Chapter 89. Training is Supposed to be Hard (1)

The students of the Academy’s Knight Faculty stared at the scene before them in horror.

The corner of the training ground where Patrick and Matthew always trained.

One more person had been added there.

“Look at your legs trembling. If you’re not going to do it properly, quit.”

“Ugh…. Uuuuu…”

It was Isabella.

At Patrick’s words, she forced her trembling legs to straighten, as if to say she would never do that.

A pain like her thighs were on fire and sweat pouring down her whole body like rain.

It was a pain she had never experienced before in her life.

“Ahem? Trying to use aura again?”

“Aaaaaaaahk!”

Isabella, who had always maintained a cool and detached demeanor, screamed.

And she looked at Patrick with pitiful eyes and said.

“You…. It’s too hard. This is…”

Welling tears.

Pitiful eyes.

A faint, dying voice.

This was the first time in Isabella’s life that she had pleaded with a man with such a pitiful gaze. But…

“Training is supposed to be hard. Where are you trying to find an easy way out? You think training is a joke?”

“……”

You have to say it to someone who will listen.

The fact that the words themselves were right made it all the more sorrowful.

Beside her, Matthew was holding out with a look that said he could still manage, but he had a very apologetic expression.

‘Princess, why did you have to bring this suffering upon yourself?’

He was doing this because he had no other choice, but why was the princess, the top student of the third year?

“What in the world is going on?”

“I don’t know either. Why? The Princess…”

“Don’t tell me she’s learning from Patrick now?”

“Crazy, the Princess is a third-year, isn’t she?”

“That’s true, but…”

The first-years still couldn’t believe their eyes as they watched Matthew and Isabella being trained by Patrick.

In fact, they could understand Matthew being trained by Patrick.

Although the training itself was just ignorant physical conditioning, it was Matthew, who was clearly the weakest among the first-years, who was receiving it.

Although it was training that was almost 99 percent close to bullying, it was still possible for the weak to receive training from the strong.

But Isabella was a different story.

She was a third-year.

And not just any third-year, but the top student.

For her to be trained by Patrick, a first-year, meant something very different.

‘Don’t tell me…. that guy is stronger than the Princess?’

‘How can a first-year…’

‘Then was it real that he caught the third-year, Zordic Panola?’

‘Is he that strong? Strong enough for the top third-year student to ask for his teachings?’

In fact, it’s a bit late to say this now, but the first-years didn’t know how strong Patrick was.

Of course, they thought he was probably quite strong.

As soon as he enrolled, he had beaten Roist, a notable talent among the first-years, as if playing with him, and after that, he had also beaten the third-year, Zordic Panola.

There was even a strange rumor that Zordic Panola had lost even after using his family’s heirloom, Isis.

Since it was an absurd story, the first-years didn’t believe it.

But they did guess that Patrick was strong enough for such a rumor to circulate.

They even thought that he might be the strongest among the first-years. But…

“If even Princess Isabella, the top third-year student, is asking for his teachings like that, just how strong is he?”

“No, wait a minute, does that even have anything to do with swordsmanship? It’s just physical training, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. What meaning does physical training have for us who use aura?”

“That’s wrong. If you could get stronger just by physical training like that, then soldiers should be stronger than knights.”

They were passionately debating Patrick’s skill and what meaning the ignorant physical training they were seeing before their eyes had.

And Patrick heard it all.

‘Idiots…’

Physical training has no meaning?

You can just strengthen your body with aura?

‘That’s why you lot are in that state.’

Patrick smiled bitterly.

Of course, Patrick didn’t think that training the body was a panacea.

But the reason Patrick was having Matthew and Isabella train their bodies by placing heavy pouches on them and making them do the Horse Stance until their legs trembled was for one thing.

Harmony.

By strengthening the body using qi, one can exert physical abilities that surpass muscular strength.

That was a clear fact.

But if you ask if training the body is meaningless, that’s a foolish statement.

Raising one’s physical abilities using qi is, by all means, strengthening. It is not creating something from nothing, but strengthening the existing foundation of the body.

Naturally, if that foundation is good, one can exert greater power with less force.

To be lazy in that and think that only the training of aura is the answer is extremely inefficient.

In fact, he could somewhat understand why they came to think this way.

‘They’re complacent.’

Patrick suddenly opened his qi sense and felt the surrounding qi.

It was filled with a high density of pure qi from Mother Nature, several times greater than in the Central Plains.

