After five months of rigorous training, their aetherium levels had increased dramatically. So much so that their energy levels are now considered normal for people in the universe. They are now beginning stage 2 of their training.
"Okay, we can begin. You have learned how to obtain aetherium, but now you need to know how to circulate it through your body. To increase your physical and mental abilities."
Harris interrupted Elyra to ask for more information. "Elyra, increasing our physical abilities, how will that change our bodies?"
"Aetherium allows you to strengthen your muscles, enabling those who use it to strike harder, run faster, perceive things more quickly, and gain even more abilities. As you can see, it will be indispensable to you, offering you supernatural abilities to sustain your life as a hero. Your body will not change by using Aetherium, but it is important that you strengthen your body with exercise to increase your endurance and even your resistance."
I continued. "So, what does the training involve?"
"First, you will learn how to diffuse the aetherium throughout your body and maintain it, and then you will learn how to make it circulate quickly through your body."
"Should we diffuse it?"
"Yes! Let's start right away without wasting any time."
Step two of the training: diffusing the aetherium throughout the body. Now that it is easy for us to persuade our aetherium cores, we must visualize our entire body. By body, we mean every corner of our body, including our organs, veins, and bones. We need to know ourselves inside and out. This is actually very important in order to circulate the aetherium. There are blood vessels reserved for the circulation of aetherium specific to each individual. We must therefore know every corner of our body in order to know where to circulate the aetherium without damaging our vital organs.
Aetherium represents our vital energy, which allows us to be alive or dead. However, it remains harmful to our organs if we use it unreasonably and without understanding its essence.
"You will return home and I will transfer data to you via the bracelets, which I ask you to study throughout the week. Make sure you are present for next week."
At the time, we weren't necessarily enthusiastic, except for Aria. We felt like we had homework, which didn't thrill us. But we didn't have much choice, and our opinion didn't matter since it was a mandatory step in our career as heroes.
"Come on, guys, it's not that bad. It's just memorization."
"It's easy for you, but it's not necessarily easy for everyone," said Shinrei.
"It's okay, don't be upset, I'll help you. I have several methods, and with a little determination, we'll get through this obstacle easily!"
"Really! You'll do that for us?"
"Why are you asking? It seems obvious to me, we're family. Of course I'll help you!"
Aria's words touched us deeply. The love of a sister for her brothers was still new to us, despite the time we spent together. It is still difficult for us to act like normal brothers and sisters overnight. But Aria is clearly making a lot of effort to improve our relationship, so we need to make an effort too. Little by little, we will see change. No matter how long it takes, one day we will be like a real family.
"Thank you, Aria. That's very kind of you, and we accept your help if you don't mind."
"I would like to remind you that even though we have moved on to stage 2 of training, you should still continue to meditate every day for at least two hours."
Even though we had enough aetherium to continue our training to become heroes, according to Elyra, it would still be insufficient when facing the big bad guys. In view of our ambitions and the great career that awaits us, it is very important to continue developing our core to acquire the power we will need in the future.
"I wish you good luck in your training. I'm going to teleport now."
Once we got home as usual, we reunited with our respective families and returned to our normal daily lives. When night fell, we received information from Elyra on our bracelets.
Thanks to the multiple scans and experiments we had done on our bodies to deduce our elemental aetherium, we now had the exact morphology and composition of our bodies in our hands. With the location of all our aetherium vessels, each vessel, their length, where they are located in our bodies... We each spent nearly a week studying our bodies. Aria helped us enormously with advice and video calls, and even though it was hard to have to remember everything so as not to risk making a mistake when the time came, we succeeded in time before Elyra contacted us again.
A week had passed since the start of the second part of our training. After a difficult period of preparation, we were all very proud of our efforts and the results we had achieved. Elyra teleported us back to the ship to continue our training.
"I see that you took the training seriously, and you can congratulate yourselves. I know it wasn't hard, but you can tell yourselves that now that it's done, the knowledge you've gained will stay with you and be useful throughout your lives."
