Chapter 300: At a Crossroads (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 300: At a Crossroads (2)
Mercenary.
It was a profession that epitomized weathering all of life's hardships.
Living as a mercenary, Scott had drifted through countless battlefields, worked as a spy, and frequently crossed mountains day and night just to survive. Because of this, he was confident in his physical endurance. Even though he wasn't some grand Aura Swordsman, the years he had spent rolling around the absolute bottom of the mercenary world proved he was no ordinary man.
And yet.
After barely half a day, Scott was already reaching his limit.
'This is bad...'
He was completely out of breath.
His mouth was bone-dry. Occasionally replenishing his fluids and sugar wasn't enough to stave off the creeping dizziness. His forty-kilogram pack grew heavier by the minute, weighing down on him like a mountain. Roman Dmitry, as if possessing infinite stamina, led the way, deliberately seeking out winding mountain paths. With most of the march heading up steep inclines, Scott's physical endurance was pushed to the absolute brink.
"Haa, haa."
Falling behind.
The thought plagued his mind constantly.
Imagining how incredibly comfortable it would be to just collapse right here, Scott forced down the rising urge to vomit.
It was then.
Thud.
Someone collapsed.
Right in front of him, a recruit fell out of line.
While those from backgrounds like Scott's possessed a decent baseline of physical fitness, many among the successful applicants of the private soldier test were ordinary civilians. For them, sheer grit could only take them so far. Ultimately losing his grip on consciousness, the man had crumpled to the ground. Scott watched the scene unfold with anxious eyes.
He was curious.
Having declared that no one would be left behind, how would Roman Dmitry react to this situation?
"I'll carry him."
"Hunt, grab his pack."
"Got it."
It was an unbelievable sight.
As if they had anticipated this, one senior soldier grabbed the fallen man's pack while another quickly administered basic first aid, slung his own pack to his front, and hoisted the unconscious man onto his back. Then, they resumed the march. Not even a minute had passed since the man fainted, yet they rejoined the ranks in an instant. Their expressions were completely unbothered, as if nothing had happened.
They were absolute madmen.
Scott was dying just trying to carry his own weight, yet these senior soldiers showed no change in expression even while carrying another person. Just what kind of things had they experienced? These seniors, who surely must have been ordinary people like himself once, had been reborn as beings who could no longer be called "ordinary" due to the time they had spent with Roman Dmitry.
He endured.
He gritted his teeth.
Looking at the back of the senior soldier walking ahead with a casualty on his back, Scott resolved that he couldn't afford to collapse here.
But as the training progressed...
Scott had no choice but to admit that sheer willpower alone could not solve every problem.
* * *
Just one day.
He was completely exhausted.
Even after the march ended, the training continued. When the announcement finally came that the training was over for the day, the new recruits collapsed where they stood. Everyone gasped for breath. Their faces were pale from extreme physical exertion, and some buried their faces in the dirt, dry-heaving repeatedly. Scott was no exception. Having faced several crises along the way, he sprawled out on the ground with the face of a living corpse.
It was hell.
The realization that this was only the first day in Dmitry sent shivers down his spine.
Just then, he heard the disgruntled voice of a fellow recruit beside him.
"Fuck, is this even training? This is torture, pure torture! Training is supposed to improve your physical fitness. Forcing collapsed people along like this is only going to ruin our bodies. If this kind of training keeps up, we seriously need to speak up and say this is wrong."
A few of the other recruits nodded in agreement.
Physical training was supposed to have stages, but this extreme regimen skipped all the steps, leaving them utterly bewildered.
To put it bluntly, if not for his mission as a spy, someone like Scott would have quit right then and there.
"If that's how you're going to think, then just quit."
Had someone read his mind?
A man with a relatively calm complexion spoke up bluntly.
Looking closely, unlike the other newcomers, he was a former Dmitry soldier who had transitioned to become a private soldier.
The recruit who had complained flared up.
"What?! What did you just say?"
"I said, if you're going to whine, just quit."
The man's name was Randolph.
Randolph looked at his peer with a smirk.
