Robin returned to his room after the Duke's interrogation, his mind still processing every word.
He knows something's changed. But he doesn't know what.
That was good. Suspicion without evidence was manageable. The Duke would watch, would investigate, but he wouldn't find anything concrete.
No mysterious teacher. No forbidden texts on power enhancement. Just a dying child who'd decided to fight for survival.
Robin locked his door, a flimsy lock that wouldn't stop anyone determined, but it gave him warning.
He moved to the center of his small room, the space barely large enough for what he needed to do.
The system interface flickered to life:
[DAILY QUESTS INCOMPLETE]
[BASIC CONDITIONING I: 25% Complete]
[MANA CIRCULATION I: 0% Complete]
Robin pulled off his shirt. His reflection in the tarnished mirror showed the changes. Ribs still visible, but less pronounced. Muscle definition starting to emerge on his arms and chest. The skeletal child was slowly becoming something else.
But not fast enough.
The Duke's suspicion had accelerated his timeline. He needed to grow stronger, but he had to do it in a way that seemed gradual. Natural. If he transformed too quickly, the Duke would know something impossible was happening.
Control the pace. Make it believable.
Robin dropped to the floor. Push-up position. His arms trembled slightly not from weakness now, but from the memory of weakness. His body remembered what it had been just weeks ago.
He lowered himself. Rose. The motion was smooth. Controlled.
[PUSH-UPS: 11/10]
[QUEST REQUIREMENT EXCEEDED]
Robin continued. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. His arms burned, but it was the good burn of muscle working. Of strength building.
At twenty, he stopped. Lay on the floor, breathing hard.
That's the limit. For now.
But twenty push-ups was remarkable progress for a child who couldn't manage three a few weeks ago. He needed to hide that progress. In the Duke's presence, in front of servants, he'd show effort. Struggle. Make each improvement seem hard-won.
Robin stood. Walked to the window. Started pacing.
The room was roughly twelve feet by ten feet. Each lap was about forty-four feet. He needed a thousand steps for the daily quest.
Twenty-three laps. More or less.
He walked. Not quickly, that would tire him too fast. A steady, measured pace. His improved endurance made it easier than before, but he still felt the strain.
His mind wandered as he walked. To the Duke's study. To the test he'd just passed or failed, depending on perspective.
He wanted to see how much I know. How I think.
Robin had walked a careful line. Showed intelligence, but framed it as book learning. Naive observation rather than hard-earned wisdom.
A child trying to understand concepts beyond his years, not a veteran commander disguised in a child's body.
Did I sell it? Or did I reveal too much?
Step after step. Lap after lap. The small room became a circuit. His legs protested, but he pushed through.
[STEPS: 500/1000]
Halfway there.
Robin's thoughts shifted to training. To what Justin had known about building strength from nothing.
In his previous life, he'd trained soldiers. Taken farm boys and city rats and forged them into warriors. The process was always the same: break down the body through exercise, feed it properly, let it rebuild stronger.
But Robin didn't have proper food. The gruel they gave him was barely sufficient to maintain life, let alone build muscle.
The system's enhancement was filling the gap, every level up, every stat increase made his body more efficient. Able to do more with less.
It's enough. Barely. But enough.
[STEPS: 750/1000]
His calves ached. His breathing had quickened. But Robin kept walking.
He thought about the seal on his mana core. The Duke had placed it there. Had crippled his own infant son out of fear.
What did he think I'd become? What power did he see that scared him enough to murder his own child?
The system had detected the seal. Had analyzed it. At level ten, Robin would be strong enough to attempt removal.
Eight more levels. Maybe two months of grinding if I'm careful. Less if I take risks.
[STEPS: 1000/1000]
[QUEST COMPLETE: BASIC CONDITIONING I (2/3)]
Robin stopped. Leaned against the wall, catching his breath. Sweat dripped down his face. His legs trembled.
One more task. The plank.
He dropped to the floor. Forearms down, body straight. Held the position.
Immediately, his core muscles screamed. This was different from push-ups or walking. This was pure endurance. Holding position against gravity's patient pull.
Ten seconds. His arms shook.
Twenty seconds. His abs burned.
Thirty seconds. Everything hurt.
Breathe. Control it. Pain is just information.
Forty seconds. His form was breaking. Hips sagging.
Hold. Just hold.
Fifty seconds. He could barely maintain it.
Ten more. Just ten.
Fifty-five. Fifty-six. Fifty-seven.
His arms gave out. Robin collapsed to the floor, gasping.
[PLANK HOLD: 57/60 SECONDS]
[QUEST INCOMPLETE: 95%]
Damn.
Three seconds short. Three seconds between completion and failure.
Robin lay there, chest heaving. Every muscle ached. His body screamed for rest.
Tomorrow. I'll get sixty tomorrow.
He forced himself up. Sat cross-legged on the floor. The next quest was different. Not physical. Mental.
Mana circulation.
Robin closed his eyes. Focused inward. Felt for that tiny spark of power in his chest.
There. Weak. Pathetic. But present.
He reached for it with his mind. Tried to grasp it, to move it.
