Chapter 3: Stamina

Noah spent the next morning roaming the village. Before he made any decisions, he wanted to know what this town had to offer and what endeavors it could support. According to his maps, Clive was far from the nation’s capital, out in the boondocks. Nevertheless, it had a strong economy, with many professions one might not expect in such a rough area, like gold and silversmiths. In fact, it seemed to thrive on tourism, but no one would ever come out here on vacation. Instead, they came for the natural resources.

Clive had a river for water, some farmland for food, and a vast forest for lumber, but its top commodity was monsters. As Noah explored the town, he saw numerous adventurers buying food and supplies before going off to hunt and gather. In the early 17th century, the fur trade exploded in Europe, sending countless men out into the wilderness of Siberia and the Americas to find their fortune. Here, the principal was the same. Furs were in demand in the big cities, so adventurers spread out to the countryside to hunt and sell their catch, and where there was an exploitable resource, capitalists were looking for people with money burning a hole in their pockets.

His search brought him to the local apothecary, where numerous pots and jars adorned the walls, and different plants hung overhead to dry. He recognized several plants, but many were new to him. An old woman ran the shop, watching Noah like a hawk through the smoke from her pipe. It filled the air, along with several different kinds of incense. No sunlight was allowed in to preserve the plants and potions on display.

“Anything I can help you find?”

“Do you have potions to help restore mana?”

“Yes. I sell them in three qualities at a price of five, ten, and twenty bronze coins, but you have to buy the bottle as well if you don’t have any of your own. Look to the shelf behind you, the blue potions.”

He examined the vials, three cork bottles with blue liquids, each one a different shade. There was no telling how useful they were. He didn’t know how much mana they could replenish compared to the amount of mana he had within him. And the color shade, was that because of the presence of a specific ingredient that increased its potency? Or were they just watered down?

“What about health?”

“The red ones, above them, and we also sell bandages. However, those are only for showing my wares. Simply tell me what you want and my granddaughter will retrieve it from the back room.”

How did these potions work? They’re a plant-based concoction, but could magic be involved? The idea of learning how to create potions appealed to Noah, but that plan wouldn’t go anywhere if it required a special kind of magic. “I’ll take one of each type, both mana and health. I’ll buy the bottles.”

The woman relayed the order to someone in the back room without ever taking her eyes off Noah. A young girl appeared behind the counter, carrying a tray of six blue and red potions. Noah paid and stowed them away in his bag.

“You know, if you have trouble collecting the ingredients, I could help in exchange for a discount.”

The woman cracked a smile, seeing right through him. “How nice of you to offer! But my son does excellent work.”

She didn’t even want him to know the ingredients. It mattered not, as he had ways of finding out. He left the apothecary and breathed the fresh morning air. The sun had broken free of the horizon, and while it was still early, the town of Clive was now fully bustling. He returned to the inn, where Tin was waiting in their room.

“I got the potions.”

“Master, you shouldn’t bother yourself with such tasks. It is my duty to run your errands.”

She was getting clingier; he had been noticing it steadily progressing. When they first met, she hardly said a word, usually only speaking when necessary, such as to acknowledge orders or warn him that something was attacking. As time passed, she got more inquisitive, now doing whatever she could to help him.

She would try to do tasks before he could, no matter how minor, like opening doors for him and retrieving anything he reached for. It was starting to get annoying, such as during breakfast, when she tried to feed him like he was paralyzed from the neck down. But it made her happy, so he went along with most of it and appreciated her affection.

“I’d prefer to get a read on people before sending you to run errands like this. I’m better at detecting scams then you are. Since I now know the price of the potions, I can make sure that woman at the shop doesn’t try to overcharge you.”

“So what are you going to do with those potions?”

“Now that we’re finally in a safe place, I’m going to begin experimenting with my magic, and I need your help for that. Because there was always the threat of monsters, I never allowed my mana to fully deplete. Here, I can start pushing my limits a little.” He pulled out the three mana potions and put them on the table. “I’m going to cast my illusion and not stop until my mana is completely used up and the spell comes undone. I need you to monitor my health during the process.”

“Master, forgive me, but I’m not a healer. I don’t know how to do things like that.”

“It’s easy. While I’m invisible, I want you to hold my wrist and observe my pulse while counting to a hundred over and over again until the spell breaks. If I should lose consciousness, pour one of these potions down my throat and place my hand over my eye to make sure the spell is cancelled. Should my pulse or breathing stop, there is a procedure I’ll have you perform called Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR for short. Lie back on the bed and I’ll show you how it’s done.”

