Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

In the early morning, Christian was the first to wake up, showing no signs of fatigue on his face.

He had fallen asleep close to midnight, waking up after just a few hours, yet he seemed perfectly rested.

“Hmm, the morning air is nice,” he murmured as he stepped out of his room and headed toward the training field.

The crisp air and the peaceful ambiance marked by the gentle chirping of birds stood in stark contrast to the life-and-death battles he had previously fought against the Fierce Demon Dragon.

Now that he had decided to adapt to this era and move forward, he had no intention of wasting time.

He strolled leisurely, carrying only a bag, to arrive at the grand training yard. Over several days of observation, he noticed that knights seldom visited this place.

Even though the current era emphasized absolute mana, he was surprised that even the renowned Sword Family of the Worden County had neglected physical training.

“You can’t solve everything with mana after all,” he mused.

A master craftsman is required for any omnipotent tool to be truly effective. A child with sufficient mana could decapitate an ogre, but with a large amount of mana supporting a robust body like an ogre’s, one could even slay a dragon.

‘It won’t be easy to change perceptions. Humanity today is too intoxicated by the convenience mana provides.’

Perhaps the appearance of the Dragonkin was a foretold disaster — with modern humans so fixated on mana, resisting its infinite allure would have been near impossible.

Christian cautiously raised his hand to his chest, feeling the object nestled against his heartbeat.

The root cause of humanity’s obsession with mana: Ether Weapon.

The discovery of the Ether Weapon had both empowered humans to fight against dragons and shackled them under their control.

Adults found ways to deal with holy dragons but failed when it came to ancient dragons, who managed to dominate the Ether Weapon and nullify its functions.

In essence, it was a double-edged sword — with both sides threatening each other with sharp blades.

‘Even if the amount of mana is the same, purity and solidity are key. That’s essential to maintain control over mana when fighting dragons.’

The reason dragons were at the pinnacle of all living beings was straightforward. Their immense size accommodated vast mana reserves, housed within incredibly durable vessels.

Simply put, the ‘form’ of a dragon was the optimal ‘vessel’ for housing mana.

However, the weak human body had limitations in mana capacity, which humans overcame through ‘wisdom’.

If the space to hold mana was limited, they thought, why not increase the mana’s density to the utmost and store it? This notion led to meeting Master and further evolving into ‘let’s build a body as robust as a dragon’s’.

‘Muscles, skin, bones, even blood vessels and organs…’

They trained every bodily organ to become capable of holding mana.

Everyone deemed Master’s theory as impossible and insane, but thanks to the blessed body of (former) Christian, her hypothesis was proven correct.

“Or maybe it was just because failure was repeated until success was inevitable.”

Even if he failed 99 times, succeeding once would be recorded as a success by history. Still, this time he’d prove the theory correct with Aira’s fairly ordinary body, likely registering it as a formal educational method in the future.

“First, I must regain my former skills.”

In this era, a few powerful individuals capable of wielding Ether Weapons remained.

Despite fewer than ten standing in the face of the dragonkin and Magnus raids, humanity’s slight surviving power to protect itself indeed persisted.

He needed to utilize humanity’s strength to contain the Dragonkin, minimizing the loss of resources.

‘But right now, the more urgent matter is to avoid my premature demise in this body.’

If only he knew the cause of death, he could prepare against it. For now, he’d deal with the immediate tasks first.

“Good, no one’s here again today. Lucky that everyone’s lazy.”

The large training ground was undoubtedly spacious, clean, and completely empty.

When he placed the bag he had carried onto the ground, a deep thud resonated throughout the training hall. Christian crouched down and began to unpack its contents.

“Hmm, this hefty feeling. To think I would willingly wear this.”

There were four weights for the arms and legs, along with a belt. The combined weight of these five items was considerable. They were handcrafted products ordered directly from a blacksmith outside.

Without hesitation, he attached them to his arms, legs, and waist.

“Since it’s my first time with this body, I’ll take it easy.”

The weights were 5 kilograms for each limb and 10 kilograms for the waist, totaling 30 kilograms.

Although he could use mana, he was not yet at a stage where he could wield it freely, so he couldn’t overexert himself.

To do it properly, he would need to install a mana concentration array throughout the training hall and use mana devices to greatly increase the weight. But for now, he had to adapt to this body, so this would suffice.

“Alright, then.”

