A/N - All the Norweigan is google translated btw. So please forgive me if you are a Norwegian expert.
*****
Motivation filled my mind, so I first started on the rock wall which I climbed using only my upper body, ċhėst, and core.
It was a good workout for all those specific muscles and my grip strength, which… uhhhh… I don't know when I'd need it, but Mom said it would be helpful later on.
"Finally! Finally!" I shout in excitement.
And soon, our first part of the day had come… School.
We were essentially being homeschooled here in our base by my Mom, and it was interesting as we actually learned things we needed in life.
Obviously, most of us wanted to be dungeon runners or something close to that, so she taught us all she knew on that subject… while also including Norweigan.
"Hva er dette ordet?" Mom first asks, and we quickly reply with,
"Kjole," We all answered.
This is pretty boring… I pretty much memorized all of it already, and Mia seemed to be bored as well due to her exceptional memory.
But, if the girls looked just a bit harder, they would be able to realize today we were reviewing everything we learned… as we are finally leaving tomorrow.
"Oh yeah, today, for the general studies, Lucy will be helping as I've just recently learned she's pretty smart," Mom says, breaking the immersion we had.
We usually only talk in Norwegian when we have the class, but she suddenly spoke in English.
"Took you long enough," I mutter, my chin in my hand.
"Yeah, yeah… Anyway, she ranks number 1 on the National Intelligence list for North America for her age group…But I looked up her World Wide Ranking, and apparently, for her grade back then, which was ninth, she is fifteenth…."
I couldn't help but smile as everybody rolled their eyes.
"Okay, let's move onto general studies now," Mom says, and so, we continued the class.
Lunch came around, and we had a light snack which took us years of experience to learn was the best option.
Right after lunch, we have training with Mom, which is brutal… So having a cramp just goes against you.
Plus, puking everything out just makes you more tired.
…
"HUFF HUFF HUFF HUFF…"
I ducked down but tucked my head into my ċhėst, allowing me to dodge the ax kick right to my face.
My hands were in the perfect position to flip over and kick her, but I knew she already anticipated it, so as she threw another punch, I let her hit the side of my foot as I brought it down.
tsk
Or so I thought.
She had blocked it with a floating piece of ice.
The top of my foot was immediately bruised, but I didn't have time to feel… I needed to dodge this uppercut coming straight for my solar plexus.
But I couldn't dodge it as I was in mid-air, so my only choice was to block it with my hand reinforced with my ice.
BAM
I threw up onto the ground as Mom punched straight past my guard, slamming my solar plexus.
"Alright, take her out. Mia, you're next," The ice-cold woman in front of me says, and as I was dragged out of the white ring, Mia hopped in.
"Shit, that old hag," I mutter, gripping my ċhėst before throwing up once again.
"We gotta report her to the CPS once we get out," Nell says as she rubs my back.
We chuckled a bit before turning our heads towards the center of the room.
Mia was getting destroyed against Mom, who mastered every single type of weapon art and form.
Each time Mia would swing her metal halberd, Mom redirected it with her spear and punched Mia as if she was taunting her.
But after years of doing this over and over, Mia, of course, learned from her mistakes and managed to land one hit on her.
SHING
She first baited with a fake that everybody thought was real… even Mom fell for it.
Mom twirled her spear before her, creating something akin to a shield, but Mia instantly brought back her attack, displaying her years of training.
Each muscle in her arm and core strained as she twirled around to the side of the ice-cold woman and baited once again with the end of her spear.
She swung up with the blunt part, causing the already panicking woman to duck downwards.
Upon realizing she had been baited, she tried to jump back, but her foot was trapped by Mia's foot.
SHING
Mia swung downwards.
The swing ripped through the air, her beautiful blue flames creating a monster behind the blade.
Ting
But Mom blocked it with her hand as it was covered in her own ice, which Mia's weapon and flames stood no chance against.
"You passed," Mom says, shattering the halberd's blade with just her grip.
"Huh?" Everybody in the room blurts out.
"You cheated, right?" She asked us, and a drop of sweat slid down the backs of our necks.
We all were silent, trying to stay as ambiguous as possible.
"If you all don't admit it… Then I'll have to punish you all-"
"Okay! We did!" Electra shouts, and we all glare at her.
"Good girl," Mom says with a smile, and Electra blushes while also giggling to herself a bit.
"Fucking praise, kink," I mutter to myself.
I've noticed my Mom is pretty good at manipulating people and finding their weaknesses was part of it.
"Now, how easy was it?" She asks and we all give in.
"Pretty easy. Also, we haven't been getting exhausted when switching between minds as much as before… T-thanks to you," Clio reluctantly admits.
Over the past four or so years we had mastered the hivemind.
It was something we had almost full control over but even now, I still felt like we were missing something… I felt like there was something we could still grasp.
"Mhm, mhm… Now, won't you be a dear and go get everybody some water," Mom says and Clio once again, reluctantly agreed.
"Hey, wait, I gotta ask you something," Mia stops Clio just as she was about to leave.
"What?"
"Are you going to keep that tattoo or remove it? Because it looks out of place now that you have grown so much,"
"I'm going to expand on it. It represents the core of my family but I'll make it my own…"
"I see… Well, just don't regret it,"
"I will end up regretting it later on… But not now. This will be my only way of showing that I have conquered my family by being one of the only survivors," Clio says before storming off into the kitchen.