The next morning, the sun had barely touched the horizon when the three Goddesses marched toward Haruto's room, intent on continuing their "caregiver" regime. When they found his door already unlatched and the room empty, a flicker of panic hit them.
"Did he escape? Did he actually jump out the window to avoid breakfast?" Lustra wondered aloud.
They followed the faint, rhythmic sound of breathing and heavy impact down to the training hall. When they pushed the heavy doors open, they didn't find the "bored Level 4 student" they were expecting.
They found a beast.
Haruto was in the center of the hall, mid-push-up, but the speed was so intense it looked like he was vibrating. His shirt was discarded on the floor, soaked in sweat. His physique had undergone a total metamorphosis overnight: his shoulders were broad and capped like stone, his back was a road map of shredded muscle, and his six-pack abs looked like they were carved out of dark granite. Every time he pushed off the ground, the floorboards groaned under the sheer density of his new form.
The three Goddesses froze. Their mouths hung open in a synchronized "System Error." For them, it was broad daylight, but they were definitely seeing stars.
Ivory's analytical brain is completely short-circuited. Usually, she saw Haruto as a "vessel" to be protected, but now her internal HUD was flashing pink warnings.
She imagined Haruto standing atop a mountain of defeated Level 99 bosses, turning back to her with that new, powerful frame, and calmly saying, "Ivory, the world is optimized. Now, come here and help me calculate the next era." She felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to go over and "check his heart rate" for purely "scientific" reasons.
For Bellona, strength was everything. Seeing Haruto's muscles rippling with that raw, predatory energy triggered something primal in her.
She saw herself and Haruto on a battlefield, back-to-back, facing an endless army. In her mind, he didn't need her protection anymore—he was the one swinging the heavy blade, and she was the one watching his back with a pride that bordered on obsession. She imagined him pinning her down after a spar and whispering, "Not bad for a Goddess, but I'm the one in control now." Her face turned a shade of red that outshone her hair.
Lustra didn't even try to be logical. Her heart rate tripled as she stared at the sweat glistening on his chiseled chest.
She skipped the battle and went straight to the aftermath. She imagined Haruto, exhausted and steam rising from his body, leaning against her as she dried him off with a silk towel. In her mind, he looked at her with those intense eyes—no longer bored, but hungry—and pulled her close, saying, "Forget the Princess. I only need one Goddess to keep me energized." She let out a small, audible squeak and had to hide her face behind her hands.
Haruto sprang up from the floor, steam literally rising from his shoulders as his overheated body met the cool morning air. He grabbed his discarded shirt and started wiping the sweat from his neck, acting as if he hadn't just undergone a physical miracle.
"Morning," he said casually, though his voice had a new, gravelly edge to it.
"I was just doing some light practice to wake up. You guys are up early."
The three Goddesses didn't move. They stood there like statues carved from marble, their faces turning a shade of crimson so deep it looked like their internal cooling systems had suffered a total meltdown. Tiny wisps of actual steam began to curl from the tops of their heads as their brains struggled to process the "New Haruto."
Haruto walked toward them, his every step echoing with a heavy, dense thud that hadn't been there before. He waved a hand in front of Ivory's glazed eyes.
"Hello? Earth to Goddesses? Anyone home? Knock, knock," he teased, a confident smirk playing on his lips.
He knew exactly what was happening. He looked down at his own arms—the veins were more prominent, the muscle definition sharp enough to cut. He looked back at them and realized they were staring at his chest as if they were trying to memorize the topography of a new continent.
"W-w-w-wow..." they finally stammered in unison, their voices an octave higher than usual.
"Huh?" Haruto raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing!" they yelled together, jumping back a step, their faces glowing red. "You just... you look... different! How did you... I mean, why is your...?"
Lustra was pointing vaguely at his torso, her hand shaking.
Haruto let out a short, dry laugh. He wasn't about to tell them about Aetheris or the Hardcore Mode.
"Oh, this? I just decided to stop being lazy. Honestly, I've always been built like this—it's just that most people are too 'clueless' to see the real physique underneath the baggy clothes. Maybe you three finally levelled up your perception stats, so you're seeing me clearly for once."
He threw the towel over his shoulder, his predatory eyes locking onto theirs.
The training hall felt like a command center. While the Goddesses were still recovering from the visual shock of Haruto's physical "update," their eyes drifted toward a table in the corner that had been empty just yesterday.
Now, it was buried under a mountain of parchment.
Ivory was the first to approach, her analytical instincts finally overriding her blush. She picked up a sheet, her eyes widening as she scanned the dense, frantic handwriting.
"Haruto... these are the personal stats and skill-trees of every single one of Kaelen's bodyguards. How did you get this level of detail?"
She flipped to the next page, her breath catching.
"And these... 267 solutions to every possible way Kaelen could cheat? You've mapped out the entire probability space of the duel."
Lustra leaned over her shoulder, her head spinning.
"What kind of biological update is this? First, you turn into a library bookworm, then your physical vessel becomes this... this powerhouse, and now your mind is processing at the speed of a superhuman? Haruto, what happened to you?"
Bellona walked over, crossing her arms. Unlike the other two, she didn't look for a logical explanation. She looked at Haruto with a fierce, newfound respect.
"Can't you see it? It's the training. Hard work fixes everything. He didn't just 'wake up' like this; he pushed himself until the world had no choice but to change around him."
