Abandoned in the mountains, I was adopted by a lizard ~I mastered magic and surpassed my parents, but I didn't know they were legendary ancient dragons~ - Chapter 65

Chapter 65   During a physical conditioning exercise…

Five minutes before noon, I arrived at the location indicated on the map by Amido, riding on the Great Seitan’s cloud. At the location, several burly men in camouflage uniforms, who seemed to be members of the “Zelgius Rangers,” were already lined up in formation.

In front of the lined-up men stood an even larger man, facing them with a commanding presence.

He must be the captain.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Hadar.”

I got off the cloud a bit before reaching the captain and walked up to him to introduce myself.

“Welcome, Hadar. I am Ronny, the captain here.”

As expected, the large man at the front was indeed the captain.

“Looking forward to working with you.”

“Likewise.”

After exchanging initial greetings, Captain Ronny extended his right hand, which I shook in response.

“Amido has informed me about you. Before instructing us, you want to participate in our training first, correct?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, during the training, you will be treated not as a guest but as a member of the team. Is that acceptable?”

“Ranger!”

“Wow… Usually, guests initially respond with ‘yes’ or something similar, and then I have to correct them with ‘Only respond with Ranger!’ But you nailed it.”

Captain Ronny’s expression briefly showed surprise before he smiled and made this comment after I responded to his question with the unit’s specific greeting. I was glad I had done my homework.

Since I had some time before noon, I had used a wide-area listening spell to discreetly observe their morning training. Without that, I would have been caught off guard like the other guests and probably reprimanded.

“Alright, Hadar, take your position there!”

“Ranger!”

When Captain Ronny indicated where I should stand, the other members quickly realigned to make space for me, and I moved to that spot.

“We’re about to do an exercise called endurance adjustment. Simply put, it’s a type of muscle training done according to signals. But don’t be complacent. You’ll be pushing yourself beyond your limits!”

“Ranger!”

“Only Prince Ian has completed this training at your age. And to begin with, it’s rare for someone your age to participate in our joint training.”

“R-Ranger.”

Ian… I wonder how he ended up doing this training. Well, considering he’s a fitness fanatic, he would likely excel at this…

No, I need to focus on the task at hand. No time for distractions.

“The first exercise is jumping! The key is to maintain form and jump to your absolute highest each time!”

Captain Ronny demonstrated the form once.

“Ready, begin! One!”

As the count started, I kicked off the ground with all my might.

I soared several tens of meters into the air, then descended back to the ground. When I landed, I noticed the captain and the members staring at me with their mouths agape.

Did I do something wrong? I was just following instructions and jumping to my limit.

“Uh, um… in this training, no magic is allowed. When I said to jump to your highest, I meant within the limits of your natural strength.”

“I didn’t use any magic.”

“…What?”

It seemed the captain thought I used body strengthening or flight magic, so I clarified that it was purely my physical strength. This left Captain Ronny looking even more bewildered.

“…Sorry, could you do that again?”

“Ranger!”

Following his instructions, I jumped again with the same form and height. The captain, now holding his head, muttered softly.

“Magic was not detected. No false declarations…”

Upon hearing this muttered statement, the surrounding members began to stir.

“Silence!”

“Ranger!”

But the murmuring was instantly silenced by Captain Ronny’s stern command. He then continued,

“Alright, I understand. In that case, Hadar, you are permitted to use magic for this exercise. However, you must land by the next count!”

This permission to use magic essentially meant I had to use downward flight magic or quick-turn with barrier magic to land faster than freefall.

“Ranger!”

Thus, I would challenge my physical limits at the same pace as everyone else, but with additional strain from using magic during this training.

◇

The training continued smoothly, and we tackled various exercises such as shrimp kicks, body bends, and push-ups. Given the concept of “each person challenging their own limits,” this training became progressively tougher regardless of one’s physical abilities.

I would definitely need a perfect heal after completing all these exercises.

Finally, we reached the last exercise: pull-ups. To push myself to the limit, I would need weights.

I generated two weights from adamantite, each with an inner diameter matching my calf’s diameter and a thickness of about five centimeters, and strapped them to my legs. I also set the gravity control device to a hundred times the normal gravity and hung from the bar while activating my own gravity magic.

“Ready, begin! One… two… three… … sixteen!”

After completing sixteen counts, the final exercise was over.

“Good job, everyone. Today, you can take a break and chat for a bit,” instructed Captain Ronny.

During the break, a nearby member approached me.

“Good work. But seriously… that physical strength is incredible.”

“Thank you.”

“Just doing it normally is tough enough… How heavy are those weights?”

“Would you like to try holding one?”

Having just removed one of the weights from my leg, I offered it to the curious member.

“…Whoa! Wh-what is this…”

The member couldn’t hold onto the weight, which slipped from his hands and embedded itself deeply into the ground.

“To attach such heavy things… and with two of them? How do you even manage to lift your body with that?”

“No, no. Even with that, it wasn’t enough, so I used both the gravity control device and gravity magic to complete the set.”

“Wh-what is that?”

“I’ve heard about it. Isn’t it that legendary magic tool said to be made during the entrance exam?”

As the conversation continued, other members joined in. It seemed everyone was fascinated by the legendary nature of the tool.

“No, that device was just a prototype made with limited materials, and the weight increase was only up to three times, so I gave it to a friend. This one is a more refined version, capable of increasing weight up to 100 times.”

While explaining, I recalled Jasmine testing the effect of the magic tool by throwing small stones into its field of effect to check the gravity enhancement. I demonstrated the same method.

“Wh-what… 100 times?!”

“W-what was that trajectory…”

“This is unreal. This person isn’t just a prodigy in any sense…”

The members started expressing their thoughts as they observed the small stone’s sudden and sharp descent.

“This is beyond any existing training!”

“Please, let’s halt the joint training here and teach us more about this!”

“I’ll give you 100 or even 1,000 Challenge Coins right now!”

They began making various requests.

Challenge Coins, if I recall correctly, were unique to each knightly unit and exchanged as a “sign of mutual recognition” during joint exercises. They weren’t meant to be given out in such large quantities.

Well, putting that aside, it seems like the initial goal of “being accepted as an instructor” has been achieved. Although I originally intended to do more training with them, if they’re eager, I’ll skip the training and move on to the main tasks.