She took the position, and he leaned over her, making her blush. He placed his hand on the center of her chest and felt her become tense. “I can feel your heart beating. Should mine stop, you’ll need to press down on the center of my chest in rapid thrusts.” He stacked his hands and gave a few downward shoves. The rhythm of his pushing, the way it forced her deeper into the mattress, reminded her of something, and seeing the look in her eye, he knew what it was.

“You’ll want to do that thirty times. Then, you’ll need to pinch my nose, and blow air into my lungs.” He lowered his head and kissed her. She replied enthusiastically, her breath fluttering, and not because he was pinching her nose. “Of course, when you do it, I expect you not to use so much tongue. You’ll give me two deep breathes, then do another thirty compressions. Repeat the process until you feel my heart start. Understand?”

“Are you sure you want to do this? The more you describe it, the more dangerous this seems.”

“It probably is dangerous, but I don’t know how my mana reserves compare to an average magic user my age, and this is fastest way to increase it. Now, don’t let go of my wrist, and start counting as soon as I become invisible. If my heart stops or there are any signs that my health is deteriorating, give me both a mana potion and a health potion, then perform CPR. Remember: thirty compressions and then two breaths. You got that?”

“Yes, Master.”

Noah put his hand over his eye and disappeared in front of Tin. However, Tin could still feel his wrist and warmth in her hand, which comforted her. Upon the spell’s activation, Noah could sense his mana depleting. It was a strange fatigue, like he was bleeding to death. He focused on restricting the flow of mana to just his body so that nothing else would get caught in his illusion and waste mana. It was why he left the job of timekeeping to Tin.

From his experience, he could maintain the illusion for about three minutes before his motor functions declined too far for him to fight. He didn’t know if that was good or bad, but he could sense that limit shifting. From there, his thinking and physical strength began a rapid decline. Noah fought with everything he had to stay awake, even when he could no longer keep his eyes open. His consciousness soon sank into a rift where he could feel his mana continuing to deplete but couldn’t feel his own body.

Then, he felt his mana regenerating, and his consciousness started to bubble back to life. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at Tin, whose own were filled with relief.

“Master,” she whispered, clutching his hand.

“So, the spell came undone. How long did I last until that happened?”

“I managed to count to a hundred almost four times. Then when you became visible, I gave you the potion. Your heart slowed, but it didn’t stop, and you kept breathing.”

“So, at full strength, I can maintain the spell for around six minutes while in a relaxed state. That’s the baseline.”

He gave himself time for the mana to recirculate through his body. He checked his reflexes, physical strength, and mental processing. Complete mana loss felt like bleeding to death, so it was always possible that being drained of it for too long would have similar effects on his body, like blindness or muscle death. There was no telling if the health potions could mend those kinds of injuries.

“Good, I appear to be fine. Now I want to repeat the experiment with my physical stamina completely drained. Care to help me with that?”

To the enjoyment of some and the annoyance of others, Tin’s moans were heard throughout the inn. Not only loud, it was incessant, going for hours. Aside from some short breaks, her voice continued to bounce off the walls, even with the sun now at the highest point of the day and everyone downstairs eating lunch.

Noah was battering Tin from behind on the bed in their shared room with relentless intensity. She lost the strength to remain on all fours a long time ago, and instead had her face pressed to the sheets, which were now sticky with their combined fluids. Every slam he delivered would make her cry out in euphoria.

She didn’t know how many climaxes Noah gave her, nor how much of his seed flooded her body, but each event threatened to rob her of her consciousness. She had never been fucked so hard, fast, and long in her life. If this went on, she felt like her body would lose its shape like clay on a spinning wheel. Regardless, she did everything she could to remain awake so that she could continue to please her master.

“Am I hurting you?” It was a question that none of her previous masters had ever asked while they violated her. They didn’t care about how much pain they inflicted on her, unless making her suffer was their goal. To hear it from him, such kind words, they nearly made her cry tears of joy. He asked her frequently, each time earning a passionate kiss from her.

He wasn’t hurting her; instead, she had never felt such pleasure, but she was so tired, her body at its limits. She didn’t understand how he could go so long and exert so much force. He was far too young to have amassed this kind of experience. His intensity even frightened her. He acted so that only pleasure assailed her, but if she angered him, if the demons of sadism possessed him, could she survive?

