CHAPTER 88: MAGICAL CORE AWAKENING

After wandering a bit through the castle in search of the Droblin, Arthur couldn’t find any trace of them. Upon asking one of the soldiers, he learned they were training in an open area near the river.

He quickly made his way there and saw dozens of individuals of varying ages and sizes performing exercises from his world like squats, push-ups, stretches, and more.

But the moment all the recruits and supervising soldiers saw him, they stood upright and greeted in unison, "Long live the lord!"

Arthur nodded in satisfaction, then raised his hand and signaled to them, "Resume what you were doing."

Immediately, one of the soldiers yelled at the recruits, "Alright! Two hundred more push-ups!"

Upon hearing that, the recruits exhaled in exhaustion and made pitiful expressions. They had nearly finished, but with Arthur’s arrival, the instructor had to display how strict the training really was.

Arthur chuckled faintly and watched them suffer under the name of conscription. To him, it was necessary to burn their bodies and push them beyond their limits if they weren’t strong enough within a month, most of them would die.

The Droblin were also training hard, and unlike the humans, they showed no complaints. They were grateful to Arthur and didn’t want to disappoint or disrespect him.

Every now and then, Maarit glanced at Arthur and thought, ’In the end, I wasn’t wrong. It was good that we saved that werewolf.’

She smiled faintly, deeply enjoying her new life.

She now ate regular, nutritious meals. The food was delicious and filled with ingredients she didn’t recognize. Her life was no longer filled with fear and anxiety, and she now slept like a child at night.

But her smile faded suddenly as she remembered the rest of her tribe, who still lived in the hidden village in the forest. Several painful memories crossed her mind like staying up all night while a pack of wild beasts prowled nearby, or how they suffered when food was scarce.

She sighed heavily and muttered, "I hope the lord will accept the rest of my kind into his land. Even if he agrees, the village chief is stubborn and won’t trust humans."

Conflicted, her joy vanished. All that remained was a sense of guilt. She felt like she was betraying her people by living a comfortable life while they still suffered.

She looked up again, only to find Arthur already watching her. His sharp eyes made her tense up and tremble slightly.

In a calm voice that reached everyone’s ears, Arthur suddenly said, "That’s enough training. All human recruits dismissed. As for you, Droblin stay."

Everyone sighed in relief, except the Droblin, who began to feel a sense of unease. But no one dared defy his orders. The humans left, and only a few soldiers remained. The Droblin lined up in a single row, waiting silently for his instructions.

They all felt nervous, their minds flooded with speculation. Some thought they were about to be punished, others thought Arthur wanted to assess their progress, or ask them about matters unique to their race.

As the minutes passed and Arthur still did nothing just stood there watching them they grew increasingly confused.

They whispered among themselves:

"What’s the lord doing?"

"Shh! Quiet. Don’t disturb him."

"Yeah, maybe he just woke up from his coma and forgot what he wanted to say."

"Right."

Suddenly, Arthur moved and stood before them. He scanned their bodies with sharp eyes, then coldly said to Robert, "Don’t move. And don’t panic."

Robert was stunned. He opened his mouth to ask why but decided to stay quiet. He just nodded and said, "Yes, my lord."

Very slowly, and somewhat hesitantly, Arthur placed his hand on Robert’s chest and activated the skill Magical Core Awakening.

Everyone watched curiously, unable to understand what he was doing.

"Aaaagh!"

Robert suddenly screamed, shocking everyone. They shuddered involuntarily and stared at their companion. They wanted to help him but they feared Arthur.

Maarit was the most affected, due to her close friendship with Robert. Her mind spun with chaotic thoughts: "What’s happening? Why is the lord hurting Robert? Did he do something wrong? Or... is the lord the bad guy?"

Helpless against her spiraling thoughts, she kept staring at Robert with a pained expression.

Meanwhile, Arthur silently observed. ’Is it really this painful? I should’ve started with Thorne. I don’t know what the Droblin are thinking, but clearly they’re starting to doubt me.’

He quickly glanced at the system screen in front of him:

[Awakening in progress: 73%]

He sighed long. "Just hang in there a little longer, kid."

