### Chapter: 287
Kraush sat up, head in hands, as he confessed his honest feelings.
“Are you awake?”
At that moment, he turned towards the voice. His senses still a bit jumbled, he didn’t even know who was next to him.
There, with a crow perched on her knee, sat Bioloren, engrossed in a book.
She closed the book with a flick and looked at Kraush.
Throughout the magic process, Kraush couldn’t help but remember Bioloren, who had silently watched over him.
It must have been quite a painful sight for her, yet she never took her eyes off him, staying by his side the whole time.
“Are your hands okay?”
Kraush casually asked.
Judging by the way she was clenching her fist, it seemed watching him was pretty agonizing for her.
Bioloren flinched at his question, as if it was absurd.
“Are you really in a position to ask me that?”
“That’s all I can remember,” he said, tapping his head, making her sigh deeply.
She then pulled out some medicine she had prepared.
“You were told to take this when you woke up. Since they forcibly manipulated your aura with magic, you’ll have to keep taking it for a while to get stable.”
Kraush raised his hand and obediently accepted the medicine, but just as he was about to bring it to his mouth, his arm gave way.
Thud—!
The medicine spilled on the floor.
It was proof that he still hadn’t gotten used to his reassembled body.
As Kraush bent down to pick it up, Bioloren was quicker and handed it to him.
Kraush reluctantly opened his mouth to take the medicine when,
“Patient, all set!”
A familiar voice chirped in his ear.
Looking up, he saw Lirina, who had brought a basin of water and a towel.
“Drink your medicine first,” she instructed.
Before Kraush could even greet her, Lirina was already giving orders.
He gulped down the medicine and downed a glass of water she had poured.
“Why are you here, Lirina?” he asked after swallowing.
Setting the basin down, she wrung the towel, damp and ready.
“I heard you wouldn’t be able to move for the day.”
“Seems like it…”
“Well, I’m used to it because of Aslan, but Bioloren here hasn’t had any experience taking care of a patient.”
Lirina was very capable, serving as Aslan’s personal maid.
Even if she did swipe a roll or two, her skills were certainly commendable.
“So I’m here to help. What? You don’t want me around?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want it…”
“Well, you’d probably rather have your lovely fiancée, Bianca, taking care of you, right? Sorry, I might be a bit cute, but I lack the skills.”
Lirina chuckled charmingly, but her expression remained expressionless, making it more intimidating.
Recognizing it as her usual banter, Kraush could only manage a bitter smile.
“What’s Aslan up to?”
“Still reading as usual, but the Demon Lord visited recently.”
Looks like he’ll head there as soon as he’s done with whatever he’s working on.
If Kraush was busy, Tersasius was certainly a workaholic too.
“Alright, let’s get your clothes off.”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, you’ve been sleeping like a log for days. Do you enjoy being dirty?”
“Well, that’s not really it. Just a sec, I’ll do it myself. No need for you to come close.”
“Why would a noble be scared of a maid trying to help him undress? Bioloren, you better hold him down!”
Bioloren had no choice but to help as Lirina closed in on him.
Kraush tried to get up, but realized his legs hardly moved.
‘Oh, no, dammit.’
Help me!
—
Eventually, Lirina took her time scrubbing Kraush all over.
In the midst of it, Lirina made some silly comments while Bioloren watched with curiosity.
Kraush decided to erase all of that from his memory.
After two days of being pampered by Lirina, he finally felt his body returning to normal.
‘No, this doesn’t feel normal.’
Kraush felt a strength pulsating through him, unlike anything he’d felt before.
The flow of his aura was distinctly different from how it had been before.
It surged through his entire body, smooth as silk, almost as if the previous awkwardness in his aura had been completely fixed.
Moreover, his senses were now far more acute.
At this moment, he felt like he could sense any impending danger with his instincts alone.
‘Excel.’
Testing it out, Kraush focused his aura and swung his fist.
As the accelerated fist shot forward,
KABOOM!
The wall cracked without even touching it, and the furniture shattered around him.
In that instant chaos, Kraush’s eyes went wide.
Just swinging his fist with Excel packed so much power?
That was absurd!
Kraush finally sensed what his current level was.
‘…Master’s peak stage.’
Originally, Kraush had reached the advanced level of Master.
But upon gaining the full power of the White Dragon King, his aura level rose by two full stages.
