The Castle in which Alex was staying was quite big but the workers working in it were quite pitiful.
Most of the maids and servants had to leave the castle as they weren't getting their salary. The one who is in charge of giving them money had taken everything into his pocket.
On top of that, there were just a hundred soldiers on his side and among them, only a meagre number of soldiers were awakened and were at squire rank.
And to add salt to his wound, most of the soldiers remaining here are spies of the noble who report the daily activity.
Many soldiers have joined the noble's private army whereas Alex didn't know if there are even a soldier who was loyal to him.
But what can he do, who in his right mind would serve a King like him.
Therefore the job of protecting Alex fell on Riya who was an Epic rank warrior who protected Alex from the shadows.
Riya was accompanied by her two trusted maids and both of them were of Squire rank.
Layla and Rose.
Along with Riya both of them were responsible for Alex's safety in case Riya need to leave Alex side for some reason.
Alex came to know that his kingdom had around 4000 soldiers in total but most of them have left with Catherine to her city.
Though Catherine's Kingdom was merged with Nevan, for now, it operated independently from Nevan.
Catherine wanted to merge her Wright Kingdom with Nevan and make it stronger but the corrupted nobles did not want it to happen as their power would severely decrease.
Since the true authority lies with Alex who used to be an imbecile, the noble manipulated Alex to make him sign the document, where the authority to deploy any decree had to be made with the full support of the noble houses.
While Nevan and Wright were burning from inside because of an internal conflict, the Kingdom of Amidon which was beside Wright wanted to take this opportunity to occupy some of Wright's territories.
Wright was already in a weakened state after Kinley invaded it and it needed some to get back on track but the merging of Nevan was dragging it down.
Seeing that Nevan's state became worse day by day despite Catherine's work, she decided to take a gamble.
She asked the soldiers who were dissatisfied with the current management of Nevan, to come to her Wright city and once they had become sufficiently stronger and dealt with the neighbouring Kingdom, they would purge the noble by force and free Nevan from those flight noble clutches.
The nobles, though dissatisfied, have to comply with her as with Wright's fall, Nevan's fate wouldn't be good.
In response to her call, 80% of the soldiers left, though they were quite weak, under Catherine's command and strict guidance they would soon become a force to contend with.
Alex got this information from Riya as Catherine had informed everyone about her plans.
Though Alex was eager to announce his arrival unless he made them see the changes he had gone through in person, it will not make any difference.
........
In the large group inside the castle, a boy lay on the floor of the training ground breathing heavily.
Just 10 push-ups, just a meagre 10 all it took for him to become completely exhausted.
Alex looked at the screen.
[Quest]
Walk 10km: 7/10km
Do 100 pushups: 63/100
Do 100 pull up:49/100
Time left:2:14:34:2
Fortunately, the system took pity on him and gave him a few days to complete it otherwise he would die just from completing the quest.
'And an announcement will be made, King Of Nevan died while doing push-ups and went to Netherland. The Goddess had finally heard our call and taken away the idiot. It's time to celebrate.'
He looked at the timer, he nearly had two and half days.
Walking 10 km was not a problem but doing push-ups and pull-ups was too vexing for his current body.
Every time he does a push-up, he feels as if his bones are breaking apart.
Alex's body was the weakest of all and he had a bad constitution.
Medical science in this world is not as developed as in his previous world and people mostly rely on magic.
In the six months time in which he was unconscious, his body hadn't got many proper nutrients and proteins, which degraded his muscles and used up all his accumulated fats.
Alex had dyed his hair black and with his change in shape, no one would be able to identify him.
The Castle was quite deserted and there were hardly any guards except a few at the entrance who mostly lazed around.
Even a thief may break into a castle to steal money if they had any left.
Alex's goal was to reach a normal level of stats that an ordinary healthy human has then try to gather a group of loyal people on his side first.
An ordinary human except for his mana and magic, everything has 10 points but he didn't have even half of the upper value in most.
Alex can raise his strength either by training or completing the system requirement to get stat points.
Alex took the towel from Riya who was wearing a maid dress and wore a veil covering her face.
Alex smiled.
"Riya, tell me do we have a good martial instructor?" Alex asked with a serious tone.
Riya thought for a moment putting her hand on the waist and tilting her body a little which exposed her matured curves.
Alex rolled his eyes and watched it to his heart's content after all he had the privilege to admire her beauty.
"How about the martial instructor who taught the soldier," Riya said.
" How is he?"
"Hmm. He is so, so if we measure him by Kinley standards. He is a Master in rank." Riya spoke.
"What about his age?"
"He is around 40, my lord," Riya asked.
"Okay, call him by the end of the week. I want to meet him."
"But what would we say if he asked," Riya spoke.
"Tell him, I am a secret guard who is assigned to guard the king. As for my identity, tell him that he doesn't need to know now." Alex spoke and went back to exercise a little.
'Let's see the level of this instructor.I wish he isn't useless and may be of some use.'Alex muttered while thinking about his acting skills.
He decided to behave as a naive boy who doesn't even know how to hold a sword.
By the end of the week, he will make sure to reach the normal level.
From the system, he came to know he can increase his strength without the help of the system so training and exercising not only increase his points, but he can also compete for the quest on the way killing two birds with one stone.
.....
Name:Alex Von Stan
Species:Human
Rank:None
Level 1
Exp:0/10
HP:8/10
Mana:0
Strength:7
Agility:8
Stamina:6
Vitality:7
Stat Point:5
Active Skills:Eyes of Truth[locked], Mana Sensor[Locked], Emperor Charisma[Locked], Emperor Pressure[Locked], Lady Luck's Blessing[Locked], Heal[Locked], Restore[Locked], Goddess Buff[Locked]
Passive skills:Piercing Thrust Level 0, Iron Heavy Swordsmanship Level 0, Abyssal Slash Level 0, Grand Martial Art Level 0, Mighty Punch Level 0, Spell[Locked], Five Elemental Breathing Technique Level 0
Alex looked at the screen and sighed. He falls short of his goal in one way or another.
He thought of using the stat points to level the points but the system restrained him from doing it.
First, his strength had reached the maximum his body can handle and the system said that if he put more strain on his body then his hp would decrease instead of his strength increasing.
Moreover, the reason why he isn't able to max out his stat according to the level is because of hp.
The system said that since he had recently acquired his body, his strong soul hadn't adapted to his body fully and will take a little time so the system suggested taking it slow for now
According to the system, Alex is quite robust and has reached a level where even a Supreme rank powerhouse can't injure his soul.
The system is acting as an intermediate to settle down Alex's soul to his body and make it adapt to his weak body. That's why he can't use the stat points, he got from the system and wait for a few days more.
His soul had almost assimilated into his body and in a day or so, Alex will gain full points of a healthy normal human being.
As Alex was lost in thoughts looking at his status, he looked around when he heard the footsteps and stared at the man who arrived.
Alex smiled looking at the man who looked at him with a solemn expression.
Alex took out a wooden sword and walked towards him and said"Hello Sir, I am Rex. Nice to meet you."
But he just met with a cold snort, in return for his warm greeting.