Chapter 1

[Wall Maria - Near Trost District]

"Soldiers! Split up!" a man on horseback shouted at the top of his lungs.

At his command, the group of hundreds of men and women quickly broke into their designated formations.

From a bird's-eye view, the coordination of their movements would be astonishing. The precision and discipline displayed were the results of countless briefings and rigorous training sessions, a testament to their dedication and skill.

The group continued their advance eastward, heading toward the "Forest of Giant Trees". They maneuvered deftly as they avoided the huge humanoid monsters on their way.

...

[Wall Maria - Near Karanese District]

Amidst the towering trees of the Forest of Giant Trees, the massive, motionless body of a Titan lay sprawled on the ground. What set this Titan apart was the rugged, conjoined leathered skin of animals it wore. The sheer number of hides required to cover such an enormous area, layered twenty times thick, was staggering.

Upon closer inspection, this "Titan" had short grey hair and a grey beard covering his jaw. Even in this vulnerable position, with the back of his head resting on his arms and his feet stretched out comfortably, he exuded an intimidating presence unlike any other Titan. His immense body was a marvel, with muscles resembling carved rock that suggested both immense strength and surprising agility.

Adding to his imposing appearance, a collection of massive handmade weapons lay at the foot of one of the trees: a spear, a dagger, a bow and arrow, and an axe. Each weapon was crafted from the trunks of giant trees and enormous boulders, bound together by thick, handmade ropes with a diameter of half a foot.

Just from these descriptions, it was clear that this Titan was an Abnormal. So abnormal, in fact, that it was capable of craftsmanship, much like a human. This ability to create and use weapons made it an immense threat to the remaining human population within the walls.

The Titan opened its eyes, revealing deep blue irises. Seeing the morning sun filtering through the trees, it lifted its body and stood up. It then performed a series of strange poses, stretching its muscles. Compared to the other Titans that had also awakened and were now passing by, this one was noticeably taller and larger. Standing at a height of about 20 meters, its limbs were almost one-third the width of the giant trees that even made the other Titans look like normal-sized humans in comparison.

The Titan arched its back and opened its arms wide, unleashing a deafening roar that echoed throughout the forest. Lowering its body and leaning forward, it charged toward a tree with the speed and force of a bull. In a single leap, it covered the distance with insane speed, defying expectations given its massive weight.

Upon making contact with the tree with its shoulder, the tree shuddered from the impact. The Titan then hugged the tree, and although its arms couldn't fully encircle the massive trunk, they were sufficient for what it was about to do.

The Titan began squeezing the tree trunk with all its strength, causing it to crack and splinter, scattering shards everywhere. Within seconds, the tree was crushed by its immense power, toppling to the ground and crushing an unfortunate Titan beneath it.

After that, the Titan twisted its body clockwise and lifted its right foot. The heel of its foot made contact with another tree, completely snapping the trunk in half.

As the Titan prepared to launch another strike at the unfortunate trees, it heard the sound of galloping horses approaching its location.

With its keen eyesight and elevated vantage point, the Titan spotted figures clad in green cloaks, sporting peculiar devices at their waists. Despite having roamed the forest for a week, it was the first time encountering these individuals.

"ScoUtS?" The titan mumbled to itself. "FiNAlLy, AfTER WaNDERiNg FOr 6 MOnthS oUtSide ThE WalLs..."

These words revealed that the Titan possessed not only abnormal physical abilities but also the capacity for communication.

//Flashback - 8 months ago//

He had been peacefully sleeping in his bed when suddenly he found himself thrust into a world of fiction he had only watched on screen. In an instant, he became a towering, 18-meter Pure Titan. Fortunately, upon assuming this new form, he gained control and access to the memories of the Titan's original owner.

'What the hell?' he thought to himself, surveying his skinny, emaciated body. His skin clung tightly to his bones, devoid of any visible muscle mass. He struggled to maintain his balance, his massive frame unable to stand upright for long before collapsing to the ground.

