Chapter 54: Blessing or Curse?

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Blessing or Curse?

Chapter 54: Blessing or Curse?

Osborne had already met one of them—his wife, of course, was one of those few people.

"When will you show me how to engrave my first star?"

"I could do that now, but—"

"But what?"

"While I can’t teach you the house’s secret sword techniques, there is a secret that I can share, one sure to boost your spirits." Gilhound chuckled.

’Oh?’

"It’s said that the stronger one’s foundation, the more they’re likely to reach greater heights in the future," he said confidently.

Osborne gave him a look. Clearly, he didn’t understand what was so special about what he just said.

Noticing that his lord might be misunderstanding, Gilhound went further to explain. "I’m saying that it’ll be far more beneficial to you to focus on strengthening your body now before engraving your first star," he clarified.

"Are you sure about what you’re saying..." Osborne asked, since he had never heard such before.

"One hundred percent. I should know, since I was here when the second young miss began her own training," he said confidently.

’Although I was still a bit wet behind the ears, I only managed to get a glimpse when I came to visit my father on one occasion,’ Gilhound said inwardly.

’I don’t know if he’s just making stuff up or not, but none of the characters I read about were below one star, so perhaps he’s right.’

’Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.’

’But... Do I really have the time to build up my body now? How long would that take?’ Osborne was rather impatient in that regard, since he wanted immediate results.

’Wait... There might be a way.’ His eyes suddenly squinted lightly, his lips curling up ever so slightly.

’I wonder if it’s possible...’

"Gilhound, I’d like to excuse myself for a moment," Osborne said before leaving.

"Oh, but of course, my lord." Gilhound nodded.

After leaving, Osborne headed deeper into the woods. He would occasionally turn around to make sure he wasn’t being followed. Only when he was sure about that did he stop.

’I’ve always been able to enter the sub-space with my consciousness, but I wonder... Perhaps it’s possible to enter it as a whole.’ Thinking along those lines, Osborne got on the floor cross-legged.

He picked up a rock and placed it on his head.

He then closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

Osborne emerged in the white sub-space, but he wasn’t sure if it was his consciousness in here or his body as a whole.

With a thought, he stepped back out.

Appearing in his cross-legged posture again.

He felt an uncomfortable feeling beneath his rear, causing him to stand back up. When he saw the rock now on the floor where he just sat, his eyes glinted with satisfaction.

"You’re back so soon, my lord?" Gilhound said.

"It would seem I didn’t drink enough," Osborne replied.

Gilhound didn’t think much of it. "For today, just practice some bodily exercises. Once I’ve discerned that your physique is desirable, I’ll proceed to show you how to engrave your first star."

"Alright." Osborne nodded. He did nothing to stop Gilhound from leaving, which left him feeling a bit skeptical, nevertheless, he still left.

Now alone, Osborne returned to the sub-space.

He proceeded to do several laps around the sub-space, which was already large to begin with.

Not surprisingly, he got tired without completing a single lap.

Osborne had to stop to catch his breath.

’This isn’t what I expected.’ The reason he failed to complete a lap wasn’t because of his lack of will or body strength—he was quite fit for his age.

The problem was the fact that he couldn’t discern the edge of the dimension, causing him to bump into it more than on one occasion.

"It’d be easier if everywhere wasn’t so monochromatic," he sighed.

Yet his eyes widened when the white space turned black and white.

"Hmm..." Osborne didn’t shout out loud. Instead, he glanced at the surface below his feet. The next moment, a patch of grass grew up.

Yet when it touched his feet, his face faltered. Rather than the same feeling he got from touching vegetation, this one had nothing but falsehood to it, as if it was there yet not at the same time.

He plucked a blade and placed it in his mouth, yet that blade seemingly vanished as if it was nothing but air.

Which told him that while he could reshape this place to his design, none of it would be real.

In the end, everything would be a fake construct. He doubted it would even be possible to take items created here to the real world.

’Then how come everything else was real before?’

The former space he was in felt far too real to be fake, as if it had life within it, unlike here.

Once more, Osborne was at a loss towards the sub-space, since he still knew very little about it.

---

Some time later, the sub-space had been transformed into a vast grassland.

Perhaps his nightmares had more of an effect on him than he realised, but after thinking it over, he decided on this in the end.

As for the edge of the sub-space, he replaced it with pitch black, as if to remind himself that he wasn’t in the main world, but a different space.

Some time later, Osborne dropped onto the grass plain on his back, his body covered in sweat just after completing a long lap around the sub-space, followed by upper body strength training and lower body strength training.

Push-ups and squats, respectively.

His breathing was rough, yet his eyes burned with vigor.

It took him three hours to complete all that, yet he knew for a fact that in the real world, only about 108 seconds had gone by.

Osborne wanted to continue, but he didn’t, because he had long realised something.

His body was famished. He was dying for a bite to eat.

Unlike before, when he only entered here with his consciousness, with his body, it was far easier for him to get hungry.