"Crrrk!" The sound resounded from within my body.

[Ding!]

[Host has reached Knight Captain(Beginner)]

[Received: 1000 Merit Points]

I dropped out of my planche and sat down to rest. I didn't think it would work but it never hurts to try, right? I recalled in some book I read at the academy's library that the ideal position to breakthrough was standing in what they called a horse stance with both fists stretched out. After trying it out myself, it didn't work immediately so I decided to modify it a bit.

What "breaking through a physique realm" really meant, was a dramatic increase in the strength of the body. Having experienced the sensation of "breaking through" a couple times, I could confirm it caused severe muscle pain after every breakthrough—usually in the form of delayed-onset muscle soreness. It sometimes happened when I was sleeping or when I was in the middle of sparring with Sam. In short, I couldn't control when I wanted to breakthrough.

Whenever a breakthrough was achieved, the worth of a single strength stat seemed to increase; meaning that the gap between each realm was larger than it seemed. In other words, the difference of realms could not be breached with an accessory's stat points alone—basically, whenever a new realm was reached, the body would receive a sort of strength percentage buff. That was the best explanation I could give since I myself didn't fully understand how it worked either. Maybe it had something to do with the cracking sound my body gave whenever it broke through. Who knows?

This sort of muscle development was pretty strange for me as I didn't understand the physiology nor human anatomy of this world. I had a rough idea that the humans of this world were not the same species as I had assumed. So if we weren't homo sapiens, what were we? Some food for thought I suppose.

Anyway, taking all of that into consideration, I came to the conclusion that by damaging my body, I would be able to breakthrough. Because really, the inner workings behind the "workout," was to damage muscle fibers and then allow them to naturally heal. Though I say that, most damage should be at a microscopic level so it wasn't like I was going to stab a knife in my leg and call it exercise.

I figured the most efficient way to cause the most damage was to keep my body under tension and that could be achieved with a hard exercise. When I thought of a hard exercise, the first thing that popped in my head was the planche. It was a combination of the handstand and the plank.

Since I had experience in gymnastics before, I got into it pretty easily. It was mostly about balance and technique rather than strength like most people assumed. Of course, with my superhuman body, the feeling of holding a planche was the same as a plank on my knees. I moved my hands further apart from my body to increase the difficulty but I still couldn't feel much tension.

An idea came to my head at that moment and I proceeded to flex every single muscle on my body as hard as I could, all while slowly bending my elbows. Making sure my spine and legs were aligned, I held the planche hold with my elbows bent as far as it could bend without tipping my body over. I finally felt the familiar itchy sensation start to build up.

But I knew just this much wouldn't be enough to induce a breakthrough. So I held that position for who knows how long. Maybe ten minutes, twenty, or possibly thirty had already passed.

'It wasn't enough.'

'Breakthrough. How do I make a breakthrough?' Another idea surfaced from all the other cloudy thoughts.

Had I missed it? Yes, it was such a simple answer that I overlooked it. Breakthrough—why else would they call it a breakthrough?

At this point, my mind was muddled from all the multi tasking; this wouldn't be called hard if I could still think clearly.

Focusing all my attention on this single action, I kept flexing as hard as I could and abruptly pushed up as hard as I could. As I had neared my limit, I felt the grueling pain from releasing the isometric hold biting back at me. It was also at this time that I heard a loud crack from my body, like that of a firecracker. I knew I had successfully broken through just then, but the pain I felt led me to think I broke something. My arms had already been reduced to trembling sticks, and my wrists hurt like h*ll.

'F*ck, I should have warmed up.' I immediately regretted not warming up my joints.

Not able to bear it anymore, I dropped to the ground all the while hearing the nonchalant ding from the system.

After a couple seconds of rest for me to catch my breath, I got up and slowly walked around in circles to cool down.

After that rigorous session, I doubt I would still be able to fall asleep. And since the quality of the magic particles here were subpar compared to other places, cultivating my manifestation here would barely do much. In the end, I found myself wandering the empty streets with no goal in mind. Sometimes, humans just needed a quiet time in their lives.

—Aldous's PoV—

'What the f*ck?'

Out of desperation, I had jumped out of the window and was going to search the perimeters for Rachel but who would have known... She was sleeping face down on the hard paved ground right beside the house and underneath the window.

'Was she sleep walking?'

I walked up and gently picked her up to not awake her...

With her in my arms, I leapt back into the room through the open window. Jumping up a story or two wasn't too hard for me.

Laying her on top of the bed, I lit up a lantern and immediately noticed the blood stain near her mouth. The blood had been smothered across her face due to her kissing the ground in a literal sense. It was honestly surprising that none of it had stained her clothes. The blood seemed to have come from her nose but I could be wrong.

I fetched a wet towel from the bathroom and gently rubbed off the blood. I propped her head on a pillow and threw a blanket over her.

'...niel don't leave.' I cocked my head to the side just as I closed the windows.

Was she awake? She didn't seem to be. I put my hand on her throat and her heart was beating just fine.

'...n't leave.' It came again.

Looking back at the only other person in the room, she seemed to still be asleep.

'My mind must be hallucinating again. I'm probably sleep deprived like usual.' I assured myself that I wasn't crazy and closed the door behind me.

'I wonder if sleepwalkers remain asleep even when their body is bleeding? Meh, it doesn't concern me.'

Getting into bed myself, I dozed off.