"Why do you think we're doing this training? Simply to show off physical superiority? Or, like you said, to torture us? You dumb bastards. This is daily life in Dmitry. Lord Roman Dmitry's private soldiers endure this hellish training every single time. It's on the foundation of this brutally forged stamina that they achieved the victorious feats you heard about until your ears bled on your way to Dmitry."
Within Dmitry, the private soldiers were in a league of their own.
Whenever they watched how the private soldiers trained, the regular soldiers of Dmitry had no choice but to acknowledge their superiority.
"You've probably heard the rumors, too. That many people in Dmitry died during Kronos's attack. Among them was a guy named Henderson, who was my close friend. Neither I nor the people of Dmitry ever want to see a repeat of what happened back then. To prevent that, the only way is for us to become stronger."
The deaths, including Henderson's, had left deep scars in people's hearts.
Although Roman Dmitry had treated the casualties with the utmost respect and provided ample compensation, the lives of those who remembered Henderson were bound to change. It was with that resolve that Randolph had applied to become a private soldier. He didn't simply desire the benefits of the position; he wanted to become strong by any means necessary so that a sacrifice like Henderson's would never happen again.
That was why he gritted his teeth.
When people like Scott stumbled as if they were about to collapse at any moment, Randolph had supported their packs from behind, telling them to hang in there. It wasn't because his stamina was vastly superior to Scott's. It was because he had erased the very option of falling behind from his mind, allowing him to push through to the end despite looking like he was about to die himself.
"The seniors didn't abandon us in the training you thought was hell. They carried the fallen on their backs and took over their gear. That's how we finished this march. It's no different on the battlefield. The moment you become a member of Dmitry, even on a battlefield where death runs rampant, the seniors will use any means necessary to keep us alive. We have become comrades to such people. If you don't want to be a burden on the battlefield, don't complain about a mere physical training session like this. If you only came here hoping for sweet benefits, you're sorely mistaken. Dmitry is not the utopia you think it is."
He finished speaking.
Watching Randolph turn his head to catch his breath, Scott was left speechless.
The same went for the others.
The realization that they had become comrades to people who would never abandon them left a deep, lingering impression in their hearts.
Only now did it begin to sink in.
What it truly meant to live as Roman Dmitry's private soldier in Dmitry.
* * *
Ten days passed.
No one fell behind.
While some endured to the end out of an intense desire to belong to Dmitry, the spies hiding their identities could not afford to give up until they had verified the martial arts. Finally, it was time to reap the fruits of their labor. Gathering the new recruits in one place, Chris proceeded with the next phase of basic adaptation training: Mind Method Training.
"First, I will briefly explain the concept of the Dantian."
The concept of the Dantian had already been spread to the public during the Swordsmanship Presentation.
However, it was necessary to teach the theory precisely, and the private soldiers listened with eyes brighter than ever before.
Martial arts.
The core of the Swordsmanship Revolution.
In the changing future ahead, everyone knew what an incredible opportunity it was to receive Dmitry's teachings. Everyone listened intently. The method of creating a vessel for mana in the Dantian and circulating mana through it came as a fresh shock. Why had no one ever thought of such an ingenious method before? Once they heard the answer, the path became clear, but before they knew it, it was a realm they couldn't have dared to imagine.
Soon after.
"The martial art you will learn from now on is called the Asura Mind Method."
The training began in earnest.
Everyone sat cross-legged.
Though they showed signs of struggle in the uncomfortable posture, they did their best to follow the techniques of the Asura Mind Method according to Chris's instructions.
The explanation continued.
The Asura Mind Method.
They sank deep into their consciousness.
Chris's voice gradually faded into the background, and Scott focused on trying to feel mana, just as the explanation of the Asura Mind Method dictated.
'I can't feel any mana.'
The basic prerequisite of a mind method was resonance.
One had to feel mana to take the next step, but no matter how hard he concentrated, he couldn't grasp the energy of mana that Chris described. In truth, it was a natural result. Scott was not an Aura Swordsman. While working as a mercenary, he had used every means possible to become an Aura Swordsman, but it was impossible to force a reality that his talent simply did not permit. So, around the age of thirty, he had given up on Aura. He believed that pouring money and effort into an impossible task was not a wise choice for a mercenary.
