Chapter 13
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: A Gigant is Flying
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A Gigant was flying.
“Huh...?”
Kaul, who had been watching from a distance, gaped in astonishment. The reactions of the other cadets around him were no different.
Whooooosh—!
Even May, who had been dozing off until just before, was staring at the two giants—each weighing dozens of tons at least—flying through the sky.
KABOOM!
The flight, which had seemed eternal, ended with a thunderous crash.
Chloe stared blankly at the enemy Gigant.
The one piloting it was a first-year. A total rookie who had only been enrolled for two days.
“Ha, haha.”
Unable to grasp the reality of it, she let out an involuntary laugh.
The others were just as stunned by the surreal scene.
Regaining his composure like a proper instructor, Kaul put on a serious expression.
“Am I dreaming?”
* * *
Fortunately, the damage wasn’t severe.
A Miles-grade Gigant wasn’t so flimsy that a single body slam would shatter it, so both Abel and Chloe inside remained unscathed.
Once the situation had been roughly sorted out, Abel spoke with Kaul.
Kaul looked utterly bewildered at a glance.
“No, from there... Sigh.”
As an instructor, he couldn’t decide whether to scold or praise this.
Abel’s actions were shocking enough to fluster even a seasoned veteran like him.
It was utterly unbelievable for something a cadet who had only been enrolled for two days could pull off.
Who was Chloe?
She was a third-year cadet renowned even among those who had undergone countless drills and real battles.
And Abel hadn’t just pushed her Gigant back a little—he had sent it flying.
Sure, he had gone flying with it, but that was beside the point.
Kaul fell silent for a moment, staring at Abel, then glanced at the cadets watching from afar and spoke up again.
“That move just now... a secret technique?”
The bizarre movements he had shown when first approaching Chloe’s machine, and the explosive power displayed at close range.
Kaul knew full well that it wasn’t ordinary Gigant piloting.
After all, he was a Gigant rider who had weathered countless battlefields long before becoming an instructor.
Abel answered Kaul’s question calmly.
“Yes. It’s something I’ve been developing recently.”
“What?”
Kaul narrowed his eyes and asked again.
“You developed it?”
“Yes.”
Abel met Kaul’s gaze with a confident expression.
The reason he openly claimed it as his own development was that it felt the most natural.
For now, he could pass it off as something he’d coincidentally mastered or a family secret technique.
But what about later?
Getting skills as quest rewards wouldn’t end with this one time.
He couldn’t keep making excuses every time. Constant alibis would only arouse more suspicion.
Better to be upfront from the start.
‘They’ll suspect me a lot at first, but considering the long term, this is far more reasonable.’
It wasn’t entirely unprecedented anyway.
Secret techniques had all been created by someone in the first place.
Of course, those creators were mostly hailed as geniuses.
‘Standing out with flashy performances is the goal anyway.’
Considering his current situation and this world’s future, Abel needed to shine as brightly and prominently as possible.
It was too harsh a world to survive by hiding his power.
At least, that’s how Abel saw it, and he acted accordingly.
“Heh. Well, I’ll be.”
Kaul wore an incredulous expression but didn’t accuse Abel of lying.
He knew Abel was the top scorer and the subject of rumors about the bronze statue.
‘Is he really a monster?’
Kaul looked at Abel with complicated eyes before speaking.
“Got it. It was a bit extreme, but a good move. You achieved your goal with a method your opponent never saw coming. We’re not raising flowers in a greenhouse here, so nitpicking the brutality of the means would be foolish.”
With that, Kaul pulled two vouchers from his pocket and handed them over.
They were for 1kg and 10kg of Telesium.
At the bottom was the academy’s official seal, owned only by the principal.
“Take these to the workshop, and they’ll give you the Telesium on the spot or craft whatever you want with it. Or exchange for equivalent value in goods. Never thought I’d actually have to hand these out.”
Kaul smacked his lips.
An instructor’s salary wasn’t bad, but 10kg of Telesium was no small value.
‘I bought them to make my own armament.’
Kaul’s hand trembled as he offered the papers.
“Uh...”
“Yeah?”
“Can I take them?”
Only then did Kaul realize he had been gripping them tightly.
“Ahem. Yeah. Here.”
Kaul nodded awkwardly, and the moment the tension eased from his hand, Abel snatched the vouchers.
“Thank you.”
Abel smiled in satisfaction as he tucked the papers away.
He then followed the suddenly deflated Kaul back to where the other cadets waited.
The training resumed afterward.
Perhaps inspired by Abel’s performance, those who followed surprisingly succeeded at least in starting up their Gigants.
Daniel in particular even managed to stand it up, astonishing everyone.
KABOOM!
Though he tripped and fell after just three steps.
Still, Kaul grinned in satisfaction and gave Daniel a Telesium voucher.
Walking three steps was impressive enough.
‘It’s not my money anyway!’
A few more failures followed, and finally, the last turn arrived.
“May. Step forward.”
May, who had dozed off again, jolted awake at the call of her name.
“Ah, yes.”
Abel watched with keen interest as she boarded the Miles under Kaul’s instructions.
She might space out at random times and have a vacant look, but Abel knew full well her talent was extraordinary.
In terms of potential alone, she was top-tier, so maybe she’d show something surprising...
“No dice.”
...But nothing of the sort happened.
