Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Training Camp's Greatest Slacker
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Huff…… Huff……
Kak! Grrr, hrrgh!
Mana depleted. Stamina depleted. And yet the instructors kept forcing the trainees to run.
“Get up! You there! This time, run to that flag over there!”
They’d finally succeed at group running, only to be told to run back to the starting point. Even when trainees dragged each other along or crawled to the goal, they’d be sent right back to where they started.
Amid all that, the same sabotage kept happening—shoves and trips to stop them from running.
At some point, incomprehensible roars started spilling from the trainees’ mouths instead of breaths.
‘This isn’t right……!’
Kang Geohan realized something was wrong.
‘This isn’t training! It’s forced labor! The kind that makes Egyptian pyramid slaves look tame……!’
It was true for muscles, and it was true for demonic essence. Blindly pushing didn’t make you grow.
The moment you crossed a certain limit, training efficiency plummeted, slowing recovery and stunting growth even more!
And yet the instructors showed no sign of stopping the abuse.
“Gigants are gods that dominate the battlefield. But look at you lot! Are you battlefield gods? Can’t even handle your own weight, and you call yourselves Gigant riders?!”
Raphael White sneered viciously at the trainees crawling on the ground. But he didn’t stop at sneering—he stomped on their Gigants, kicked their cockpits, and made them vomit.
Kang Geohan could see it clearly now.
‘This isn’t training. It’s selection.’
Some people existed who grew stronger under extreme stress that would break anyone else.
“Get up! Pain that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! You’re not dying! Get up and run!”
Kang Geohan shook his head. Raphael was lying. What lingered after near-death agony was usually long-lasting trauma and all sorts of ailments.
‘But…… there are those rare few who break through even that and come out stronger.’
The kind people crudely called “strong from the get-go.”
‘Abuse to filter for those born tough…… Is that what this is……?’
Kang Geohan couldn’t approve of the method.
‘Endless cardio when they should be building demonic essence……!’
The path to transcendent, godlike power through demonic essence was clear as day to him, but the instructors were forcing the opposite route.
‘I can’t stand it.’
Kang Geohan lifted his head. He saw trainees fainting one by one, being dragged away.
The instructors hurled curses at their backs.
“Don’t come back, you loser bastards!”
“Go sleep it off! We’re not stopping you.”
They wouldn’t score well.
‘Scores are based on four categories: endurance, breakthrough, adversity, attitude.’
Strictly speaking, the trainees being dragged out now wouldn’t get good marks in endurance, which measured combat sustainability.
‘But scoring over 80 in the others gives bonus points to make up for it.’
Kang Geohan gritted his teeth.
Take the safe path to graduation?
Or risk it all for maximum demonic essence growth?
The answer was decided.
Building muscle was science, not grit!
Demonic essence was the same.
‘Change of strategy.’
He could endure to the end if he wanted. But he wouldn’t. He’d skip the small snack for a feast later.
‘No. Not giving up—aiming higher.’
His calculations showed he could still graduate that way.
Target: 90 or full 100 in breakthrough, which tested individual combat ability, and adversity, which gauged handling tough opponents.
‘Meaningless abuse? Pass.’
Kang Geohan held out just long enough until about fifteen trainees remained, then cut sync with his Gigant.
Boom!
Not a careful disengage—he let it crash down like a power failure, knees buckling.
backlash sent divine fluid surging up. Kang Geohan didn’t force it down; he let it flow naturally from his mouth and closed his eyes.
—……Huh?
Raphael White spotted him first. He’d been watching Kang Geohan the whole time anyway.
—Hey. You’re joking, right?
Raphael White goggled in disbelief, stomped over, and kicked Kang Geohan’s cockpit.
Bang! Wham wham!
Kang Geohan’s Gigant flopped backward like a puppet with cut strings.
A few instructors rushed in, pried open the hatch, and dragged out Kang Geohan, his mouth stained with stomach acid.
Raphael White stared at the whole scene in a daze, like he was dreaming.
“……He passed out?”
The trainee who’d knocked him down in the entrance test, the one who’d held out alone in the first official training—passed out here?
Impossible.
* * *
Dragged to the infirmary, Kang Geohan slept soundly for about an hour before waking.
‘Perfect. Muscles grow during rest, and demonic essence is no different.’
[Demonic Essence: 204 pindem]
Proving it, just one hour’s rest had increased his demonic essence by 1 pindem compared to before training.
‘Gaining essence even after that grind…… Incredible mana talent too.’
A body that grew despite near-abusive overwork. It far exceeded the camp’s selection standards.
That’s why Kang Geohan couldn’t follow their idiotic regimen.
‘With a proper schedule, this body could grow three or four times faster……!’
A thick smile crept across his face as he rose. He’d skipped the nonsense training—now all that was left was chowing down on dark mana and resting up.
