***
The bracelet forced Yomite to lay completely immobile while Lisa watched him closely. It seemed as though he'd lost control over his bodily functions and was currently in the process of dry-heaving and convulsing in pain from trying desperately to get away.
"Damn...it...!" He shouted. "I knew...it was...too good to be true to get an artifact for free..."
Sweat was pouring down his face. Even breathing too much required effort to achieve, resulting in heavy panting, making it hard to focus on anything else, and she wanted him to get up with this!?
Lisa just shook her head. "What did you expect?" she replied casually. "You're here to get stronger. Now, get up in half a minute, or else you'll receive a punishment. And trust me, punishments by me won't be fun, because I enjoy them far more than handing out rewards~"
Yomite couldn't say anything at this point; even breathing was painful for him, and every muscle tensed involuntarily in reaction to the spell placed upon him by the artifact around his wrist.
He was starting to see what Kaeya inicially meant about the dangers of being near Lisa.
'I'm sorry for doubting you earlier, bro.' The thought crossed his mind as he started thinking of ways to get out of this predicament as soon as possible—if not immediately then as quickly as humanly possible.
Thirty seconds were ticking away and it felt like it had been an eternity since he last moved any part of himself. His body screamed for water, and rest, but none would come.
'First of all...I need to get up...or else Lisa will definitely have me doing push-ups in the middle of the corridor with this bracelet on until I die as a punishment...or something far worse...'
He could feel the sweat on his chest soaking through his shirt, further complicating matters. Every breath was painful, yet breathing was vital. If only his body wouldn't try so hard to break apart.
He took another deep breath while his muscles still tried their hardest to stay calm and work together properly despite how uncomfortable they currently felt.
Adapting. It was all about adapting to his environment. He needed to adapt. He was sure that as long as he could stand up from this hell, he could definitely walk.
Yomite wasn't smart enough to understand how most of the stuff around gravity worked, but he heard somewhere that if a person lay down, then the gravity effect upon him would increase to some extent.
So as long as he could stand up on his own feet, even with the increased pressure from his surroundings, it should be possible to have a better time surviving.
'I can do this...!'
"Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight..." Lisa counted slowly as she watched Yomite struggle in pain in front of her. "Good boy. You did well."
She clapped when she saw that he finally managed to get himself back on his two feet. "Very good!" she praised. "You're getting much stronger already. Now, we'll go deeper into the Spiral Abyss."
Yomite groaned heavily at this point, but his expression looked more relieved than anything.
'Thank god I can somewhat move now...' His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest just by looking forward, and walking was like a tortuous experience; every step sent searing waves of pain across his entire body as if he was trying to walk over a bed of broken glass without shoes on.
"So this is...what Goku and so many others...had to go through..."
No. If he had to compare it to something like that, it wouldn't even be quarter as much. Not even one tenth of that...
The protagonists of shonen anime were often shown going through a training harder than hell in the name of strength, though on the TV screens, they just push through it as if it was nothing. Easy as that! Let's do a time skip here, time skip there! Finished! The overpowered protagonist milkshake was done! Training arc over!
In reality, it hurt—it really fucking hurt! It hurt to overcome his limits, it hurt to get hit and it hurt carrying heavy things!
"Goku? I don't think I've heard of that term before." Lisa turned around to look at him with her eyes slightly widening in curiosity. For an ex-scholar like her, a new term would surely catch her interest. Especially a new term from someone like "him".
"It's a...very powerful man...most likely could solo whole of Teyvat too."
"Solo? I'm afraid I'm not picking up on what you mean."
"Forget it...just take off this damn bracelet...!"
"No can do. It's training."
Yomite started walking after Lisa, with his group following right behind him, whilst Lisa paid attention to him like a hawk, watching his every move.
'Either way...Paimon is such a sweetheart...!' Yomite thought affectionately. 'She immediately rushed to my side when she noticed the bracelet crushed me! And Lumine came to my rescue right after...' He felt the need to thank them both for their concern and support.
Unlike the rest of the girls, who wanted to tease him, saddle him, eat him up, tickle him or rim him, Paimon and Lumine acted rather protective towards him during this whole episode, and that warmed his heart.
'Angels...these cuties are angels...I should definitely be nicer to Paimon and give her some treats later. Maybe I'll even buy her a huge cake as thanks. As for Lumine...I better ask her out on a date next time and make it worth it.'
Balancing time between all of the girls around him was proving difficult already without adding all these tasks into it like adventuring, learning about the world, relaxing and now training; but when he had four or so gorgeous women vying for his love at the same time, he was bound to have problems in prioritizing them correctly.
Not to mention, there was also his flying dog, his pet dragon, and Fischl's raven Oz, who also required tending to once in a while. Tubby too!
At this point, he ought to write down some sort of schedule and time, dot to dot where he could manage everything that needed managing—else, he would most likely end up with nothing being done right and probably no one ending up happy.
'Jeez, I either have all the issues in the world to worry about and no time, or I have no issues to deal with, and still no time...'
His life had gotten crazier than before. But hey, if it wasn't for this kind of stuff happening, then how boring it'd be? How dull would it feel living such an ordinary life, always eating what everyone else ate and never experiencing anything out of the ordinary ever again?
