130 – A True Man
I headed to the training ground at the time I promised with Lycan. I didn’t know it when I was taking classes at the training ground, but since I was alone at the training ground, it was quite spacious.
When I checked the watch on the top of the training ground, a lycan appeared with a large box whose contents were not known at the right time. As always, under the clothes, the overbearing size of the muscles was clear.
“Hmm, were you waiting?”
The Lycan arrived at exactly 9:30 as promised. She was elusive to say that if she arrived on time for an appointment, she waited.
“No.”
At my reply, the lycan smiled viciously and set the box down on her floor.
“The content of the bet was that if you placed first in the survival test, you would receive training. Right?”
I nodded at Lycan, who started off with those words. I answered “Yes” To the way he narrowed his eyes, as if I didn’t like that behavior.
“Like you, an inferior student, promised in the survival test, I will train you diligently for a month as promised, as you won first place.”
The word “One month” Raised questions. Summer vacation is about two months. The first training period Lycan told me was during summer vacation, so I had doubts, but I didn’t dare to say it.
Lycan opened the box as if tearing it apart. Inside was the heavy armor worn by knights. From the outside, it seemed quite heavy.
“The first training will be to use this to check your skills.”
I didn’t detail Roel’s training with the Lycans. What my readers wanted was Flavia’s night technique, the first heroine, not Lycan’s.
So I didn’t know in detail which Roel went through what kind of training.
“The test is simple. Wearing this armor, going around the training ground.”
“Is that all?”
As if he had waited for my question, Lycan smiled uneasy.
“Yeah, but let me explain a bit more. Dozens of runes and magics are inscribed on the inside of this armor. It’s hard to explain, so I’ll keep it simple. It makes the wearer extremely painful. End of explanation.”
Is it like a cursed armor? The simple explanation that it was incredibly painful came rather easily.
As I took the armor out of the box and put it on, Lycan asked.
“Do you know what is the most important thing to increase physical strength?”
“… Perseverance, perseverance. Isn’t that what it is?”
He replied curtly, putting on iron shoes. His whole body was heavy. To the point where I had to reflexively shrug my shoulders without even realizing it.
“Yes, they all come from mental power. My training is not about building stamina. It builds mental strength, and stamina comes incidentally during training.”
Lycan had a serious voice, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
It’s mental strength. I was a person with the talent of indomitable courage to work hard without giving up on the goal I had set despite any adversity, temptation, or difficulty.
I was confident in my mental strength.
Lycans seemed to have interpreted my smile in a different way, and there were blood vessels protruding from my forehead.
I said in a hurry, lest there be a misunderstanding.
“I am confident in my mental strength.”
“Yes, you are confident in your mental strength in front of me? Cuck, good Then, put on this armor and look around enough to do the training ground. A man would prove his point, right?”
To the lycan who was biting his lips as if laughing, I spoke as if to provoke him on purpose.
“Please set a clear goal. Later, I saw a lot of people saying different things. How many laps do I have to do before you admit it?”
Lycan was weak against provocation due to his strong pride. As expected, Lycan, who heard my words, laughed like a madman while expelling something like jealousy from his whole body.
“Keuk, good. Is it the first time, about 15 times? If you go around the training ground 30 times, I won’t do this drill.”
Lycan glared at him with fierce eyes as if he would make him regret it for the rest of his life if he did not turn 15 times.
I turned my gaze to the helmet pretending not to know. The reason why I deliberately asked him to set a target as if provoking the Lycan was because of his indomitable courage.
I had to have the exact goal of ‘circling the training ground 30 times’ in order to utilize my indomitable courage.
“Training Field No. 30. We will aim for that.”
While saying that, I put on the last helmet left in the box. The moment I looked at the lycan through the eye sockets of the helmet, I felt a pain as if the armor I was wearing suddenly gripped my whole body.
“Keugh… !”
Some magic flowed from inside the armor. The magical energy that traveled through my blood vessels and spread through my body forcibly awakened the senses throughout my body.
I felt as if the weight of the armor I was wearing had increased dozens of times, and my whole body was being crushed by the stone.
The mere act of lifting my foot felt like the cartilage in my knee was bursting, and the top of my foot felt like it was being smashed with a hammer.
Just breathing to hold back the pain felt like my chest was pressed against the armor and my lungs were pierced with countless needles.
The excruciating pain made me unable to distinguish whether this was a hallucination or something that was actually happening to me.
My head was full of thoughts of pain thanks to the helmet that gave me pain like squeezing my head.
“If you feel like giving up, take off your armor anytime.”
Lycan made a sweet proposal, but I didn’t give up, biting my lip until it bled, and desperately ruminated 30 laps on the training ground.