A staggering rate of growth.
‘Next, the Master Ultimate.’
And then, upon surpassing that, he would reach the Emperor level, a stage only accessible to those of the Heavenly Sword.
Kraush clenched his fists tightly.
He never expected to achieve such rapid progress.
[ Your body has been fundamentally remade into the Dragon King’s base, so isn’t it only natural? ]
Just then, Crimson Garden chimed in.
Did all Dragon Lords possess such physiques?
Indeed, it made sense that the past White Dragon King could reign as the mightiest among the World Erosion.
With this kind of power, it was understandable why they would crave immortality as the ultimate goal.
[ I told you to undergo transformation and accept the Dragon King’s power. Who knew you’d end up restructuring your body from the ground up? Truly, you’re completely insane. ]
“Efficiency is greatly increased this way.”
Kraush had discussed this part with Tersasius beforehand.
Tersasius mentioned that absorbing the Dragon Lord’s power would inevitably result in some loss during that process.
So, the decision was made to reverse that process.
Transformation inherently maintained the body in its prime state.
Utilizing that property, he intended to grind his body down, mix the broken fragments with the power of the White Dragon King, and rebuild himself.
Once the foundation was set, transformation magic would easily restore him to his prime state.
It was a ridiculous undertaking indeed.
[ But the pain you endured in the process was exponentially greater. ]
The crow from Crimson Garden flew in, landing on Kraush’s head and pecking at him.
[ I thought you’d kick the bucket before passing my immortality to me. ]
“Now that I’ve gained this power, it was worth it.”
He no longer felt outmatched by the average World Erosion.
‘Still, facing off against someone like the Swordmaster will be a whole different story.’
The Swordmaster possessed strength on par with that of the Heavenly Sword.
To confront them, he had to obtain God of Creation Weapons as soon as possible.
“More importantly, this could mean a bigger problem.”
Kraush lightened his body, realizing how powerful he had become with his recent punch.
He now needed to acclimate his body, which had grown astronomically more powerful.
Basically, he was in a state where he had just started crawling.
But it was a crawling body that could crush anything in its path.
CREEK!
In proof of that, the doorknob he was cautiously turning to opened suddenly and broke off.
Creak—
Losing the doorknob, Kraush stared blankly at the door, which swung open.
[ Looks like you’ll be holed up in here for quite some time. ]
Crimson Garden’s words rang true.
“Hey, Kraush! What’s going on?”
Just then, Lirina, alerted by the ruckus, walked back in.
She had returned from whatever chore she had to do.
“Wait, Lirina! Don’t come any closer!”
“That’s a very hurtful thing to say.”
“No, seriously! I’m going totally haywire right now; I can’t control my strength!”
Kraush produced the evidence by holding up the broken doorknob.
CRACK!
At that moment, the handle couldn’t withstand his grip and crumbled apart.
“…See?!”
Kraush grinned, showing off the crumpled doorknob.
Lirina stared at him blankly, then walked over.
“Kraush, that’s really dangerous…”
Lirina had crossed over to his side and took the deformed handle from his hand.
Kraush’s face morphed into an expression of confusion.
Lirina effortlessly took the handle from him.
Was she actually stronger than him?
“When you served me that stew this morning, you handed me the bowl without any trouble.”
Lirina looked at Kraush as if as if he had just asked the sun to shine underground.
“It does seem like you’re having trouble controlling your strength, but at least you managed it well in front of me.”
Kraush realized that somewhere deep down, he wasn’t trying to hurt Lirina.
“Wanna stick around in case you can’t control your strength? I specialize in 24/7 care.”
Lirina said, offering him her cutest grin.
Seeing her smile, Kraush couldn’t help but smile back.
“No, I need to learn how to walk on my own.”
“Oh, so you are capable of that?”
“I received a good upbringing.”
“Sounds like you had a wonderful family.”
Kraush, throwing out self-deprecating jokes with ease.
“I’ll make something for lunch today that you’ll love, Kraush.”
“Looking forward to it.”
Since he had mostly lived on stew for a while now,
Kraush left it to Lirina and began moving towards the magical training ground set up in the Jeblam Royal Palace.
“Ebelasque!”
“Caw caw!”
As he went, Kraush called out to the one best equipped to help with his training.
“I need to train. Bring out your body.”
Alright, let’s get into some serious training.
