After some more talk, both Ian and Andressa leaves Karl alone to rest. After long time Karl gets a good night's sleep. He sleeps at evening and wakes up directly the next day. He opens his eyes and sees that sun isn't up yet. He gets up and stretches his body.
'Damn. Those elixirs were something. My body is back to peak condition. I bet those are expensive as hell. What a nice friend I got.' Karl smiles as he exploits Ian. After stretching for few minutes, Karl takes a deep breath. Then, he tries to inhale mana.
'UGH.'
His chest hurts like it is on fire. Despite the pain Karl continues to inhale mana. Once full, he stops. Very carefully he pumps mana into his legs. The muscles on his legs aches as he feels the pump of the mana. Few seconds later, his legs resemble a top cyclist's legs.
'Pain aside, this is great.'
Karl performs levitating steps but this time he pumps only half of the mana. He straight flies into a wall. Fortunately, the walls are durable enough to take Karl's attack. 'So, the total amount of mana doesn't affect the distance travelled but the power.'
Again, pumps mana into his legs this time he gives his all. His veins on the legs looks like they could burst at any moment. Karl performs levitating steps. But this time he extends his leg little less than usual and the force behind the step is way soft. He travels rather slowly compared before; he lands steps before the wall.
'The mana affects the power and my own force affects the distance. Got it.'
He turns around and performs these short levitating steps to get a hang on it which he gets it after few tries. Karl is sweating too much.
'Should I move towards the next stage?' Karl aggressively pushes mana into his abdomen. He feels his stomach tighten up. He pushes more up. Mana reaches his chest. Suddenly his lungs refuse to inhale. But Karl keeps circulating. The mana passes through his heart and he feels a spike of pain. Only few seconds of breath remaining. Karl grits his teeth and pushes mana into his arms. His biceps grows significantly. The mana finally reaches his palm then his fingertips. Feeling this sensation Karl stops the flow of mana.
He coughs as air passes through his lungs. He quickly removes his clothes. He poses in a nearby mirror. Now, Karl's body looks like a professional body builder. 'It looks ugly as fuck.'
Karl already has very short height with this amount of unproportional muscle he looks like a body builder with down syndrome. 'Who cares? The thing which matters is power!'
Karl punches a nearby wall. The entire room shakes. The punch creates a hole in the wall. Karl smiles at his accomplishment.
"UGH!" Karl grabs his uneven chest. Breathing becomes hard. His heartbeat decreasing with each second. Karl feels that his heart can't pump a sufficient amount of blood to all of his grown muscles. With increased muscles comes power but to keep those muscle you need a higher heartrate which clearly can't be provided with Karl's heart. He quickly exhales of his mana turning his absurd body back to normal. He lays down on ground.
'I can't use this form for longer period of time.' Karl concludes. He tries to stand up.
'Fuck.' Karl curses as his previously every overgrown muscles aches now.
KNOCK! Somebody knocks on the door.
Karl walks towards the door like an old man walks towards the toilet. Both of them hates it. Karl opens the door and sees two maids.
"Yes?"
"There was a loud noise. We are here to check that."
"Don't worry, everything is alright." Karl is peeking out of the door which prevents the maids from looking inside.
"Master Ian told us to take special care of you." One maid says with a weirdly seductive voice.
"Yes, we could offer special services." The second maid leans in and whispers.
"ONLY. FOR. YOU." The maid slowly lifts her long skirt.
Karl smiles. "No, thank you."
He immediately closes the door. BANG!
'What was that? Are people from this world that open?' Karl sees his reflection and facepalms himself. 'It looks like I was the who was too open.'
At 7:34 am, Ian shows up at Karl's room. He knocks. But no one opens the door. Seeing this, Ian makes a quick call. 3 minutes later, a maid shows up with a key. Ian takes the key.
"Did something happen while I was gone?"
"Yes, early in the morning there was loud noise of something crashing. But other than that, nothing happened."
"Okay, go and prepare breakfast for us." Ian uses the key and opens the door. The first thing he noticed after walking in was the hole in the wall. 'Did he do this?'
Ian walks towards the bed and sees Karl sleeping on the bed. 'Why is he naked?'
Ian slightly shakes Karl's hand to wake him up. Karl wakes up after few bumps. "Oh! Hey." Karl greets Ian.
"Leonard. Why are you naked?"
"Hmm?" Still sleepy, Karl yawns. Ian summons his circle and a guest of wind appears, it moves the entire bed and smashes it into nearby wall.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Karl snaps at Ian.
"No. You still haven't answered my question." Karl struggles to stand up due his muscle pain. Ian sees this and reaches his own conclusion.
"Did you sleep with the half-bloods?"
"What?" Karl finally stands up.
"The maids, half-bloods."
"What is a half-blood?"
"Did you even lose your common sense?" Karl doesn't say anything.