In other words, those who cultivated aura here were like cultivating internal energy in a state of having obtained a fortuitous encounter in the Central Plains.

That’s why it was relatively easy to cultivate aura.

The reason why some people could reach the 7-star realm, even though the aura blessing of this world was not that high-level and the understanding of acupoints was almost at rock bottom, was thanks to this concentration of qi.

Because they could easily accumulate aura in this blessed environment, the overall study of martial arts had fallen far behind.

‘Tsk, do you think you’d understand if I explained how important the harmony of Essence, Qi, and Spirit is to you? It would be easier to catch a passing troll and teach it the Hundred Steps Divine Fist.’

In the end, there was only one choice Patrick could make.

[If I say do it, you do it!]

Just make them do it.

To match the harmony of qi and spirit, train the lagging body and forcefully create harmony.

Of course, the effect would be less than if they were training with an awareness of the purpose, but at least the balance could be established.

“So there’s a reason why I’m making you do this high-pressure training.”

“What… do you mean?”

“Oh, look at our Matthew having some leeway? You’ve improved a lot, haven’t you?”

“Hehehe…”

“Then let’s add more weight.”

“Yaaaaaaaa!”

Patrick nonchalantly smiled as he added more sandbags to Matthew’s shoulders.

And the results of whether Patrick’s training method was effective or not could be seen right away.

Because the grade evaluation test was about to begin.

The Knight Faculty’s test was held twice a year.

The mid-term evaluation held before the vacation.

The year-end evaluation that determined whether one would repeat the year or be promoted.

Between these two tests, the more important one was, of course, the year-end evaluation.

If you failed here, you couldn’t be promoted to the next grade and had to repeat the year, so it was a matter of course.

Does that mean the mid-term evaluation isn’t important?

That’s not it.

Students who fail to meet a certain standard in the mid-term evaluation have to go home.

In other words, they are expelled.

In fact, about a third of the first-years fail to overcome the wall of this mid-term evaluation and return home.

Naturally, the students were well aware of the importance of this test and prepared for it with all their might. And…

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m… I’m-I’m-I’m… o…kay.”

“You don’t look okay at all.”

“……”

A trembling voice, a restless expression, a body that trembled ceaselessly as if standing naked in the dead of winter.

The person displaying all the typical characteristics of a nervous person was none other than Matthew.

Isabella approached Matthew and said.

“Cheer up.”

“Prin… Princess.”

“You can do it.”

“…Yes. Yes.”

Matthew nodded his head as if he was overwhelmed with gratitude. Patrick said to Isabella.

“Aren’t you taking the test, Senior?”

“The top student of the grade is exempt from the mid-term evaluation.”

“Ooooh, there’s a privilege like that? Maybe I should try to become the top student too.”

Patrick spoke as if he could become the top student of the Academy anytime he wanted.

In fact, it wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t, but…

‘How annoying.’

Isabella looked at Patrick with a sullen expression.

It’s always annoying when a good student acts relaxed before a test.

Anyway, Patrick was fine.

In the one-in-a-million chance he failed the test, he was the kind of person who would get promoted even if he had to grab a professor by the collar.

The important one was Matthew.

For the promotion of Matthew, with whom she had undergone Patrick’s harsh training for a short time, Isabella said.

“I will be observing. Then there will be no unfairness.”

“Ah…. Ah…. Yes. Thank you.”

“All that’s left is your skill.”

“Yes. …Thank you.”

Isabella let out a sigh.

No matter how she looked at it, he was too nervous. At this rate, wouldn’t he be unable to display even the skills he had?

“Will he be okay?”

“He’ll be fine. He’ll be fine.”

“Really?”

“What’s the use of him not being fine now?”

“……”

That was true.

While they were chatting like that, the professors entered the training ground and said.

“All first-years, assemble!”

At that command, Patrick, Matthew, and the other first-years lined up in front of the professors, and Isabella moved to the spectator seats.

The professors said to the lined-up first-years.

“We will now begin the mid-term evaluation. The test content is a 10-person duel.”

As the content of the test was revealed, the first-years stirred. And the professor’s explanation continued.

“There will be a total of 10 duels. As a result, those with more losses than wins will be considered to have failed.”

At the professor’s words, the first-years murmured.

It meant that they had to fight ten times and win at least five times to avoid expulsion. That meant…

‘Half of us might get eliminated.’

‘This year’s test is even harsher.’