Robert continued screaming and writhing. He tried to push Arthur’s hand away, but a hidden force held him firmly in place.

After a long stretch of observation, Maarit could no longer endure it and shouted, "My lord! Please stop! You’re hurting him!"

Arthur ignored her completely and continued silently. Another minute passed before he withdrew his hand. Robert collapsed to the ground, steam rising from his body.

The Droblin rushed to catch him and stared at Arthur with strange expressions.

Robert didn’t move much. He just lay on the ground, eyes wide open.

Maarit rushed to him in panic. "Robert, are you okay?"

[Awakening successful]

[Droblin potential increased from Low to Medium]

Arthur felt overwhelming joy and looked at the others with a small smile. "Who’s next?"

The Droblin were stunned. They couldn’t believe he wanted to torture them all. They exchanged strange glances, thinking of fleeing, but their legs wouldn’t move.

Maarit stepped forward with resignation. "I will, my lord. But I want to know why are you doing this?" Her eyes showed disappointment. The deep respect she once had seemed to fade.

Arthur smirked and patted her head like a child. "Don’t be afraid. I’m doing this for your benefit. I just didn’t know it would be so painful. But you’ll have to endure it."

Maarit didn’t understand what he meant, but the gentle pat somehow calmed her. She didn’t know why, but she lowered her guard. Hesitantly, she replied, "Alright."

"Brace yourself." Arthur slowly moved his hand toward her chest, but suddenly froze. A strange thought crossed his mind: ’Wait... Maarit is a girl.’ Without pondering further, he shook his head. ’It doesn’t matter.’

He calmly placed his hand on her chest. Maarit’s face blushed, turning a strange shade due to her green skin. She fought the urge to push his hand away, but giggled slightly from the ticklish sensation.

Her fluster vanished instantly as an unbearable pain surged from her magical core. She screamed, trying to shove him away but she couldn’t move. Her mind grew hazy, and all she could think was:

’What the hell is this? What’s happening?’

Suddenly, she felt odd changes in her core. In disbelief, she thought:

’My magical core... is awakening? That’s impossible.’ Her thoughts lasted only a second before agony twisted her expression. She began to lose consciousness.

After about three minutes of torment, Arthur withdrew his hand. Maarit collapsed and stared at him with wide eyes. ’He actually awakened my core.’ She didn’t even have time to savor the feeling she passed out immediately.

[Awakening successful]

[Droblin potential increased from Low to High]

Arthur was overjoyed by her new potential. He turned to the rest of the Droblin, who trembled like newborn chicks. With a wider, more wicked grin, he said, "Who’s next?"

Abandoning all hesitation, the Droblin fled in every direction.

Arthur was stunned and turned to the nearby soldiers. "Catch them!"

The soldiers gave chase, but due to the Droblin’s speed and their expertise in hiding, few were caught. Arthur ordered all soldiers and recruits to spread out and search for them, resulting in a very odd scene.

Unbothered, Arthur ordered the servants to carry Robert and Maarit to their rooms. Then he went to eat—he had been so busy, he forgot about his stomach.

After finishing his meal, he headed to the soap workshop to check on Golda.

As instructed, she had packed all the soap bars into large crates and loaded them into transport carts. Arthur planned to export all these goods to the Colored Sand Barony, which hosted one of the kingdom’s largest ports.

The products he wanted to sell weren’t just soap. After producing glass an excellent storage material he had ordered Golda to make hair lotion to sell separately. He also personally crafted some perfume samples. Though just experiments, the results were very promising.

He looked over his products with satisfaction and sighed in relief. If he sold all this, he was sure he could earn a small fortune enough to break out of the cycle of poverty.

After confirming everything was in order, he headed to the paper workshop, which had three sections: the first and most complex was a water-powered hammer mill for grinding wood; the second held water basins and paper screens; the third was for pressing, smoothing, and even scenting the paper. He didn’t intend to make only ordinary writing paper he wanted to produce all types he knew.

Including toilet paper, which he had long dreamed of since coming to this world.