Chapter 164: Physical Conditioning

?Cassian began with his standard routine.

?One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred pull-ups, and one hundred squats.

?It was a simple regimen he had maintained for years, long before becoming a Lord. Back in his previous life, the basic exercises had helped him maintain a sharp physical baseline, and he had carried the habit into his current timeline.

?However, something was glaringly different this morning.

?Cassian finished his first hundred push-ups without registering the slightest hint of physical fatigue. His breathing remained dead silent, and his muscles barely registered the exertion. The sit-ups were equally trivial, followed by a rapid set of pull-ups and squats.

?By the time he completed the final repetition, he wasn’t even breathing heavily.

?He glanced down at his palms.

’?This is practically useless now.’

?Cassian had recently advanced to the rank of Established Lord, the second major threshold in a Lord’s path.

Although he remained at the Mortal stage, his physical baseline had exploded far beyond what an ordinary individual at his rank should possess.

?Between his stacked attributes, his Divine Blessings, and the intrinsic passive enhancements granted by his Lord status, his old physical workout no longer provided a meaningful challenge.

?If he wanted to continue tempering his physical vessel through conventional conditioning, he needed to scale the difficulty exponentially.

?Fortunately, he already had a solution in mind.

?"Nyxara."

?"Yes, my Lord?"

?"I need you to reinforce the room with your Authority. Make the walls, floor, and ceiling strong enough to withstand heavy physical impact."

?Nyxara immediately understood that her Lord was about to push his limits.

?Without asking a single question, she extended her slender hand.

?A faint violet shimmer expanded across the master bedroom as her Authority enveloped the room. Liquid shadows gathered along the walls and floorboards, weaving a thin, virtually indestructible layer of spatial reinforcement.

?"It is done, my Lord."

?Cassian nodded approvingly.

?Next, he raised his hand and activated his shadow manipulation.

?Four pitch-black rings materialized around him, their surfaces shimmering ominously as they absorbed and compressed massive quantities of physical weight.

Despite their compact size, each ring contained an absurd amount of density.

?Their raw physical mass was only part of the burden. The condensed mana swirling within them generated an additional layer of gravitational pressure, making them vastly more difficult to wield than standard iron weights.

?Normally, Cassian could move them effortlessly because he actively controlled their weight via Nyxara’s authority.

?Today, however, he intended to do the exact opposite.

?He manifested four shadow rings and locked one around each of his wrists and ankles, before creating a fifth, significantly larger ring and anchoring it directly across his upper back.

?Then, he deliberately released his mental grip over their mass.

?The effect was instantaneous.

?His body lurched downward as thousands of pounds of concentrated gravitational pressure slammed into him.

For a fraction of a second, his knees nearly buckled, and his feet sank half an inch into the reinforced floor.

?Cassian clenched his jaw, his muscles instantly surging with power.

’?Much better.’

?He straightened his back, forcing his frame to stabilize under the crushing load.

?The five rings were only partially unsealed from his authority, yet the burden was already immense.

Even with his monstrous physique, simply standing and moving while supporting their combined weight demanded immense physical output.

?That was precisely what he wanted.

?Cassian lowered himself back into a push-up position.

?The first repetition was slow and agonizing.

?The second was slower.

?By the tenth repetition, a searing heat began spreading through his shoulders and chest. His muscles coiled tightly as he fought against the immense resistance, while the massive shadow ring across his back threatened to drive his chest directly into the floor.

?He continued regardless.

?One repetition after another.

?His movements became increasingly deliberate, each push-up requiring microscopic core control to maintain proper posture while fighting the artificial gravity crushing him down.

?Beads of sweat began gathering along his forehead and temples.

?Cassian’s lips curved into a sharp grin.

’?Now we’re getting somewhere.’

?He transitioned to squats, then weighted sit-ups, and finally moved toward the pull-up bar, manually dialing up the weight of the shadow rings whenever he felt his muscles adapting to the burden.

By the time he gripped the bar, his frame was working ten times harder than it had during his initial warm-up.

?The shadow rings transformed every micro-movement into a brutal battle against gravity.

?And Cassian intended to win every single one.

?Nyxara had initially observed her Lord’s workout with quiet, professional interest.

?As his Champion, she considered it her duty to understand the precise limits of his physical capabilities.

Watching his physical conditioning was therefore a perfectly logical exercise.

?At least, that was the excuse she gave herself.

?Unfortunately, maintaining a purely professional detachment became increasingly difficult as the minutes ticked by.

?Cassian’s black training shirt clung tightly to his frame, slick with sweat. His broad shoulders flexed with every brutal repetition, and the defined muscles along his back rippled each time he pulled his heavy frame upward against the crushing weight.

?The bright morning sunlight streaming through the window highlighted the sharp, flawless definition of his physique.

?Nyxara stared.

?Her violet eyes tracked his movements with an intensity that had almost nothing to do with analyzing combat readiness.

?When Cassian began his weighted pull-ups, her gaze drifted down to the tight taper of his waist and the movement of his abdomen before she suddenly realized what she was doing.

?She snapped her head away, her heart hammering against her ribs.

’?What am I doing?!’

?She had watched her Lord butcher terrifying monsters without losing her composure. She had stood beside him amidst apocalyptic battlefields and witnessed his cold, terrifying authority firsthand.

?Yet somehow, watching him exercise in the privacy of his bedroom was proving far more overwhelming than any of those life-or-death battles.

?Nyxara swallowed hard.

?A deep, unmistakable crimson blush bloomed across her pale cheeks.

?She couldn’t even blame Morghanna for corrupting her thoughts this time.

?This was entirely her own doing.

?And the worst part?

?She didn’t have the slightest desire to look away.