The mirror reflected Nicokel's current appearance.
Compared to how he was two weeks ago, he had cut off at least 30 percent of the fats. His stomach was not bulging anymore and his hands and legs had some muscles here and there too.
'My face is not that bad now that I have thinned out. If I lose all my fat, I guess my looks would be a little above average.'
It was easy to tell by looking closely at his face. This fact made Nicokel relieved.
'I won't appear ugly at least. Appearance plays a part in the military. Every human, including me, are discriminative creatures. Having an ugly appearance may lead soldiers to not trust me.'
Looking out of the window, it was still very early in the morning. There was no sign of the sun rising in the slightest.
Nicokel began wearing the clothes he had ordered from the tailor. They were black shorts and a T-shirt made of quick-drying fabrics as Nicokel had requested. Along with them, he wore a mask that blocked a portion of air inhaled.
'With less oxygen, my heart and other organs will have to work harder. This way I can bring out extra results. Just working hard is not enough, working smarter enhances the process. This brings back a lot of memories.'
Military training was very strict back on Earth too. He was made to roll for almost two years before getting deployed.
Nicokel walked to the fountain in the garden.
Performing some stretches, he began jogging on the tile road at a normal pace.
Time passed, and Nicokel's body which was shaking due to the cold heated up. His breathing was stable the whole time as he finished a round in the garden.
"Ha!" Nicokel laughed while breathing out, he gazed at the fountain beside him.
'I didn't think I would be this satisfied looking at my progress. I couldn't even jog half of this garden two weeks ago. Who would believe that?'
Nicokel was thankful that he was born into a wealthy family like this. They could procure the ingredients he chose so easily.
'This is why knowledge is important. I am sure such books are not available to the public. Knowledge is considered very precious in any empire, allowing only nobles access to it.'
Having tensed all the muscles around his body, Nicokel breathed in loudly before beginning to run.
Because of the mask, Nicokel felt his body becoming harder to move. It was a pure test of his willpower, which he never lacked for a long time.
Sweat covered his face by the time he completed a round, and his heart beat as if trying to jump out of his chest.
'....Not over yet...! One more round!'
Nicokel clenched his jaw and exerted every ounce of energy within his body.
Every time he moved a step, Nicokel felt pain flowing through his head as if electricity. His body began screaming in pain because of the abuse.
'Not yet...!' Nicokel kept repeating these words so that he wouldn't think of stopping.
With wobbling steps, Nicokel looked forward. His eyelids felt heavy, they closed automatically multiple times, and it took a lot of effort just to pull them open again.
Finding the familiar fountain, Nicokel pushed his body with all his strength for the last few steps.
"Ugh!" Nickel grunted and kneeled with both of his hands on the ground.
Sweat rained down on the ground below him, as he breathed with all his strength.
"Huff-puff. That was dangerous...I almost lost consciousness again..." He removed the mask.
Nicokel pushed his body to the side, making himself sleep on the grass.
In the past two weeks, Nicokel had already lost consciousness once. It was when he was suffering from a mild hangover due to the drug. Pushing himself too much in such a condition seems impossible.
Staring at the early morning sky blankly, Nicokel regulated his breathing.
'I have built enough stamina for performing other muscle training now. I guess it's time to move up a level in my training.' Nicokel weakly smiled to himself.
Nicokel trained like this every day at least three times. It wasn't a fluke that his body experienced such growth in just two weeks. It was all thanks to his intense exercise.
'Well, in my free time, I read all the books about laws and all the past war strategies. And when I am bored, I just read some random storybook I find interesting. Surprisingly there are tons of storybooks in the library too.'
With his understanding talent, Nicokel had already covered all of those books. Now he began going through the history books to deepen his understanding of the neighboring empires and kingdoms.
'Let's go...'
Nicokel pushed his body to stand up and moved to the knight's lodging area. It was located right behind the mansion, making it so that the knights could react to any unforeseen situation in the mansion.
Like usual, Nicokel sat at one corner of what seemed to be a stadium or an arena. Any official challenge proceeds here.
All the knights bowed toward Nicokel without any hesitation. After he nodded his head, they continued sparring with their partners.
The knights start training early in the morning, just like Nicokel. However, they begin by training their body and warming up in the beginning.
Hence, Nicokel didn't bother coming at that time.
'What I want to see is their swordsmanship. With my talent, I have already grasped the beginning part of the basics of swords. I just have to hammer it into my body from today onwards.' Nicokel's eyes shone in anticipation.
'Training to use a sword can be considered muscle exercise. From the look of it, I have to use muscles from all parts of my body to bring out a strong strike.'
Looking closely at the knights who were sparring with each other, Nicokel found the knight captain gazing at him too.
The moment their gaze met, the knight captain bowed his head and returned to looking at the knight.
"...." Nicokel continued looking around the training ground.
.....
'He is really similar to the knight commander.' The knight captain thought with certainty.
He didn't know whether it was the atmosphere around Nicokel or his hollow dead eyes. The knight captain couldn't help but remember the knight captain, who was stationed on the north border.
They both gave the feeling as if their body was here and but their soul was somewhere far away. This made it look like they were dead in the captain's eyes.
And...
'I get the feeling something bad would happen when their soul would meet with the body.'
The 'Something bad' wasn't directed at him, but that was the kind of feeling he sensed.
'Young master Nicokel is different from the other young masters too. Receiving the knight's bow, they either show arrogance or satisfaction. But he remains indifferent till the end. I wonder why he is even visiting the training ground every day like this...'
The knight captain was interested in Nicokel, but at the same time, he felt it was let down.
'He is talentless...If he could use mana, I would have offered to teach him to use a sword.' The knight captain signed and focused on the newbie knights before him.