Ch.128EP.32 – The Knight is Enhancing (1)

“…wow.”

The blonde girl with hair as beautiful as spun gold and striking blue eyes let out a small exclamation of wonder.

Thud! Boom! Boooom-!

“How can he possibly hold that thing?”

[I know, right…]

They were simply dumbfounded.

The girl and the ghost girl had stopped by their neighbor’s house to greet him after hearing he had finally returned home after being away for over two weeks. For this special occasion, the girl had fixed her disheveled hair and even put on makeup, feeling extremely excited about the prospect of meeting and talking with him face to face.

…If possible, having dinner together would be absolutely perfect.

However, this neighbor had made a request to her upon meeting after two weeks.

And her reaction to that request was.

‘Huh?’

…That was it.

It might have seemed like a foolish response, but anyone would probably react similarly to such a request.

Boom!

“He lifted it again.”

The girl, Irene Windler, despite having created it herself, couldn’t help but repeatedly question whether it was physically possible for a person to lift such a thing.

A disc made of water.

A disc almost the size of a bull…. No, calling it a disc wouldn’t make sense.

It would be more accurate to describe it as a massive lump.

At first glance, it might appear light.

Since it’s made of water, but if anyone would know, it would be Irene Windler, who created this water mass.

‘How can he lift it so easily when I compressed it so many times….’

She had compressed flowing lake water over twenty times to create that form.

This meant it had a much greater mass than it appeared, and Irene had already consumed half of her magical power.

Considering that Irene’s magical power was twice as vast as other mages, this was truly astonishing.

So this water mass was formed through magical mysteries, weighing about 800kg per lump, and with two lumps, it totaled 1,600kg, but….

“Huff, can you increase the weight a bit more?”

“A-Are you sure?”

“It’s still manageable.”

“……”

The fact that this weight wasn’t even the limit of the water mass was astonishing, and it seemed even more surreal that he found it too light to feel its weight.

‘He wasn’t human to begin with, but he seems even further from humanity now….’

What could have happened during the past two weeks?

Irene wondered.

“Ah, sorry for making you do these troublesome things. I should have treated you to a meal or given you a gift before asking for such favors….”

Perhaps he thought she was uncomfortable with the forced request, as he showed clear signs of regret, and Irene quickly shook her head.

Insisting it wasn’t like that at all.

“I-It’s fine! …Though dinner does sound tempting.”

“Then I’ll treat you to a nice place later.”

“Hehe.”

Boom!!

As she happily increased the weight, the ground beneath them sank.

1,000kg per lump.

And the bar supporting these water masses had to withstand them, weighing a whopping 300kg.

In other words, the total weight of this barbell was 2,300kg-.

“Add 700 more here,”

“……”

…Now it’s 3,000kg.

Irene once again gaped foolishly, and he again.

Crack!

Lifted that enormous barbell.

Though it seemed challenging even for him….

“—-.”

He silently began doing squats.

3-ton squats.

He did an incredible 10 sets of 30 reps each.

“……”

[I suddenly feel convinced that humans really did build the pyramids.]

“…Me too.”

Seeing something like this, it must have been humans who built the pyramids in ancient times.

However, if there’s one correction to make.

‘Instructor could probably build a pyramid by himself.’

With a belief bordering on certainty, Irene blankly stared at the strongman she had fallen for, no-.

‘Would Hercules be a more fitting description?’

Slurp…!

As she directly witnessed the muscles of a man no different from a real-life Hercules dynamically coming to life, drool formed at the corners of Irene Windler’s mouth.

‘…Is she very hungry?’

Ihan noticed the baby mage drooling from the corner of his eye and thought he shouldn’t exercise for too long.

‘Hmm, next time I should just call that magic slave guy.’

With the determination not to trouble a young girl who should be out having fun with friends, and the resolve to treat her to something delicious since she looked hungry, Ihan resumed his barbell squats.

While he felt bad, when an opportunity comes, one must exercise first!

‘Lift!’

Whoosh!

Ihan lifted the water barbell with a strong mental shout.

It was a signal to instantly deploy [Adamantine], and as soon as the signal dropped, he deployed Adamantine within 0.5 seconds.

However, being still inexperienced, it sometimes took over a second, and each time.

Crack!

…His entire body screamed in protest.

“…Hmm.”

Fortunately, his body was sturdy enough to withstand ‘this level of weight,’ and it was still bearable.

