The Path Of A True King.
Chapter 57: Training.

Chapter 57: Training.

Chapter 96

The same day.

Elijah was deep beneath the house, in the hidden basement.

It wasn’t something newly built, but a repurposed space — reinforced, shielded, to withstand his ever-growing power.

The air down here was heavy and dry, still and quiet, the kind of silence that only came from being surrounded by stone and solitude.

He sat cross-legged in the center of the room, eyes shut, body completely still.

Two hours had passed since he began cultivating his element — or, more precisely, strengthening the core that the system had fast-tracked into existence.

Unlike most others, who had to slowly gather elemental Ki from within and around themselves, Elijah’s system had bypassed the first step:

the gathering and condensation of elemental Ki into a core.

He wasn’t even sure how it had been done.

Normally, people like him — people born with elemental Ki — would start by gathering the ambient energy their body produced, gradually pulling in more from the atmosphere if they were mages.

Knights couldn’t do that.

They relied on internal Ki, physical strength, and relentless training.

But mages could cultivate outer mana, binding it to their element, forming a core that served as the wellspring of their magic.

Now that Elijah had skipped the hardest part, he was on the second phase: feeding his Elemental Core with his own Ki.

This allowed the core to grow stronger, its tier rising, its power increasing.

He had already done that too — cycling his entire Ki pool into the core and waiting only ten minutes at a time for it to regenerate.

Repeatedly.

Efficiently.

With the core now stable and fed, Elijah had made a choice: to put off training in Elemental Control for now.

Instead, he’d focus on his physical body.

The room around him was spartan — stone walls reinforced. No decorations, no windows, just a solid training space.

No distractions.

Only discipline.

He raised his head slightly and spoke into the silence.

"System," he said.

"Create clothing that will temper my internal organs, bones, and muscles. Something that makes me stronger the more I train in it. Also, generate a full-body training plan — something that targets every single part of me."

A mechanical chime echoed in his mind.

[Calculating...]

[5,245 SP has been deducted.]

[Basic Ki Control Technique has been purchased.]

In front of him, a shimmer of light formed, coalescing into a tight-fitting black suit.

Elijah blinked, eyebrows raised at the unexpected design — sleek, almost skintight, with strange hexagonal patterns that seemed to shimmer faintly.

He didn’t question it.

The fact that the system could now bypass the hassle of collecting rare resources excited him.

"Create a sword for me," Elijah added, eyes glinting. "One that’s powerful. And a training plan that’ll help me become the fastest sword-drawing and cutting swordsman in existence."

[Calculating...]

[The required SP for the ultimate manual is 100,000. Insufficient balance.]

[However, a lesser version has been created to guide the Host toward mastery. Cost: 10,000 SP.]

[A tailored training plan has been created to prepare the Host for this manual and enhance swordsmanship.]

[A sword meeting the Host’s specifications has been forged. Remaining SP: 0.]

Elijah laughed softly, shaking his head. "If your missions weren’t so damn difficult, I’d be racking up points way faster."

He stood, pulling off his shirt.

His physique was lean and coiled with strength — every muscle clearly defined, not bulky but sharp.

His body fat hovered around 10%, a product of relentless discipline.

He slipped into the black suit, which clung to him like a second skin, leaving only his face exposed.

"How do I use this?" he asked aloud.

[Training Suit — Level 1 Activated.]

"Training suit, Level—"

The words weren’t even finished when the pressure hit him.

A crushing weight descended on his entire body. It felt as though a mountain had been dropped on his shoulders.

His knees buckled instantly, his body trembling.

Even breathing became an uphill battle.

The pressure didn’t just affect his muscles — it seeped into him, pressing down on his organs, crushing his lungs, his heart, his stomach.

It invaded his bones, his marrow, as if trying to snap him from the inside out.

Elijah gasped.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

It felt like thousands of needles were piercing him, threading through his skin, into his bones.

His nerves screamed, and his vision swam.

The pain was unbearable, primal — a suffering that threatened to tear his consciousness apart.

He dropped to one knee.

His vision blurred.

His heart pounded.

But still... he did not pass out.

Teeth clenched, eyes shut tight, Elijah focused.

He forced himself to remember his breathing technique — slow, rhythmic, regulated.

