The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 12: The Wastrel Has Changed (1) (Part 2)

A knight is a title and a position.
While the lord is the supreme commander, in times of war, knights act as field commanders.
They lead the strategy and guide the troops.

So the chief knight is essentially the military commander.
It’s his responsibility to direct operations and train soldiers.

But commanders, as a rule, are usually desk-bound.
Training soldiers?
That’s something they pawn off to subordinates.

But Kai was different.
In all my memory, I’d never seen him shirk his duties.

He was a man devoted to the very spirit of knighthood.

Though he may have fallen to become a Lich,
In his human days—Kai was the ideal knight.

Look at him even now.

Kai was wearing metal armor.

He’s a knight, so of course he would wear metal armor, right?

Not a chance.

A full set of iron armor weighs about 40 kilograms.
If it’s full plate, that can easily double to around 80 kilograms.
No sane person wears that around casually.

And more than anything—this was the northern Snowy Mountains.

Do you know what happens when you wear metal armor in an environment that’s perpetually freezing?

Your skin rips apart.
And that’s not just a metaphor.

Metal exposed to the cold rapidly absorbs the chill.
When it touches bare skin, the flesh freezes almost instantly and splits open.

That’s why the soldiers of House of Whitewolf wear leather armor.
Wearing metal armor in this weather is a death sentence.

And yet, Kai was completely fine. The reason was obvious—

‘He’s protecting himself with Aura (오러).’

And not just for a moment—he’d been doing it all day.

‘That lunatic.’

There really was no other word for it.
And the reasons for his behavior? Even more ridiculous. What were they again?

First, because he was a knight, apparently.
He said he had to always be battle-ready no matter the time or place.

Second, he claimed it was part of his training.

‘He said keeping Aura circulating constantly was its own form of training.’

Kai didn’t even take off his armor to eat.
For him, even resting was just another form of training.

In that sense, Kai wasn’t just training with every moment—his entire existence was training and discipline.

Across all my lifetimes, both of them, he was the craziest bastard I had ever seen.
It made sense that someone like him could become a Lich through sheer will alone.

They say genius can’t beat effort, effort can’t beat enjoyment, and enjoyment can’t beat madness.

Kai was a genius—and also a madman.
So how do you beat someone like that?

I’d have to go crazy too.

◆ Your muscle fibers have exceeded human limits!
◆ Your muscle tissues are being reconstructed!
◆ [Strength] has increased by +4!

I shoved another bite of my packed meal into my mouth and added more weight to the barbell.

After the basic military training was completed,
the next stage was stamina training.

This wasn’t just for the soldiers—Kai participated too.

Even for a knight who wields Aura, neglecting physical conditioning is unacceptable.
The strength and condition of the body directly affect how efficiently Aura can be used.

For a knight, the body is the foundation.
No matter how skilled your swordsmanship or how great your natural talent,
without a strong base to support it, it’s all useless.

Talent alone only makes you second-rate.

Kai trained his body alongside the soldiers.
Unless there was a specific reason not to, this was just part of his daily life.

“All units, match my pace and move out.”

Kai led the charge, and the soldiers all broke into a jog behind him.

At first, everyone kept up well.
But gradually, some began to lag.

Still, Kai didn’t push them.
Even among soldiers, stamina varies.

Forcing everyone to train at the same intensity despite their differences is wrong.

Stamina training is not a competition.
The goal is to push yourself to your personal limit and do that consistently, every day.

Through that process, you understand your limits—and then develop the grit and willpower to surpass them.

Mental strength without physical endurance is just paper-thin resolve.
And stamina without willpower is a hollow shell.

“Haah…! Haah…!”
“I… I can’t go any further…!”

After about an hour, some soldiers started dropping out.
By the two-hour mark, most had collapsed from exhaustion.

Only the captains and instructors were still going.
Even they didn’t last more than three hours.

A few barely made it past the three-hour mark, but not by much.

Only then did Kai pick up the pace.

Now, it was time to test his limits.

“Whoa…”
“He’s seriously incredible…”

Gasps of awe rose among the soldiers as he sped up.

After running for nearly three hours, he was now going faster.
So of course they were impressed.

At first glance, it seemed like their admiration was directed at Kai.

But Kai knew.

Those cheers weren’t for him.

He slowly turned his head—
Someone was right behind him, keeping pace.

“Huuh! Huuh! Huuh!”

…It was Adrian.

Translatin_Otaku

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