How had this all started? What was the reason he had given? She could barely remember; it felt like so long ago. He claimed it was exercise and asked her to help him, but had he demanded it instead, invoked his authority as her master, she would have been no less excited. It fulfilled her to finally show her dedication in the only way she could. He depended on her, trusting her to fulfill his expectations, and she was ready to devote her body to that cause. Her muscles begged for rest, but her soul didn’t want it to end. She wanted to wrap around him like a snake so he could never leave and instead continue using her until the end of time.

At this point, Noah had fully immersed himself in the act of passion, aware of nothing but the physical world. The feel of Tin’s body, her wetness and soft flesh around his cock, the taste when their tongues curled around each other when they kissed, the smell of her womanly essence as he brought her to climax, the sight of the sweat glistening on her body as he made her writhe and moan, he bathed in those sensations.

He felt little affection for her, but at least physical sensation could quell the ancient maelstrom in his mind, let him shut off his brain and truly feel again. His soul, so starved and without bearing, was like cracked desert clay now becoming fertile with the spring rains.

His physical stamina, something that Tin was ready to label as inhuman, was just as much mental as physical. He knew how to work through the pain and fatigue with so many lifetimes’ worth of experience. He was no stranger to the anguish of exertion and learned how to ignore it. He couldn’t perform any dramatic feats of super strength, but he knew how to properly oxygenate his blood for maximum output and how much force his muscles could exert without suffering detrimental damage. He was digging deep for strength and harnessing every calorie and spark of energy, and while he wasn’t on the level of a bodybuilder, he had amassed his physique through a workout he had mastered over several millennia.

He shuddered as he emptied himself into Tin. After all this time, he couldn’t imagine having any sperm left. His soreness was approaching unbearable levels, but he didn’t give in, even though his erection was fading. Instead, he grabbed Tin by the shoulders and pulled her against him, his lips joining hers. She was nearly delirious, the last of her strength going to her tongue, now swirling around his mouth.

His hands went to town on her, massaging her modest breasts and stirring up the cum in her pussy. Tin was so tired, and her throat was sore from moaning, but the way Noah tickled her clitoris and bullied her nipples still made her whimper in bliss.

He’d do this after every orgasm, keeping her busy while slowly regaining his erection. However, his manhood had thrown in the towel as his stamina hit zero. He let go of Tin, and she fell onto the bed. Her eyes were blank from exhaustion, but she rolled onto her back and spread her legs, putting herself on display and letting Noah see the semen overflowing from her womanhood.

“Master, I can continue. Please, keep using my body however you wish. I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

“No, that’s good. You were perfect, Tin. I can’t even work up the strength for a single thrust.” He reached into his bag and pulled out the weakest of the three healing potions. Even that task was almost beyond his reach. He might as well have just won the Tour de France. “Here, drink a little of this this.” She was too tired to move, so Noah put the bottle to her lips and let some trickle down her throat. She was soon revived, her body no longer trembling. Along with healing wounds, the red potions could restore physical stamina. “If you’re hungry, eat fast. I need to repeat the earlier experiment immediately.” As he spoke, his stomach roared like thunder. He fell back on the bed, dizzy from exhaustion.

“Master, what about you?”

“I can’t, yet. I need to measure only my mana, and if I eat or do anything to recover my physical strength, it will skew the results. I’m in perfect condition to get the best benefits for stressing my mana, and since my heart and breathing didn’t stop, I don’t need to worry about suffocating.”

That was how they spent the day. Noah would expend all of his mana through his illusion, Tin would wake him up with a potion, he’d check himself for damage, and then they’d start all over. He sent Tin out multiple times to buy more potions for him, and they even experimented to see how much they could water it down while still providing sufficient rejuvenation. His physical stamina slowly recovered, but Tin was eager to wear him out.

As the day rolled on, Noah’s body begged for food. The rumbling of his stomach and his disorientation concerned Tin, but he refused any sustenance for a good reason. In a weakened state, he could maintain the illusion for only a couple of minutes, but each time he performed the process, he noted his mana reserves increasing. He didn’t know what mana was, but without physical stamina to soften the blow of depletion, he could stress his capacity and production.

As night fell, Tin once more arrived at their room, despondent. “Please forgive me, Master. The herbalist had closed down her shop for the night and wouldn’t even open her door.”

“For the best, I imagine, considering how she started throwing stuff at you last time. We’ve probably bought up all the supply that she’s willing to sell us.”

“So what now?”

“Now we have dinner. I think that if I pass out again, we’ll have to resort to healing potions to wake me up.”

