"Keep running without stopping until I tell you to halt. Keep going!"
With the shout from the devil instructor Harken, over a hundred children began to lap the training ground without pause.
"Huff, huff."
"What the hell? How long are we supposed to run?"
"We've already done over fifty laps. I bet he'll make us do at least a hundred."
The children, panting as they ran, each added a comment while glancing at Harken, who stood on the platform watching them without a hint of emotion.
The devil instructor gazed at the training ground with utterly unshakable eyes and expression.
Faced with his indifferent stare, the expressions of the children repeatedly circling the ground could only harden further.
And then.
Thud, thud.
"What, what?"
"Already caught up?"
Ruin, who had been walking at the very back as if out for a stroll, had suddenly closed in right behind the trailing group.
When the running had first started, the children had surged forward, pouring out all their strength.
This included the leading group with Seron, Maylin, and Selena.
They naturally split into several groups.
Among them, those at the very back.
"Damn, we're screwed."
"This is impossible to catch up. No way."
Feeling self-loathing at their far-lagging pace, they thought things had gone wrong from the very first day of training.
But if there was any consolation for them,
'There's one more guy behind us.'
'He's not even running. No way he'll catch up.'
'At least we're better than the dropout.'
They found some peace in the sight of Ruin, plodding along like he was walking at the absolute rear.
However.
Thud, thud.
One lap, ten laps, twenty laps, and fifty laps.
In the endless hell of running that pushed them to their physical limits.
Those who had expended their stamina from the start inevitably slowed down.
And before they knew it, Ruin, who had been right behind, had caught up to them.
'No, this can't happen.'
'I can't lose to that guy.'
'Grr!'
In the end, they gritted their teeth and began to push themselves even harder.
The distance that had narrowed somehow started to widen again, bit by bit.
But.
[You, is it okay to walk this slowly?]
'What does it matter?'
Ruin shrugged lightly in response.
Soon, his gaze turned toward the platform.
'Retired from the front lines, huh? So he's here doing this?'
Ruin then pulled out information from the memories of No. 1872 that he possessed.
Harken Benwor, known as the devil instructor.
He was once a combat knight of the Northern Sky Linegrime who had achieved tremendous feats.
Extremely single-minded, without gaps, and solely dedicated to fulfilling his duties.
Due to his personality and actions, his peers called him the Stone Monster.
The fame of Stone Monster Harken had reached the point where anyone in the Four Heavens and Nine Provinces would have heard his name at least once.
Now retired from the field and training the next generation.
Yet unchanged from his past self, he mercilessly drove trainees to their extremes without a drop of blood or tears, a mad instructor who squeezed out their potential right up to the brink of mental collapse.
'Thanks to that, I can roughly guess what the training method will be.'
Of course, there had been no direct contact with Stone Monster Harken, but during his life as No. 1872, he had seen and become familiar with the man countless times.
Thus, Ruin understood him better than anyone.
'This isn't just a test to rank us.'
If it was the Stone Monster Harken he knew, the reason for making them do this on the first day of training was very simple.
'Stamina and atmosphere.'
It was a step to check the basic stamina of the newly arrived children.
And a kind of preemptive strike to let them experience firsthand the intensity of the training to come.
'Obvious, really.'
Since No. 1872 had also conducted countless training sessions for new recruits as the head of an organization, the memories and experiences came flooding back.
Figuring out Stone Monster Harken's intent wasn't particularly difficult.
Moreover.
'This much, I can take it easy.'
For Ruin, who retained the experiences of living as a shadow not just in training but for survival, these were easy tasks with no issues at all.
Tap, tap.
Even now, thanks to the energy of
'The kids' atmosphere seems firmly set.'
Soon, Ruin's gaze turned to the other instructors standing at each corner of the training ground, shouting at the children.
"Run faster."
"Hey, don't stop there—keep running!"
The instructors' voices boomed fiercely.
In response, the children, faces flushed red, didn't dare meet their eyes and focused solely on running.
'Planning to assign training based on stamina levels, I see?'