"As the word means the offspring created by mix breeding between two different races. Such half-bloods don't hold any status anywhere and usually treated worse than garbage. It's my family's mercy that they are offered job here and given basic amenities. So, let me ask again. Did you sleep with those maids?"
"No, I did not." Then Karl proceeds to tell Ian about his experience.
Ian chuckles as he finishes hearing Karl's story. "How could you forget to wear clothes before opening the door?"
"I was focusing on training, okay?" Karl says it in an annoyed tone.
"Still be careful. A half-blood can get a full citizenship of that race if someone who is a pure blooded marries a half-blood. They probably mistook you as some knight"
"So, that's why they tried to seduce me."
"Or they found your little Excalibur cute?" Ian teases as he points it out.
"Shut up! And it's average." Karl clarifies with a red face.
"If you say so. Get dressed now. We should eat breakfast and quickly go to meet my father." Karl nods.
He put on his clothes and ate breakfast with Ian. It was Karl's favourite, eggs and bacon. Though there is no confirmation that this thing on the plate was pig. After finishing the breakfast Ian is taking Karl somewhere.
"Ian."
"Yes?"
"Where is Andressa? Did she not come?"
"She said that she has some important classes to attend."
"Oh. Okay."
"Here." Ian walks into one of the many suites in the corridor. Karl walks inside and notices that this room is same as the one he was staying in. Ian opens the big closet and reveals an exquisite suit. The suit is full grey with white polo on the inside. For neck Ian's offers a black tie.
"Wear this."
Few minutes later, Karl looks himself in the mirror and the suit looks gorgeous. 'I feel like it's wasted on me.'
"What's with that face? Is it too tight?" Ian asks.
"No, on the contradictory it is great. I just thought that I don't look too good in this." Ian chuckles.
"Stop being so negative you look good."
"That's easy for you to say. When you got that face." Karl moves the mirror towards Ian.
"An angelic face with those silky hair and that facial harmony. You would look 100 times better in this suit." Karl describes.
"You are being dramatic." Ian makes an uninterested face and taps something on her watch.
"Come, our ride is here." Karl nods. Both of them come out of the hotel and sees a black van waiting for them. First, Ian sits in then Karl follows him. The van shakes a little as it takes off from the ground. 'I feel like I am going to give my first interview.'
Karl doesn't talk as he is nervous. Ian also doesn't like to talk during rides. Therefore, their ride was quiet and peaceful. 30 minutes later, Karl sees that there are no skyscrapers and it is only flat land. Meaning they left the city. Another hour later, Karl sees a big mountain in a distance. There is a castle on that mountain which looks huge from here. Ian leans in.
"That's my house. I hope you like it."
'Like? BRO THAT LOOKS AWESOME!' Karl is getting excited in his mind while keeping a poker face.
Few minutes later, the lands on the ground. Karl opens the door and steps out. His eyes go wide just by seeing the huge castle. At the entrance there is a huge gate with tall knight-like stone statues at both sides. The castle seems to on top of a mountain and it is covered by large 30-meter wall, these are little smaller that the city gates. From the outside the castle, one could tell that this was built centuries ago.
"Hey! Don't just stand there." Ian calls.
"Y-yes." Karl follows Ian to the gate. There is a small metal door besides the large gates. It opens and a butler step out of it, he looks at Ian then bows deeply.
"Welcome young master. My lord is waiting for your arrival in the throne room." Ian nods.
The butler stands up and glances at Karl. "Please follow me inside."
The butler turns and walks inside the metal door past the gates. Ian and Karl follow the butler. Inside, there is a huge courtyard with a fountain in the centre. The butler moves ahead, followed Karl and Ian. Karl notices few people in armour walking around. They reach a large metal door what seems to be the entrance into the castle building. The butler puts his hands on the door and a magic circle appears around his hand. It rotates around and the door is opened its own. Inside, there 4 Victorian maids are standing in line.
As the gate fully open, they bow together. "Welcome home, Master Ian."
Karl glances at Ian and notices his dull look. Even the butler doesn't say anything and walk pass the maids. Karl leans towards Ian and whispers. "Were they half-bloods too?"
"Yes." Ian confirms.
Suddenly Karl's suit starts to feel tight as they approach the throne room. After walking a few meters, the butler stops in front of a silver door.
"Here we are." Ian moves forward but the butler stops him.
"Unfortunately, Master has given orders that he only wants to see your Friend here." The butler glances towards Karl.
"Don't be ridiculous, Hector. How can I leave him if I am the one who suggested father to recommend him." Ian complains.
"I am sorry master Ian. But these are my lord's orders." The butlers answer and opens the door.
Karl turns towards Ian. "Just be yourself and it will be fun." Ian whisper.
Karl takes a deep breath and follows the butler inside.