is this but it is something related to the change in Leo's color of hair. Also, his soul is brighter than before."
"Indeed, this one thinks Goshujin-sama's hidden race awakened or was about to awaken because of that shining light. This one can't help but worry about Goshujin-sama..."
"Tio, I have a favor to ask or in your situation, it might be a suggestion."
Tio turned to Eri, confused by the sudden request. She nodded her head despite not knowing her request.
"Can you help Leo when he comes back? You are the most motherly woman among us."
Others including Remia nodded their heads. Tio was dumbfounded by this.
"D-Don't say it like this one is an old hag. Remia is also here and she is a real mother."
Eri shook her head. "She'll most likely go into heat and I don't have any confidence in pulling it off. Maybe Shea can do this."Remia felt she was being wronged here. She nevertheless gave up on any intention to retort or all their grievances will pour down on her.
Shea moved her gaze between Eri and Tio before nodding her head with an enlightened face.
"I'll let the perverted dragon do it this time. She's the only one left here and I don't mind if she gets into harem by this~"
Tio sighed and nodded her head, this might be an opportunity for her.
"Not everything is bad though. We found our father-in-law and mothers-in-law are alive. The question here is will Leo forgive them? I think he himself is struggling with this problem."
"Yeah, Leo might be confused. After all, he fought all his life for revenge which wasn't even real. That's why I'm asking Tio to help him. At this time a motherly figure is what he needs... If only Maria nee-chan was here."
Irene sighed regretfully. "Sadly. None of us here have a mother."
"That is something I never noticed before~"
"...Nn."
"There you go raising flags again… Discussions like this are not bad. Well, this is it for today. Tomorrow we have an appointment at Orcus Labyrinth."
Eri's words brought the meeting to an end. They all stood up to retire in their own rooms. Yue stopped them.
"...Hearst, Eri, and Irene come to my room. I need help with spells."