He lifted his arms and moved his legs, getting accustomed to the weight, and then began to walk slowly.

He started with a slow pace, gradually increasing his speed. With a minimal use of mana, he activated his physical abilities and then ran at a fast speed.

‘It’s not like there’s a special secret to strengthening the body.’

The body grew stronger the more it was used.

It wasn’t just a saying—just like iron hardens when hammered, the human body became tougher and stronger the more one pushed it!

Christian, too, found it unbelievable at first.

His master used to say bones get stronger the more they are broken, deliberately causing fractures. She would beat him to the brink of death, claiming that endurance increased the more one is hit.

Thankfully, she never said that skin became immune to slashing or cutting the more it was cut.

If human skin became tough like an ogre’s hide, or showed even a hint of becoming so, his body might have turned into tatters in his previous life.

However, seeing the actual effects on his body, Christian had no argument. Since then, it seemed he had been beaten legally to near-death.

‘First, push the body beyond its limits.’

Even such a master had set a ‘limit’ for the body to endure, a line she never crossed.

– You won’t die, you won’t die. No matter how much you push, human lives are tenacious and don’t end easily.

‘Or is it?’

A daily routine of harsh training beyond the limits. Yet, he never died, stubbornly surviving, managing to move normally the next day.

During those times, his master watched over him, but after experiencing it for more than ten years, he learned to maintain the ‘threshold to not die’ by himself.

‘Indeed, money is necessary! To repair the body if it’s broken!’

However, just as important as pushing to the limit was recovery and management. Haphazardly damaging the body and waiting idly until it healed would lead to chronic diseases in old age.

Drinking potions like water to heal damaged muscles and bones, supplementing the depleted mana, rapidly regenerating the body through divine power treatment, and so on…

Quickly treating oneself to prevent illness and continue training relied heavily on money.

Thus, his master used to take breaks from teaching him to earn money through high-difficulty quests and hunting monsters.

“Huff—! Huff! Already… exhausting!”

He had barely run a few laps around the training ground, and already he was out of mana, his breath became rough, and sweat poured down.

Muscles screamed and joints creaked audibly.

“This body of mine, really hasn’t been trained at all.”

‘At this age, I was already brawling with monsters!’

***

“Haaaaam…”

Aira yawned extensively as she left the room, but exhaustion seemed to linger, leaving her in a dazed state as she continued to yawn repeatedly.

‘I slept a bit late today.’

She ended up waking later than usual. It was just because she sparred with Christian and became utterly exhausted…

She was dissatisfied with her own laziness.

‘I couldn’t even land a single hit…’

Despite sparring with Christian again, it annoyed her that she hadn’t managed to land a single hit.

However, in Aira’s eyes, while there might have been frustration, there was no sense of defeat.

She hadn’t realized it initially, but once the sparring ended, Christian would explain everything to her bit by bit.

Returning to her room and reflecting on it, she began to understand why certain actions were necessary in those situations.

‘It’s frustrating, but it’s certainly helpful.’

Moreover, the thought of one day knocking that sly head of his became a goal, pushing her forward.

‘I can’t let Mother be disappointed any longer. I need to try harder, be more desperate.’

With such thoughts, she decided to head to the training ground before having breakfast to at least limber up a bit.

“Urwaaaaaaah! Naaaathan!”

“Huh?”

An odd scream was heard.

“I won’t give uuuup!”

Curiously, she peeked into the training ground.

“Never evvveeerr! Giv, u, uppp!”

There, a half-wrecked human was staggering, oozing some liquid from his mouth and body that was indistinguishable as either sweat or saliva.

She recognized him, but his appearance wasn’t one she wished to befriend.

‘Ah, mother was right.’

Without money, the body suffers. Money can buy time and talent, while children from families without money struggle and fight through life.

Looking at Christian, who was practicing what was clearly an inefficient training regimen, Aira felt a sense of pity.

‘So, is it because he wants to enjoy the benefits I receive that he asked to train with me?’

Even her cold-hearted mother might support him if she saw the heir of the family struggling so much.

‘Oh?’

With a heart filled with pity, she quietly observed Christian’s training from the front of the large training ground.

Wouldn’t it be a good match if she asked him for a spar once he got a bit more exhausted?

Aira, caught between pity and a desire for revenge, found the corners of her mouth creeping upward.

Perhaps she could easily achieve her first goal.