Assistant Instructor Natalia Kaya
"Hello! Starting today, I'm Natalia Kaya, officially living here at the training camp with you all! Just call me Kaya! Looking forward to working with you!"
She bowed deeply.
Clap clap clap clap...
"Whoa... she is pretty..."
"As expected from a beauty from the land of beauties..."
The combatant woman, who introduced herself as being from Ukraine, greeted the trainees. Everyone had grown familiar with her face by now, so they welcomed her warmly.
Kaya wasn't new to the training camp today. She'd started staying here right after the rebel raid. She'd been working as a combatant in District 12 and rushed over upon hearing the news, one of the reinforcements.
'And she's the woman who got elbowed in the side by Gwangnyeon-i for lacking tact back then.'
Of the fifteen combatants who came to help, ten left after two days with no further rebel attacks. The remaining five held a meeting since they couldn't stay away longer. They decided one would remain stationed here.
'Theoretically, bumping the training camp's combatants from two or three to three boosts our forces by 50%. But three still feels too few... Damn, we're barely filling Kaya's spot as it is—we can't request more.'
Still, better than no one at all. And if the rebels had any brains, they wouldn't hit the same spot twice after failing once.
Thus, Kaya officially joined the training camp. Naturally, the male trainees lit up with excitement. She was stunning, after all.
'She really is pretty...'
Kaya was a beauty with brown hair. Her large eyes gave her a soft rather than sharp impression—innocent and pure.
- Kaya! Welcome!
- Looking forward to it!
I took advantage of everyone focusing on her to mutter quietly. Toward Kaya.
"Status window."
[Name] Natalia Kaya
[Job] Assistant Instructor
[Strength] 22 | [Agility] 21 | [Vitality] 22
[Intelligence] 45 | [Dexterity] 19 | [Charm] 41
[Mana] 114
[Traits] -
'Weaker than I thought...?'
Her basic combat stats—strength, agility, vitality—were pretty low. Exaggerating a bit, about half of Brack's. She seemed like a fresh graduate from the training camp, not long in this world.
But a few stats stood out high: intelligence and mana.
'...Obvious she has skills. Mana aside, that intelligence...'
In the original novel, Kaya never appeared in combat scenes. Even if she did fight, the perspective stuck to protagonist Lee Kangin, so I had no clue. Luckily, my Status Window hit Lv 2, unlocking others' skill windows. I checked hers.
Fireball
[Level] 1 Lv
[Type] Magic | Active
Consumes mana to summon a basketball-sized burning orb. Explodes on impact. Duration and power scale with mana spent. Additional mana lets you move the orb.
[Cooldown] 00:00:15
As expected, she had a skill. And a familiar one.
'Fireball!'
The staple fantasy spell. Despite her low stats, it made me reevaluate her. Novels always depict Fireball as seriously powerful.
Huh? Come to think of it... On day one, Gwangnyeon-i demonstrated this world wasn't Earth by showing a fireball to the trainees. Exactly like this skill description.
Gwangnyeon-i didn't have a summon fireball skill— I'd wondered how. Answer found.
'And Kaya seemed pretty chummy with Gwangnyeon-i...'
"Oh no no! I'm not an instructor! Way underqualified. Hmm... Strictly speaking, I'm like Assistant Instructor Bennett? Something like that!"
"You bitch! Call her Instructor Gwangnyeon-i!"
"Eep! Yes sir!"
Pow!
"Kyaa!"
...Yeah, chummy.
The training camp felt brighter with a beautiful woman joining. Though for me, it just meant sneaking peeks at lunch.
"...Damn."
Reality? Lunch was ending, and Brack approached. Obvious reason: drag me back to training.
I secretly ate a Prum from the shop, tossing the seed into my inventory.
A sweet, invigorating fruit bursts with energy!
Effect:+33% Strength, Agility, Vitality proficiency for 3 hours
"Trainee Park Chanyoung! Time's up! Back to training!"
"...Yes."
......
Night fell once more on the Terraforming world. Hellish training over.
Fun fact: This hell ends soon!
They say not counting down makes time fly for awaited days. I tried ignoring the end date, just following Brack's orders.
But time marched on inescapably. With my days stretched to three, the end crawled agonizingly slow.
But soon over. Sleep tonight, two days left. Survive two more sessions, and freedom!
I suppressed a cheer.
"Oh! Right..."
Something forgotten surfaced. Minor, but anticipated.
"Leveled up, huh?"
Awkward Movements
[Level] 0 Lv → 2 Lv
[Type] Action | Passive
Novice movements from recent exercise start. Body gains slight flexibility.
[Cooldown] -
Not just this one. Several passives leveled up. Proficiency builds automatically without karma or focus—handy. More reason to buy remaining passives.
"Too many skills for auto-notifs on level ups...?"
0 to 2 meant it happened ages ago. Training distracted me; checking now brought good news.
Makes sense—with dozens of passives, alerts per level up would be chaos. Passives don't need memorizing like actives.
Plus, passives had extras. Martial ones like "Kendo" or "Taekwondo" infused basic knowledge on purchase.
"Low level, so difference between knowing and not is minimal..."
I wasn't training them formally, but punches built proficiency bit by bit. It'll help eventually.
"Ugh... Humans adapt, huh? Can't believe I'm used to this schedule..."
Intense workouts felt less brutal now—body adapting. Steady exercise slimmed me faster, weight dropping steadily.
Especially my waist: on Earth, pants slid off without a belt. Real change.
"Impurity purge? Skin issues calming too..."
Forced routine helped. In White Whale's Footsteps, I trained nonstop day-night, sleeping on Earth—lazy to others, but I hustled hardest.
Skin improving thrilled me. Dermatology hell: painful, slow, expensive—I'd planned karma for it.
"Saves karma now."
Height potion month in: over 170cm. Finally human-like, not hopeless pig—but adult-onset disease risky "person."
Huge shift. Tearjerker effort, even admitting it.
Uni whispers emerged, but ignorable: "Surgery? Lost weight?" or "Insoles? How many?" Buried in Baek Hamin gossip.
He crumbled daily, opposite me.
"Glasses off now? Gained 5kg this week..."
At least one chicken daily. T-zone acne explosion.
Barely any savings—why blow cash? Anyway, his aggro helped. No need to drop out.
*
Late night, sun set. Handsome face startles seeing me. Long time no see—stunning, nearly shocked me too.
"Whoa... whoaaa... Unrecognizable! Really you, Park Chanyoung?"
"Who else? Your injuries all healed?"
"Luckily, thigh just fractured. Bone's fused. You done with personal training?"
"Heh heh heh... Yeah! Finally!!"
Eternal two days passed—freedom!
Last training day. Finished morning/afternoon sessions, heading to dorms instead of camping.
'Damn... Should've rested on Earth, then jogged.'
Asshole Brack didn't carry me like lunch rushes, calling it "final final training"—forced jog back.
I powered through sans breaks, fueled by endgame spite... but too hellish to swallow quietly.
"Pretend I just arrived. Why're you out, Lee Kangin?"
"Couldn't train today. Leg still iffy—rehab walking. Tomorrow, full participation. Minor discomfort."
Diligent guy.
'I'd milk the leg excuse, lounge extra days.'
...Damn. Can't claim that false lately. Triple time, yet zero waste—body's trashiness spurs me?
"Gotta eat recovery herbs weekly though."
Recovery herbs? I eyed his palm: bumpy green fruit.
New? Not in original?
"...Mind if I see that fruit quick?"
"Sure! Here."
New fruit added to shop window.