Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Confirmation
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It was an aura so faint it was barely visible to the naked eye, yet she had already been maintaining it for ten minutes straight.
‘What’s going on? Earlier, it was so exhausting I thought I’d die… but now it’s manageable.'
Until Kim Min-jun had stepped in to help, she had been pouring every ounce of strength into keeping her aura up.
Yet now, with just mild effort, she could sustain the minimum level.
How in the world had that happened?
All he’d done was hand her the sword and adjust her stance.
Who would’ve thought it could lead to such a massive change?
“Corporal Son Eun-seo, was it? Not bad for the first day with the mana weapons.”
The instructor, who had just returned, nodded approvingly at her aura.
Though it was only brief, his guidance had produced significant results.
‘H-how did he do that?’
Son Eun-seo stared in shock, alternating her gaze between the mana sword and Kim Min-jun.
‘I guess I am pretty impressive.’
Kim Min-jun smirked nonchalantly, as if it were nothing, and returned to his spot.
‘Sergeant Kim Min-jun! Teach me some tips too!’
‘M-me too! I can’t even hold aura for a minute!’
‘Please give me one-on-one instruction too!’
The scene had shocked them so much that most of the hunters came begging for guidance.
‘Kuh… So even mana swords come down to talent.’
‘Damn. We don’t even come close.’
Of course, aside from Son Eun-seo, not a single hunter could properly control their mana sword.
**
“Alright. Today’s morning routine will again be replaced with mana sword adaptation training. Maintain your aura as usual.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
A month had passed since then.
The hunters spent nearly half their daily routine honing their mana swords.
“In five months, you’ll be tackling dungeons while equipped with mana swords. Of course, that doesn’t mean you’ll use them recklessly.”
The soldiers had been given six months to adapt to the mana swords.
Considering it took officers an average of six months to adapt, it was a pretty tight schedule.
But what could they do?
Gate occurrences were becoming more frequent bit by bit, and new dungeons kept popping up.
Especially for the Invincible Hunter Unit, positioned at the front lines.
That meant they were exposed to far greater risks than rear units.
Thus, it was crucial for the soldiers to get comfortable with mana swords as quickly as possible.
“Ugh, damn… All we do is eat and train on this, but I’m not improving at all.”
“Tell me about it. Wrapping aura is like breathing now, but I can’t maintain it for even five minutes…”
Even after thirty days, ninety percent of the unit struggled with adapting to the mana weapons.
That was only natural.
They had used ordinary weapons up until now.
The Ministry of National Defense had essentially tossed them an unknown substance called mana stones to create new weapons and said, “Adapt in six months.”
“The army says jump, and we jump, I get that… but this feels way too ridiculous…”
Over a month of repeating the same routine, and the results were always the same.
As a result, the unit’s motivation was starting to wane little by little.
“You still have five months left. About 150 days, so don’t give up. You could end up like me.”
Kim Min-jun raised his mana sword, wrapped in a thick aura, toward the hunters sighing heavily.
Now, a month later, he could envelop it in an aura even denser than the instructor’s.
Maintaining it for extended periods went without saying.
“It’s just unbelievable.”
“Sergeant Kim Min-jun was already massacring monsters even before getting mana weapons.”
“At this level, he could probably slice through hundreds of high-grade monsters.”
Seeing Kim Min-jun’s thick aura, the hunters renewed their resolve.
At least they wouldn’t be a burden.
“Oh. You’ve improved a lot too.”
“Sergeant Son Eun-seo. Thank you.”
Kim Min-jun approached her while maintaining the same intensity of aura.
Leaving assigned spots during training was forbidden, but Kim Min-jun had been granted some leeway by the instructor.
For him, mana sword adaptation training was practically free time now.
“A month ago, you couldn’t even hold it for five minutes, and now you’re easily doing over ten.”
If there was one hunter with the best training results in the last month, it was undoubtedly Sergeant Son Eun-seo.
Was it thanks to her father the division commander’s superior genes?
Her adaptation speed to the mana sword was far quicker than the others.
“You’d better prepare to empty your wallet for me. You know this is thanks to me, right?”
“Yes… You’re right.”
Son Eun-seo nodded obediently.
The words were annoying, but she had benefited from him a lot.
“Alright! Starting today, we’ll build real combat sense against training monsters!”
They had now entered the second month of training.
By this point, most hunters could maintain aura for about ten minutes.
Though the intensity varied.
‘Ah. I was bored to death, but finally, some proper training.’
Kim Min-jun, who had been feeling bored, lit up upon seeing the training monsters.
‘Training Steel Stones, huh. Not bad.’
Steel Stone.
A humanoid monster boasting tremendous defense.
These guys, under a meter tall, were mid-to-low grade monsters.
They had no attack tendencies, and above all, their movements were as slow as sloths.
Their tough skin made them ideal for training and various experiments.
“Attention, everyone!”
“Attention!”
“Before we begin, this instructor will demonstrate first! Since you’ll be wearing protective suits, no need to tense up!”