He noticed them repeatedly checking the children's positions and speeds, occasionally marking something down.
Finally, as they passed a hundred laps and approached the two hundredth.
"Heek, heek. I'm dying."
"How long do we have to run? Can't we stop now?"
"I can't run anymore. Just kill me. Kill me!"
"I can't do it either. No, I won't!"
Some gave up running altogether and dropped out.
"W-water. Give me some water."
Thud.
"Ah, ah... My legs won't move."
Children who had been gritting their teeth while running suddenly collapsed as their legs gave out.
Whenever that happened, the instructors dragged out those who gave up midway or dropped out, or took the fallen ones aside.
But still.
Thud, thud.
"Hngh. Nooo."
"Sigh, I'm just giving up."
"Caught up. Grr."
Ruin had overtaken the rearmost group and reached the middle group.
"...."
[Ruin, aren't you tired?]
'Not yet.'
Thanks to the energy of
Moreover, since he had been pacing himself for stamina conservation from the start, he wasn't even breathing heavily, let alone sweating, maintaining his initial appearance as he ran.
In contrast.
"Hoo, hoo."
Seron, leading at the very top, was maintaining steady breathing, but his face and entire outfit were drenched in sweat.
"Hua."
Selena let out light breaths; she wasn't sweating, but her usually jade-like skin was flushed red, unlike normal.
And then.
"Ughhh, haaak. This is insane. How long do we have to run?! Uwaaaaah."
Maylin, running in third place, was ceaselessly spewing curses.
The three of them formed the leading group.
Behind them, about a dozen children including Andrei followed with deathly expressions.
Finally, Ruin, crawling at a near-walking pace but steadily maintaining the same speed as he pursued.
"...."
The devil instructor Harken silently watched from the platform.
It had started with over a hundred, but now fewer than a dozen children were still running on the training ground.
"Is this all for this batch?"
Muttering that, Harken lightly shook his head and soon whispered something to another instructor beside him.
The instructor nodded and took the fallen, dropped-out, and quit children somewhere.
When the three hundredth lap continued.
"Urk!"
"Aaaah. My, my legs...."
Thud, thud!
The trailing group began collapsing one by one, unable to endure any longer.
Even the top leaders.
"Hoooook. Huaak."
Seron's breathing had become far rougher than before, his eyes half-glazed from the pouring sweat.
"Haa, haaaa."
Selena was now starting to sweat a bit.
"...Die, die. Everyone just die."
Maylin was muttering incomprehensible curses.
At that very moment.
Thud!
"Huh?"
Before anyone knew it, Ruin had overtaken all groups and positioned himself right behind Maylin in the top group.
He flashed a grin at the blonde girl Maylin as their eyes met.
"What? Why are you smil—urk?!"
Thump!
Maylin, who had been about to shout something at Ruin, suddenly tangled her legs—perhaps from disrupted breathing—and fell flat on the ground.
"Aaah, damn. I fell because of you, Ruin...."
"Who told you to get distracted?"
Ruin lightly countered Maylin's irritated shout.
Thud, thud!
Leaving her fallen behind, he began advancing forward alone.
Soon.
"Haaa, hooook."
Selena, wiping sweat from her flushed face while breathing heavily.
Thud.
She involuntarily turned her head at the footsteps from behind.
"....?!"
Thud, thud.
She was soon left behind by Ruin, who advanced at a steady pace.
Grit.
Seeing him like that, Selena bit her lower lip hard again and tried to push forward.
"Urk!"
But her legs, already at their limit, no longer obeyed her.
And then.
Thud, thud.
Finally, Ruin lined up with Seron, who had been at the very front.
"You?"
Seron's pupils dilated as he shouted that.
Tap.
But Ruin surged ahead at a completely different speed from before.
"....!"
Tap, tap, tap.
As if he had only been matching pace until now to conserve stamina.
Seron could only stare at Ruin's back in dumbfounded shock as he sprinted away at tremendous speed.
In that moment, as shock and astonishment etched onto everyone's faces.
"Stop!"
