Etrun (1)
"ALL CADETS, FALL IN, NOOOOW!"
The moment I stepped into the fragment space, someone's furious bellowing was there to greet me.
"Assemble at the training grounds immediately! The last one there gets extra drills!"
My surroundings flipped in an instant.
From a blank white void to a space that conjured up images of medieval Europe.
Not that I saw any lavish ornamentation or chandeliers, mind you.
…A dormitory?
It was the kind of dorm room where at least four people shared one space. One guy was scrambling to change his clothes, while the one beside him, still half asleep, clutched his blanket and mumbled incoherently.
"What is this place?"
"What do you mean, what?! Morning training, you dimwit!"
I hadn't really been expecting an answer, but the one who'd been changing clothes rounded on me and barked.
"If you're awake, get moving! You know what extra training at Etrun is like, right?"
"What? Where?"
"Did you seriously eat something bad or what? The Etrun Knight Academy! You forgot the name of the school we're attending?!"
I had no idea exactly what world, what continent, or what country this was. But thanks to him, I did now know where I was standing.
The Etrun Knight Academy.
Having the entire world swap out around me was something I was past being used to—it honestly made me want to gag.
That was simply how gates worked, after all.
But whereas a hunter in a gate was a thorough outsider…
The kids here are acting like they know me.
As if I'd become a character inside the gate itself.
"Hey."
"Ah, what!"
"Who am I?"
"…?"
The irritable boy's face went dead serious in an instant.
"What…?"
"It's just, I fell out of a tree yesterday. My memory's been fuzzy ever since."
"A-are you serious?"
"Do I look like I'm lying?"
The boy studied my wide, guileless eyes, then heaved a deep sigh.
"You poor bastard… Life really did a number on you, huh…."
For some reason, he was looking at me with pure pity.
That pissed me off, actually.
For what it was worth, my name here in this world was still Lee Tae-hyun.
My appearance was identical, naturally.
Your name is Lee Tae-hyun. You're from the eastern provinces.
And this 'Etrun Knight Academy' was a directly affiliated institution of the central kingdom.
An academy established to train the kingdom's knights, apparently.
Supposedly the most prestigious educational facility in the entire realm.
Then why are the facilities this godawful?
I'd seen them on the way over. The dormitory was as cold and mold-ridden as an underground dungeon, and the training weapon storage shed genuinely looked like an outhouse.
The actual outhouse… I'll spare you the details.
"Seriously… is this really the top academy…?"
"Yeah… well, nothing we can do about it. Whew! We're Normal Class, after all."
This accursed academy divided its cadets into two groups.
Hm. Class rankings. Every academy in every dimension is the same.
Royal Class was your classic nobility—people with titles, wealthy families, or overflowing talent who'd received recommendations and special admission.
Unfortunately, I belonged to Normal Class.
The ones assigned to kids of ordinary families with ordinary talent.
"So how much nicer is the Royal Class dormitory?"
"Ugh… see that?"
"You mean that fancy-looking castle? Obviously."
"Ugh… phew! That's the Royal Class dormitory."
"These absolute lunatics."
This wasn't discrimination anymore—this was straight-up persecution.
"Anyway, can you quit talking… and just walk?"
"Why?"
"What do you mean, why?!"
The boy wiped away the sweat pouring down his face.
"Because we're in the middle of morning training, that's why!"
And with that, he finished his sit-ups.
For the record, I was the one holding his feet.
"Haaah… hah… this is killing me…."
"Save the sob story for someone who cares. Hey, does Royal Class not do morning training?"
I'd been glancing around for a while now, and the training grounds seemed to hold nothing but Normal Class cadets.
"Royal Class is exempt from morning training. They say the whole thing was created for the growth of the inferior Normal Class cadets."
"Ha. What a hilarious bunch of people."
All talk of one academy, but they were effectively living in two entirely separate worlds.
"Anyway, your turn now."
The guy smirked nastily and wrapped his arms around my legs.
"Heh heh heh! I'm counting dead honest, so brace yourself. You know I stop counting if your form slips, right?"
"Do whatever you want."
Blending into this world came first.
I could figure out concrete goals later.
"Heave-ho."
The moment I lay back on the ground to do sit-ups—
[Complete 250 perfect sit-ups]
🎁 Reward:Body Stat +1 per 50 reps (max +5)
"Hm?"
A message of unknown origin had appeared before my eyes.
Special growth protocols are active within Fragment worlds.
Objectives will be generated; completing them grants various growth rewards.
"?!"
I barely stopped a shout from tearing out of my throat.
It goes without saying, but the higher a stat climbed, the harder it became to raise.
Gaining 1 point at a high stat level was far more difficult than gaining 10 at a low one.
And they're handing out stat points as rewards?
To put it bluntly, right now every single stat point was worth more to me than billions in gold.
Because for me, a single point raised three different stats at once.
"What are you doing? Hurry up!"
"How many am I supposed to do, exactly?"
"Morning training is fifty."
"No problem if I do more, right?"
"…Huh? W-well, no, but—"
"Excellent."
I laced my fingers together and set my hands behind my head.
"Watch and learn what a perfect sit-up looks like."
I launched into sit-ups in absolutely textbook form.
"Ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up!"
Maybe a touch faster than that.
"Huh? Whaaat…?!"
"Grip properly, will you? My form's all over the place."
"S-sorry… but you've already hit fifty…."
"Ngh-up, ngh-up, ngh-up…"
I kept going without a single pause.
"Hey, look at that guy."
"GAAAAH!"
"How many reps per second is that?"
