[Trantor - Kiteretsu]


    [Proofreader - Kyros]


    Chapter 3


    [Tl/N: Ernstine is teaching different people here.]


    - Bormian, how many times do I have to tell you?


    - I’m sorry, my lord...


    <em>He felt guilty.</em>n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    - Hah. How can you not understand this?


    - Ah, father...


    - Can’t you feel it just by breathing? The mana flowing in?


    - ...I’m sorry, father.


    <em>He felt guilty for all the students he had taught up until now.</em>


    - Elias. If you don’t even understand this, we won’t make any progress. I’ll inject mana into you, so try to feel the flow.


    - Understood.


    <em>And he regretted it.</em>


    - Your Majesty, a group of orcs has appeared in the Ekiten region.


    - Your Majesty, the movements of the northern monsters are suspicious.


    - ...The issues are piling up again. This won’t do. Caius, I’ll inject mana directly into your body, so try to feel the flow.


    - Yes, father.


    With no time to spare, he ended up using mana injection as a shortcut for his students.


    Had he known he would end up in Kaylen’s body, he would never have done it that way.


    As a result of relying on the simple method of mana injection...


    “...Mana isn’ting in.”


    Kaylen was experiencing something he had never felt before.


    He knew it all in his head.


    How to move the mana.


    How to control Infinity.


    But there was no mana.


    There was no mana that could be used to move Infinity and open the mana path!


    ‘My old body was so good.’


    Before possessing Kaylen’s body, Ernstine had the physique of the first Grand Swordmaster in human history.


    A body that loved mana.


    Just taking a breath would pull in mana, and even while standing still, the natural energy of the world would gather around him.


    So, when Ernstine was a child, he thought everyone experienced this.


    ‘When I was teaching my subordinates and my son, I knew my body was special.’


    But back then, he thought that understanding how to use mana was more important than his physique.


    In the end, the problems they encountered were not due to the body, but due to the understanding of mana.


    But now he realized that was not the case.


    ‘The body is more important.’


    The body is the foundation.


    First, mana has toe in for anything to be done.


    Normally, breathing would bring in mana, but this body hardly took in any mana.


    ‘Even the small amount thates in, I have to use it for survival.’


    A body that had gained so much weight.


    In contrast, the mana in the body was severelycking, so even the small amount of mana that came in through breathing spread through the body for survival.


    Even if he tried to forcibly gather it and store it in the mana core, his body resisted.


    First, he had to survive, so his body continued to steal mana.


    For Kaylen, it was a situation that made him sigh.


    ‘The ones I taught... they all had talent.’


    They were just less talentedpared to the Grand Swordmaster, Ernstine.


    Compared to his current body, they were geniuses.


    At least they had been at the starting line.


    This body couldn''t even get to the starting point.


    Grrrr…


    "Am I too hungry?"


    Even after investing a whole day, progress was still slow.


    In contrast, the growling sounds wereing more frequently, now ringing every five minutes.


    ‘I''ll eat something quickly and then train outside.’


    Being cooped up in the dorm room might be preventing mana from gathering.


    Kaylen decided to find a ce where the natural energy was stronger.


    He shook off the memory of the academy’s cafeteria being delicious and trudged downstairs.


    Having skipped a meal, his legs were starting to wobble.


    Thud. Thud.


    Each time he stepped down the stairs, a creaking sound reverberated with a vibration.


    Kaylen tried his best to control his face, which was turning red, and made a resolution.


    ‘With this bodycking talent, I shouldn’t just focus on mana absorption. I need to train my body too.’


    He had to lose weight in order to survive.


    He had nned to start exercising after moving the Infinity out of his stomach, but given the situation, there was no other choice.


    Thud. Thud.


    As Kaylen entered the underground cafeteria, his heartbeat quickened.


    Gulp.


    His mouth instinctively watered.


    The body that had been exhausted during mana breathing was now full of vitality.


    His head slowly began to cloud over, and his rationality started to fade.


    ‘...Huh!’


    When he snapped back to reality, he found himself already seated.


    And with him, a te of food.


    A simple meal made up of bread, meat, and soup.


    Instinctively, his hand reached for the food.


    At the sight of his rough hand movements, it looked like he might even scoop up the soup with his hands.


    Kaylen felt an intense threat from his body''s instincts.


    ‘I can''t do this.’


