Ronan wiped the magical beast blood from his face and slowly rose to his feet.
He blew out the Spell Breaking Flame on his longsword and opened his Character Panel.
Most of his skills and attributes had not changed much. The only one that had advanced by leaps and bounds was—Ascetic Body Forging (Expert Level 799/800).
He was stuck at the limit of Expert Level, only one step away from Master! Ronan stared at the small line of text for Ascetic Body Forging, his eyelid twitching violently.
Only he knew how much he had gone through and endured to reach this point.
He had forgotten how he had even made it this far. His sense of time had become vague; only one thought remained in his mind: forge his body with everything he had.
Night after night, he had lain on the floor of the academy dormitory with his gums bitten bloody, sweat and blood soaking him over and over. Whenever he was about to give up, the words of the young witch in the blue-roofed house would ring in his ears like the bells of a tower—You'll most likely die of old age before that! You'll most likely die of old age before that! ...But Ronan did not want to die.
Not even a little.
His intense desire to survive had forced him to master all thirteen movements of Ascetic Body Forging. To improve the results and further strengthen his physique, Ronan had even begun trying obscure, unconventional "remedies" such as eating raw magical beast flesh and blood.
Then, whether because he had trained Ascetic Body Forging to an advanced stage or eaten too much magical beast meat, his body began swelling like an inflated balloon.
His once slender, perfect, well-proportioned physique—the body he had been quite satisfied with—had