It's true that in the heat of the moment, we couldn't help ourselves and celebrated. We shouted with happiness and joy. It may seem childish, but it was our first victory together since we met and began our careers as heroes. Later, these little moments of joy will be a beautiful memory, despite the trials and obstacles that remain. It's important to celebrate the little moments that don't seem so important.
After a short celebration, we regained our calm and composure, ready to continue training. Now that we had passed the most boring and annoying stage, the most interesting part was yet to come.
Elyra explained to us that day: "Now, imagine all the aetherium pipes connected to your core. It will then come naturally to you to let your aetherium flow slowly throughout your body. It is as natural as the blood flowing through you."
We tried to introduce the aetherium into our bodies via the aetherium pipes, and Elyra was right, it was strangely simple. However, once we relaxed, all the aetherium disappeared immediately. It seemed that it was more complicated to keep it inside us.
"This problem is just a minor detail; it will come with practice and time. By circulating the aetherium in your body, there will come a time when it will remain in your body without you having to make any effort. So for now, you need to get used to using the aetherium in your body."
Throughout the day, we spent our time talking while using the aetherium in our bodies. Since we were using the aetherium just to circulate it through our bodies and not to use it, we could use it over the long term without fear of running out.
The next day, we were back on the ship. After a long day of doing the same thing over and over again, the aetherium in us lasted a little longer. So we moved on to training in real conditions.
When distributed throughout the body, aetherium provides superhuman strength and physical abilities. However, it is a completely different story when we are immobile, almost static, and when we are in motion. During combat and future situations, we will always find ourselves in motion.
Once the aetherium was maintained in the body, we were able to act optimistically in the field. It was possible for us to cover long distances, jump from great heights, or even acquire superhuman reflexes...
Elyra summoned us to special rooms on the ship. Once the doors to the rooms opened, we were surprised to see an area resembling a mountainous plain behind them. A plain with real grass and trees, where we could even see a river in the distance.
Elyra explained. "These rooms, which can be described as substitutes, will allow us to create combat environments that make you feel like you are outside. It is also an opportunity to train in a space that perfectly replicates natural areas, so that you can get used to fighting in the open air."
It's true that we were happy to see a semblance of the outdoors. Until now, our training had mainly consisted of moments when we had to be passive or rely on our external consciousness. Now, physical training is being prioritized. And we weren't unhappy about that; we could finally see concrete results and observe the fruits of our efforts over all these months.
"First, it will be free training. Use the aetherium in your body and move wherever you want in the room. Don't hesitate to take risks, such as trying acrobatic moves or climbing a mountain... Don't be afraid. First, you need to start familiarizing yourself with your new body. The room will adapt to your desires and create the environment you want, whether it's mountainous, urban, rural, aquatic..."
We spent the day apart, each in a substitute room, completing as many courses as possible in as many environments and biomes as we could. By the end of the day, it was easy for us to maintain the aetherium in our bodies; it no longer posed a problem. Our mastery of the aetherium and our bodies was much more fluid than at the beginning of the day. We were able to maintain the aetherium for several hours, and our understanding of our new physical abilities progressed the more we trained.
The end of the day approached, and it was time to go home. Before leaving, Elyra announced our new daily schedule. "From now on, every morning you will walk to school using aetherium. It's a good way to exercise on a daily basis. In the evening, however, continue to meditate, as it's really important at your level to develop your aetherium core."
I spoke up. "But using our aetherium in everyday life could attract people's attention. What will we do if someone sees us on the street?
Elyra reassured us: "Don't worry, I'll plan a route that keeps you away from people. I'll send it to you later via the bracelets. There won't be any risk, you don't have to worry. Well, I wish you all a good night."
We returned home, exhausted from the long, hard day. Using the aetherium had clearly worn us out. And we spent the night in a deep sleep to recover our strength.