Eric felt it was better to explain from the beginning. "Ly, Liv, both of you are aware of four stats: Intelligence, Strength, Agility, and Constitution. And you girls are also aware that I have been using resources to boost your stats."
Lyria and Livy nodded. That much they could clearly feel, as it was obvious, and Eric had also mentioned this in the orphanage.
Eric continued, "For convenience, I have been measuring each stat with 'points,' and the point where a Mana Wielder can improve until they face a wall as '50 points'."
"Before this, all our stats had reached 50 and faced this 'wall.' The squats we did were to break through that 'wall.' After successfully breaking through on these stats, our original Training Stats of '50' doubled to '100'."
Eric continued to explain the difference between Training Stats and Rank Stats, along with various other important points Riya had discovered in the past.
"Hopefully, it won't be this hard to break through next time. To make sure we don't have to take on such a difficult task, we need to train physically each day, and perhaps that will make the breakthrough requirements a little easier." Eric finished his explanation while hoping it truly wouldn't become that life-threatening next time.
He wouldn't truly mind if he were alone, but since he wasn't, he hoped at least Lyria and Livy wouldn't have to go through so much trouble each time—even if they themselves didn't mind.
Lyria and Livy listened to everything Eric spoke of in a complete daze.
Despite not having much experience in the larger world, they understood that what was happening was simply a miracle.
They also understood that this possibility must be kept as an absolute secret, so both gave each other a warning glare.
Previously, they knew Eric could increase stats through resources, but now it outright doubled! This was a massive increase in stats, almost like they had broken through an entire major Rank altogether.
Both understood deeply that Eric's talent must be kept as an absolute secret, no matter what!
To Eric, Lyria and Livy's synchronized actions were always funny.
He was overall glad they had listened earnestly and understood the importance of what he'd explained.
Eric then continued answering all the questions Lyria or Livy could think of, to the best of his own understanding.
After a while, Lyria asked with bright eyes, "Brother Eric, how many similar breakthroughs are there?"
Lyria and Livy were extremely excited—perhaps after reaching '50' again, they could become twice as strong! They couldn't imagine how strong they would become. Perhaps they could even fight or run away from a Rank 3 Mystic Knight!
They lacked the experience to judge these things, for now, they roughly understood the approximate stats of a Rank 1 Mystic Knight and a Rank 2.
They also understood their current reach.
While still being early-stage Rank 1 Mystic Knights, their current stats were already close to Rank 2 early-stage! It was like being nearly invincible within the same Rank!
If either of them didn't get excited over something this amazing, they should just stop being Mana Wielders!
"There should only be one more for our current Rank 1, which we will focus on from today," Eric answered.
Riya had informed him there was a limit to how much the Physical and Mana Body could hold at each Rank. After her in-depth observation, she concluded that two breakthroughs were the maximum anyone could hold—after that, no new Training Stats could be added, even with hard training. Either way, they would know when they truly reached that point.
"Now let's talk about training. Liv, for your Water Element, as I previously promised, let me give you a training idea. If you succeed, you'll be amazed by how powerful the Water Element can be."
Livy grew excited hearing that. Her worry was her Element—even though Water wasn't useless, compared to Eric and Lyria, she was weaker in that area.
If only she had two Elements like them... Sadly, there was nothing she could do, and the only option was to train harder to avoid falling behind.
Eric then explained the concept of water-jet cutting.
He wasn't certain if it could be achieved with just Elemental Control, but it was worth a try.
Elemental Control and Mana could accomplish many seemingly impossible things—just as human inventions had seemed impossible to previous generations.
As Livy and Lyria listened, their eyes widened.
'If Liv could really pull it off... It would be terrifying!' Even Lyria sweated at the thought.
Livy burst with excitement. She wanted to begin immediately.
So, she used her Mana to generate water from her hands at the thinnest line she could muster—but after trying for a while, she was left heartbroken.
If she made the water too thin, the pressure dropped too much for it to sharpen. If she focused on increasing pressure, it became hard to control. While trying, she noticed her Mana drained rapidly—within minutes, she was completely exhausted.
Eric smiled at Livy's depressed expression and consoled her, "Don't rush, Liv. Nothing can be achieved in a single day. Keep practicing daily, and maybe you'll master it freely one day."
Following this, Eric explained their training schedule for the next few months.
They also needed to speed up production in their professions. With their heightened Intelligence and Constitution, they could now even create Tier 2 products.
Eric stood up and, after finding a good spot on the hill, asked Lyria to carve out a small cave.
Lyria was confused but complied.
Though her Ground Element control wasn't yet refined, she had thick muscles beneath her slender arms—so she resorted to brute force to dig a cave per Eric's request.
