Chapter 267: Now This Is Healing (1)
Chapter 267: Now This Is Healing (1)
“Honey, say ‘ah.’”
“Ahhh.”
“Is it good? It’s my first time making human food.”
“Yeah. It’s delicious. My wife is good at everything she does.”
“Oh, you…”
Patrick Schneider—the man in whom White Tiger placed his absolute trust—was currently busy being all lovey-dovey with his wife.
“Mmm… This is the life.”
“Oh my. You shouldn’t eat while lying down; it’s bad for your digestion.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Patrick Schneider lay with his head in Elione’s lap, munching away on a sandwich. He had a look of pure contentment on his face.
“Ah, how peaceful.”
“Yes. I’m happy because you’re happy.”
“Right?”
“Of course.”
Sure. It was peaceful, alright. At least for Patrick, who was idly chewing a sandwich while resting his head on his beautiful elven wife’s lap. However…
“Oh, it’s time to drop them.”
“Is it? Shall we do it together then?”
“Hehe. I’m happy to do anything as long as it’s with you.”
The couple then reached out and, in perfect harmony, pulled out a single stake planted before them. Immediately…
Rumble, rumble!
The pile of rocks that the stake had been holding back went cascading down the cliffside.
As a result…
“Aaaaaagh!”
“Hug the wall! Gwaaaakh!”
“Young Master!”
“I’m going to kill him when I get up there! I swear I’ll kill that bastard!”
Listening to the voices filled with curses and resentment, Patrick gave a satisfied smile.
“Now this is healing.”
He truly was a Great Demon of Hell.
Patrick casually tossed his sandwich wrapper down the cliff and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk. Look at them whining. They’ve gotten soft if they can’t even handle this much.”
“You’re absolutely right, dear.”
“Back in my day, I could scale a short cliff like this without even using my hands.”
“Oh my, that’s amazing.”
“Ahem!”
The sounds of Patrick and Elione flirting drifted down to the knights who were desperately clawing their way up the cliff.
‘I’ll kill him. I’m definitely going to kill him.’
‘Grand Duke’s son or not, he’s dead meat.’
‘The moment I reach the top, I’m becoming a rebel.’
The knights ground their teeth in murderous rage as they struggled upward.
And when Sanson, who was at the very front, finally crested the top while gnashing his teeth, the sight he beheld was…
“…”
Patrick and Elione, locked in a deep, passionate kiss.
Right. I see how it is.
He strapped hundreds of kilograms of iron balls to us, sealed our pressure points or whatever to restrict our powers, and forced us into this training… all while he was doing that?
No matter how good-natured a person was, seeing such a sight would…
“Wuaaaaaah!”
Sanson’s fury was entirely justified. Even if he had charged forward to crush Patrick with his iron weights, who could possibly blame him? However…
Baaaaang!
The result was a bit…
“Patrick Schneideeeeeeeer!”
Sanson’s voice echoed pathetically as he plummeted back down the cliff.
Thud!
The sound of him hitting the bottom eventually drifted back up.
The Double Dragon Knights, still hanging onto the cliffside, swallowed hard at the sight.
“How long did the Young Master say he’d oversee our training?”
“He said until we can beat the Orcs.”
“Damn those green bastards!”
“I’m going to slaughter them!”
“It’s all because those cheaters went through ‘evolution’ or whatever!”
“Exactly! Exactly!”
Let’s rewind time a bit to see why Patrick was grinding his knights so hard.
In truth, Patrick hadn’t been personally overseeing the knights’ training lately. He had been busy, and the knights were at a point where they could train on their own. But then…
“Wait, what?”
“That is… they say they lost.”
“…”
“Ten to zero…”
The Double Dragon Knights and the Orc warriors held regular sparring exchanges. Though the two groups shared a sense of rivalry, they were part of the same household and were rivals in a healthy sense.
But a problem had occurred during their latest session.
“They lost? Ten to zero?”
“…”
“Usually, you don’t call that a ‘loss.’ You call it ‘getting trashed,’ don’t you?”
“Well, um…”
“Sanson, did you lose too?”
“…Tutan has become absurdly strong.”
