Unlike the other children panting on the ground, collapsed from their training, Raon sat on the equipment for training the chest muscles after exhaling lightly.
'This isn't called a legendary cultivation technique for nothing.'
Although his body was extremely tired, the rings of fire rotating around his chest recovered his stamina and willpower.
He had just exhausted his stamina from training, but he became capable of going all out once again. There was a good reason that it was called one of the most valuable treasures of the continents.
"Huff…"
Setting the weight to 5kg heavier than the day before, Raon lifted the weight. He slowly moved in a way to maximize the range of motion of his pectoral muscles, to stimulate it as much as possible.
Tap.
When he got up after finishing six sets, he heard someone sitting down at the equipment next to him.
'Who is it?'
The only person who would come near him was the green-haired weirdo with a pocket on his belly. Raon thought it was strange and turned around.
'Runaan?'
The person sitting next to him was Runaan Sullion, with her long silver hair flowing down.
Runaan set her weight to be a lot heavier than Raon's and started to use the equipment.
"Hup!"
Her weightlifting posture was remarkably similar to Raon's. She didn't care about the lifting count nor the weight but focused on stimulating her muscles.
What was that?
'I don't know, either.'
After watching her for a bit, Raon left. In order to stimulate his muscles more thoroughly, he sat on other training equipment.
"Hup!"
After setting the load to exceed his maximum capacity, he lifted the weight while rotating the Ring of Fire.
"Huff!"
He normally should've subtracted 10kg from that weight, but the Ring of Fire allowed him to handle that much, and more often.
He could hear someone sitting next to him again. He put the weight down after training until his arms and chest trembled.
'Really?'
He turned his head without getting up. As expected, Runaan was there. She set a weight higher than him once again and started to lift.
'Why is she doing this?'
Raon narrowed his eyes. Runaan didn't pay any attention to Rimmer, let alone other trainees. He couldn't understand why she was copying him, by lifting weights the exact same way he did.
'I must be mistaken.'
When he thought about it, it was normal to train the smaller muscles after training bigger muscles. Raon got up, thinking that it was just a matter of coincidence.
However, he headed to the equipment to train shoulder muscles just to be sure.
Creak!
After setting the weight, he lifted it while feeling the stimulation to his shoulders. When he finished a set, Runaan appeared in front of him.
After staring at him for a bit, she sat down next to him and set her weight. It was a heavier one, once again.
"Huff!"
She casually started lifting the equipment while looking in front of her.
Are you really going to do nothing after being provoked like this? How long are you going to hide like a rat!
'A provocation…'
Raon turned his head to look at her. Runaan just kept lifting, as if she wasn't interested in him.
'What is she thinking?'
The first and second times could've been coincidences. However, her copying his shoulder training couldn't have been one.
Yet, he couldn't understand what she was thinking. Her eyes were as cold as ice, yet they were also blurry, making it impossible to grasp her intentions.
You don't understand, huh? She is clearly provoking you by acting as if she is better than you. Punch her in the face, right now!
Whether it was a child, an adult, or a woman didn't matter to Wrath. He was angry at everything, just like his name suggested.
'Please stop. For just a moment, just stop.'
Raon ignored Wrath's anger and left the equipment to start squatting. As expected, Runaan followed him and bent her thighs with a heavier weight.
"Wh-what?"
"Why are those two together?"
"Why is Lady Runaan paying attention to that loser?"
The children in the gymnasium opened their mouths wide, watching Runaan training right next to Raon.
Screech.
Burren, who came back to the gymnasium after swordsmanship training with the collaterals, grit his teeth.
"Uhhh…!"
"Why is Runaan there…?"
The collaterals saw Runaan training next to Raon and glared at them.
"Hmm."
Raon looked at Runaan, who attracted everyone's attention.
With silver hair shining like moonlight, fair skin as white as snow, and thin and sharp facial features, she was an ethereal beauty. Except her eyes, which looked senseless, like she had a piece missing.
"Do you have something to say to me?"
When Runaan finished a set, he approached her.
"…"
Upon hearing his question, she stared at him for a while, as if he was a curious creature.
"No."
After responding, she started to lift her equipment once again, with more weight this time.
'I don't know, either.'
Raon shrugged and got up from his equipment. Since she was going to lose interest soon anyway, he decided to just ignore her.
As he was thinking about what to do since his routine was suddenly changed, he heard small stepping sounds behind him.
When he turned around, he could see Runaan scanning different parts of his body with her purple eyes.
"If you have something to say, say it."
"…"
Without responding, Runaan met his eyes. Her eyes looked like a cat that had just finished its nap.
"Haa."
Raon sighed quietly and walked over to another piece of training equipment. Runaan followed right after him and used the same equipment.
* *
One week had passed since Runaan Sullion began observing Raon Zieghart.
"Hmm."
She looked for Raon as soon as she entered the indoor gymnasium. Like always, he was lifting weights before anyone else.
'It's heavier than yesterday.'
Raon's weight was 5kg heavier than the day before, which wasn't actually that strange.
It wasn't strange to increase weight if you worked out hard enough.
However, what if that weight increased every day? That wouldn't be normal.
'How is he doing that?'
Most people didn't realize it, but Raon Zieghart had increased the weight of his equipment by over 10kg last week. Even considering that growth was faster for a child, the number was ridiculous.
'He was supposed to be a patient…'
His face was pale, and his limbs were as weak as twigs. However, he could withstand better than anyone in the training ground.
'Is it thanks to his posture?'
The posture Raon used to lift his weights was a bit different from the others. She thought his absurd speed of growth might have been thanks to that posture.
With that conclusion in mind, Runaan sat on the equipment next to Raon, who was training his chest. She started to lift the weights the same way Raon did.