Harken's powerful shout, who had held his position firmly, swept across the exhausted training ground.
"It's finally over."
"At last!"
The children muttered in utterly drained voices as they collapsed to the ground.
Along with them.
"Damn it. He really is a devil instructor. That bastard."
Thud.
Maylin, lying on the ground, hurled curses toward Harken on the platform.
Thud.
Thump!
At the same time, Selena and Seron, who had barely held on, also slumped down.
And then.
Boom!
"...Damn."
Seron punched the ground in apparent frustration, frowning.
But unlike them.
"Hoo, that was a bit tough."
Ruin, the only one not sitting down, wiped the sweat from his forehead and exhaled deeply as if refreshed.
Starting from the very back, he now stood alone at the top front.
He turned his head to look at the other trainees collapsed on the ground.
At the same time.
Ding!
You have reached the limit of your stamina.
The effect of the special ability
Consumed stamina is immediately recovered.
Ding.
Due to your perfect body, you transcend the limit.
For breaking through your first physical limit, your physical abilities increase slightly.
Strength increases by 1 point.
Stamina increases by 1 point.
Ruin couldn't help but be a bit surprised by the sudden alert that his physical abilities had risen.
'What, points?'
As he pondered the unexpected and incomprehensible information.
At that moment.
"What the hell are you?"
Maylin, who had crawled over unnoticed, shouted sharply, drawing Selena's gaze from where she rested a short distance away.
"What?"
"You were hiding somewhere all along, then suddenly show up and take first place."
"I just ran according to my stamina?"
"Crazy. Does that even make sense?"
Of course, it didn't make sense logically.
But Ruin had pulled it off right in front of them.
"Whoa, look closer—he didn't even sweat?"
"No, I did."
"Where?"
"Here, can't you see?"
"I can't see at all. You're completely dry. What sweat?!"
Maylin shook her head as she said that, and Ruin subtly lifted his arm to show his side and armpit.
"Look here. It's wet."
"Hey, that's not sweating. Seron, look at him. His clothes are total rags."
Glancing down at Maylin's frowning shout, indeed, as she said, Seron's clothes were a complete mess, tangled with sweat and dust.
At that moment.
"Tch!"
Seron made a strange noise and whipped his head away.
"What's with him?"
As Maylin tilted her head at his behavior.
"The first test is over."
Harken's voice came from the platform.
"Now, I will call the passers. Ruin, Seron, Selena, Maylin, Andrei, Powell, Ayleta, Gern, Sheldon... and Yurik, among others. A total of thirty-two."
The children, sitting on the ground listening to Harken's announcement, soon tilted their heads and began murmuring.
"What?! This was a real test?"
"Ah, crazy. Who does something this insane on the first day? And calls it a test?"
"But only thirty-two passed the first test? What about the rest?"
"I saw one instructor take the dropouts and the collapsed ones somewhere...."
"I have no idea what's going on."
As everyone wore bewildered expressions, unable to comprehend.
"Above, only those who passed the first test have been selected for this training."
"Huh?"
"What does that mean?"
"What happens to the others?"
Amid the children's naturally confused reactions, Harken's resolute shout continued.
"The remaining seventy-nine will be immediately stripped of their Linegrime trainee status, and we plan to reselect personnel through additional tests."
And soon after.
"Of course, you may be eliminated from training based on future test results, so keep that in mind and strive endlessly. That's all for today."
Having delivered only shocking words, Harken descended from the platform and left the training ground with the other instructors.
After the mad sprint, most of the children lay collapsed on the ground, staring at each other with dazed expressions.
"What the...."
"So, does that mean only we here survived?"
In the chaotic situation where no one could easily provide an answer.
'Oh, so it wasn't just for setting the atmosphere?'
[It seems like they intend to keep only the elite.]
'No. For that, there were too many instructors.'
Including the devil instructor Harken, over thirty instructors had shown up.
Ruin nodded, starting to roughly guess what he intended.
'Looks like they're planning to foster competition.'
[Hm? Competition? What do you mean all of a sudden?]
