Is It Wrong for an Extra to Steal the Protagonist's Harem?-Chapter 36: Grinding

Alex’s circuit was garbage. It barely broke down anything. Instead, due to the massive resistance, it produced vast amounts of Recoil Energy.

But that was the trick.

Breaking down normal magical power yields a 1:1 ratio of mana. Breaking down Recoil Energy yields a 1:1000 ratio.

This was the fundamental reason why Demonic Humans in the game lore were so terrifyingly strong. They ran on pain and recoil. It was a realm of power that could never be reached with human-level resonance.

"Nnnggghhh...!"

My teeth clenched so hard I thought they would crack.

As excruciating pain spread throughout my body, tearing at my nerves, I could feel a terrifying amount of mana building up in my muscles. It wasn’t the gentle flow of a mage; it was a raging river.

One second. Two seconds.

The heat was unbearable. My skin turned red.

Two point five...

"Stop!"

I cut the mana flow just before the 3-second time limit ended.

SNAP.

The burning sensation vanished instantly, replaced by a strange, humming vibration in my limbs. No more mana was being charged, but the decomposed power was locked inside me.

"Hup!"

I opened my eyes. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion.

I tried running across the training room as a test. Just a light jog.

WHOOSH.

"Whoa—!"

I didn’t jog. I vanished.

Cutting through the air, my body shot forward like a bullet. I crossed the ten-meter room in a blink.

CRASH!

"Ugh!"

I slammed face-first into the opposite wall before my brain could even tell my legs to stop. I bounced off the stone, landing on my ass.

"I never dreamed I’d become so fast that I couldn’t even control myself..." I gasped, rubbing my bruised forehead. "My Agility must be over 50 right now."

I scrambled to my feet. I looked at the heavy sandbag hanging in the corner. It was reinforced leather, meant to take hits from knights.

I pulled my fist back. No technique. Just raw speed.

BOOM!

The sound was like a cannon shot.

Sand and leather scraps exploded outward, raining down on the floor. I had punched straight through it. The bag was obliterated.

"Holy shit."

I stared at my fist. It was red, but unbroken.

The power was far more than this body could ever conjure naturally. It was clearly superhuman strength. I had temporarily bypassed the limits of humanity.

"Whew..."

I stood there, panting, feeling the power course through me.

Then, at the five-minute mark, it vanished.

It was like a switch had been flipped. The lightness, the strength, the god-like feeling—it all evaporated. My knees buckled, and I slumped to the floor, back to my original, weak self.

"Five minutes, huh?" I noted, checking my mental clock. "For five minutes, I had physical abilities rivaling a High-Ranking Knight."

"Ah..."

A warm sensation tickled my upper lip.

I touched my philtrum. My fingers came away red.

"Nosebleed."

I wiped it away with my sleeve. Even with my improved Mana Resonance and Stamina, I couldn’t decompose 100% of the Recoil Energy. Some of it had damaged my internal capillaries.

Still, I smiled. I only felt exhausted, not on the verge of death like last time.

"The amount of magical power I just put into the Internal Circuit was 100," I analyzed, staring at the ceiling.

"If I input all 1000 of Alex’s maximum magical power, I’d be 10 times stronger... a literal monster."

I shivered, wiping the cold sweat from my brow with a trembling hand.

"But the residual Recoil Energy would also be 10 times greater."

That would literally kill me. My heart would burst like a squeezed tomato before I could even throw a punch. I had to be careful. I had to treat this power like a nuclear reactor—useful, but deadly if mishandled.

After finishing the recoil test and waiting for my heart rate to stabilize, it was time for sword training.

I grabbed a worn wooden sword from the rack. The weight felt familiar yet foreign. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes, and concentrated on the dark, dusty corners of my brain. I reached out to peek into the original Alex’s memories.

Flash.

Like before, the vision took over. It was a sepia-toned memory of a younger Alex, standing in the courtyard, learning the Edelhart Family Swordsmanship from his stern father.

Step. Swing. Parry.

My body moved on its own, mimicking the movements from the memory. My muscles, usually clumsy with a blade, snapped into perfect alignment. My footwork, usually heavy, became light and rhythmic.

