Body Strengthening Treatment and Increasing Potential

It was now the day after the welcome party. We ate breakfast after

getting out of bed and then proceeded to chill inside our rooms.

Eh? What happened last night? Well, the girls ended up having a

slumber party and left poor me all alone, so I just slept it out. It kinda

felt like they would be talking about things they'd rather not let me

hear, so I just let them have their way.

"There are surprisingly not a lot of lightweight power armor models to

choose from huh."

"Right. And if you narrow it down to ones that can allow you to fight

with swords, the number decreases further."

Elma and I were currently relaxing on a sofa in the living room while

browsing lightweight power armor catalogs, but so far, nothing's

clicked with me. How do I put it? None of them really match my

requirements.

What I require from a lightweight power armor is for it to not hinder

my natural movements, maintain my accuracy, reinforce my physical

strength and agility, give me a bit of additional armor protection (from

both physical and energy rounds), and enhance my environmental

adaptation ability. That's about it.

However, after checking them out, all we found were armors that were

more than passable when it comes to survivability, agility, and strength

enhancements, but fail when it comes to allowing me to move naturally

and maintaining precise control over my body. Precise bodily control is

extremely important when using a sword (for me at least) so I didn't

want to compromise on that front.

"Well, I suppose it's because nobles don't really need to wear power

armor."

"Yeah, I guess…"

The Graccan Empire's nobles basically all receive physical enhancement

treatments at an early age. As a result, they can exhibit superhuman

strength and speed even without relying on stuff like power armors.

The only things that power armors can offer them are environmental

adaptability and flexibility enhancements, so whenever nobles go into

battle, a suit with environment adaptation functions along with some

anti-laser capability coupled with a portable shield was more than

enough for them.

"Manufacturers won't make something if there's no market for it. That's

just how things roll."

"You're being pretty blunt, Big Sis. But I suppose that's really how it is.

Ah, don't move around, Sis."

Tina, whose hair was being styled by Whisker, sat on the sofa next to

ours. When she shrugged her shoulders, Whisker told her off. The

sisters arrange each other's hairstyles from time to time. It looks like

Whisker was styling Tina's hair into a bun this time around.

Also, Mimi and Kugi were having a nice chat while sitting around the

table a little further away from us. She didn't seem to be worried about

the other party this time around, unlike when we first started living

with Mei, but I was a bit curious about what the two girls were

discussing enthusiastically. Well, I suppose I should just be thankful

that Mimi has already begun to warm up to Kugi, and they can now

have casual chats like this.

"I wonder if I should just go ahead and take physical enhancement

treatments?"

"Well, I suppose you could. But we won't be able to leave here for at

least a few months if you undergo those treatments you know?"

As expected from someone with firsthand experience. Elma, who was

actually from the house of Viscount Willrose, was a genuine noble's

daughter, and she had actually undergone physical enhancements

herself. That's exactly the reason why her seemingly thin and dainty

arms were packing a lot more power than mine. However, in Elma's

case, she had only taken treatments to enhance her physical strength

and reaction speed. She didn't seem to have undergone the advanced

treatments such as enhancing the processing power of one's brain that

other nobles were given.

"Actually, what exactly do they do in those physical enhancement

treatments anyway?"

"First, it depends on whether you take bionic treatments or cybernetic

treatments. Both treatments are irreversible and both result in

dramatic improvements in your overall physical abilities."

"I see. But each has its own merits, right?"

"I'm not that familiar with them either y'know? Well, generally

speaking, bionic treatments offer somewhat lesser results, but are less

burdensome on the body in exchange and are easier to maintain. The

more you train, the better your abilities will become. However, it takes

quite some time to get used to your newly enhanced body after the

treatments, and the time required to undergo the treatments is equally

long as well. Conversely, cybernetic treatments offer a higher degree of

enhancements, and you can exert most of your enhanced abilities

almost immediately after taking them. However, unlike bionic

treatments, you can't improve your abilities further through training. In

exchange, it's possible for you to replace your implants with higherperformance parts. Also, the parts aren't completely maintenance-free,

so maintaining those parts can be troublesome."

"I see, I see. You took bionic treatments, right, Elma?"

"Yeah. In the empire, bionic treatments are more mainstream. It seems

replacing your body parts with machines doesn't suit the noble's

tastes."

Elma shrugged as she replied. Oh, I see. It seemed that imperial nobles

either straight-up hate machines, have slight misgivings against

artificial intelligence, or are just not good with them. So many among

them may not like the prospect of replacing their body parts with

cybernetics.

As we continued to discuss such matters, Mimi and Kugi came over.

Then, Mimi had Kugi sit beside me – opposite of Elma – and followed by

sitting right next to the latter.

"What's up?"

"Kugi-san said she was interested in what you were talking about, Hirosama."

"Hm? What about it?"

When I turned my attention to Kugi, who looked a bit hesitant at first,

she eventually spoke out, albeit still with a timid tone.

"Um, I overheard that you were planning to undergo some kind of

enhancement surgery… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"Nah, I don't really mind."

After saying so, I turned my attention to her big and fluffy animal ears.

Well, with those ears of hers, it wasn't surprising that her hearing was

better than humans. I wonder who has better hearing ability between

her and Elma.