Ultimately, he hit a wall.
He thought that this Asura Mind Method, which might be a golden opportunity for others, would have no effect on him.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
He focused on the mind method.
Even though he knew it was impossible, he had no other choice since this was the designated training time.
But then.
At some point, Scott felt a strange sensation.
'No way...'
Sometimes warm.
Sometimes cool.
At the sensation that felt like a tickle against his skin, Scott stopped the mind method, opened his eyes wide, and stared down at his Dantian.
"D-Did I just feel mana?!"
It was unmistakable.
This was a miracle.
* * *
His heart pounded.
The more he practiced the Asura Mind Method, the more its incredible efficacy left Scott in a daze.
'This is insane.'
For his entire life, he had lived on the battlefield.
Scott had judged that he needed Aura to survive, so he had paid exorbitant prices to receive instruction from Aura Swordsmen who were famous in the Kronos Empire. It had yielded no results. No matter how great the teacher was, or how incredible the technique they explained, nothing registered. In his frustration, Scott had raised his voice, calling it a scam, but people only told him that Aura Swordsmen were precious precisely because "just anyone" couldn't awaken.
He had nothing to say to that.
If it was a lack of talent, what could he do?
So he had given up.
He had believed that awakening Aura was in the realm of the impossible, yet the sensation of mana brushing against his skin now threw him into a state of pure ecstasy.
'The era of Alexander is over. If someone like me can feel mana in just a few hours, people will call Roman Dmitry the creator of Aura from now on. The Asura Mind Method... If I hand this over to the Kronos Empire, my wealth and glory will be guaranteed. Kronos will acknowledge that I have fully performed my role.'
He had achieved his goal.
Now, all that was left was to leak the information.
If he transmitted the instructions on how to practice the Asura Mind Method through the magic communicator he had smuggled in, his family's lives would be safe.
But.
He hesitated.
Setting aside the fact that Dmitry treated its people with value, the sheer power of the Asura Mind Method—which they had taught so casually, even knowing there might be spies among them—was too shocking. If they were capable of creating such an incredible technique... could it be that the era of Dmitry, rather than the Kronos Empire, was about to begin? Looking back at history, there were always great cataclysms that overturned the power structures of the world. Was he standing right at the center of one now?
He stood at a crossroads.
He knew that a single decision would determine his life and the lives of his family.
Just then, the training ended.
Concluding the first day of mind method training, Chris, as the training commander, spoke of the future.
"For the time being, we will conduct training with the Asura Mind Method as our foundation. If anyone shows rapid growth or achieves meritorious deeds, they will be taught a new martial art suited to their characteristics."
A new martial art.
It was a bewildering statement.
When the Asura Mind Method alone was already so incredible, the fact that there was a next step was hard to readily accept.
Someone asked, "...A new martial art? Does that mean there is a martial art even greater than this one?"
At that moment, Chris smiled.
While the regular soldiers of Dmitry practiced the Asura Mind Method, individuals like himself and Kevin had been bestowed with different martial arts. The same went for the other private soldiers. At first, the Asura Mind Method alone had been sufficient, but after the total war with the Kronos Empire, it was decided that they too needed a new catalyst to move on to the "next stage."
Chris spoke.
"The premise of your question is wrong. The Asura Mind Method is not a grand martial art to begin with. Dmitry has already established a system of martial arts, and among them, the Asura Mind Method is merely a basic martial art meant for teaching beginners."
At those words, the crowd was struck with shock.
Regardless of whether it was true or not, this was a statement they simply could not take calmly.
After the war ended, Roman Dmitry had introduced the system of the Demonic Cult.
Since he had publicly revealed the concept of the Dantian to everyone, he decided that Dmitry needed exclusive privileges that could not be compared to what was public.
Chris's words were correct.
The Asura Mind Method...
In Roman's past life, it was merely a very basic, low-grade martial art, to the point of being included in the "general public release."
The scales tipped heavily to one side.
For the spies who had been torn between Dmitry and Kronos, a massive wave of turmoil began to surge in their hearts.