‘Luck will be important too.’

Having to duel 10 times in a row meant that they were evaluating stamina as well as skill.

If you met a strong opponent in the beginning and used up your strength, the later stages could become difficult. So, it was advantageous to be matched with a weaker opponent if possible.

In an instant, the eyes of all the first-years turned to one person.

“Ugh…”

Matthew unknowingly flinched his shoulders at the gazes pouring down on him.

It felt as if he had been thrown alone into a pack of wolves.

He could feel all too clearly that his classmates were looking at him as an easy sacrifice for one win.

“Shoulders back. Head up.”

“Patrick…”

“Tsk, if you lose the battle of wills, the actual fight becomes difficult too. Pretending to be strong is also a skill.”

“How is that a skill…”

Seeing the grumbling Matthew, Patrick let out a small sigh.

‘Well, you do need at least a fundamental basis to bluff.’

Matthew’s most serious weakness was his lack of confidence.

In fact, he had entered the Academy through a huge donation, and his skills were the weakest among the first-years.

So, it was understandable that he lacked confidence.

‘He’ll get better once he gets results with his own strength.’

In the end, what was needed at times like this was not the encouragement that easily came from others’ mouths.

What was needed was a victory achieved with his own hands.

The test began.

The center of the training ground that everyone usually used together was cleared, and the first-years went up one by one to begin their duels.

“Haaaaaat!”

“Uwaaaaaat!”

Clack! Clack-clack-clack!

Wooden swords clashed violently as the two first-year students fiercely aimed for each other’s openings.

Since both had reached the 2-star level, they enhanced their physical abilities and showed a level of strength and speed that ordinary people could not display. However…

“Their posture is a mess.”

“The lack of practical experience is showing. The movement of their central axis is slow.”

“Their penetration is also too passive. That’s not being cautious, it’s being timid.”

In the eyes of the professors, all the weaknesses of such first-year students were visible.

In fact, by common sense, those who had reached the 2-star level at a young age were talented, but in the eyes of the professors who cultivated the talents of the Academy, they were nothing more than ordinary.

“Chaaaat!”

Claaaack!

In the end, one of them swung strongly, and the wooden sword of the retreating one flew high into the sky.

And as the victory and defeat were decided, the winner smiled in relief and the loser went down with a frustrated expression.

And the professor pointed to the next opponent.

“Matthew, Butler Bering, come up.”

“Yes!”

“Yeeeees.”

A strong voice and a sound like a bleating goat were heard.

It was the voice of Matthew, whose throat had cracked from extreme tension.

“Woooow…. Lucky.”

“Got a freebie.”

“Too bad. I should have gone.”

The other first-years looked at the scene and envied the first-year named Butler.

They also wanted to fight Matthew, the easiest opponent.

And Butler also had a wide smile on his face.

‘Keeuuu, I get to enjoy such luck because I live a good life. Thank you, Yupinel.’

The two faced each other and raised their wooden swords.

“Both of you, fight fair and square according to the code of chivalry. Greet each other!”

Following the professor’s command, Butler and Matthew greeted each other. And…

“Begin!”

As soon as the start signal was given, Butler charged forward menacingly.

‘Sorry, but let’s end this quickly.’

To get through all ten duels, it was also important to reduce stamina consumption.

He had no particular ill feelings towards Matthew, but he thought it was better to deal with him quickly.

A sharp diagonal slash flying towards Matthew’s left shoulder as he moved forward.

Butler was confident of success. But…

Claaaack!

‘Oh, he blocked it?’

Butler was slightly surprised to see Matthew block his wooden sword.

Had he looked down on him too easily?

He didn’t expect him to block his attack. But it was fine. If their wooden swords had met, he could now just overwhelm him with the difference in strength.

“Here I gooo!”

With a powerful battle cry, Butler’s aura hall spread throughout his body, adding strength to his body.

In that state, Butler should have pushed Matthew with all his might and cornered him in the training ground… but.

“Huh?”

It was strange.

Even though he was pushing with all his might, Matthew’s wooden sword was not pushed back at all.

No, on the contrary…

Creeeak, creak…

He gradually added more strength, and it was Butler’s wooden sword that was being pushed back.

“Keeuk…. You…”

“…Huh?”

Butler, who was gritting his teeth and exerting strength, saw it in that moment.

The dazed expression of Matthew, who was looking at this situation as if he couldn’t believe it more than anyone else.

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