A boy raised by a demon king and a dragon king seems to be peerless in his school life.

Volume 9 Chapter 41 Recoil Gift

Ben Galidaril was a failure, much like Ruisha.

His magical and physical abilities were below the average for his age, falling even below Ruisha’s abilities before he began his training.

And like Ruisha, he was diligent and hardworking.

Even if ridiculed by children of his age, he trained his body and studied hard. Although Ben had average academic abilities, he tirelessly studied and acquired a knowledge base that even adults couldn’t match.

…However, no matter how much he excelled in his studies, he wasn’t respected in the rural village where he was born and raised.

The abilities valued there were magic and hunting skills, no one praised him. Despite knowing that he could significantly improve agriculture and hunting efficiency with his knowledge, he couldn’t afford to think about such things in a village dominated by rigid thinking. Disheartened, Ben decided to leave the village.

And so, he enrolled in the magic academy. About a month after starting, a turning point arrived.

“Hey, Ben, do you know about Qi manipulation?”

His life took a drastic turn when his classmate, Ruisha, who possessed extraordinary abilities, approached him with that question.

“Mm, well, I do know about it in terms of knowledge.”

“Then I’ll get straight to the point. Ben, your mana is extremely low, but your Qi is incredibly powerful! I think it’ll become amazing if you train it!”

“My Qi… is powerful?”

Those words didn’t resonate with him at all.

Qi was the energy that replaced mana, used by people in the past. Even if told that he had a lot of something he believed he had no connection to, it didn’t make any sense to him.

“When you have little mana, your body can’t move, so it tries to substitute with other energy. That’s why I think your Qi is significant.”

“That’s the Recoil Gift, huh? Interesting, seems worth a try. Could you tell me about handling Qi?”

“Of course!”

And so, he began specialized training in handling Qi.

Given his high learning ability from constant studying, combined with devoted support from his mentor Ruisha, he rapidly improved his Qi control.

Just when things seemed to be going smoothly, an incident occurred.

It was a raid by Swordmaster Kojiro.

Witnessing his classmates getting hurt in front of him, he gritted his teeth at being merely protected.

He didn’t want to be helpless anymore. Wishing to be someone who could protect his dear friends and the woman he admired, he pushed his body to the limit through intense training.

His dedicated efforts bore fruit.

Effort turned into flesh, and dedication became skill. Through relentless training, his once ordinary physique transformed into a steel-like armor.

In a mere two months, during that short period, his body was honed to a level of sheer physical strength that even rivaled Wolf if it were just about muscle power.

“Die!”

A blade was thrust into Ben’s abdomen.

It was a wide, well-maintained sword. The blade was free of any cloudiness and shone brightly.

No one would have imagined that such an impressive sword would break and snap in Ben’s abdomen.

“Huh?”

A student from the Imperial Academy, looking at the cleanly broken sword in disbelief.

On the other hand, Ben’s abs were unharmed. He sighed and began to lecture the stupefied students.

“What a pitiful attack lacking in knowledge and intelligence. If you aim, you should pierce through the gaps between the abs.”

“W-Well, normally it should pierce…”

“Here.”

Ben casually grabbed the opponent’s hand holding the sword and applied force. With a light snap, the opponent’s wrist twisted in an unnatural direction.

“N-No! Stop!”

The Imperial student rolled on the ground, screaming in pain.

The other Imperial students were horrified by the sudden and painful act.

Ben, unfazed, struck a pose to display his muscles and provocatively smiled.

“No muscles are inferior to blades of unknown knowledge. With your IQ, you can’t compare to my magnificent muscles.”

“…You’re spouting nonsense. Let’s all take down that monster!”

The Imperial students collectively charge at Ben.

Ben looks back and throws words at Sharo and the others.

“I’ll leave it to all of you.”

“You deliberately provoked them…”

“Well, what could it be?”

Ben feigns innocence, then dashes forward.

As he approaches the Imperial students, he clenches his right fist and unleashes a powerful punch with all his might!

“Intellectually profound strike, Intelligence Smash!”

A strike released as if slamming into the ground.

The immensely powerful blow created a large crater in the ground.

“Four… no, five. I Couldn’t defeat as many as I thought.”

