Chapter 73 - True Start
"Haup! Haup! Haup…"
Loud breathing sounds could be heard in the vicinity of the running river, under the shade of a tree, a golden-haired youth was continuously raising and lowering his upper body.
Under the constant movement, his muscles glistened from the falling sunlight as part of his body excited and entered the shade. Completely drenched in sweat, drops fell from his sleeveless shirt along his arm, only slowing down when they reached a shiny armguard that overshadowed the sparkling liquid.
'Should I try?'
Feeling bold, the youth paused his movement after raising his upper body once more before he lifted his right arm from the ground. He seemed to be trying to do a one-arm push-up, but before he managed to raise his arm far enough…
Thud!
His arm almost instantly fell to the ground as if it was attracted to a magnet! The youth's body quickly followed as he collapsed to the ground.
"Ah, I guess it's still too hard. If I knew that I would come here, I would have done more weighted training back on Earth to gain some experience… ha…haa…"
Taking off the shiny armguard to rest a bit, Leo wanted to sigh but was busy catching his breath. After 10 KG and 12.5 KG dumbbells lost their effect on him, Leo had contemplated another method to do weightlifting since heavier dumbbells would prove hard to carry everywhere. In the end, he decided on weighted training.
Back on Earth, people who had used this training method mostly relied on sandbags to do the 'weighting', but Leo found it to be similarly inconvenient as dumbbells in the long run. In the end, he went along Crane once when he was buying metal ores and was surprised to find his objective immediately!
Lying within a pile of cheap ore was actually the third densest metal on Earth, a metal that contested even gold in value!
Just like on Earth where it was only used later in history, Platinum was regarded as useless in this world. With gold being recognized as the symbol of wealth, Platinum had no value as an accessory.
To make it worse, under the constant race to make better and better swords, Platinum went under trial more than once, but due to its undisputed heaviness and ductility, it was identified as useless.
Although it was sad to see Platinum in this state, Leo was more than happy to make use of the opportunity to buy it for cheap and use it to make 'accessories' of minimal sizes, something that would fit the weighted training that he had in mind.
Not only did that solve his current training problem, but by designing several bracelets that could be conjoined to form both arm and leg guards, Leo also managed to solve the problem in the long term, being capable of adding more bracelets as his strength increased.
"Hu… one last drive to go!"
After cleaning his body within the cover of the carriage, Leo came out and took hold of the horse's reins. It was time to make one last run towards Swordkeep.
Neighhh!
The sky was clear as spring had already arrived, driving the cold away. By now, it had already been two months since he had finished his preparation and engaged in a group goodbye hug. It felt more heartbreaking to leave this, but it made Leo feel better in the end compared to his past departure.
Along the way, Leo spent less time 'Breathing', focusing more on his sword skills as well as advancing his physique further. After all, the amount of Sword Breath he could gather had once again been reduced by half, making it barely a fourth of what he could gather at the 'Accumulation Phase'. At this point, a month or two of normal 'Breathing' no longer had value to Leo's plans.
As the sight of the city grew closer and closer, Leo grew more excited. Compared to the last time he visited this city, he was no longer powerless. Moreover, he similarly no longer had to walk around blindly to find his objective, from this point on, things were a little clearer.
"The Entrance fee…"
Before the gate guard repeated his line, Leo held out the mandatory 10 silver coins. After they left his hand, Leo was finally able to witness the sight of Swordkeep's crowded streets once again.
As he scoured the private district in search of an inn for lodging, Leo grabbed a meal on the way. Thankfully, he was able to find a suitable place in half the time he had spent back on his first visit.
The first thing that Leo chose to do after settling in was join the line to get a real shower. Although it would take some time to get it and it wouldn't last that long, Leo desired to thoroughly clean his body after two months of 'body wiping'.
He eagerly wished to just go straight to Rain's terrace house, but knowing the dangers behind it, Leo could only drool about it in silence.
"Phew, finally!"
After the incredibly refreshing shower, Leo dropped to the bed, another daily item to miss while traveling. While he found this novel fresh due to the lack of overused supernatural elements, Leo wished for the existence of a storage ring for once. He was especially jealous of one main character who carried both a bed and a shower within his spatial rings.
"No point crying over it..."
After ten minutes or so of rest, Leo jumped out of the bed and went down. He fed the horse and paid a stable boy to look after it before coming out.
Noon's sunlight shone at Leo as he walked within the crowded streets, slightly disoriented by the change of pace. That was especially the case thanks to his attentiveness, by the time he reached his destination, however, he had more or less adapted to the environment once more, not to mention that there was no longer any need to do so now.
'Here it is.'
Within the crowding street, a large building stood out even amid the inns. For some reason, a similarly large sword standing over three meters tall pierced the ground in its front, creating a large circle around it that was devoid of people. Three words were vertically inscribed on the sword as if it was meant to be the building's sign…
<Gigant Sword Association>
Standing before this exact sword, Leo smiled as he headed towards the building behind it.
'Everything will truly start from here…'