The sun scorched over the beach.
Kiernan appeared to be barely conscious, his breathing shallow and irregular, with scratches and bruises all over his body. His bandages had gone loose, revealing badly damaged arms, and his legs were broken badly.
It was unreal just how broken he looked, and it was clear that he was undergoing pain of immense proportion.
"Finally, he is down." Cadell patted off the blood from his fists. "I thought I will have to kill him."
'He continued to fight Cadell for another half an hour with his legs broken.' Johan thought. 'What insane willpower, but foolish.'
"Ngh…" Kiernan suddenly groaned and began to rise up once again.
"Tch." Cadell gave him a menacing glare. "If you stand up, I'll kill you and dump your body into the lake."
Kiernan rose to one knee and put his broken arm beside his waist—it was on a punching stance—it didn't matter that his body and mind were screaming for him to stop—he still continued to fight.
"Iron Style…" Kiernan whispered in great pain.
"Very well." Cadell raised his hand over his head in a chopping stance.
At that moment, Johan placed his hand over Kiernan's shoulder and pushed him down to the sand.
"Argh!" Kiernan tried to stand up, but he couldn't move an inch. It was like he was trying to fight against gravity.
Johan, for someone who didn't look like much of a physical fighter, held immense power that didn't seem too far off Cadell!
However, it was different between them.
Cadell had reached a much higher rank than Johan. They were in a whole different league. However, Johan had such insane physical strength that it narrowed the gap between them.
"Are you seeking to die?" Johan asked. "Why do you keep standing up?"
Kiernan didn't answer. He wasn't a fool. He knew the immense strength gap between them. It also wasn't out of foolish pride or a refusal to admit defeat.
To him, this whole fight was nothing but training—training to become so much stronger.
"…" Johan shook his head and walked to Cadell. "Let's go; this isn't worth our time."
"Remember what I said." Cadell shouted out while walking away. "Stay away from her."
"Hah…" Kiernan clutched his injured waist as he tried to laugh. "Right, I forgot the reason the fight began. It was all because of that girl. I guess the beauty of a woman can really start a war between countries."
Kiernan sat down on the sand with hot sweat rolling down his face.
"Whatever." Kiernan stood up with his broken legs. It was excruciatingly painful. "I gotta continue training."
Without further ado, he started sprinting around the beach. It didn't matter that his whole body was broken. It didn't matter that his legs were broken. It didn't matter that he could barely breathe.
He ran, ran, and ran.
Laps after laps.
The sun moved to the highest point of the sky, then started to descend towards the horizon, casting a golden glow over the lake.
The time continued to fly by.
At last, the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving a trail of pink and orange streaks across the sky.
The light of day faded away, replaced by the twinkling stars of the night sky.
"Haah, haah…" Kiernan panted heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He slowly removed his shirt, revealing a bruised body underneath.
When he reincarnated, his body didn't have abs or muscles of any sort. The former Kiernan trained hard, but he didn't do it effectively enough.
Now, after nearly two weeks, Kiernan had a clear transformation—it also helped that he had advanced all the way to Martial Soldier. It was also helpful that he had a system where he could assign points wherever he wanted.
He had slightly visible six pack abs now, with muscles barely visible beneath his flesh, a far cry from his previous scrawny frame.
"Whoo…" Kiernan softly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Deep within his body, the sparkling soul started shaking—another layer peeled off like an onion.
The soul beneath was stronger and more vibrant, a reflection of the physical transformation he had undergone. It looked like a diamond, with sprinkles of light reflecting and refracting through it.
It was even more beautiful than before.
[Middle Stage Martial Soldier Achieved]
[75 XP]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 2 → 3]
"Hah…" Kiernan smiled gently and picked up his shirt from the sand. "Time to return, I suppose. I am slowly getting there. It won't be long before I can fully unleash my Iron Style…"
As Kiernan limped off the beach, there was a figure perched on top of a small boulder, watching his every movement. Kiernan failed to notice that someone was there because the trees were just barely covering it.
"What a beautiful transformation…" Muriel looked at his retreating back with her hands cupped to her chin, a sweet smile playing on her face.
Their trip to Tiamut was very quick. With her grandfather's ability, they were able to go to Tiamut and back in less than ten minutes.
After returning, she said that she was going to walk to the beach, and when she arrived there, she noticed a familiar figure running laps around the beach, seemingly injured.
She was about to go offer him some help, as with her elven healing capabilities, she could've healed him in a matter of minutes. However, something stopped her from doing so.
It was Kiernan's indomitable spirit. It was overwhelming like a churning ocean.
At that moment, a cat jumped onto the same boulder. It was the village's cat, who had an uncanny ability to find Muriel wherever she was. Perhaps it was the elf's natural ability to make everyone around them feel comforted and at ease.
"Oh, hello, kitty." She said with a smile as she reached out to pet the cat. "Were you also watching?"
"Meow…" The cat meowed and purred while pushing her head against Muriel's hand, clearly enjoying the attention.
…
The night turned darker.
In Karuza High's cottage, Kiernan finished taking a shower and changed his bandages for new ones. At this time, there weren't many spots left where he wasn't covered in bandages.
He sat down on his bed, which was right beside a window that saw the entire beach, the lake, and the starry night sky.
And then he opened up his system. There were another ten stat points waiting to be assigned.
'Strength, without a doubt.' Kiernan assigned instantly five points for strength.
He skimmed through the other options and scratched his cheek thoughtfully.
At that moment, he assigned the final points—three to stamina and two to charm.
With that, his system now looked like this:
***
[Name: Kiernan Hunter]
[System Level: Beginner]
[Martial Rank: Middle Stage Martial Soldier]
[Age: 16]
[Level: 3]
[SP: 0]
[Gold: 0]
[XP: 20/500]
[Strength: 17]
[Agility: 16]
[Stamina: 11]
[Vitality: 22]
[Charm: 12]
[Quests]
[Shop]
[Inventory]
[Lottery]