CHAPTER 189: CHAPTER 189: MARTIAL MASTER..?

Lake explored Kate’s family training facility, reacquainting himself with each machine. It had been a few months since his last fitness test during the preliminaries for the Martial Arts Course Entrance exam.

He glanced around, noticing Kate sitting casually on one of the bench press machines, watching him with a raised brow.

"What are you going to use first?" she asked, her tone casual, but there was a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"Why? Worried I’ll break something?" Lake joked softly, already heading toward one of the machines.

Kate rolled her eyes in response but didn’t say anything.

As Lake walked over, he paused, his expression shifting as remembered something. "That’s right, there was something else I wanted to confirm first..."

Raising his hand, Lake released a dark blue mist from his skin. The mana swirled around his arm before dissipating. He studied it for a moment, satisfaction flickering in his eyes.

Kate frowned, watching him intently.

"What are you doing?"

She had seen him do far more impressive things, so his reaction confused her.

Lake didn’t answer immediately, instead, he performed the action again.

This time, Kate’s eyes narrowed. She knew Lake was only repeating the action for her benefit, so she paid closer attention. Yet, no matter how much she observed, she didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

"It’s just mana. Why are you acting like you’ve—" She stopped, her eyes widening as it clicked into place. "just advanced to the Martial Warrior realm..."

Lake’s smirk deepened, but he said nothing.

Kate stared at him, a mix of realization, and frustration, dawning in her amber eyes.

"Demon..."

"I’ll take that as a compliment.", Lake shrugged, enjoying Kate’s annoyed expression.

Most people, including Kate, had overlooked this fact, but Lake had still technically been a Martial Apprentice until a few days ago.

Thanks to the Three-Headed Serpent raid, both his mana’s strength and capacity had finally surpassed the threshold, allowing him to successfully release mana from his skin—the defining trait of a Martial Warrior.

"So, how does it feel?"

"Not that different, honestly," Lake replied truthfully.

Even after breaking through to the Martial Warrior Realm, Lake didn’t feel much of a difference. In fact, he probably wouldn’t have even thought to check if not for this sudden visit to the training facility.

After all, with his spellcasting ability and a base fitness index already well over the threshold, he didn’t feel much different than before.

"I guess we should test the power of my basic attacks." Lake looked around before his eyes landed on the punching machine strapped down in the corner of the room.

"That’s the machine my dad uses to test his physical attacks. It’s reinforced to withstand pressure from even a Martial Grandmaster," Kate explained from across the room.

Lake stood roughly ten feet away from the machine as he began gathering mana in his hands, forming a swirling, condensed ball of energy. Raising his hands, he aimed the ball at the punching machine, spinning it rapidly until it shot out with a sonic boom.

BAAM!

The mana ball blasted into the machine with a deafening roar.

Within seconds, the machine finished calculating the final value, and a row of numbers appeared on the holographic screen next to it.

[Strength Index: 20.357]

[Martial Warrior High Rank!]

"Not bad," Lake commented, glancing at the rank of his attack.

The spell he had just used was one of the simpler ones in his arsenal. It worked by condensing and rotating mana at high velocity before firing it off, but its true strength lay in the ability to freely adjust the blast’s power by controlling the velocity and mana density. Just now, he had used roughly ten percent of his total mana to cast the spell, which explained its strength.

Lake calculated in his head, and after a few moments, determined that if he used all his mana, he could launch an attack comparable to that of a Peak Martial Warrior.

Kate, who was watching from across the room, felt her eyelid twitch. Seeing that Lake’s casual spell was comparable to one of her fully charged attacks, she decided to stop thinking about it.

"Clear mind, tranquil heart..." Kate murmured to herself, but the demon wasn’t done.

Walking closer to the machine, Lake stood within punching distance. Now that he had a feel for his spell-casting ability, it was time to test out his newly enhanced physique.

Lake remembered that the mage role integration said it would modify his body to better suit the role, but until now, he hadn’t been able to confirm the changes.

’I should start with a basic punch,’ he thought to himself as he casually pulled back his arm, employing the Steel Body Martial Arts.

BANG!

A loud, solid sound echoed throughout the training facility.

[Strength Index: 21.431]

[Martial Warrior High Rank!]

"Huh?"

Lake’s eyes widened at the value displayed on the screen. It was so surprising he questioned whether the machine had glitched.

A strength index of 20? Did that even make sense?

Just a few days ago, Lake remembered that his strength stat was only at 13, yet now it had shot up by seven whole points—and that was without using mana to enhance his attack.

"Maybe I really am a demon..." Lake murmured, vaguely hearing Kate curse under her breath in the background.

However, he paid her little attention as a bold thought formed in his mind.

’If this was just my physical body, what would happen if I went all out?’

In an instant, Lake got into proper form, assuming the stance of the Steel Body Martial Art. Feeling his muscles tense, he began casting several self-enhancement spells.

Body Strengthening, Haste, Fortification...

Spell after spell, Lake cast as his body began to glow with a dark blue aura. His deep blue eyes turned steel-blue as all emotions and thoughts were stripped away.

The mana pressure around his body became so dense that even Kate could sense something was wrong.

The mana surrounding Lake writhed freely, wrapping around him like snakes as it seeped into his arms and legs.

People may joke about him being a demon sent from hell or a monster among beasts, but at that moment, looking at his solitary figure, Kate felt something truly otherworldly.

ROARR!!

A sound akin to a dragon’s roar erupted as the mana surrounding Lake exploded outward.

Kate’s brain lagged as she processed everything. Time seemed to slow. Her breathing stopped, and even the sound of mana rushing through the air faded.

In that moment, all she could see was Lake’s simple, fluid movements—the only one moving in her slowed world.

His arm flew forward, connecting with the punching machine.

The instant his fist made contact, time returned to normal.

Kate reacted immediately, bracing herself as astral mana wrapped around her body. A massive shockwave rippled through the facility, crashing into her and sending her flying off the bench press machine.

A sound like thunder rang out as Arthur rushed into the room.

A few seconds earlier, he had sensed an incredibly powerful mana signature surging from the training facility and hurried over.

As he entered, he saw the entire room in disarray. Equipment that wasn’t secured to the ground had been blown aside, and all the holographic screens were glitching. Kate had also been pushed to the side, her hair a mess, though she thankfully seemed unharmed.

Sighing in relief, Arthur’s eyes scanned the room for Lake. His gaze settled on a figure in the corner of the facility.

Lake stood alone, his arm lowered by his side, his back facing Arthur. Even then, Arthur could still sense traces of the terrifying mana that had lingered around him.

The punching machine next to Lake was beeping, its holographic screen flickering as it struggled to display a score. The strength index was completely illegible, a mess of recurring numbers and symbols. However, Arthur was able to make out the rank at the bottom, causing his eyes to widen in disbelief.

[Martial Master Low Rank]