Rather, the real problem was.

‘…I’m really dizzy.’

Using Adamantine for consecutive strenuous exercises was the biggest issue.

Throb!

His head hurt.

Originally, the Adamantine technique requires considerable mental strength even for a single use.

It involves spreading meridians throughout the body to strengthen it like armor, which sounds simple in words but is not at all simple in practice.

Rather, it’s the most difficult of Ihan’s techniques, and doing exercise while deploying it is like….

‘…It feels like riding a unicycle on a tightrope with an ill-tempered zebra on my back.’

It was an example of having too many things to focus on, and with dizziness overwhelming him, one mistake could lead to a fall or injury.

But lifting 3 tons repeatedly without deploying Adamantine would be too much even for him, and thanks to it, there was less risk of injury when lifting such weight.

And above all.

‘This is definitely the right approach.’

He felt the limitations of building his body in the same way as before.

If so, it was right to try more daring and crazy methods.

Especially.

‘To obtain a body like that human.’

Through this incident, he had seen a human with an even more impossible physique than his own.

Maximus, a man with a perfect golden body bestowed by heaven.

The strength and reaction speed he displayed overwhelmed Ihan’s capabilities.

Would you believe that just by kicking off the ground, he could match the speed of Bow God Flash Step?

‘…An incredible human.’

But because of this, that human’s body gave Ihan countless inspirations.

Fighting him directly made these inspirations clearer, and Ihan found a new direction to develop his body.

Increasing muscle density.

This was something he always did.

The important thing here is something more internal.

Integration of techniques.

He needed to be able to run as if using Bow God Flash Step.

Maintain Adamantine even during daily life.

And correct his senses to use Mountain-Breaking Wave like a new hand or foot.

This means.

‘It’s time for a metamorphosis.’

To induce an ‘artificial metamorphosis’ in his body.

If his most basic techniques were originally active skills, now he would modify his body to use them like passive skills.

This was the answer Ihan had found, and for this, he would make his body capable of constantly maintaining these techniques.

It was impossible before, but after leveling up to Lv.8 or whatever, he knew the vessel of his body had expanded.

So this wasn’t a reckless challenge, but simply a new challenge within his expanded limits.

‘The target is 10,000 squats.’

Developing the strength to freely lift 10 tons.

And if he could achieve this.

‘At least I won’t be called weak anywhere.’

He wouldn’t be inferior to anyone in physical specs.

Crash!

After finishing 10 sets, he carefully put down the barbell.

Even so, seeing the ground shake, it must truly be heavy.

But unfortunately for the weak ground.

“Phew, next is barbell lunges.”

Today’s workout wasn’t over yet.

The weight…

‘Let’s increase it by about 500 more.’

Just how much could he handle with Adamantine deployed, it was a new challenge indeed-.

“Sir Knight!”

“…Miss Maid?”

Boom.

Ihan quickly lowered the barbell as a woman approached.

He didn’t want to risk accidentally injuring someone by holding it.

‘Hmm, would the maid be okay?’

Considering her mysterious sturdiness, she might be fine, but Ihan shook his head.

He didn’t want to do anything harmful to her, if no one else.

Meanwhile, Leira Winter, radiating vibrant energy and a smile that seemed to make everything around her fresher, politely extended a newspaper with both hands.

“Hehe, you said you needed a newspaper, so I brought one!”

“You brought it?”

“Yes! I bought it from the royal capital newspaper office as soon as it was published!”

“You went out of your way? It would have been delivered later anyway.”

Considering the distance between the royal capital newspaper office and his house was about 10km, how did she manage to buy and bring this?

And judging by the warmth of the ink on the newspaper, it couldn’t have been published more than 5 minutes ago….

‘Could I cover 10km in 5 minutes?’

Even if possible, one couldn’t arrive without breaking a sweat like her.

But somehow, he had a suspicion that she might be capable of it, and Ihan gave her a long look.

Actually…, perhaps the one I should be aiming to match isn’t the Black Lion or whatever, but Miss Maid….

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just… had a silly thought.”

“It’s because you’re tired! Here, have some lemonade and lemon tart! It’ll help with fatigue.”

“…Okay.”

Ihan silently drank the cool lemonade, agreeing that he was indeed tired.

Is it strange that her peculiarities now feel like just another part of daily life?

“Hmm?”

─This is really delicious, isn’t it?

