40 Pride and Prejudice (2/2)

The elder had explained that becoming a Spiritknight had unlocked the latent potential hidden in his body, producing his explosive strength. Darius was not knowledgeable on the topic, so all he could do was helplessly accept the elder's words.

He didn't really feel that much stronger, but the old man had had no answer for this, so Darius was not sure either. Darius didn't buy the elder's lackadaisical explanation, but there was nothing he could do, so he had moved on.

The answer was actually quite simple. Using the hammer every day had granted Darius a sublime control over his strength. He didn't simply hit the anvil ten thousand times a day. He also aimed to produce a certain sound, which required delicate control over his body.

The action of raising the hammer and striking the anvil involved every muscle in his body. Hence, over the years, Darius had developed an incredible subconscious control over his body.

Nevertheless, due to his timid nature, Darius always held back in whatever he did. Be it at the orphanage or at Sahid, Darius had tried his best to not garner any unnecessary attention. Thus, his brain would translate this hesitation into his actions, resulting in him not exerting his true strength.

The extent of his childhood trauma also played a part in this. His cowardice was deeply rooted in his mind and now a part of him. There were many unforeseen side effects of this, the reduction of his strength merely being one of them.

The elder had believed this to be so but had decided against telling the boy, believing it to be counterproductive.

All that Darius knew was that if he wanted to, he could exert incredible strength. In fact, he had used his room's summoning function to have many odd objects brought to test out his strength after the elder had left.

He would clap his hands and summon metals and objects that he had thought would be either heavy or hard. The results had been quite surprising, and the boy had been shocked by his own strength. While he had not had much time to truly discover his limits as it had already been morning with the test having been only a few hours away, he'd managed to break quite a few valuable metals. At the time, he had put his embarrassment at the back of his head and focused on his constant priority, staying alive.

”Really now?”

Lara crossed her arms over her bountiful chest and scrutinized the boy from head to toe. Lara considered herself a good judge of character, but she could not find anything wrong with his expression.

'There is no way a country hick could outsmart me, so he must be telling the truth.'

Her pride refused to let her believe that Darius was good enough to pull one over her, so she let it slide.

'So, the source of his strength is inherent. He either has inborn strength or a powerful bloodline or maybe even both.'

Since talking to him was not helpful, Lara smoothly changed topics, which Darius happily obliged. The two chatted for quite some time until an emotionless voice entered their ears.

”Please prepare. The fourth test is about to begin. This test is quite dangerous, so take this time to mentally prepare yourselves!”