The spark flickered. Resisted.
Come on.
Robin visualized mana channels. Justin had known the theory, every warrior did. Mana flowed through the body in specific pathways, like blood through veins. Circulating it strengthened the channels, increased capacity.
But Justin's mana core had been healthy. Robust. Robin's was sealed, crippled.
He tried anyway.
Grabbed that spark mentally. Pulled it up from his core, trying to push it into the channel that ran up his spine.
Pain. Sharp, immediate pain like touching a hot coal.
[WARNING: SEAL RESISTANCE DETECTED]
[FORCED CIRCULATION INADVISABLE]
Robin gasped. Released his mental grip. The spark snapped back to his core.
The seal. It's blocking circulation.
He tried again. Gentler this time. Not forcing the mana through sealed channels, but coaxing it. Letting it seep slowly.
The pain lessened. Became a dull ache instead of sharp agony.
The spark moved. Barely. A fraction of an inch up the primary channel.
Robin held it there. Let it settle. Then guided it back down.
[MANA CIRCULATION: 1/10 CYCLES]
One cycle. It had taken five minutes of intense concentration for a single cycle.
Robin continued. Each circulation was slightly easier than the last. The channels, atrophied from disuse, were remembering their function.
Cycle two. Four minutes.
Cycle three. Three and a half minutes.
By the tenth cycle, Robin was exhausted in a completely different way. Not physically tired but mentally drained. His head pounded. His concentration wavered.
[MANA CIRCULATION: 10/10 CYCLES]
[QUEST COMPLETE: MANA CIRCULATION I]
But he'd done it.
[QUEST COMPLETE: BASIC CONDITIONING I]
[QUEST COMPLETE: MANA CIRCULATION I]
[REWARDS: +3 STR, +2 END, +5 MAX MANA, +20 EXP]
Warmth flooded Robin's body. Different from a level-up, subtler, but still noticeable. His muscles firmed slightly. His breathing deepened. And that tiny spark in his chest grew fractionally larger.
[LEVEL 2: 35/200 EXP]
[STATS UPDATED]
[STR: 6]
[END: 4]
[MAX MANA: 27/105]
Robin opened his eyes. The room was darker he'd been training for hours. Evening had fallen.
He stood carefully. His body protested, but it held. No collapse. No trembling weakness.
Progress.
A knock at the door. Robin tensed.
"Your evening meal, Young Master."
Mary. The servant who'd helped him before. Who'd offered him extra bread.
Robin opened the door. Mary stood there with her usual tray, gruel and a small piece of bread.
But her eyes widened when she saw him.
"Young Master... you're drenched in sweat. And you're..." She trailed off, staring.
Robin realized what she was seeing. His wet hair plastered to his head. His shirt soaked through. The obvious signs of intense physical exertion.
"I was exercising," he said simply.
"But you can barely....." She caught herself. "I mean... you look exhausted."
"I am." Robin took the tray. "Thank you, Mary."
She didn't leave immediately. Stood there, uncertainty on her face.
"Young Master, the other servants are talking. They say you're different. That something's changed."
"I'm trying not to die," Robin said quietly. "Is that so strange?"
Mary's expression softened. "No. No, it's not strange. It's..." She hesitated. "It's brave."
She turned to leave, then paused. "I'll bring you extra portions when I can. You need more food if you're going to keep exercising like this."
"Thank you."
After she left, Robin sat on his bed with the tray. The gruel was thin as always. The bread stale. But he ate it all, forcing down every bite.
His body needed fuel. And he'd take whatever he could get.
Robin lay back on his thin mattress. His body ached everywhere. Good aches. The aches of growth.
He pulled up his status screen one more time:
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ⟐ CHRONO DOMINION SYSTEM ⟐ ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ ┃
┃ NAME: Robin Stark LEVEL: 2 ┃
┃ TITLE: The Cursed Child RANK: F- ┃
┃ ┃
┃ EXP: 35/200 ┃
┃ ┃
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ PRIMARY ATTRIBUTES ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ║
║ STRENGTH 6 [+4 from base] ║
║ ║
║ AGILITY 4 [+1 from base] ║
║ ║
║ ENDURANCE 4 [+3 from base] ║
║ ║
║ DEXTERITY 5 [+1 from base] ║
║ ║
║ INTELLIGENCE ?? ?? [ SEALED] ║
║ ║
║ WISDOM ?? ?? [SEALED] ║
║ ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Six strength. Four endurance. In two weeks, he'd tripled his initial strength and quadrupled his endurance.
At this rate, by the time I reach the academy...
Robin smiled in the darkness.
The Duke could watch all he wanted. Could investigate, question, probe.
He'd see a weak child struggling to survive. Working hard. Making slow, believable progress.
He wouldn't see the system. Wouldn't see the daily grinding. Wouldn't understand that every night, Robin was becoming stronger.
Keep watching, Father. Keep thinking you have time to figure this out.
By the time you realize what I've become, it'll be too late.
Robin closed his eyes.
Tomorrow, he'd do it all again.
And the day after.
And the day after that.
Until the weak child everyone dismissed became the weapon they'd never see coming.