The Miles didn’t even twitch. Kaul comforted her, saying it was always tough and not to be discouraged, but Abel thought differently.
‘No, it’s like she didn’t even try.’
There was no way May couldn’t even activate it.
Anyone could see she’d done nothing and just come back out. But Abel was the only one who thought that.
No one else present knew the extent of May’s talent.
Abel looked at her with eyes tinged with strange regret.
The simple reason Abel paid her this much attention.
‘I need to spark her motivation somehow, fast.’
He knew full well that getting strong alone meant nothing.
He couldn’t just shrug it off as someone else’s problem.
Why had he entered the academy in the first place?
To join the main storyline.
‘If I just wanted an easy life, I’d have stayed working under Vulcanus.’
Abel had earned the recognition of Vulcanus, the unrivaled master craftsman among human artisans.
He could have lived a stable life, if not exactly on easy street.
But he hadn’t.
Because he knew the future.
A future where this world would perish if nothing was done.
That’s why he had enrolled in the academy.
Lost in thought for a moment, Abel snapped back at Kaul’s booming voice.
“Alright! Some of you showed amazing feats, but normally even starting up is tough, so don’t look so down.”
After the encouragement, Kaul scanned the cadets and said,
“You’re all probably exhausted anyway, so class ends here today! Good work.”
The cadets’ faces lit up. Class had ended 15 minutes early.
Abel inwardly thought Kaul seemed like a better instructor than expected.
“Where to?”
“Yeah.”
The cadets chatted among themselves now that class was over.
Even if it ended early, it was only the first class done, so the dorms were too far for a quick break.
Watching the chicks chirp, Kaul added,
“Next is Beginner Weapon Technique, right? On the way to that building, there’s a small park. Rest there if you’ve nowhere else.”
“Ah, yes!”
The cadets bowed in thanks at the helpful tip and started moving.
Abel naturally joined the group, but someone called him back.
“Abel, right?”
It was Chloe.
“Yes. That’s me.”
“Not bad earlier. You surprised me.”
Chloe smiled as she spoke.
Knowing her cheerful, sociable personality well, Abel smiled back without flinching.
“Thank you.”
“Looking forward to your performance in the first practical.”
With that, Chloe waved and headed back to her Gigant. It seemed like a casual greeting.
‘First practical, huh.’
At least four weeks away, but with the packed curriculum, time would fly.
Abel was looking forward to the practicals here too.
Turning after watching Chloe mount her Gigant, he spotted his classmates walking ahead.
‘Ungrateful bunch.’
Just as he thought they could’ve waited a bit, he saw one standing there blankly.
“Abel! Let’s go!”
It was Daniel.
“Yeah, sure.”
No reason to refuse, so Abel nodded half-heartedly and stepped forward.
But less than five minutes later, Abel regretted his choice.
“When you suddenly moved earlier, my heart nearly stopped... The first time I piloted a Gigant... So yeah. Uh, you listening?”
“...Yeah.”
Daniel talked even more than expected.
Enough to make his ears hurt.
* * *
Abel had pretty good stamina.
He’d trained diligently from the start, and after being adopted into the count’s family, the training had been several times harsher.
So he was confident in his endurance.
“I’m dying.”
But the academy’s curriculum was beyond imagination in its brutality.
‘It wasn’t just the exam that was intense.’
Abel stared blankly at the ceiling, thinking.
‘Should’ve realized from how they drilled us during the exam.’
In the game, it was just a few clicks, so he hadn’t thought deeply about it.
Experiencing it firsthand, the curriculum was insanely grueling.
After Gigant piloting had already drained their stamina, they went to Weapon Technique class and got worked like dogs for nearly two hours.
But even that was better than the final stamina training. That had felt like actual death.
By the end of the last class, even Daniel—who boasted about his stamina—was utterly spent.
“Whew.”
Thinking of repeating this daily made a sigh escape naturally, but there was no helping it.
The Gigant rider course aimed to forge superhumans, not ordinary people.
Still, it wasn’t all bad.
First, the 11kg of Telesium from the first class.
With just 1kg, dozens of ideas came to mind; 11kg was a windfall.
It would surely boost his full power dramatically.
‘In a place where you maintain your own Gigant.’
Even as an academy, they didn’t standardize Gigant models.
They actively encouraged upgrades.
Fairness? When it came to Gigants, wealth counted as talent.
Or show monstrous aptitude and get academy support.
Hadn’t Abel already snagged 11kg of Telesium, and soon a Miles-grade Gigant too?
That’s how it worked here.
‘I need to grab everything I can going forward.’
Thinking about the academy, Abel paused appropriately and returned to his original train of thought.
The gains weren’t just Telesium. There were immaterial rewards too.
To check, Abel slowly closed his eyes.
In the pitch-black darkness, a bright light appeared.
It wasn’t just the status window. A new window floated above it.
The moment he finished his first day at the academy, a new system had unlocked.
[Challenge List]
[Visit All Academy Locations]
[Acquire Your Own Gigant]
[Achieve Perfect Score in Practical]
[Call Kaul a Gorilla]
[Make 5+ Friends]
[....]
The flower of the game.
Challenges. And this game’s challenges were famous for their generous rewards each.
The 100% completion reward was beyond imagination.
That’s why Abel was excited. Scanning them eagerly, he paused at one.
‘I can knock this out tomorrow.’
The item: ‘First Encounter with a Gigadeus Fragment.’