Adrian was just doing a bunch of push-ups on the dirt. And Claire was directly beside him doing the exact same thing. It was almost like they were competing on who could do more reps.
The surrounding soldiers were doing the loud, synchronized countdown.
And it was currently at forty-five.
The soldiers just continued screaming and Serena could literally hear them chant.
"Forty-six! Forty-seven! Forty-eight!"
But all of those loud sounds just did not register in her mind at all. In a way, she basically just subconsciously ignored the entire crowd.
The only thing in her mind right now was the way Adrian’s bare muscles were just so shockingly clear. They looked extremely defined and dense under the sunlight.
She had obviously seen multiple muscular men before. After all, she was the daughter of a Duke. It wasn’t a rare sight for her to see soldiers and knights training in the courtyard.
But weirdly enough, Adrian just gave off a completely different feeling.
She felt something warm flutter inside her stomach. It wasn’t just nervous butterflies. No, that was a completely different feeling that she had felt before when talking to him. This was something entirely different that she just couldn’t put her finger on. She just didn’t know what exactly she was feeling right now.
She had technically seen him shirtless a few times before when he was casually cooking or working near the flames and such. But weirdly enough, currently, his muscles just looked noticeably bigger than she remembered. Like they had a slightly higher volume and density to them.
Because before, he looked more like a lean, somewhat scrawny but toned guy who relied on magic. But now? He had much more of a heft to him. The drastic changes from his Draconic Mana Veins and his intense new training method were already showing. Or at least, that is what any person who read a lot of webnovels would think.
But in reality, his muscles just looked that defined due to the pump. Doing those push ups was the actual magic that was happening. It wasn’t his mana veins or the new training method that he just tried out last night.
That, and some insane genetics.
Serena just stood there and watched.
Her eyes didn’t even move to look at Claire anymore. She just unblinkingly stared at Adrian.
She stared at the way his back muscles flexed and the way his biceps and thick forearms locked out with every single rep. The way his palms were just firmly spread out flat against the hard dirt. And the way a layer of sweat just completely covered his whole upper body, glistening in the light.
Not even a single minute detail was missed by her wide eyes and racing mind.
Her face was slightly red as she just stood there and imagined a few things that she desperately wished that absolutely no one could read or figure out what was currently going on in her mind.
And just like that, while she was deeply lost in the middle of her own private dream world, the whole thing ended with Claire finally collapsing and giving up. The C-Rank knight dropped to the dirt, panting heavily.
Adrian easily did two to three more push-ups just to flex before he casually stood up.
He didn’t even look that tired. He looked down at his arms and he tightly clenched his fist.
"This new technique really does work," he muttered to himself.
Adrian looked down at Claire who was catching her breath on the ground.
"Okay, the stamina test is done. But now, why don’t we have a real fight?"
Claire looked up at him and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
"Well. You might have way better raw stamina than me right now thanks to your new training method that you claim to be better. But I’m still a higher rank than you are, and I’m pretty sure that I’m extremely close to ranking up to B-Rank once again."
She pushed herself up to her feet.
"So I suggest that you train yourself even more before you try to fight me."
Adrian tilted his head.
"Well, I guess that makes perfect sense. I do actually want to learn how to properly use a staff before I mess around in a real spar. I don’t really want to get beaten up by my own general for no reason anyways."
He held his hand out and took out a staff from his storage ring. It was the sleek, Orichalcum-tipped staff that he had custom-made last night.
He spun it once and looked around at everyone in the massive circle.
"Okay now! Everyone stop wasting time! Get back to training!"
He pointed the staff at the crowd.
"I will also be training right here with you, so just completely ignore me. Because I mean, I could train somewhere else in private, but I would rather train with everyone else out here because it has a really good vibe here. We can all train together, right?"
The soldiers all instantly stood at attention.
"YES, SIR!"
All thousands of them screamed at the exact same time. The sheer volume made Adrian flinch since he hadn’t expected such a loud response.
"ALL HAIL LORD ADRIAN! ALL HAIL LORD ADRIAN! GIVE YOUR LIFE FOR ORESFALL! TRAIN FOR ORESFALL!"
Adrian just grinned widely because the loyalty just pumped his blood. Those loud fanatic screams of his soldiers just gave him a sort of manic motivation that absolutely nothing else could.
He nodded and he raised a hand, almost like he was punching the air upwards towards the sky.
"EVERYTHING FOR ORESFALL!"
And the soldiers immediately screamed back, repeating after him.
"EVERYTHING FOR ORESFALL!"
And then the brutal training began.
Not just Adrian, but even Claire took her training incredibly seriously after being beaten in a stamina contest. But she just couldn’t beat Adrian’s insane schedule.
It was almost like he was a literal machine that was set to work twenty-four seven without breaking down. He was just way, way too much for a normal human to handle.