Haruto leaned back against a training pillar, watching them with a calm, predatory gaze. The steam had stopped rising from his skin, but the intensity in his eyes remained.
"I told you," Haruto said, his voice smooth and cold.
"I've always been like this. If Kaelen thinks he's playing a game with rules and Royal support. I will show him that rules are just lines of code that I know how to edit."
Ivory shook the paper in her hand.
"But this is genius! You've found loopholes in the Wizard Quest that haven't been touched in centuries. You've even written counters for people who are higher level than you. Physically and mentally, you've hit a peak that shouldn't be possible for a Level 4."
"It's not about the level," Haruto replied, grabbing a practice sword and testing its weight.
"It's about the execution. Kaelen is going to bring everything—mercenaries, artifacts, Royal interference. I'm going to use his own weight to crush him."
Ivory stepped closer, her analytical gaze narrowing as she focused on Haruto's face. "I've noticed... even your eye color has changed. They went from black to a deep, glowing violet. It's like you're evolving from the inside out."
Haruto didn't flinch. His mind and body were now synchronized at a frequency far beyond any normal student.
"I'm not going to give you a full lecture on the mechanics," he said, his voice calm but heavy with authority.
"But let's just say these are my true powers. I've finally figured out how to use the 'Root Access' of this power."
Suddenly Toya stumbled in, still wiping sleep from his eyes, expecting a quiet morning of basic drills. He stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw dropped so low it nearly hit the floor boards. He stared at Haruto—who now looked twice as broad, lean, and terrifyingly masculine—and started stammering.
"W-what the... Haruto?! Is that you?!" Toya yelled, eyes bulging. "What did you do to yourself? Tell me the secret, man! How did you get this ripped in one night? You look like a top-tier boss!"
Suddenly, a loud, rhythmic knocking echoed through the training hall.
Before Haruto could answer, Asobi appeared in the doorway, her usual playful smirk vanishing instantly. She sensed it before she saw it—the mana in the room was violent, swirling around Haruto like a localized storm.
"Boss, someone is at the gate..." Asobi started, then she froze, her pipe almost slipping from her hand. She stared at Haruto's new physique and his glowing violet eyes.
"Who the hell are you? Wait The presence is of the Boss, but the mana... it's so violent. Boss? Is that you ?What happened to you?"
Toya and Asobi started circling him like he was a legendary creature they had found in the wild. Haruto just sighed, scratching the back of his head in annoyance.
"It's just the result of my Level 4 powers actually working," Haruto muttered, walking past them toward the exit.
"Anyway, someone's at the gate. Stop staring at me like I'm a glitch and let's see who's bothering us this early."
He marched out of the training hall, his broad shoulders casting a long shadow, leaving the four of them behind in a state of total confusion and awe.
Haruto didn't even have to move to get dressed. He looked over his shoulder and gave a quick command.
"Asobi, give me something to wear. Now."
Asobi smirked and snapped her fingers. In a puff of silver smoke, a high-grade compression T-shirt materialized out of thin air, perfectly fitting itself over Haruto's broad chest and shredded torso. The fabric strained against his new muscles, but it did the job.
Haruto turned and headed straight for the gate. When he pulled it open, he froze in genuine surprise.
Standing there was Kobi, the small elf who had been his very first "Best NPC" friend and guide back at the Golden Crest Hotel.
"Forgive the interruption, Sir Haruto," Kobi said, bowing with practiced grace.
"But good morning... May I have a moment of your time?"
"Kobi? Man, what are you doing here?" Haruto asked, his voice naturally deeper and more commanding.
Before Kobi could answer, two more figures stepped forward from the morning mist. One was a girl wearing a sharp, obsidian-black royal suit—the exact signature style Princess Lilith used for her personal attendants. Beside her stood Professor Vane, Kaelen's personal mentor. Vane looked absolutely miserable, his face twisted in a look of pure, concentrated annoyance as if being at Haruto's doorstep was a personal insult.
"Good morning, Haruto," they said in unison.
Haruto stood there, looking at this bizarre trio. Between the helpful elf, the royal shadow, and the grumpy professor, he didn't know whether to offer them tea or draw a sword. He just rubbed the back of his neck and gave them a very awkward, lopsided smile.
The tension at the gate shattered in an instant as the girl in the black suit reached up and pulled the dark fabric away from her face.
"Guess who! It's your future fiancé! Yaaaaay!" she squealed, her cold, professional aura evaporating as she started jumping up and down with excitement.
Haruto's brain nearly suffered a "Blue Screen of Death." He stood there, frozen, staring at the girl who was now beaming at him with a mix of mischief and pure energy.
Kobi immediately stepped in, his face pale as he tried to maintain decorum.
"Please, Your Majesty! You must wait! The Wizard Quest hasn't even begun. Lord Haruto must win the duel first before he can officially be considered your fiancé. Until then... technically, Lord Kaelen is still the primary candidate!"
Haruto's violet eyes widened as he processed the information. This wasn't just a royal messenger—this was the Princess herself, or at least a member of the direct bloodline, and she was currently treating his life-or-death struggle like a romantic comedy.
Professor Vane let out a heavy, exhausted sigh, rubbing his temples.
"As you can see, Haruto, the 'stakes' mentioned aren't just academic. The Royal Family has decided to turn your duel into a literal competition for a marriage contract for the future of the country. If you win, you don't just get the title—you get her."