The students sent flying by the impact are rolling on the ground. He intended to defeat nearly ten, but many of the students realized the danger of that punch and managed to escape.

“Damn you!”

“You muscle-bound statue!”

After exploiting Ben’s rigidity following the attack, the imperial students retaliate. They attack vital points such as the ribs and neck with swords and spears, but Ben’s proud muscles prevent the blades from penetrating.

“Hahaha! Such attacks don’t hurt one bit!”

“This monster…! How about this? Mid-level Flame, Mid-Fire!”

A one-meter-sized fireball forcefully hits Ben’s impressive back.

In response, Ben lets out a pained sound he hasn’t made before. Looking closely, the area hit by the flames has turned red and swollen.

“What, magic works?”

“…Well, what do you think?”

Ben says with an air of composure, but sweat is glistening on his forehead.

The height of magical power directly translates to magical defense. In other words, he, with almost no magical power, receives more damage from magic than an average person.

With strong muscles and high endurance, he can endure several hits, but the pain is immeasurable.

“Keep unleashing them!”

Blades with lightning, ice, and fire.

Various spells pierce Ben, tormenting him.

— — — However, amidst the pain and suffering, a feeling wells up in his heart. It is gratitude.

◇

Volume 9 Chapter 42 Gratitude

The constant onslaught of pain.

It’s hard, it’s excruciating. Those feelings are undoubtedly there, but the rising sense of gratitude surpasses them.

(To think such pain didn’t befall my friend. I’m truly grateful for that. To my friend Ruisha, who assessed my power and nurtured me, to my parents who raised me strong—gratitude to them all――――)

Eventually, the rain of magic subsides, and Ben emerges from the dust.

His robust physique has endured countless magics. Numerous cuts and burns are visible, but all of them were deflected by the sturdy armor of muscles, never penetrating deep into the body.

“Ridiculous… There’s no way you can stand after enduring such attacks.”

“I’ve trained these muscles so I’ll never yield to absurdity again. So there’s no way I’ll bow to the likes of you…!”

Ben firmly clenches his right fist and pounds the ground with all his might.

The earth cracks, and the ground beneath the Imperial Academy students crumbles.

“What?!”

“Whoa!”

Suddenly, their attention shifts due to the ground crumbling beneath them.

Seizing the opportunity, Ben jumps into the air.

“My body is reaching its limit… I’ll decide this with this one strike!”

He channels all remaining strength into the quadriceps of his right leg.

And with all his might, he swings that leg towards the ground!

“Wisdom Shoot, filled with wisdom and strength!”

The leg’s muscle strength is three times that of his arms.

The kick, fully utilizing his incredible strength, generates a tremendous shockwave, blowing away the imperial students below like leaves.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Some took the shockwave directly, while others were sent flying into the sky and slammed into the ground, losing consciousness upon impact.

By the time Ben landed on the ground, all the imperial students were incapacitated, rolling on the ground. Ben, upon confirming this, relaxed his stern expression and collapsed on the ground…

“Oops.”

Just before falling, he was supported by Wolf.

“…Is your body really okay?”

“Thanks to someone’s tremendous efforts, I was able to rest plenty.”

“I see… that’s good.”

Wolf takes the exhausted Ben to their classmates. In the meantime, Ben’s body returns to its original size.

“Ben, are you okay!?”

The first to run over was Lona. She placed her hands on Ben’s injured body and immediately began healing him with recovery magic.

“Thank you, the pain has eased quite a bit.”

“No, thank you. Thanks to you, Ben-kun, everyone was saved.”

When they looked, their classmates were recovering enough to stand.

While Ben was fighting, Chisha analyzed the poison’s components, and Lona was healing everyone. It was an impromptu effort, so complete recovery had not yet been achieved, but everyone’s complexion had significantly improved.

Thanks to Lona’s healing magic, Ben’s body was rapidly recovering. Sharo and Iris approached him.

“Thank you, we really owe you.”

“I’m grateful to you for protecting everyone. Thanks to you, I could focus on fighting. …By the way, are you still going?”

Sharo and Iris nodded at Ben’s words.

“We can’t leave him alone. We might not make it in time if we run now, but we’ll do what we can.”

“I see… I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to us,” Sharo said confidently, taking Iris and Wolf with her as they hurried to where Ruisha, who should have been fighting alone, was.