'Hmm.'
It didn't feel much different from usual. Only her muscles felt slightly more stimulated.
'It's not a big deal.'
Thinking that it was meaningless, she was about to go back to her usual posture.
'Huh?'
When she inhaled a cool and mysterious fragrance coming from Raon, her weights became as light as a feather.
'What happened?'
She felt like her strength and agility had suddenly increased. The weight that should've been difficult to raise had become so light.
However, once Raon—who was watching her for a while—left, that strange sensation immediately disappeared as well.
"Ah…"
Missing the sensation, Runaan stared at Raon's back as he headed to the next piece of equipment.
'Perhaps…'
Runaan followed Raon and moved next to him. She set her weights to be heavier than usual and lifted.
"Ugh…"
It looked like it was too much since it was too difficult to lift it. However, once Raon started to exercise, the cool air coming from him made her weight become lighter once again.
'That was it.'
It wasn't her imagination. She was capable of lifting a weight 10kg heavier than usual, as if her abilities really were enhanced.
"Huff!"
Despite lifting more than she could handle, it didn't seem to overload her shoulders nor arms at all.
Once she cheerfully finished her exercise, Raon was standing in front of her.
"Do you have something to say to me?"
Blond hair and red eyes, the boy with the proof of his Zieghart heritage spoke.
"No."
Runaan shook her head, and Raon moved on to the next piece of equipment after staring at her for a moment.
'I should try following him around.'
Eyes shining like a cat's, she followed Raon.
She liked that she could train with heavier weights, but she was even more attracted to the cool fragrance coming from him.
***
Rimmer climbed the mountain behind the main building in Zieghart.
"Tsk."
He shook his head and clicked his tongue as he was about to climb up the flat rock at the mountainside.
"You must be really worried about your grandson, to visit my napping rock every day."
From the top of the rock, an old man who gave the impression of a sharp sword came down. It was Glenn Zieghart.
"…"
Without saying anything, Glenn stared at the barely visible mountain ridge.
"Hmph."
Rimmer snorted and leaned back against the rock. The two of them watched the setting sun for a long time, not saying a word.
"Haaah… You should just ask instead of acting so dignified."
Rimmer sighed and jumped up on the rock where Glenn was sitting.
"The children are doing great. They are training so hard that they are honestly exceeding my expectations."
"Exceeding your expectations?"
"I've let them train on their own accord."
"I know that."
"Honestly, a twelve- or thirteen-year-old child doesn't have much willpower. I thought most of them would start slacking after a week. However!"
He wasn't exaggerating. When he planned his training, his intention was to pick about twenty people out of the one hundred sixty.
"More of them are going to pass than I thought, thanks to my lord's grandson."
"My grandson? Are you talking about Burren?"
"Stop pretending when you already know I'm talking about Raon."
"I don't know what happened on the training ground. You told me to not mind it, since you would take care of it."
"Hah, seriously?"
Rimmer scratched his red hair. It was annoying that this old man, who had been waiting for him because he was worried about his grandson, was pretending he didn't know anything.
"That guy, he is different from what my lord and Sylvia believe."
"What do you mean?"
Glenn's eyes were the same, but his voice was clearly different.
"You wanted him to drop out as soon as possible to avoid getting hurt, since he was weak both mentally and physically."
"I never said that. I just told you to not discriminate."
"Anyway, I also tried to fail him out as fast as possible."
Rimmer's blue eyes shone.
"He's a monster. His willpower isn't anywhere near normal. It's even better than a warrior that has gone through tens or hundreds of battlefields."
Rimmer had seen plenty of talents throughout his life, and even among them, Raon was exceptional. It was difficult to believe how much he had grown, that he had to look at him twice every morning.
"When the training started, Raon was one of the worst among the one hundred sixty people. Only three weeks later, he's in the middle tier. Do you think that should be possible?"
"…"
"I once thought that Raon wasn't actually a patient and was just hiding his strength. However, that isn't possible. His body still has a brutal ice running through it."
Recently, he kept paying attention to Raon during training, as he really went all out on every moment.
"I'm considering singling him out to give him personal training."
Since he did his best in the training that he had prepared, Rimmer couldn't help but feel more affection for Raon than the others.
"You would go that far?"
"He won't stop, even if his body becomes frosty like a winter tree. The other children are training hard because they are stimulated by him. He is the fifth training ground's stimulant."
"Hmm…"
Glenn scratched his chin with an expressionless face, but he couldn't hide his slight rise to the corner of his lips.
"It looks like a lot more children will end up passing than I expected."
Despite murmuring it was bothersome, his eyes were smiling.
"Isn't it overloading Raon's body?"
Glenn finally spoke.
"Hmm…"
Rimmer secretly gulped.
'It's more than I thought.'
He already knew that Glenn had a special affection for Raon, but he didn't think he would specifically ask that.
It looked like the affection he couldn't give to his youngest daughter was transferred to Raon.
"Well, that part is a bit strange. He is certainly overworking himself, but he recovers so quickly that it's mysterious."
"Is it impossible to figure out, even for you?"
"That's what I'm saying. It's the first time my eyes can't grasp someone after the Ten Heavens of the Continent."
Rimmer tilted his head as he answered. He was better than anyone at analyzing others' potential or condition, but Raon was different.
Honestly, Raon was more mysterious than Glenn, who rose to the rank of the continent's strongest.
"Rimmer."
"Yes?"
"You aren't Raon's personal instructor, but the head instructor of the fifth training ground. Pay attention to everyone who will become the family's strength, instead of only thinking about Raon."
Glenn walked down the mountain after saying that with a lot of dignity.
"Hah."
Rimmer snorted to that ridiculousness.
"What the hell is he saying, when he came to listen to Raon's story?"