Sir Hero, It’s Time to Train!

“I ran yesterday. I ran today. Perhaps I’ll be running tomorrow too?”

“When are you planning to stop running?”

Aira realized that something was seriously wrong after spending a week doing nothing but running. She had finally become proficient at it, yet something about it seemed off.

“You’re doing this on purpose just to torment me, aren’t you?!”

For a whole week, she had been running, dodging Christian who was chasing her relentlessly with a stick. Aira shouted in frustration as if she could no longer tolerate it.

“Torment? This? This is sacrifice, real sacrifice.”

“The sacrifice is being made by me, isn’t it?!”

Her eyes were bloodshot as if freshly strained, and dark rings had formed around them.

Running till her legs twisted and she stumbled, she rolled around to avoid that stick so much so that her once pristine training clothes had become tattered rags. Her body was covered in dust, riddled with scrapes, and marked with bruises.

In stark contrast to her pitiful state, Christian looked as fresh as if he had just stepped out for an errand. Though sweating slightly, he was spotless since he neither fell nor rolled like Aira did.

Simply due to the stick Christian held in his hands, their sacred training time could easily be misunderstood by an outsider.

If an unaware person witnessed the scene, it could quite easily look like a slave trader causing harm to a fragile girl.

“When are you going to teach me a proper technique, if ever?! Could you at least teach me the method for body activation?”

Having spent all week just running away from the stick, Aira could do no other studies.

Even mana sensitivity training was out of the question since the moment she returned to her room, exhaustion claimed her, resulting in passing out as if fainting.

“Mana lessons? We are doing them.”

“How is this a mana lesson?! This is just pure torment!”

“Oh dear. I keep saying, a healthy body bears healthy mana. This is an investment in your future, trust me.”

“Investment is nonsense. At the very least, teach me body activation, yeah? Never mind, I’ll go ask Sir Garcia. He should at least teach me something useful.”

“I truly cannot understand you.”

Christian clicked his tongue and shook his head slightly, making Aira almost teary-eyed with frustration.

“I find you even harder to understand…….”

She wondered once again what her mother had seen in this person to throw her into such a mess.

To be fair, half of it was indeed Aira’s own crazy decision, but the other half was undoubtedly her mother pushing her into it.

Thus, a tiny wellspring of resentment naturally bubbled up in her heart.

“You’re already using body activation, so what exactly are you asking me to teach? Ah, you must have started to enjoy running?”

“What nonsense is that?”

Aira immediately looked at Christian with an incredulous expression, as if to say he was being ridiculous.

Enjoying running? It could be possible, but the past week’s running was hardly enjoyable.

Thanks to the short break, Aira’s labored breathing soon returned to normal. Christian observed this with a satisfied smile.

“You are currently using body activation, 24 hours a day, even while sleeping or eating. Yet, you keep asking for me to teach you something?”

“……?”

A puzzled Aira gazed intently at Christian, contemplating.

The only thing he’d done, supposedly, was using that cursed mana tool to burden her body with unwanted weight!

Though she wanted to argue, Christian simply sighed and spoke.

“Do you realize how much weight that magical artifact imposes on your body?”

“My weight range?”

“Well, initially, it was a bit more than that. At first.”

At first?

Still not comprehending, Aira looked at the ring she was wearing as Christian pointed it out.

“I was adjusting it daily, gradually increasing its weight.”

“You little rascal?! No wonder it’s been feeling oddly heavier every day!”

Unable to hold back any longer, Aira, who had developed a bit of muscle, approached Christian with a clenched fist.

However, it’s never easy to face someone armed when you’re barehanded.

Christian, inviting her to bring it on, grabbed a club himself, and Aira’s muscular arm instinctively dropped back down.

Like a well-trained puppy grinding its teeth but unable to attack, Aira’s hesitation was evidently amusing to Christian, who responded with a playful laugh.

To Aira, his laughter seemed mocking, and she considered just charging at him without thinking twice.

“People are truly fascinating creatures. Initially, they say it’s impossible, they’ll die, but once pushed to their limits, they quickly adapt.”

“You thought of me as an animal?”

“Aren’t all people animals? Why ask the obvious?”

“You’ve become quite mean.”

“Thanks to my master.”

“I never saw Laura that way…”

Not Laura, but you, Christian thought.

However, he couldn’t voice this, so he answered with silence.

It seemed Aira had formed a small misunderstanding about the master of the current era she hadn’t met yet. But that didn’t matter much.

“But why? Sure, I’m getting used to running, but what’s the big deal about just increasing the weight a little?”