*

*

*

…Needless to say, many things had happened in the royal capital during this time.

Of course.

[Southern Continent’s Largest Fertilizer Production Site Collapses!? What’s the Fate of the Kingdom…?!]

[Royal Family in the Calm Before the Storm, How Will They Resolve This Crisis!]

[Was It Actually Hell? Shocking Truth, The Identity of the Fertilizer Production Site Was a Prison for Criminals…?]

The Southern Continent’s largest fertilizer production site had collapsed overnight.

As a result, it was obvious that food production would decrease.

It wouldn’t be surprising if riots broke out due to anxiety, and countless newspaper companies in the royal capital published dozens of newspapers daily.

Whether it was a crisis for the royal capital or whatever, journalists in any world were a breed that risked their lives for scoops.

Even the downfall of the royal capital, no, the Southern Continent, would just be another story for them.

However.

[‘Substitutes for fertilizer are already prepared. We will distribute fertilizer to farms free of charge for trial operation…’ Princess Isis’s declaration. Is her statement false propaganda, or is it a new hope…?]

This news, which completely reversed the desperate situation at once, was enough to turn public opinion around, and journalists who had been saying the kingdom was about to collapse were pelted with stones.

The royal family, no, she had moved.

As if she had wanted the chaos to intensify and gain more attention, she released a new fertilizer.

A fertilizer that was much more effective and cheaper than the existing one.

“Long live Princess Isis!”

“No, my friend. She should be called Her Highness the Crown Princess.”

“Ah, right. She’s the heir, of course.”

“Haha, the future of Pendragon looks bright.”

“That journalist bastard! Isn’t he the one who wrote that article insulting Her Highness the Crown Princess!?”

“Pick up stones! Those traitors!!”

The farmers, no, the people couldn’t praise her enough.

The farmers had been feeling uneasy and disgusted after learning that the fertilizer they had been using was made from demonic beasts.

It was better not to know; once they knew, how could they possibly use it?

So even if they had leftover fertilizer, they were extremely reluctant to use it, and in this situation, the princess of this country distributed potion-type fertilizer that was easy to use.

Not only was its performance comparable to the fertilizer, but Isis’s quick response was extremely admirable, and she personally undertook a pilgrimage to care for the farmers….

How noble and great was this course of action…!

It was natural for them to be enthusiastic.

…Well.

“But in the end, it was the royal family who hid the identity of the fertilizer, right?”

“Aren’t they all in it together?”

“It came out too quickly.”

“Could this be a plot by the royal family?”

Some sharp individuals were suspicious of such a quick response and viewed it with caution.

Moreover, the most important fact was that it was the royal family who had turned a blind eye to the tunnels.

Therefore, it would be natural to criticize them, but-.

“Have you seen these damn traitors!!!”

“Have you ever starved!? You say such things because you’ve never starved! What does it matter if it’s made from demonic beasts! In the end, fertilizer is just fertilizer! It just helps crops grow!”

“Everyone knew, and we all ate crops grown from the soil, right? I heard even the royal gardens used demonic beast fertilizer, so what’s the problem?”

In a public opinion battle, lies and agitation are important, but the results shown are more important.

Especially results that the people have personally experienced.

Considering that just a hundred years ago, hundreds of people died of starvation every day, what does the identity of the fertilizer matter?

“B-But still!”

But there were still some who insisted on their claims.

It seemed like they wouldn’t be satisfied until they received an apology from the royal family, and to such people…

“Then, are you saying the War God who departed for Avalon should take responsibility-?”

“!!!?”

“If that’s the case, be prepared. Even if others forgive you, I cannot forgive the act of insulting him.”

“Uh, um, th-that’s…”

That’s right.

In the end, the tunnels were created during the era when the War God ruled, and criticizing the tunnels was an act of insulting the War God.

Insulting the great king who was revered as a god in human form?

This was like…

“Kill him! Kill that guy!!!”

“Set him on fire!”

Begging to be killed, wasn’t it?

Not only were they pelted with stones, but even if they were burned at the stake, it would be a crime that deserved no sympathy.

Thus, the situation was quickly resolved, and Princess Isis’s position as heir became even more solid.

Truly…

“…What a scary woman… She just plays with everything.”

Terrifyingly so.

Recalling the face of the woman who coordinated this entire situation while sitting at a desk, Ihan felt his flowing sweat turn cold.

…Because it was chilling.