An hour later, the ability deactivated.

Clatter.

I dropped the sword, panting heavily. I felt like the swordsmanship had been ingrained into my very marrow. But along with the skill came an unpleasant, sticky sensation in my mind.

Using this ability... it made me feel like I was slowly becoming one with the original owner. Like his ghost was overlaying my soul, whispering his regrets and fears into my ear.

"Ugh. Damn it..."

I paused, gripping my right arm. It throbbed with a dull, heated pain.

I had removed all the bandages earlier because they looked too conspicuous for the upcoming expedition, but the damage from my previous mana overload hadn’t fully healed. My arm and fingers still ached deep in the joints, a constant reminder of my fragility.

"It still hurts," I muttered, flexing my hand until the knuckles cracked. "But the joints feel stable. It won’t dislocate."

I picked up the sword again.

"Two more hours. I can sleep when I’m dead."

*****

By the time I stumbled out of the basement training room, the sun was high in the sky.

I opened the door and found a blockade.

Lily was standing there, arms crossed under her chest—pushing her assets up in a very distracting manner—and tapping her foot on the floorboards. She had a stern, motherly look on her face that promised a lecture.

"What is it, Lily?" I asked, wiping sweat from my neck with a towel.

"Master!" she huffed, her cheeks puffing out. "Why did you go training again? You know how traumatizing your last training session was for me! I found you unconscious and all bloodied! What if something happened to you down there?"

Her eyes were genuinely misty. She was worried. She looked ready to drag me to bed and tie me down "for my own safety."

"Calm down, Lily," I chuckled, stepping into her personal space. The scent of her vanilla perfume mixed with my sweat. "It won’t happen again. Last time was just... a calculation error. An accident."

I walked past her, and as I did, I couldn’t resist.

SMACK.

I delivered a crisp, firm slap to her ass.

"Kya!" Lily jumped, yelping in surprise, her stern facade cracking instantly. Her face turned a delightful shade of pink.

"Prepare the food," I commanded over my shoulder, grinning. "Add more meat. I need protein after all this workout."

Behind me, I heard Lily stammering and puffing her mouth at being brushed off so easily, but the sound of her footsteps hurrying to the kitchen told me she was happy to oblige.

*****

After a massive lunch, I drew a medicinal bath.

I dumped the bags of herbs and monster salts I had bought from the market into the tub. The water turned a murky green and smelled like mint and sulfur.

I sank into it.

"Ahhh..."

The heat seeped into my bones, soothing the ache in my arm and the fatigue from the Recoil usage.

The weekend passed in a blur of grinding.

I spent most of my days alternating between mana meditation and sword drills. And, of course, I did some... vigorous night exercises with Lily to farm Lust Points. We explored the limits of my new Stamina stat until she was begging for mercy (and I was begging for water).

Through the hellish training, my Strength stat had finally grown. It went from a pathetic 4 to a 7. It was now average for a civilian male, though still nowhere near the academy cadets who were naturally blessed with monster genetics.

My Stamina, thanks to the sex and the running, remained superhuman.

But my Mana... that was the real struggle.

I pulled up my status window, frowning at the numbers.

[Status Window]

[Name: Alex Edelhart]

[STR: 7]

[AGI: 8]

[STA: 31]

[MP: 13]

[INT: 34]

[CHARM: 31]

[Mana Resonance: 6]

[Mana Sensitivity: 75]

[Calculation Power: 28]

[Lust Points: 5]

I had invested almost every single point I earned from Lily into Mana. It had increased from 8 to 13.

"I have to thank Lily for her sacrifices," I chuckled darkly. "Her hips took a beating for those points."

But then I scowled at the system interface.

"But I have to curse you, System. You greedy bastard."

The moment my Mana stat crossed the 10-point threshold, the exchange rate had skyrocketed. It went from a reasonable 10:1, to a steep 20:1, and finally... a criminal 100:1.

To get those last 3 points of Mana, I had spent hundreds of Lust Points. It was highway robbery.

"Black-hearted system," I muttered