“The weight you’re handling now is probably five times what I used to manage with weights and belts when I was broke. And yet, you’re running around with that weight like it’s nothing. Does that not mean anything to you?”

“… Huh?”

“Body activation isn’t something you consciously use. The true mastery of body activation is when your body circulates mana without you realizing it.”

When one begins to store mana, the human body undergoes change.

The immense energy of mana alone can significantly enhance the body’s performance.

“But most people only use this body activation temporarily in specific situations. Why? Because they think it’s efficient.”

Naturally, using it sparingly only when needed minimizes mana consumption.

To maintain body activation constantly requires a continuous supply of mana, and unless the mana reserves are abundant, one might end up unable to use it when truly necessary.

“From a mainstream perspective, the current method of continuously consuming mana rather than storing it might seem highly inefficient.”

“And you’re having me do that inefficient thing right now?”

“Yes.”

“….”

Aira looked back and forth between the club Christian held and her own arm.

Gaining confidence from the realization that she now possessed club-like arms and hammer-like fists, Aira clenched her fist and approached Christian, eyes blazing.

Despite Aira’s intimidating demeanor, Christian merely smiled and brandished his club.

“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Come on, be gentle.”

“So, now you’re treating me like a dog?”

“You should listen to someone’s words until the end if you’re a person.”

“Go ahead.”

If you can’t convince me, then my fist is going to meet your face.

Aira’s actions reminded Christian of his master in a previous life, something he had seen countless times, so it actually was a welcoming sight to him.

“When I said it’s inefficient, it was about repeating only the two current basics – ‘storing mana’ and ‘growing mana’.”

“Why? That’s obvious, isn’t it? Gathering mana continuously is the path to becoming a strong knight or mage.”

“Yeah, that’s true. But still.”

Christian sighed as he spoke.

“The problem is collecting mana too ‘easily’.”

“……?”

Aira tilted her head in confusion, as if she didn’t understand what ‘collecting easily’ meant.

“A person’s body grows stronger the more it is used. If you exhaust your stamina, it increases, and muscles grow stronger the more you use them. So then…”

“Mana gets stronger the more you use it?”

“Exactly. The more you consume mana, the quicker your body adapts to absorb it. If you take two knights of equal skill and have them use the same technique, which one would be stronger?”

“The one who is used to using mana?”

“Right. The knight accustomed to using mana had more output and consumed less mana. That’s what it is…”

“That’s the very definition of mana sensitivity, isn’t it?”

“Yes. The principle is the same. However, if you look at efficiency, I assure you this is far better.”

The reason knights and mages dedicate themselves to training their mana sensitivity is precisely for this purpose.

To absorb mana quickly, to store more mana, and to use it effectively.

Typically, this training involves using a ‘mana concentration array’ to focus mana flow in one spot, allowing the subject to feel it throughout their body.

By continuously absorbing and storing mana in a space filled with it, the body and mana reservoir are helped to adapt to mana.

But the problem was that it was too calm and comfortable a method. Above all, it was inefficient.

No, in Christian’s view, it was the epitome of inefficiency.

“With barely enough time to move your body, do you think you can just sit comfortably and train your mana sensitivity? I’d never let that happen before dirt gets into my eyes!”

“What nonsense is this?! Why is it comfortable?”

Mana responsiveness training is not an easy task.

Sitting still for hours, immersing oneself in meditation, excluding all unnecessary thoughts, focusing solely on the flow of mana—is that something you think a child would play with?

“If you roll just like a dog, your body, mind, and mana will become as strong as steel! Quietly sitting for mana sensitivity training? Nonsense! You do that while rolling!”

“Wh-what are you talking about?! Why should you be rolling around while training mana sensitivity?!”

“You do it! While dining, while going to the bathroom, even while sleeping! If you can’t, your training ends there! You do it until you can!”

Christian, shouting with wide eyes and foam at his mouth, made it utterly uninviting to approach him.

Where did this kid even learn such things? Could it be that he learned this from his master?

Laura, I really didn’t see you that way, but you had quite a few problems!

“And when I said stop running just for the sake of it, don’t worry. It’ll end soon. You’ll understand with your body just how comfortable and happy aimless running was, so look forward to it.”

“……”

“If you’ve rested enough, run!”

Dodging the crazed guy coming at her with bloodshot eyes and swinging a stick, Aira started running with all her might again.

‘Why is that guy completely fine?!’

She felt a swell of frustration seeing Christian running around fine while she was exhausted to death.