“I can have it brought up to us.”

“No, let’s go downstairs. I’m rather sick of this room and need some fresh air.”

He tried to sit up in the bed, but even that was beyond him. How long had it been since he was this drained of strength? He had starved to death a few times in the past, but he couldn’t remember the last time. Even his mind was on the verge of shutting down. He tried to get dressed, but his body wouldn’t obey his will, and Tin had to help him. It reminded him of all the times he was in hospice when the nurses had to do everything for him while he waited to die.

“Sorry,” he said.

She smiled, something she was doing more and more frequently. “You need not worry, Master. While I was never the servant of any great nobles, I heard that this was a duty that their maids often performed. Simply imagine that you are a great viscount, or even an earl.”

“What about a duke?” he asked with a chuckle.

Having helped him put his shirt on, she leaned against his back. “Yes. I’m sure you will someday even become a duke.”

Now fully dressed, they left the room, though Noah had to lean on Tin for support, something she enjoyed. They could hear the rowdiness of the guests in the dining room, singing songs and knocking their mugs together. Then, as the teens appeared and made their way to their table from the previous evening, the clamor wilted with all eyes on them.

There was some hushed muttering, with several people whispering to their friends to inquire about the silence. Noah and Tin took their seats, the bar as quiet as a graveyard, then the innkeeper showed up with their dinner. It was chunks of meat carved from a wolf, and Noah’s portion was larger than anyone else’s.

“I’d say you earned it,” the large woman said coyly.

On cue, a man with a beard down to his belt raised his frothy mug. “Hail to the young king! He who could make even a succubus beg for rest!”

The bar practically exploded, with people of all ages swarming their table to pat Noah on the back, congratulate him on his skills, and beg him for advice and wisdom. Many women flirted with Noah and invited him to join them for the evening. Noah even saw one female adventurer holding back her friend who was trying to approach with a ravenous look in her eye and a broad smile on her face.

Tin also got plenty of attention. Everyone wanted to know who was struggling to keep up with who, which of the two was the insatiable one. The women who could not ensnare Noah would turn to her, asking for details while voicing their jealousy. In the background, the guests began singing songs of wooing women and romantic tales, with the regular activity of the bar becoming a raving party.

Noah sat there with an awkward smile, annoyed that his plans to keep a low profile had gone up in smoke, but amused with the situation nonetheless. Tin, too nervous and embarrassed to say anything, simply hung her head while her face turned red as a tomato.

Late that night, Noah, having regained his strength, made his way to the dark apothecary. He carried a lantern with him, but its flame, like Noah, was invisible to anyone and anything, and the road remained as dark as it would be without his presence. He had shrouded it in his illusion as a way to test himself. If his mana slipped, the light would escape. After the day’s training, the mana expenditure was next to nothing. He had already passed the five-minute mark and didn’t feel dizzy. At this rate, he soon might be able to maintain the illusion for an hour or more.

He reached the store and went to work picking the lock while sending his mana into the door. Wrapped in his illusion, the door made no noise, even when he opened it. A few guards patrolled the town, but they wouldn’t have noticed him, even without being invisible. He entered the store and thinned the mana around his lantern just enough to release a faint light beam.

There were plenty of valuable materials to steal, but Noah and Tin’s suspicious behavior would have left an impression on the old woman, and she’d assume they did it. He could also just kill her and take whatever he wanted, even wiping out her family to be safe, and anyone who suspected and came after him. From the moment he discovered his magic, he had thought of all the ways he could use it, both bad and good. It would have been so easy, but that wasn’t the life he wanted to live, even if it was a life had lived before.

Instead, Noah searched the shop for books and potion recipes. He did find plenty of compounding equipment, which he memorized for replication. He moved beyond the store and into the woman’s home. She lived as everyone else in this world: rustically. All light was natural or flame-based, perishable food was salted and kept in jars, there was no running water, and all the tools were pre-industrial. It still reeked of potions and herbs, but that smell was probably difficult to confine to the shop.

He came across a large wooden chest set against the wall, and after picking the lock, got it open, revealing his prize. The old woman kept her book collection neatly arranged, providing Noah with all the answers he needed. In this world, information was as crucial for survival as food and water, so until society invented the printing press, books were worth their weight in gold. Despite the tantalizing knowledge at his fingertips, Noah went straight for the potion books. He looked up essential health and mana potion recipes, memorizing the ingredients and processes. Finding satisfaction, he removed all traces of his visit and left the apothecary.