Amid the blurred vision of pain, the message I had been waiting for finally came to my mind.
[ Indomitable Courage is activated. ]
The pain I felt all over my body went away in an instant. I am aware that pain exists, but it is buried in my will to move on without fail.
I don’t know if this is real courage. I just long for the goal I set, get angry, and become endlessly greedy.
Move your steps. The pain that was getting away from that act is approaching, but now even that can’t stop my greed.
***
As he watched Ross circle the training ground, Lycan’s face hardened. Even for the first time, he couldn’t keep his balance and showed great hesitation about taking a step.
Lycan, who went from expectation to disappointment in just 10 seconds, soon had to change disappointment to surprise again.
Ross’ momentum changed as he took a step forward. Like a knight prepared to die, nothing changed on the outside, but he noticed a change on the inside.
It was a much slower pace than average. Even the stride length is short. But because of that, Lycan felt a strange tickle in her chest.
That slow pace, knowing that there is no fear or hesitation anywhere, somehow moves through the hallucination magic that inflicts dozens of times the pain… Instinctively, I knew that only indomitable will remained.
“What kind of mental strength is this….”
After watching Ross move her steps for hours, Lycan’s face became full of admiration, and she muttered involuntarily.
Roel, the older brother of Ross and the only one he recognized at the academy, was having a hard time training. I honestly didn’t expect Ross to be able to pull it off.
Lycan also acknowledged that Ross grew the most during his first year. However, when viewed objectively, I thought Ross was far behind Roel in almost every way.
But Ross moved on. He is slower than anyone else, but he does not stop and advances without hesitation.
Ross is able to make even the 4th grade senior pass out after going around the training ground 5 times, unable to bear the pain.
Lycan looked at Ross, who was circling the training ground with a stupid face. The words he had once said flashed into his mind.
“Did you get special admission thanks to Roel? What the hell is the principal thinking…”
Lycans aren’t talented enough to get Ross into the academy, she thought.
She’s actually grown remarkably, but if you ask Ross if she has any talent to shine, like Roel, you’ll just tilt her head.
Unlike Roel, who visibly improved with each lesson as if he had attained enlightenment, Ross’ spearmanship was still below average compared to his efforts.
He was so sure that if he held the spear to another student, he would catch up quickly.
Ross is hopelessly untalented. But he has grown more than anyone else. At that contradiction, Lycan let out her drool.
While immersed in thoughts of Lycan, she finally stood in front of Lycan after Ross circled the training ground for the last time.
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No matter how many times he fell, Ross said, breathing heavily as if his whole body was shaking with a dusty appearance.
“… I did it, I did it.”
With a voice full of a sense of accomplishment, Lycan supported the collapsing Ross.
The helmet was removed so that he could breathe easily, revealing Ross’s face, stained with saliva and blood. How much he bit his lip, all his lips were bursting.
At that sight, Lycan felt as if someone was squeezing his heart.
She found out too late that the feelings she felt were the same proudness and admiration she felt when she saw her lovely nephew.
Feeling awkward that she felt that way, Lycan scratched her forehead and looked at the stunned Ross. Suddenly, a flash flashed in her mind.
The reason why Ross, who had no talent, was able to grow. She said it was simple. He worked harder than anyone else until his lips burst like they are now.
Roth’s mental strength was so great that he could be compared to Roel’s. With that mental strength, he did not give in to his trials, but overcame them and grew up.
“I-I saw it wrong again. Your determination to surpass your hopeless talent… ! I didn’t understand your sincerity in asking me to train you.”
Lycan shed hot tears. She finally found She is the only student who wanted herself that everyone was reluctant to… !
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No, you can call me a disciple now. Lycan thought she would pass on everything she had to Ross.
Her thick tears ran down her chin and dripped down Ross’ face, but she didn’t know that Lycan was moved by Ross.
“I admit it. That you are a real man… !!!”
He let out a huge roar of joy with all his might, so that everyone in the academy could know his joy.
“Ross~!!!!!”
***
“Oh, f*ck.”
I couldn’t help but swear without even realizing it. It was good to use indomitable courage, but it seems that the body, which was forced to move with will, could not withstand the limit.
Looking at the small orbs that fell like hailstones, I realized that the battle continuation penalty had been triggered. Somehow, halfway through, my body felt lighter… It must have been because of the continuation of the battle.
Fortunately, there were fewer marbles than last time, and I had a knack for picking them up.
Seriously thinking about whether I should stop training, just as I was about to pick up the beads, for some reason, something like rain suddenly fell in a cloudless space.
“What?”
When I licked the rain on my lips, it tasted salty like tears for some reason.
Involuntarily, I furrowed my brows in an unpleasant feeling. It was a creepy feeling.
For some reason, I felt like running away.