"I heard from Mimi-sama that you're looking for something called a

power armor to improve your fighting ability and survivability."

"Yeah, that's right. But I can't seem to find anything satisfactory, so I

was considering taking enhancement treatments instead."

"I see… Um, this might sound presumptuous of me My Lord, but I do not

think you require such treatments at all."

"I see…? Why though? Can you elaborate?"

"Certainly. At present, the potential constantly surging out from My

Lord's body isn't being utilized properly. If you learned to control it,

then the effects will be countless times better than wearing power

armor, I think."

"""Ah–…"""

I wasn't the only one who got surprised. Everyone except Mei and Kugi

reacted the same way.

"Umm…? Did I say something strange, My Lord?"

Kugi tilted her head with an anxious expression on her face.

"No, not at all. It's just that I've already decided not to pursue that

direction a while back."

"You decided not to pursue it?"

"Yeah. I mean, just think about it. I'd be able to use my strength to

overwhelm power armors, shoot mystical attacks that can erase entire

mountains, and even repel lasers and ballistic projectiles flying at me.

Wouldn't showing off like that attract unnecessary trouble eventually?

Then it would be better not to go in that direction and just use things

like power armor that's more within the bounds of common sense. I

think it's way safer that way."

After I explained my reasons, Kugi nodded her head in

acknowledgment and began to talk again.

"I've only heard about them from Mimi-sama, but it seems these socalled power armors can only allow one to match the soldiers of my

country when they are devoid of any equipment. No, perhaps our

soldiers will still be able to best them even then. I do not think that kind

of strength is contrary to common sense at all."

"Eh, what the heck? That's kinda scary."

"I believe you will be able to exert power enough to overwhelm even a

group of our soldiers with ease, My Lord. If you are concerned about

standing out, then wouldn't it be more reasonable to practice and learn

to properly control and adjust your power?"

"That's–… Err, you do have a point."

I wavered under Kugi's pure gaze. Come to think of it, it's certainly

against my style to abandon power that can be obtained and not do my

best just because I was afraid of standing out. One should make good

use of whatever was available to them. I understand that principle. I do.

"But ain't I gonna become something like a Super Sa*yan if I did that!?

Honestly, there really was a time when I also wanted to fly in the air and

fire off ka*eha*ehas! But never in my dreams did I expect to get to do

those for real y'know!"

"Super Sa*yan…?"

Kugi displayed a confused look after my rant. Yeah. Of course, she

wouldn't get it.

"I am not sure what that kame-something exactly is, but I think blowing

up an entire mountain… is a bit inefficient, honestly. Instead of vainly

wasting your potential doing that, it would be a lot more efficient to

incapacitate your enemy with a high-intensity psychic shock."

"Whoa, that's some dangerous-sounding stuff. What exactly is that highintensity psychic shock?"

"It is a technique that puts a heavy load on a target's mind and either

significantly disturbs their concentration, stuns them, or directly

destroys the target's mind depending on the strength used. With My

Lord's strength, I think it is possible to spread the effects to this entire

colony."

"That's hella dangerous man. I don't wanna become some toxic wave

generator."

"You're strayin' from the topic already, Boss. Well, regardless of your

preferences, doesn't Kugi actually make sense? Before, we didn't wanna

stay fer a long time in the Refill system just so you could train in that

mystical stuff, so we eventually decided not to pursue that direction.

But since Kugi will stay with us from now on, wouldn't it be fine if you

just trained with her?"

"That's true. You can get your power armor Big Brother, but wouldn't it

be fine to train that psychic power of yours too? It's not like you'd

definitely get in trouble if you learned it."

Surprisingly, the dwarven sisters, who were obviously on the science

side of things, were pretty enthusiastic regarding this superhuman

training plan. Doesn't it directly conflict with your chosen field, guys?

"Actually, we're also a bit interested. In psionic technology, that is."

"It's a completely different technology system after all. I think we might

make some interesting discoveries if you acquire that kind of

supernatural power, Boss."

"So you're prioritizing your interests huh. Aren't you guys worried

about me at all?"

"Well, isn't your body already givin' off powerful waves and stuff all the

time, Boss? Though it's just Kugi who says so. Ain't training yer powers

actually better than havin' your body undergo some weird

modifications?"

"That's true. When I took those enhancement treatments when I was a

kid, I felt really bad for a long time until I managed to get used to my

enhanced abilities. It was pretty nasty. At worst, you wouldn't be able to

move a muscle for three months, and it also costs way more than

buying power armor."

"Gununu…"

So do I really have no choice but to train in controlling that potential or

whatever to increase my survival rate in this world? Well, I guess I can

just take my time to train since Kugi will be accompanying us from now

on. I only need to pay attention and restrain myself to avoid standing

out. So there's no problem, right? Right?

"OK, I understand. I will go in that direction then. I won't undergo any

strength enhancement treatments. But I'll still buy a power armor. I'll

just go with that."

"That's as nice a plan as any."

"In that case, we definitely need to find a lightweight power armor

model that suits you, Hiro-sama."

Yeah, that's another problem we've yet to solve. If we can't find a

suitable product in the market, do I have no choice but to get a madeto-order custom? I don't even know where to commission such a thing.

I guess I'll just have to ask suitable power armor manufacturers or

think of other ways. Hmm.