My exhausting and painful training had begun. In the first few days, I couldn't even finish the morning training session.
I would pass out in the middle of some exercise and wouldn't wake up until the next day. But soon, I started to improve.
First the marathon, then the several sets of a thousand repetitions, the marathon doing handstands, and so on. Each stage of the training gradually became a natural part of my routine, just like any other daily task.
My days were still extremely painful, but little by little, I increased my endurance. Not everything was pain and suffering — every day, I had a big motivation. The Queen always returned to the castle at night to "take care" of her fiancé.
Her treatment always started with a massage but ended up turning into a nightly training session to improve my stamina... if you know what I mean.
The final obstacle to completing a full day of training without passing out even once was the sparring with Sabrina. She was obviously obsessed with the Queen and couldn't hide her jealousy. So, our sparring sessions turned into beating sessions — far from pleasant.
At the start of the fights, she would turn into a blur in front of me, and when I realized it, I was already being violently hit. The first sessions ended with the first blow. Later, I started surviving the first strike... but was taken down on the second.
The sessions continued like that for a few weeks until, for the first time, I managed to match Sabrina's level — well, not exactly. She was obviously holding back. But at least I had reached the point she wanted, and the fights started lasting longer.
That day, we had already been fighting for fifteen seconds. I know, it doesn't sound like much, but trust me, it was.
Sabrina faked a move, trying to catch me off guard. But I was already used to that trick.
With an exaggerated swing of my sword, I blocked her attack. She always got furious when I wasted energy on unnecessary movements, and it always distracted her. I decided to use that as a weapon.
Exactly as planned, my exaggerated move made her lose concentration for a moment. That was enough for me to position my body for the next move.
I shifted my right leg closer to my left, hiding the motion behind my body so she wouldn't notice.
It was a risky move. For an instant, my posture left me completely exposed. If she noticed, it would be the end for me. But she was too distracted, too angry at my exaggerated defense.
I thrust my sword toward her right shoulder. The attack had no strength — my body was in an awkward stance — but that wasn't the goal. I wanted to force her to defend.
As planned, she blocked my weak attack with a wide horizontal swing, completely opening her guard.
I didn't even have to adjust my stance — the impact of her sword hitting mine pivoted my body around my left leg. All I had to do was follow the motion, stepping closer. Now she was wide open, and I was in perfect position for a finishing blow.
Checkmate, I thought.
As soon as my right foot touched the ground, I shifted all my weight onto it and lunged forward, my sword tracing an arc aimed at her neck.
She was caught by surprise. My disguised movement had worked perfectly: she didn't notice I had closed the distance.
I was about to land a hit — after more than two months of training.
Or so I thought.
Her momentary expression of shock quickly turned into a mischievous smile. She waited until the very last moment and, when my sword was just inches away, she simply disappeared.
My blade cut through nothing but air.
When I realized what had happened, she was already behind me, her sword just millimeters from my neck.
Of course... why did I even imagine I had a chance?
At least this time, she didn't actually strike me down. And so, despite being defeated, I completed a sparring session with Sabrina for the first time.
"You've improved a little" — she said, with a clearly disappointed tone.
She was upset because I had improved? What kind of master gets sad when their pupil gets better?
"Let's reassess your status and see if you're ready for the next step" — she said, bringing back the crystal board.
Name: Arthur William Habsberg von Lichtenburg
Age: 21
Race: Human
Class: Spell Knight
Affinity: Water, Light
Level: "Good enough"
XP: 24753 / 25000
Stats:
HP: 1655
MP: 351
ATK: 451
DEF: 389
RES: 875
SPD: 257
With those stats, I was probably the strongest person in the kingdom. Not bad for two months of training.
It's true what they say: becoming the protagonist of your own WebNovel works miracles for a character's life.
But apparently, by demon standards, I was still nothing special. "Good enough"? Seriously? What kind of messed-up scale is this crystal using?
"Yeah, unfortunately... I mean, you've actually evolved" — Sabrina said, clearly unhappy about it.
"We're going to reduce your physical training load."
Why did she sound so unhappy about that?
"And we'll start our expeditions into the castle's dungeon."
No thanks, I'd rather stick to physical training. This dungeon exploration thing is overrated...
"That way, your level will "unfortunately" rise even faster."
If you're going to try to hide your disappointment, missy, you'll have to do a better job.
"And we'll also get closer to finding the secret chamber and acquiring your new affinities".
Something deep inside told me that our dungeon expeditions wouldn't be pleasant at all.