'Just something like that.'
Ruin grinned in response to the sword soul's question.
His gaze was fixed solely on Stone Monster Harken standing on the platform.
The devil instructor known as Harken stood respectfully before someone.
Soon, the mysterious man sitting comfortably in the ornate office chair, reading a report, looked up.
"So, you selected a total of thirty-two?"
"Yes, my lord. The first training center for the 964th class will start with that number."
Reporting the training results to Harken was the sky of the north, the absolute ruler of the Linegrime family.
The Northern Sword Duke, Daemon.
"And the remaining children?"
"As previously discussed, they will be divided into the second and third training centers to begin training. Other instructors will handle the respective centers."
"Hmm, not bad."
Daemon nodded and then asked Harken.
"Any complaints or backlash about the sudden change in training methods starting this year?"
"No, nothing in particular."
"Hah, really? I had a headache convincing some old fogeys, but you got off easy."
"...."
Harken quietly closed his mouth at Daemon's grumbling.
"Thanks to someone, I'm suffering in my later years."
"...It's all for the sake of Linegrime."
But at Daemon's continued words, Harken eventually spoke up.
"Yes, I know. That's why I approved it, isn't it?"
Daemon chuckled and nodded.
The reason for the sudden change in the Linegrime training center's operation this time was simple.
It was due to suggestions and requests from the instructors who actually taught the children.
'Training so many at once in a uniform way is inefficient. We need to educate them differently based on their talents and paces.'
It had been a training center reform proposal discussed for quite a long time, but it was only being implemented starting this year.
As a result, what was originally a single unified training center was now divided into three, equipped with a competition system.
"Joel, what do you think?"
"About what? Are you curious about my opinion on the changed system?"
"No, look here. Ruin. This kid suddenly took first in the test—what do you make of it?"
"Well...."
Joel trailed off slightly, then continued with a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"Seron, Selena, and Maylin also achieved good results one after another. They're all remarkable talents."
"No, that's not what I asked."
Daemon shook his head at the response, and the smile on Joel's lips deepened further.
But soon.
"He must have put in a lot of effort."
"Effort? Running three hundred twenty-seven laps nonstop to take first? And starting from last place to end up the final winner? Is this something achievable with mere effort?"
"It's truly gratifying that the children's talents and efforts are outstanding."
"Sigh, I was a fool for asking."
Daemon grumbled with a clearly unsatisfied expression, and Joel secretly laughed inside as he thought.
'It's certainly unexpected. Clearly, in the ancient artifact [Talent Mirror], he came out purple....'
Continuing that thought, he recalled that his own lord, Northern Sword Duke Daemon, had also been purple.
Soon.
'Could that child's talent really be similar to my lord's?'
Deep in contemplation, he soon whispered in a voice so small no one could hear.
"Perhaps a pretty big bloodbath is coming."
But surprisingly, someone caught his murmur.
Daemon whipped his head around and asked Joel.
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Ah, nothing."
He quickly waved his hands with an awkward expression.
At Joel's reaction, the Northern Sword Duke shook his head once and spoke again.
"So, the real training starts now?"
"Yes, the official schedule begins tomorrow."
At devil instructor Harken's response, Northern Sword Duke Daemon nodded with an intrigued look and muttered.
"Good. From now on, continue reporting separately like this if anything happens."
"Understood."
With those words, devil instructor Harken left the office where Northern Sword Duke Daemon was.
Soon, Daemon scratched his chin with one hand in silence, then suddenly chuckled and muttered.
"Cabel's son took first in the first training test? Ha, really...."
"Come to think of it, young master Cabel also showed overwhelming performance in his first test."
Joel interjected as if just remembering, and Daemon lightly nodded as he spoke.
"Exactly. I don't know if this is like father like son, or if it's fate."
The Northern Sword Duke Daemon spoke ambiguously, but the faint smile on his lips indicated he was in quite a good mood.
Watching him, Joel also smiled faintly and muttered inwardly.
'If you're happy, just say so honestly. He sure hides a lot.'
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T/N:
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