Ever since that day, he wandered around Paradis Island, searching for the walls that protected humanity. It took him two months just to locate them, a journey that likely would have taken other Titans only a day or two by following the horde.

However, during his exploration, he discovered that his body had become disproportionate. His lower body now possessed slightly more muscle mass than before, although he remained skinny overall.

Three weeks later, after circling around, he stumbled upon a hole in one of the outer districts that serves to lure the Titans. However, fearing the blades of the "monsters" within the walls, he chose to remain outside, hesitant to risk his own safety.

Then, he began his experiments. Without any rest, he subjected his muscles to intense bodyweight exercises from sunrise, only stoping during sunset since the sun being the only source of energy for Pure Titans like him. Before long, he intensified his routine by incorporating giant boulders into his regimen.

Sure enough, his theory was correct. The insane regenerative abilities of his body healed his torn muscles each day. After two months, he had transformed into a completely different Titan, his physique now powerful and well-defined.

'Tsk, this is not enough. At this point, I would just be killed by Reiner. The size of my body is literally stopping me from making progress. If I just mindlessly continue to increase my muscle mass, although I might become stronger than his Titan form, I would be an easy target for the armored train or other heavy artillery because of my speed. Unless...' and that's when it clicked for him.

At this point, he had already maximized the potential of his current body, achieving a balance of strength and agility. The solution he had in mind was to increase the length of his bones so they could support more muscle mass directly attached to them. This would allow him to add muscle without compromising other aspects of his physique, maintaining proper body proportions.

To achieve this, he devised a method of breaking his bones in half, creating a gap between the ends, and allowing them to heal, thus generating more bone tissue in between. However, this was no easy feat. Every time he dismembered a limb using a sharp dagger he had crafted, the disconnected limbs would decay and turn into smoke before they could be reattached.

So, he pushed the idea to the back of his mind and decided to search for the sharpest blades he could think of—the ones used by the Island Devils. It didn't take him long to find intact blades near Wall Maria, where many of the scouts had met their end.

After that, he continued his experiments on a Titan during the nighttime, when it lacked the strength to heal immediately. He precisely sliced its shin bone without completely dismembering it by first skinning it and avoiding the major blood vessels, a process that took him a week to grasp. This delicate operation was challenging to perform with his dagger alone.

He then carefully inserted a rock between the split bones, pushing them apart without damaging important vessels. When the sun rose a few hours later, the Titan initially seemed able to walk normally. However, after taking a few steps, its bones broke. Although the bones healed to their new length after he cut off the broken limb, they broke again under the Titan's weight. He concluded that the increased length was too much for the bones to support, especially since the Titan hadn't developed the necessary muscles to handle its new proportions.

Two months passed as he continued his experiments, adjusting the length of the gaps in consideration of the bone girth, physique, and height of the Titan.

Through these experiments, he discovered that the stress on the bones depended on the load they carried (the mass of the Titan) and the structural dimensions of the bones (the original height and circumference). He found that the strength of a bone is proportional to its cross-sectional area, and the maximum elongation length is inversely proportional to the Titan's mass and height.

This meant that to successfully increase bone length without compromising structural integrity, he had to carefully balance the proportions, ensuring the bones could support the added weight and muscle mass.

It was a straightforward and obvious discovery, but the challenge lay in figuring out how the elongation length changed in consideration of all those varying factors, especially without reliable measuring tools. This complexity made the process time-consuming, requiring meticulous trial and error to balance the bone length with the Titan's mass and height.

//Flashback Ends//

It's been a month since he began experimenting on himself once again, gradually increasing his height and wingspan by 2 meters. Since then, he had been exterminating Titans on his own within Wall Maria.

Now, he finally felt confident that he had adapted to his new size and bodyweight.

'So this is the advantage of being a Pure Titan. The Titan Shifters couldn't possibly do this since once they transform back to human, all their progress vanishes. But for me, I'm a Titan 24/7. I'm not residing in the nape because my Titan body is my human body transformed,' he thought to himself as he began advancing toward the group of people, waving his massive axe to any Titans he encounters.

...