Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

Emily was quite prideful, but in the end, she decided to at least try and see if Ethan could really help her. It would be better if they helped each other in a place where they couldn't be disturbed, and since the recreation floor and the cafeteria were pretty noisy, according to Emily, they headed to the simulator. Since there was an accessible mode where the students could face several waves of monsters, there was also a peaceful mode where they could face each other in mock battles, just relax or train their skills.

"As you can imagine, I'm not good at physical activities or learning physical skills," Emily said. "So, you have to show me that you can help me first before I decide if your help is worth the hassle."

"Dear Odin… not even my social skills are that bad," Ethan frowned. "Are your social skills that bad or are you constantly trying to make people hate you? Regardless, if you have to think of something that you need to train first, what would that be?"

"… My stamina," Emily looked away after a few seconds of silence.

"You know that stamina is something that you build slowly, but since you are a hero, you can increase it rather fast," Ethan said. "You just have to keep your focus."

"That is the problem," Emily said. "I can keep my focus while studying or practicing magic for long periods of time, but I can't do the same while I'm just moving my body, and it is boring."

No wonder Emily looked so pale. She hated with passion any kind of physical activities. However, that was a problem that could easily be solved. One just has to endure the first stages and take their time to build their body's strength. Still, given that Ethan had to show results, the standard method wouldn't work with Emily. Fortunately, Ethan had an item in his shop that could help her. In fact, that item helped him quite a bit when he was summoned because he wasn't much better than Emily.

Walker Boots (Common) (+0)

Durability: 45/45

Effects: It drains the stamina of the user and returns it after the charge is complete. This item can't do both at the same time.

Extra effect: it repairs damaged muscles while it is being used.

Charge: 0/100 Stamina

Requirements: None

Ethan couldn't help but sigh, given that he had spent one hundred coins just like that to buy that item. Basically, he spent all the reward he got from defeating Rivru to buy something he had no use for. It only would be useful to Emily since he could train his body with his current mindset.

"Wear those," Ethan passed the boots to Emily. "It will solve your problem."

Emily looked like as if she wanted to ask where those boots came from. Still, as usual, since he didn't want to get herself involved with troublesome things, she just accepted them silently. The boots were just made of leather and looked pretty worn-out, but aside from that, they looked pretty normal. One could only tell that those boots weren't normal when they were being used by someone.

"Drink this too," Ethan also gave Emily two stamina potions. This will speed up things a bit more."

The very moment Emily wore the boots, she felt her muscles being tensed, and she also felt the energy leaving her body. She had a lot less energy than a girl of her age should have, so that process was quite painful. As if it was only a natural thing to do, she took them out.

"What was that?" Emily got up and got away from the boots. "A cursed item?"

"I guess it is," Ethan said. "I can't blame you for doing that, since losing energy so fast like that is really annoying, but you should be fine as long as you drink the potions fast enough. Besides, the boots will only drain half of your total stamina, so you don't have to worry. Also, when the item is fully charged, it will make sure that your stamina will never decrease. The boots will restore your stamina without you noticing, and thus you will be able to move for longer periods of time without worrying about fatigue."

Those words didn't seem comforting at all. If anything, that item seemed like a waste of time since potions could do a better job. However, Ethan's explanation wasn't over yet.

"You probably know that to make your body stronger, you have to damage your muscles on a molecular scale. Do that several times, and your muscles will be repaired and become stronger than before," Ethan explained. "This item will allow you to do that without worrying about the pain since it will restore your stamina before you can sense it going it away. Well, it is better if you see it for yourself. Go on, start running."

Emily reluctantly obeyed since she couldn't imagine that cursed boots being so convenient. Although she found a lot of weird magic items with suspicious effects, she never found one with such dubious powers. Although it was boring to run, Emily eventually noticed that her body wasn't getting tired, and her muscles also seemed fine. It was very weird since the boots were only restoring stamina, and that wasn't supposed to alleviate the pain.

Ethan decided to keep quiet about the second effect in order to not let Emily worry too much about it. She was smart enough not to let her safety be in the hands of a cursed item, after all. However, she wasn't smart enough to understand that to increase her stamina magically, some risks had to be taken.

"She will probably get bored soon enough, but her patience isn't something I can train," Ethan muttered. "She will probably grow more diligent as soon as she obtains some results with those boots. Well, then. I should try that."

Ethan decided to receive the help of his family with the magic he couldn't understand, but there were things he still could do. For example, he customizes the power he stole from Rivru. After closing his eyes, Ethan accessed those memories. That power was beyond weird, Ethan couldn't access all his memories in the blink of an eye, but he could reread the stolen memories. Thanks to that, Ethan recalled every single thing Rivru had to do in order to become proficient at ice magic.

"Heroes' powers are really unfair," Ethan sighed. "That guy trained hard for three decades, and his skills only reached the level thirty."

In comparison, one of the first skills Ethan learned by himself that reached such a level just by him training hard, it only took him three weeks. At that point in time, he couldn't help but wonder if even his accomplishments were really his. Ethan knew that he got really cocky after defeating the demon king. Still, the only thing he could take pride in was his indomitable will. He forged it through many battlefields, and that was something he obtained by himself, and no power or cheat-skill could steal that from him.