After considering where he should improve, he left the forest. Before he left, he took some wood with him; he carried the wood all the way to his room. It was brown wood which didn't have any signs of decay; it wasn't really big and had a fresh smell to it—the kind of smell that gives one the feeling of summer.
Once Leonard reached home, he placed the wood in the corner of his room. At a table close to his bed, a knife laid there; signs of dried blood could be seen on it. Leonard stood in the middle of his room.
'I should aim for one hundred each.' With this thought, Leonard started to squat. His squats weren't fast nor slow. 'One, two, three...' He continued to squat continuously. On his fifth squat, he felt pain hit his legs, but he didn't stop. By the eighth squat, he staggered a little; sweat could be seen on his forehead and his breathing was now heavy.
'Twenty more.' Despite being tired, he was about to finish all one hundred squats he set out to do. Once he was done, he threw himself on his bed. Squats were not his specialty, but now he had no choice but to do them, despite it being torturous to his legs.
"Huff... huff." He breathed heavily while lying on his bed. He felt the urge to just lie there and do nothing, but he knew such feelings were the downfall of most. After resting for twenty minutes, he stood up and did a set of one hundred push-ups, which he did without suffering much compared to when he did squats.
He rested for ten minutes, then did another set of one hundred squats, then one hundred push-ups. Once he was done with this workout, he rested for an hour. After resting, he got the wood and knife and started carving a sword-shaped object from it, though he stopped halfway through.
"Huff..." With a loud sigh, he walked out of his room. His hands were still aching from crafting the wooden sword; it had taken him three hours just to finish it halfway. He wasn't skilled at crafting objects from wood; as such, he occasionally made mistakes and had to move at a slower pace. He had done a lot of physical work today and still wasn't done.
Leaving his room, he started to run. He didn't measure the distance and just ran until he couldn't feel his legs. While running, some people gave him occasional glances.
'Lady Melissa's residence.'
Leonard saw a properly paved road leading to a large mansion up ahead. The area he was living in could be divided into two parts: the first part was where the common folk lived, such as Leonard—the bottom of the bottom—while the second part was where the royalties lived. The mansion in front of him was where the royal houses started. The mansion was painted white and had luxurious, maintained flowers and trees with a large gate to prevent trespassers from entering. Guards stood at the entrances to humble those who had funny ideas; one could see horse carriages stationed inside.
Servants could be seen moving around. The contrast between where the royalties stayed and the common people was huge. Leonard didn't reach close to the estate; it belonged to Lady Melissa, the first daughter of King Arthur. She was known for her brutality, treating people like common livestock; she had the nickname "Lady of War" once she participated in a minor war with some demons a few years back. Leonard was trying to get into the good graces of the royalty, not offend them. Such a person would most likely only like strong people, and currently, Leonard was anything but strong.
He ran back home, finishing his run by the time he reached his house. His legs were shaking, on the verge of collapsing. Thinking of the fact that he had to do the same exercise tomorrow filled him with grief.
He threw himself on his bed and let his heavy eyelids close. After sleeping for about two hours, he woke up with a loud yawn; his body was aching. It was now dusk, the sun about to set, covering the world in a shade of orange and pink which many liked to see as it filled them with some sense of fulfillment.
However, Leonard didn't experience this leisure. Once he noticed his body was active enough, he started his one hundred workout. This time he struggled a lot, but he managed in the end. Although he didn't want to, he went for a run. This time, due to his body pains, he didn't reach as far as he previously had and just ended at a local bar where drunkards were found throwing insults and looking at whatever moved their crotches.
The drunkards who were sane looked at Leonard; most recognized him.
'Crazed devil.' Most of the people had already granted him the title of Crazed Demon. Leonard at this moment didn't know about his title. He had two titles: the first was Crazed Demon and the second was Second Reaper. The main reason he was given such titles wasn't mainly because of his recent acts; it was because of his father, the Reaper. Even after his death, the Reaper's influence was still there like a dark cloud hovering above them.
Leonard ran until he reached home. His legs felt extremely weak. He planned on doing a night workout as well but decided against it upon seeing the condition of his body. He was in no way fit to go again, and he still had to repeat such a torturous training for the next year.
Once he reached home, he grabbed his half-complete wooden sword and started to carve it while lying on the bed. His hands were swift with how they moved, but also shaky with how much he had exercised in one day. He wanted nothing more than to rest at this moment.
'Will I manage doing this for a year?'
Leonard himself started to wonder if he could keep this up while also handling other matters. There was only so much one person could do within a year.