It was the only thing he had left in this moment.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Bit by bit, the haze lifted.

His breath came steadier.

His mind stopped spinning.

He opened his eyes, still trembling, and glanced at the interface glowing before him.

He looked at the training plan.

The training plan appeared before Elijah’s eyes in glowing blue letters, floating slightly above eye level.

[Body Workout]

– 100 Pushups

– 100 Pullups

– 100 Squats

– 100 Sit-ups

– 5km Jog

– 1km Sprint(Doing more will break your limits faster)

[Swordsmanship Training]

– Fast Draws – 100 repetitions

– Half-step Dash and Slash – 100

– Backstep + Counter Cut – 100

– Full-Speed Shadow Spar – 10 minutes (Use system to simulate afterimages to cut)

– Horizontal Slashes – 100

Elijah didn’t waste a second.

He moved.

Each pushup felt like pushing the Earth itself.

The training suit’s crushing weight made even the simplest motion a trial.

His muscles screamed in protest.

He got to sixty pushups before collapsing flat on the stone floor, panting, gasping — but he didn’t stop.

He gritted his teeth and forced his way through.

The system wasn’t merciful, either.

If a pushup wasn’t at least semi-perfect, it didn’t count.

The glowing counter didn’t move.

The same was true for every other exercise.

A crooked squat? Rejected.

A rushed sit-up? Ignored.

Elijah had to earn every rep — the hard way.

It took him three full hours just to finish the body workout.

His limbs felt like lead, his lungs burned, and he was drenched in sweat.

But his eyes were sharp, focused.

Then came the swordsmanship training.

The katana that the system had forged for him was perfectly balanced, its edge gleaming, its sheath black and smooth.

It responded to his grip like it had been made for him — because it had.

He began with fast draws — one hundred repetitions.

Each draw had to be lightning-quick and clean, the system demanding near-perfection in speed and posture.

Then came the Half-step Dash and Slash — a technique that required momentum control.

He dashed forward with a half-step, slicing across imaginary enemies.

Again and again.

Afterward, he practiced the Backstep + Counter Cut, which was even more grueling.

It demanded coordination, timing, and explosive power from the legs and arms.

Finally, the most difficult part came.

[Full-Speed Shadow Spar – 10 minutes](Use system to simulate afterimages to cut.)

Suddenly, the room lit up with flickering afterimages — ghostly duplicates of Elijah moving at different angles, speeds, and directions.

Each one was a projection of what he could be, forcing him to react and cut accurately, instinctively.

He had to strike them down while moving at full speed.

Ten minutes of this felt like an eternity.

His arms were numb by the end, his breath ragged.

He finished with one hundred precise Horizontal Slashes, each one cutting through the air with a hiss.

Another two hours had passed.

Why had it taken him five hours total? Simple — perfection.

If a swing wasn’t fast enough, clean enough, angled right — it didn’t count.

The system enforced strict standards, no matter how exhausted he was.

That was what made it so effective — and so brutal.

When he finally dropped to the ground, his body was trembling.

His chest heaved as he sucked in air.

The training suit finally deactivated and peeled itself off in wisps of energy, vanishing into nothing.

Elijah lay there, the katana resting in his hand.

He was covered in sweat, his muscles twitching involuntarily.

But it wasn’t just fatigue.

It was fear.

The pain of the training suit wasn’t something he could describe.

It had pushed his mind to the brink.

It had carved new pain thresholds into his nerves.

The kind of pain that didn’t just affect the body — but left a scar on the mind.

Still... he got up.

Wordlessly, he sheathed the sword with care and sat cross-legged in the lotus position.

His breathing slowed as he closed his eyes, letting his focus return inward.

He began to circulate his Ki — moving it into his torn, battered muscles.

He guided it carefully, reinforcing tissue, mending micro-tears, and strengthening cells.

Every pass of Ki made his muscles denser, more resilient.

He could feel his body changing, evolving.

His Ki pool surged.

Not only had his body healed from the training — but his overall Ki reserves had grown.

He could feel it.

His energy flowed smoother, stronger.

His regeneration was faster.

Even his senses felt sharper.

[Training Completed]

[Gained 500 SP]

A small smile touched Elijah’s lips