Ever since the system activated yesterday, his innate talents seemed to have been completely unleashed.
When exposed to the sun during the day, he could almost constantly feel his cells craving sunlight, but the rate of strength growth was a bit underwhelming.
Strictly speaking, he was, at most, an infant right now; the Superman next door, at least, had been sunbathing for over twenty years.
He only had half of what the other person had, not to mention all the energy he had accumulated from sunbathing before had been absorbed by the system for activation, so he was currently starting from scratch.
Fortunately, the energy consumption for system activation was a one-time thing; after activation, it returned to normal.
Karl looked up at the full moon, its bright moonlight cascading over him, and feeling his cells express similar excitement, he grinned.
"Sure enough, in principle, moonlight is also sunlight. Compared to daytime, it's significantly weaker, but better than nothing."
"I can't get moonlight if I sleep indoors, so forget it... I'll just sleep on the balcony."
...In the early morning, Marta, the head maid, who was the first to wake up in the manor, was tidying up with the other maids.
They each carried washbasins and rags to help Raymond, Karl, and Jack get dressed and wash up.
There wasn't much to say about Raymond; after many years, everything was almost as usual, except that he didn't often move around or go out due to his illness.
As for Jack, when the maid knocked and entered, he only accepted help with washing up, but not with getting dressed.
"Put down the basin and rag, I'll do it myself. You can go find Karl," Jack calmly told the maid.
"Alright, guest, please make yourself at home."
Hearing this, the three maids exchanged glances. One maid voluntarily stayed to wait, while the other two walked to the adjacent room.
When it was Karl's turn to get dressed, the scene became somewhat alluring.
In fact, the moment the sun rose above the horizon, Karl had already woken up. He had even stood on the balcony in just a pair of shorts, sunbathing for a while.
Only when he heard the maid's knock did he turn and walk to the bed, pretending he had just woken up.
"Guest, forgive our intrusion, but have you woken up? It's time for us to come in and help you wash and dress."
"Yes, you may come in."
Then, the two maids saw Karl wearing only a pair of shorts.
His clearly defined upper body muscles and strong thighs were exposed.
Instantly, the maids' cheeks flushed crimson, their eyes darting about, wanting to fixate on Karl but appearing shy and afraid to look.
The two of them shuffled almost all the way, heads bowed like quails, until they stood before Karl.
They picked up the clothes Karl had placed by the bed beforehand and slowly put them on him.
The maids' soft palms occasionally brushed against Karl's pectoral muscles and strong arms.
Karl, however, remained calm, accepting the maids' service expressionlessly, but the two maids seemed to be lost in thought.
With flushed faces, they occasionally stroked various parts of Karl's body, as if unintentionally, yet also as if on purpose.
But because they dared not look up directly at him, and their bodies constantly came into contact with his, they were at times in a state of imaginative distraction.
Then, these two maids put the pants on his head.
"Oh, ladies, could you please look up and focus?"
"You've put the pants on my head and are trying to stuff my arms into the pant legs..." Karl said helplessly.
"Ah? We're so sorry!"
"Sorry, sir!"
The two maids apologized profusely to Karl in shame, while frantically pulling the pants off Karl's head.
What should have been a simple dressing took them several minutes of fumbling.
Only after seeing Karl push open the door and leave the room did they slowly exhale, each looking at the other's flushed cheeks.
"Oh, helping Mr. Karl get dressed made me feel so hot..."
"Hmph! As if you didn't feel the same! Why are you gripping Lord Karl's dirty clothes so tightly? Give them to me!"
"Heh, no, I won't. I want to wash them myself."
...Karl strolled around the manor. Although Raymond's manor appeared dilapidated, its actual area was not small at all.
By his estimation, the living quarters alone covered nearly two thousand square meters.
However, this didn't include the open spaces; he even saw over twenty plots of farmland within the manor.
The total area of the entire manor was at least eight thousand square meters.
Such a large manor had a pitifully small number of staff: one butler and four young maids.
Even including Marta, the head maid, there were only five maids, plus four guards and one coachman.
All told, including Raymond, there were only twelve people, which showed how severe the family's decline was.
With such a small staff, if twenty or thirty bandits attacked, they wouldn't even be able to defend themselves.
Unconsciously, he walked through various corners and passages until he arrived at a relatively open training ground.
The large training ground was very simple, with only a few wooden dummies and a dozen stones of varying sizes on the ground.
The stones had handles on both sides, which he guessed were tools for strength training, like stone locks.
Beside them was a weapon rack, on which crossbows were placed.
Not far away was the stable, where the coachman was stroking a horse's face and feeding hay to the draft horses.
On the field, four guards were paired up, sparring with iron swords.
One guard stopped swinging his sword, stood still, turned his head to look at Karl approaching, and gestured to his companion with his chin.
"Captain, look at that kid, isn't that the one who knocked you down earlier?"
"According to the maids, they only moved into the manor yesterday. Is he related to the master?"
"Heh, so what? Are they related to you?"
"I suggest you shut your mouth. The master's affairs are not for us to question, if you still want this job."
Dalton pouted, feeling a dull ache in his wrist, he frowned slightly and replied in a deep voice.
Rebuffed, the guard froze, then smiled sheepishly.
Although they had not been trained by the master since childhood, they had served as guards for many years.
And not just anyone was qualified to be a noble's guard; going back to live among commoners was something he truly couldn't adapt to.
"Good morning," Karl said, arriving before the four and greeting them with a smile.
"Good morning, sir."
Everyone was momentarily stunned, clearly not expecting Karl to be so familiar, but they still responded politely.
"Are the stone locks on the ground for exercise? May I use them?"
"You may use any items except for the iron swords and crossbows on the weapon rack," Dalton replied indifferently.
Although he didn't have much goodwill towards this commoner who had previously insulted the Baron, he didn't speak ill of him.
Lord Raymond and Lord Hans had not pursued his responsibility afterwards, so why should he care so much?
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