Right as he was slipping out of the infirmary, a deep, steady baritone rang out.
“Smiling, are we? What’s so funny?”
He turned. Kaltz stood there, arms crossed, glaring.
‘Here it comes.’
He’d planned to awe Kaltz, but ended up shocking him instead.
“I said surprise me, but I didn’t expect this kind of shock…….”
Kaltz sounded utterly baffled. But there was no helping it now.
“Wait just a bit. Just a little.”
He’d sacrifice endurance and attitude scores to max out demonic essence growth.
Kang Geohan reaffirmed his resolve, brushed past Kaltz, and left the infirmary.
“Back to the training field?”
Kaltz called after him.
Apparently, trainees who’d passed out before him (though he hadn’t actually fainted) woke up and returned to training right away. Probably for attitude points. But.
Kang Geohan grinned.
“Off to eat and sleep.”
It was time to build demonic essence. Using his full-body mirror ability to feed every bit of monster meat straight to it already had his mouth watering.
“Hah…….”
Kaltz gaped at his retreating back.
What the hell was he thinking? Utterly incomprehensible. Same thought as always.
* * *
Two weeks passed.
Problem child of the selection camp Kang Geohan was, as usual, skipping training moderately and chowing down on monster meat in the aerial cafeteria.
Thud! Boom!
From the cafeteria overlooking everything below, today’s abuse in the mobility training field was on full display.
Gigantic Gigants running, getting hit, rolling—it was a spectacle that whetted the appetite like a sports match.
Sizzle—
Chomp. Chew chew. Chomp. Chew chew.
Kang Geohan ate heartily. While overlooking his suffering peers.
“……Can you even swallow with them watching?”
Uncle Davis glanced around nervously.
“I feel like I’ll choke. They’re all staring at you like you’re pathetic.”
“Instead of worrying about that, take another bite. You know you’re training with me later, right?”
“Urgh…….”
“You’re a squire at least. Gotta have some basic combat ability.”
Davis nodded glumly and buried his face back in the monster meat, munching away.
But he kept sneaking glances around anyway.
In those two weeks, the way people looked at Kang Geohan had changed a lot.
From promising genius to hopeless slacker.
Kang Geohan didn’t care. All he focused on was efficient training, rest, and proper nutrition.
Watching his demonic essence guzzle the dark mana he’d just eaten via full-body mirror ability left him satisfied, nothing to envy in the world.
Thanks to that, his demonic essence exploded in growth again.
[Demonic Essence: 287 pindem]
Over 8 pindem a day on average—an absurd rate.
Considering growth slowed as demonic essence increased, it was even more ridiculous. A miracle from the full-body mirror ability. That faith let him gladly wear the slacker label.
Chew chew, gulp.
Finishing his meal, Kang Geohan stood.
“Alright, let it digest a bit, then evening self-training.”
Having demolished a mountain of monster meat, he cleared his spot and rose.
Whispers followed him out of the cafeteria.
“Wow…… he’s off to rest now?”
“Never seen a dropout that blatant…….”
“Yeah, they don’t touch dropouts since it’s selection, but no one lounges that openly—too embarrassing.”
“Why bother? If he’s quitting, just head to knight training camp already.”
A torrent of scorn and criticism.
Kang Geohan strode on like he didn’t hear, but Davis trailing behind cringed like the jabs were aimed at him.
Back in his personal tent for a short rest, Kang Geohan handed Davis a thumb-sized demonic essence stone and ordered squats.
Then he dove into his own training.
First focus: core.
Abs and lower back. Training to strengthen the core linking limbs.
Fwoosh! Hiss……
“If anyone saw this, they’d curse you three times harder…….”
Davis wasn’t exaggerating.
Kang Geohan lay with an apple-sized demonic essence stone on his belly, inhaling deeply to puff it out, then slowly exhaling just air.
Anyone who knew fitness would think, “Oh, diaphragm training. Gotta build intra-abdominal pressure to lift heavy and prevent injury.” But to others, it was just lying down breathing.
Still, Kang Geohan did the apparently lazy drill with utmost seriousness.
‘Demonic essence has traits by body part.’
Something he’d learned.
Training core demonic essence boosted overall physical stats and stabilized mana control.
Like how a strong core let you handle weight better.
Thus.
Core was the starting point.
Kang Geohan used his full-body mirror ability to observe the thickening demonic essence around his navel, smiling contentedly.
How long had he focused?
“What’s this? Skipping training, thought you were doing some amazing secret workout—breathing exercises?!”
Loen Yellow flipped open the tent flap and barged in. With news.
“Not the time. Personal evals are announced! Instructors and everyone are gunning for you!”
Time for the evaluation to check growth so far.
“Fail the standards, and you’re out—dropout mission!”
Worry etched Loen Yellow’s face.