Once the cave was spacious enough, Eric turned to Livy. "Liv, do you know how to place a two-way Teleportation Array yet?"
Livy was embarrassed. She sheepishly answered, "Teleportation Arrays begin at Tier 2. I still haven't touched Tier 2 in either Arrays or Runes." Though with her current stats, she could now attempt it.
Eric nodded—he'd expected as much.
While the girls slept, Riya had transferred most Array knowledge to him. It felt like recalling forgotten memories—instantly making him a "theory expert." But without experience, he could only perform basic tasks slowly.
Eric had already tested planting a two-way Teleportation Array—one in his room, the other outside the cave, and he succeeding on the first try. Riya had corrected his minor mistakes; otherwise, he might have taken countless attempts.
The reason for the Array was obvious. Since arriving at the new island, they'd lost sight of Heart Shaped Island—likely after swimming beyond a certain distance.
From now on, they planned to return to this island for training and private discussions—so they needed a way back besides Lysandra's limited Teleportation Stones.
A two-way Teleportation Array was perfect. The distance between islands wasn't vast, making it feasible with their resources.
Eric crafted the Array while Lyria and Livy observed intently. He explained each step as he completed it.
Livy was amazed—Eric, who barely entered the Array room, had already mastered Tier 2 Arrays.
Once finished, Eric tested the Array by placing a rock in the circle and activating it with his Mana. The rock vanished—confirming it worked.
Two-way Arrays were far more secure than multi-directional ones.
He teleported himself back for a final test, then returned. He taught Lyria and Livy the precise Mana pattern required.
Eric had added a hidden "key"—if someone didn't know the exact pattern, the array wouldn't activate. He took this precaution despite no immediate threats in their vicinity.
After that, one by one, they returned to Eric's room in the Heart-Shaped Island, where the other end of the two-way teleportation array was placed.
Following that, all three of them busied themselves with their own tasks.
Among the three, Lyria and Livy had the most responsibility, especially Lyria, as blacksmithing took a lot of time, patience, and hard work.
Livy, meanwhile, kept practicing her rune inscriptions on everything Lyria produced.
If a rune failed once on any item, although the item didn't get destroyed, adding another rune to the same object became nearly impossible.
Inscribing runes successfully took extreme effort and focus. The higher the tier, the greater the difficulty became, and the difficulty increased further if the item was small—daggers, for example.
Because of this, Livy's intelligence stat increased naturally, far more than the other two's.
Lyria's stats increased moderately from her profession, but she grew in all four areas—constitution, intelligence, agility, and strength—while Eric was completely an artificial, drug- and steroid-dependent Mana Wielder.
He was extremely lazy and barely did anything requiring significant effort or focus.
He relied completely on his A.I. Mommy to feed him strength.
In short, he was completely drunk on taking shortcuts.
Eric, along with Lyria and Livy, kept up with training and dueling—all so they wouldn't have to depend on such torturous methods to break through their stat limits again.
Beyond training and professions, Eric kept injecting steroids into himself and both girls, ensuring neither Lyria nor Livy lost their thick muscles hidden beneath their soft bodies.
And so, all three of them progressed, their stats rising together, growing stronger each day.
During their first duel on the training island, their current strength was so terrifying it gave all three mild heart attacks. With one full-strength punch, Lyria nearly obliterated a quarter of the island's lone hill, including the array.
None of them had expected such a drastic increase in power since their last strength test as mortals. After becoming mana wielders, they'd only grown stronger through drugs, forgetting they were now walking catastrophes.
Though much of the destruction was due to the hill's frailty—and Lyria had channeled mana into her punch.
Nevertheless, because of Lyria, several pitiful trees were felled and brutally murdered.
After Eric reinstalled the two-way teleportation array, they avoided dueling near the hill.
As time passed, Eric, Lyria, and Livy's stats kept climbing, while raw materials dwindled and finished products piled up.
Many failed attempts were discarded—they had more pressing matters than remaking flawed items.
Lyria even managed to craft high-grade Tier 2 blacksmithing products, her absolute limit for now. Eric recalled Lysandra mentioning her tools could produce peak-grade Tier 2 items, though she never specified the minimum rank required.
He'd assumed a Rank 1 could forge them, but he was wrong. While they were still early-stage Rank 1 in rank, their stats already matched Rank 2.
Perhaps even Lysandra hadn't anticipated their rapid growth.
As months passed, Eric's paranoia about Lysandra watching them faded.
And so, seven months slipped by since Eric, Lyria, and Livy had arrived at the Heart-Shaped Island.