"His form's got to be garbage at that speed… whoa, it's… perfect…?"
Since my body was moving exactly as I willed it, my outside stats apparently carried over intact.
"…Two hundred fifty."
Precisely two hundred fifty sit-ups.
Reward:Body +5
A full five points of Body, no less.
And the timing couldn't have been better—my potential had just risen to A, stretching my growth ceiling.
I'll drain this place for everything it's worth before I leave.
The objective system was more than enough to set my will ablaze.
"What's next? Push-ups? A run?"
"Ugh… that's it for today. Class starts soon."
"Really? Tch."
Kind of a letdown.
I'd have to get up early and train on my own from tomorrow.
"Hm. Everyone arrived on time."
Someone was smacking their lips as they strolled slowly toward the training grounds.
Hands clasped behind his back, he toyed with an infuriating little mustache.
"Is that a professor?"
"You can't call Senior Knight Rex THAT…!"
At my question, the boy's face went ghost-white.
"Watch your mouth around Sir Rex, no matter what. He shows no mercy to Normal Class."
Faces really were destiny, weren't they?
My first impression of him had been lousy, and sure enough, the man seemed to discriminate against cadets with relish.
"Attention! Morning training is over!"
Rex raised his shrill, reedy voice.
"Get to your classes at once!"
My department was the Normal Class Armaments Faculty.
As the name suggested, it was where one learned weapons like swords and spears.
"Do I really have to wield this decrepit junk…?"
Out of that outhouse of a storage shed I'd seen earlier, I'd picked out the spear in marginally better condition.
Believe me, I wanted to pull the Seeker's Spear out of my subspace.
But even I lacked the nerve to swing something like that around in front of everyone here.
"Yo, the Normals are here."
"Kikik! And THAT'S what he calls equipment?"
"Having to take class in the same space as trash like them—isn't that a bit beneath us?"
When I returned to the training grounds with my weapon, latecomers had sprawled into position like they owned the place.
And from the way aristocratic grace just oozed off their faces…
Those are the Royal Class kids.
Unlike the Normal Class students clutching roughly-picked shed leftovers, every one of them carried gorgeous, elaborate personal equipment.
Still a pile of junk next to mine, though.
I was chuckling at them inwardly when Rex's face twisted and he bellowed.
"Hurry up and assemble! The rest of us are suffering for your tardiness!"
Excessively naked hostility.
Satisfied with his outburst, a low snicker rippled through the Royal Class ranks.
Let's see who's above and who's below here.
It wasn't as if I was the only target, anyway.
I decided to let it slide.
"Hey. You."
Then Rex pointed at me.
"Me?"
"Who else would I mean?"
His gaze dropped to the spear in my hands.
"Why are you holding a spear? You were a sword major, weren't you?"
"Was I?"
Apparently the 'Lee Tae-hyun' who'd been here before me had used a sword.
Unfortunately for him, I was a spearman.
"Are you playing games with me? Put that spear down and go fetch a sword, now."
"Am I not allowed to use a spear?"
"Switching weapons now? With your actual major swordsmanship barely mastered as it is?"
Whether he took this as his golden opportunity, Rex planted himself in front of me with a spiteful grin.
"What's your name?"
"Lee Tae-hyun."
"Right, Lee Tae-hyun. Cadets who suddenly switch their major weapon halfway through, like you, pop up all the time. Mostly in Normal Class, mind you. Do you know why?"
"Beats me."
"Because Normal Class is stupid and cowardly, that's why! The sword gets hard, so they go running off to the spear!"
He spat as he ranted, flinging his nonsense around with real passion.
"Just because you lack talent for the sword doesn't mean you have any for the spear! Look at Royal Class—once they take up a weapon, they never let go of it until the moment they die!"
Along with that flattering patter, his eyes slid slyly toward the Royal Class.
The sight of them smirking and puffing up their shoulders made my blood boil.
"If you understand, then go switch to a sword. Now."
"I'd rather not."
"Obviously you will, or else—what?"
I picked at my ear as I answered.
"I said no."
"No…?"
"Unlike those other kids, I'm not running to the spear because I have no talent for the sword."
"Then… you're claiming you have talent for the spear?"
"Yes."
"HA!"
Rex threw his head back in disbelief.
"A Normal Class cadet dares to lecture us on talent? Are you prepared to answer for those words?"
"I'd say so."
"Why you cocky little—!"
Grinding his teeth, he swept his gaze across the grounds.
"Then allow me to teach you what real talent is!"
His eyes landed on a male cadet in the Royal Class crowd with a head of waving, seaweed-green hair.
"Cadet Beron Slote? Would you step forward as our representative and educate this young man?"
"M-me, Sir?"
The one called Beron widened his eyes in theatrical surprise.
But he couldn't quite leash the smile at the corners of his mouth, and it kept twitching loose.
"No one at Etrun surpasses Cadet Beron in the spear."
"If you insist so strongly, Sir, I hardly have a choice."
Now that I looked, the guy was carrying a spear too.
Unlike mine, a high-grade spear wreathed in a shimmering blue glow.
"Then allow me to teach my ignorant classmate a lesson. In what happens to those who dare speak of talent in this place."
He seemed to be angling to rub salt in the wound, goading me with honeyed words.
But I am a man of unshakable composure—a man who didn't so much as flinch at the provocations of one Yoo Sung-wook.
As if a few childish jabs like those would ever…
Defeat Beron Slote in a duel
🎁 Reward:All Stats +3
"Come at me, you seaweed-brained peacock."
Suddenly my competitive spirit was fit to burst.