Ragna and Matthew stood in front of each other. Unlike Ragna's relaxed face, Matthew's expression was grim. After all, the pressure kept mounting.
They were supposed to be the stronger side, yet they actually lost the battle. They had shamelessly attacked the first academy for the sake of 'exchange,' so the moment they lost, the shame would be intolerable.
It was especially true the moment Cyan lost the battle. If he lost as well, he wouldn't know what would be waiting for them once they returned. After all, Carrick would be furious.
Ragna extended his hand with a gentle smile. "Ragna Book. I hope we can have a good battle."
Matthew wanted to slap this hand, but it would just cause another embarrassment. So he reluctantly shook Ragna's hand without saying anything.
Ragna could feel his intent. In fact, no one probably thought he would win this match. Even then, he still didn't plan to lose just like that. Despite not being a Tier 5 like Erwin or Aileen, he still had one advantage he could take advantage of.
"So, you're the guy who Christina said to have the same physique as me." Ezekiel smirked.
Clovis had told him that Ezekiel wanted to meet him, so he agreed, wondering what the Tier 9 human wanted from him.
Ezekiel examined his physique. Unlike Ragna, his body was much more developed. Although there weren't a lot of muscles, his strength had surpassed what a muscle could achieve.
"Have you ever felt betrayed by your effort? You have trained a lot, but not a single time have you been able to develop your muscle, despite being a guardian." Ezekiel asked a question that pierced deeply in his heart.
"…" Ragna looked down. That reaction alone was enough of an answer for Ezekiel.
Ezekiel then took out his Skyphone and showed a picture. "Look at this."
Ragna lifted his head, finding a picture of a family. The father was over two meters tall and his muscles were huge. While the lady was normal, there were three children who had a big contrast. Two out of those three children had muscular bodies similar to their father's. Yet, the third one actually had a petite body. His frame looked frail, as though he would collapse out of nowhere.
"The one you're currently looking at is me… the me from 46 years ago."
"!!!" Ragna raised his head in disbelief. "But sir…"
"I'm very different from the photo, right?" Ezekiel smirked. "We're blessed and cursed by this constitution. However, I'm much more fortunate because my family is quite wealthy, so I don't suffer much hardship like you.
"Thanks to the support of my family, I'm able to grow my height. Although I'm not muscular, my muscles are much stronger than the rest of the people in this world. There is probably only one person who has a tougher body than mine, who happens to be Clovis' grandfather, Michael Hacfield.
"However, this is not the reason I call you. The way to overcome the flaws of our constitution. That's what I'm planning to tell you."
"Is it… alright for you to tell me such an important secret?"
Ezekiel nodded. "In the end, our physique is so rare that it's already a miracle I can find someone like you appearing when I'm still alive, let alone meeting you right here. So, sharing some tips shouldn't be a problem. Besides, you're a guardian in my granddaughter's team, so if you become stronger, my granddaughter will be safer as well."
Ragna thought for a moment before lowering his head. "I know that this is shameless to ask when I have nothing to offer. But please… tell me how to overcome my physique. I want to be stronger and be more useful!"
"It seems that brat, Clovis, is blessed with a great team. Well, you seem to have overcome the lack of strength in one way or another, which is quite surprising.
"However, it's not the way I thought you would have done." Ezekiel crossed his arms. "Anyway, I have three tips for you. Unfortunately, you're already at that age. If you're younger, you can probably still grow your height, but because of your current age, you will still be short even if you fix your constitution. Is that alright?"
"Yes." Ragna nodded without hesitation. He couldn't care less about his height as long as he could get stronger.
"In that case, the first tip. Do you understand how your physique works?"
"Healing rapidly?" Ragna tilted his head in confusion.
"Indeed. Our bodies are healing rapidly to the point where it feels like it's turning back time."
"Turning back time? Do you mean all the muscles I gain disappear because it's turning back time?"
He shook his head. "Not exactly. If you drive a car at a high speed and want to stop, you have to decelerate at a certain rate, right?"
"Our constitution just has a much higher initial speed. As a result, when it's trying to stop, it will end up having a hard time coming to a complete stop, which forces us to go backward a bit. This is the main reason we're unable to gain muscle.
"The first tip is how to handle the body's constitution. When I want to gain height, I actually enlarge myself with a huge amount of food. That expansion comes gradually, and our body will recognize it as damage and try to repair it. But instead of repairing it, it will feel more like forcing the body to grow to accommodate that expansion. You can probably do the same thing if you want a bigger body.
"However, if you don't want such a thing and want to solely focus on building your muscle, then you have to work much harder from now on. To put it simply, you just have to cross a much longer distance so that the backward movement won't make you go back to square one.
"I will show you the training I had in the past. For the last tip, it's actually for the battle instead of your growth. You have this unique physique, and you will take advantage of it during a battle." Ezekiel had a sly smile at the end.