“So you lost?”
“…”
“You lost?”
Seeing Sanson unable to answer, Patrick clutched the back of his neck.
“It’s been a while since these guys pissed me off like this.”
“…”
Sanson’s eyes grew anxious.
Patrick stood up and spoke in a mocking, drawling voice.
“Sanson. What was the fifteenth thing on my list of things I hate?”
“Our side losing.”
“Oh, you remembered.”
“Hahaha. Of course I rememb—Kuegh!”
“You knew, and yet you still lost? You knew?!”
As Sanson remained pinned against a wall with stone dust falling over him, Patrick barked:
“You guys have gotten soft! How can disciples of the Great Twin Dragon Gate lose to some green-skinned knock-offs of the Peng Family?!”
“…”
“And ten to zero? Ten to zeroooo?!”
“…”
“Just how much have you slackers been neglecting your training for this to happen?”
Sanson didn’t understand half of what Patrick was saying, but he had to speak up at this point.
“Young Master, it’s not because we neglected our training.”
“Then what?!”
“The Orcs have become too strong. The mages from the Tower of Truth said a ‘Chain Evolution’ occurred.”
“Huh? What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Well, you see…”
High Orcs.
They are beings that have evolved from ordinary Orcs, ascending to a higher dimension of existence. There are two main advantages to being a High Orc.
First, the potential for growth as an Orc becomes immense. In the past, Orc warriors who underwent repeated evolutions were said to be a match for 8-Star Knights. In short, their potential ceiling is raised.
Second, the presence of a High Orc affects the other Orcs around them. When the first individual shows evolution, the other Orcs in the tribe are stimulated and naturally begin to evolve as well. Mages call this "Chain Evolution."
In other words, starting with the High Orc named Tutan, over a hundred Orcs in the Red Rock Tribe had evolved to a higher stage.
And Tutan had even undergone a second evolution.
“What? A second evolution?”
“Yes. They say he’s no longer just a High Orc, but an Orc Legion Commander.”
“…What even is that?”
“Go see for yourself.”
Seeing is believing. As Sanson suggested, Patrick went to check on the twice-evolved Tutan.
“Tan…?”
“Oh, Big Brother! You’re here?”
Tutan, having completed his second evolution, greeted Patrick warmly. His muscles were even denser than during his High Orc stage, and strange red patterns like tattoos covered his body. He had clearly changed, even to the naked eye.
And while Tutan had boldly tried to surpass his "Big Brother" during his first evolution, things were different now.
“Ooooh, I think I finally understand. You were this massive and powerful all along, Big Brother.”
“…”
“It’s truly incredible. I, Tutan, finally realize what a great warrior you are.”
“…”
Patrick scratched his head as he looked up at his sworn brother, who was gazing down at him with sparkling eyes.
‘He’s improved.’
A martial artist’s vision changes depending on where they stand. From the foot of a mountain, one cannot see the peaks above the clouds. One must climb at least halfway up to glimpse the summit hidden in the mist.
Tutan had become strong enough to finally sense just what kind of monster Patrick Schneider was.
“You’ve gotten a lot stronger, Tan.”
“Yes, Big Brother. It’s all thanks to your excellent guidance.”
“Right. Is the expansion going well?”
“Yes. Our Red Rock Tribe has grown into a great tribe of over five thousand. We’re actually running low on prey to hunt.”
“Don’t worry about that; just keep increasing your numbers. I’ll take care of the food somehow.”
“Yes, Big Brother. Thank you.”
After checking on Tutan, Patrick turned to Sanson.
“Sanson, did you fight him?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Mmm… I see.”
It was only natural that he lost. To Patrick’s eyes, the current Tutan was radiating Fighting Spirit equivalent to a 7-Star Knight. It felt like standing before an active volcano with bubbling magma. If he was like this while not even in combat, what would happen if he intentionally unleashed that overflowing power?
‘Wow… I can’t ignore this.’
Among the forces Patrick possessed, the Orc warriors were a powerful asset and long-time allies. However, in terms of quality, he had thought they fell far behind the Elven Knight squads or the Magic Swordsmen of the Tower of Truth.