“Understood!”
Captain Kim Sang-deok entered the indoor training room and drew his mana sword.
Aura began forming skillfully around it.
“Wooo…”
A moment later.
A Steel Stone dropped from the ceiling.
For a corporal with some experience, it took an average of over twenty minutes to take one down.
Because of the monster’s incredibly tough skin.
Slash!
But.
The instructor, handling the mana sword adeptly, dispatched it in just twenty seconds.
With effortless swings three times, the training Steel Stone’s head was cleanly severed.
“Oh…”
“The mana sword’s performance is insane.”
At first glance.
One might think the mana sword’s development would allow easy massacres of monsters.
However, the mana sword, which boasted powerful cutting force, had more than a few drawbacks.
Above all, at the current moment, only a handful of officers could swiftly dispatch monsters with it.
“We’re training like this now, but in real combat, use mana swords only when ordinary weapons can’t handle the monsters. Got it?”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
In dungeons, just moving around drained stamina.
Using a mana sword in that situation depleted stamina several times faster.
Thus, the policy was to use mana swords in dungeons only at critical moments.
“Eek…”
“This is driving me crazy. Why’s my aura acting up all of a sudden?”
Hunters who had wrapped aura well during training failed to use the mana sword properly when facing actual monsters.
Subtle changes in their bodies were affecting the sword.
“It’s been months of training, and that’s all you’ve got? Next!”
The instructor knew this well but instead scolded them, saying that after over two months, this was all they could do.
The tendency had been there from day one and hadn’t changed.
‘The instructor’s just messing with them. That’ll only kill their motivation.’
Time passed, and Kim Min-jun’s turn came.
“What’s this? Three of them?”
Three Steel Stones dropped from the ceiling.
Up until now, it had been one per person, but on his turn, it mysteriously increased.
‘Trying to mess with me?’
He knew it was the instructor’s doing, but he welcomed it.
Did he really think three mosquitoes instead of one would be threatening?
“Wooo…”
“Wooo!”
“Bye now.”
Kim Min-jun swiftly swung the sword rippling with thick aura three times.
These monsters had almost no attack tendencies.
Ten seconds was plenty to deal with the slow-moving ones.
Slash!
Ten seconds after training commenced.
The heads of all three Steel Stones were severed simultaneously.
“…….”
“Huh…”
“Wow…”
Hunters who had been about to protest that the wrong number of monsters had been deployed were left stunned by what they had just witnessed.
A slashing speed barely visible to the eye.
Attacks as if he could see their movements perfectly.
The instructor’s earlier demonstration paled in comparison.
“Uh, Corporal Kim Min-jun. The instructor accidentally added extra monsters… but well done.”
Captain Kim Sang-deok wore an awkward expression at the overwhelming display.
“Instructor. I think accidentally deploying the wrong number of monsters is going too far.”
As Kim Min-jun exited the training room with a calm face, Son Eun-seo spoke up with a serious look.
It had worked out only because it was Kim Min-jun.
Even if Steel Stones were safe training monsters, dropping three at once was blatant.
“Uh, um… yeah. I made an inexcusable mistake. Sorry.”
Captain Kim Sang-deok apologized straightforwardly.
If the protesting soldier had been anyone else, he might have gotten angry, but Sergeant Son Eun-seo was the division commander’s daughter.
His one and only precious daughter.
No need to escalate things.
“I’m fine. I’m confident I could handle ten in thirty seconds.”
Kim Min-jun flashed a smug grin at the flustered instructor.
**
‘Hey. Why haven’t you had any results lately?’
Another month or so passed after that.
Three months into the daily grind of the same routine.
Kim Min-jun, starting to feel bored, nagged at his summon, the Night Walker, who was idling nearby.
Shhh.
The summon replied that it was trying hard enough.
‘Oh? You think effort alone cuts it? Show me results!’
Shhh.
The creature said that if he shared a bit more demonic energy, it would definitely bring back something good.
‘Talking back? So, did you do well? How many days since you last brought an item? Nearly a hundred days! A hundred! This wouldn’t even be imaginable in Isgard. You know that?’
Shhh.
At those words, the shadow at his feet drooped limply.
‘I’ll give you ten more days. If you don’t want me dying of boredom, bring something back.’
The summon vanished in a hurry the moment he finished speaking.
At this point, it would bring something, at least.
The skill rank had risen to B, yet no harvests in over ninety days.
That was on the creature.
“Kim Min-jun!”
After the day’s duties, in the barracks.
First Lieutenant Kim Cheol-min entered with a bright smile.
Had something good happened?
“Corporal Kim Min-jun!”
“Yeah! You bastard! It’s decided!”
“What is, sir?”
His following words sent cheers echoing through the barracks.
“No way!”
“Really?”
“Isn’t it super hard for enlisted to get promoted?”
Kim Min-jun had enlisted in the Hunter Army about six months ago.
Not even four months since becoming corporal, and now his promotion to sergeant was confirmed.