    He had to eat to survive.


    But no matter how hungry he was, eating with his hands?


    If he gave in to his instincts now, controlling his eating habits would be much harder.


    If he surrendered to his hunger like he had in the past and ate dozens of tes, he might end up choking like the original owner of this body.


    ‘I’ll resist.’


    With a determined grip, he restrained himself.


    Kaylen tightly gripped the spoon and fork, closing his eyes.


    ‘I must resist...’


    His hands trembled, and sweat dripped down his forehead.


    ‘One bite at a time. Slowly.’


    He slowly picked up the fork, pierced the bread, and gently chewed the crust.


    Then the taste of heaven arrived.


    ‘...It’s delicious!’


    A taste superior to any delicacy.


    An intense urge to swallow it all in one bite surged up.


    ‘The effect of having Infinity lodged in my stomach is this big...’


    It was far more tempting than the seduction he had faced from the Subus Queen during the Demon King subjugation.


    ‘...If I give in here, it''s over.’ He controlled his senses.


    He shut his eyes to block the sight of the beautiful food.


    He tried to ignore the taste as much as possible.


    Instead, he focused on his hearing.


    He could hear the voices around him.


    “Ah. Eating with that pig, huh? It’s ruining my appetite.”


    “Oh my. You said you were on a diet, right? Isn’t it perfect? Seeing a pig makes you lose your appetite. Heh heh heh.”


    The usual jeers Kaylen had been ignoring reached his ears.


    But since he was a 19-year-old young man, perhaps, the "pig"ment from the girls made his appetite slightly falter, and Kaylen weed that.


    ‘Keep going. Keep insulting me.’


    If it could suppress his appetite, he would dly hear even worse insults.


    However, the conversation among the girls shifted to another topic.


    “By the way, what about the Knight Academy guy?”


    “Hmm, not much.”


    “Why? He’s tall, handsome, and in great shape. A short-term rtionship wouldn’t be bad, right?”


    “So what? Praising a knight in front of a stuffed Drake is just weird... He’s a total weirdo.”


    ‘Drake...?’


    Kaylen perked up his ears. The Drake, known for its ferocious nature and innate power, was said to be untamable by humans.


    The one who first tamed it was none other than Ernstine.


    ‘That’s why I was called the Dragon Swordmaster.’


    Thanks to his power, the Meier Empire, which he founded, established the Dragon Knights and unified the vast continent in just 15 years with remarkable mobility.


    “Touching the stuffed Drake and praising the founding king like reading a biography... it’s so ridiculous. What century is he living in?”


    “Tch. For the knights, that was the good old days.”


    “But it’s still strange. Even though it’s stuffed, the Drake is still warm.”


    “You too? I’ve been to the Knight Academy to see the dragon. When I touched it, it was warm. If it hadn’t been the founding king’s Drake, they would have dissected it for experiments. Apparently, it’s been like this for a year.”


    “Really? But how did they do it? Does a wizard use a Heat spell every morning or something?”


    “No way. If that were true, the whole rumor would have spread.”


    Despite being stuffed, the Drake’s body was still warm.


    Kaylen jumped up from his seat.


    Thud. Thud. Thud.


    He quickly walked toward the two female students.


    "Where is the Drake?"


    "....Huh? What?"


    Shh... shh...


    The two girls flinched and pulled their chairs back as Kaylen, with his massive frame, approached menacingly.


    No matter how much they had jeered from afar, calling him a pig, the pressure of a bear-like figure stomping toward them was no joke.


    "The warm-bodied Drake. Where is it?"


    "Oh. In the central za of the Knight Academy..."


    "Thank you."


    Kaylen nodded in gratitude and left the dining hall.


    Seeing his sudden departure, the startled girls began whispering again.


    "Ugh, damn. That was scary."


    "Wow. I knew he was fat from a distance, but up close, he''s so big it''s terrifying."


    "Wouldn''t he be more suited to being a knight than a wizard? Looks like he''d be more at home as a meat shield up front."


    "That shield would cover a lot of ground, but... ugh, He smells. I don''t want to be near him."


    The whispers reached Kaylen''s ears, but he paid them no mind.


    The warm Drake, even though it was already dead.


    Hearing that, something clicked in his mind.


    ‘I need to hurry and check it out.’


    [Trantor - Kiteretsu]


    [Proofreader - Kyros]