But the current Tutan was proving Patrick’s assumptions entirely wrong. The potential of the Orc race was much deeper than Patrick had imagined.
“Sanson, it’s a bit much to expect you to beat Tan with your current strength.”
“Right? It’s not my fault, is it?”
“But here’s the thing.”
A sense of dread began to crawl up from within Sanson. That expression—it had been a while since he’d seen it. It was the face Patrick Schneider made when he was about to be completely unreasonable.
“Does that mean you should just lose?”
“…Huh?”
“I know you’re not skilled enough. But does that mean you should lose? You just accept defeat? Disciples of the Great Twin Dragon Gate losing to some green-skinned knock-offs of the Hebe Peng Family?!”
“If the skill gap is that large, losing is—”
Baaaaang!
“Ugh, you pathetic bastard!”
Patrick kicked Sanson, looking like he was about to breathe fire.
“You should have won anyway! Whether he’s stronger than you or not, you should have won no matter what!”
“Ugh… Does that even make sense? You crazy human.”
“Huh?”
The atmosphere turned icy.
“…Did I say that out loud again?”
“With perfect pronunciation, too.”
Ah, I see. This mouth of mine made another mistake. Hahaha. It just went and said it without considering how hard its master has it.
The last thing Sanson saw was the Great Demon spreading his arms like an eagle and soaring toward him.
* * *
Since then…
Patrick had been personally training the Double Dragon Knights, giving them a taste of an even more violent preview of hell.
Climbing cliffs with internal energy sealed (with iron balls attached).
Swimming across the Moana River with internal energy sealed (hands tied, using only legs).
Performing the Twin Dragons’ Chaotic Dance 100 times in 10x gravity with internal energy sealed (with cooperation from the Tower of Truth).
With internal energy sealed…
“Aaaaaagh! Why are we doing everything with our Aura sealed?! Whyyyyy?!”
Oliver, who was currently performing 50 laps around the training ground on his hands with internal energy sealed (and iron balls attached), screamed in agony.
Hearing that cry, Patrick spoke with a solemn expression.
“Now, now. From what I can see, what you all need right now is spiritual enlightenment.”
“If the spiritual element is so important, why are you torturing our bodies?!”
“When you push the body to its absolute limit, a person falls into a state of skepticism, thinking, ‘Ah, what am I even living for?’ right?”
“…”
“That is exactly the ‘State of No-Self.’”
That’s it?
“If you achieve a spiritual leap and gain enlightenment while in that state of forgetting yourself, you’ll be able to ascend to the next level.”
“…Is that really true?”
Patrick averted his eyes slightly from the suspicious Oliver.
“Well, if not, then whatever. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just find another way…”
“Does that even make sense, you bastard?!”
“Die! Just go die!”
“At least do it somewhere we can’t see you?!”
Patrick simply smiled happily at the knights’ fierce backlash. He then wrapped his arm around the waist of April, who was standing beside him with a shy smile, and pulled her close to kiss her on the cheek.
“Young Master, not here…”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Patrick sat the blushing April on his lap, hugged her tight, and looked at the knights with the most punchable face in the world.
“But I don’t waaaaant to? I’m gonna stay riiiiight here and be all lovey-dovey with my pretty wife, okaaaaay?”
‘…I want to kill him.’
‘…I really want to kill him.’
It was likely no coincidence that everyone shared the exact same thought at that moment.
* * *
Hellish days continued for the knights.
In truth, Patrick knew. Martial arts are built up step by step; you don’t just fall off a cliff one day, pick up a legendary manual, and suddenly experience explosive growth.
Sure, you could increase internal energy by absorbing spiritual medicine. But even that wasn’t what they needed. Since the Qi density in this world was so high, they got the same effect as taking spiritual medicine in the Central Plains just by training normally.
What they needed now was a stimulus to break through their plateau. His words about pushing the body to the limit to experience the State of No-Self were sincere in that regard.
“Wow, humans can actually do that. How fascinating. What should I try next? This is getting fun.”
“…”
“Knight A. I’m having so much fun right now.”
Oh? Oliver is crying.